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“Interest is a very tricky thing.” His chuckle was cruel.
Jade shook her head. How the hell had Eric borrowed money from someone who would charge interest rates like that and threaten his life if he couldn’t pay? She straightened her spine.
“I’m sorry Eric misled you. But that’s not my problem. He’s no longer even a partial owner of this business. So I’ve got nothing to do with it anymore.”
Petrov moved so fast that she barely registered it. He held her against the wall by the throat. Breathing was hard. A blow landed on her stomach and knocked what air she had out of her lungs.
“I think that you don’t understand. I own you now. Unless you can hand me $57,000, you are mine. You will do anything I say whenever I say it.”
Jade clawed at his hand in panic. Her gaze searching the room for something or someone who could help. No magical savior appeared.
The two thugs the man had brought with him looked on with amused smiles. Guns she hadn’t noticed when she came into the room were now painfully obvious. Anger was like a bonfire inside her.
She choked out words. “So what? You’ll kill me if I don’t follow orders like your lapdogs?”
Frustrated tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes as she struggled to breathe against his grip. He let her go with a disdainful laugh. His eyes were ice as he looked down at her.
“No. That wouldn’t work for you. I’ve found other motivations are more effective.”
She rubbed at her throat. “Then what?”
“You obviously don’t value your own life. I’ve seen the stunts and nonsense you risk your life doing. But I would guess you care about your staff, your students. The children out there.” He made a gesture towards the door. “From this moment on, every act of defiance will get one of them hurt. You won’t know which one. You won’t know how long it’ll take before I act, but you’ll know that every disrespectful word out of your mouth will cause one of them pain.”
Jade’s heart ached. She might not have developed close friendships with her staff, but they were the closest thing she’d had. The kids in her classes were innocent. Could she live with herself if one of them got hurt?
She studied the face of the man staring down at her with cold eyes and black-work tattoos poking out from the edge of his collar. The soulless men who traveled with him didn’t even seem to care that their boss was threatening kids. It wasn’t a bluff.
If she spoke disrespectfully to Petrov, he would probably march right out there to prove he was a man of his word. From the other side of the door, the sounds of children playing were loud. Probably from her tumbling class. It felt like the creak of a coffin closing on her freedom.
She needed time to figure out what she was going to do. And that would take playing this evil son of a bitch’s game.
“What do you want me to do, Sir? I don’t have $10,000. There isn’t any way I can get it today.”
He condescendingly tapped her cheek twice and stepped back. He chuckled. “See how much nicer it is when you behave. We will get along beautifully.”
He strode back around her desk and sat himself in her chair, and motioned for her to take one of the opposite chairs. She held the word she wanted to say behind her teeth and did her best to appear to be respectful as she sat.
“You were at the Dark Sons’ compound last night.”
“How do you know that?”
“That is of little matter. Which one of the Brothers are you sleeping with? They’ve been a lot pickier this last year about who they let in for their parties. So you had to have an invitation.”
What did he want from the Dark Sons?
“I wasn’t invited there by a guy. The Old Ladies come here for classes. One of them invited me.” It was the truth, and she didn’t want to share that she might have a more personal connection.
“You left their compound but didn’t go home last night.”
Terror and protectiveness churned her stomach. How could he possibly know that? His information wasn’t complete, but she didn’t want to guess at how much he did know.
She stuck as close to the truth as she could without putting Hannibal and Ink in danger. It was a risk, but she had to try.
“I had some drinks and hooked up with some guy. I don’t know if he was a Brother or not. I don’t remember his name.”
He didn’t appear to be happy, but he also didn’t look like he didn’t believe her. It took all her self-restraint not to sag in relief.
“Do you think you can get back into the compound tonight?”
