Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“You think you can walk in here and pull this shit?” I hiss, my voice low but deadly. My gaze sweeps over the remaining men. “You should’ve known better. Touch me, and we start a fucking war. Over what?” I jerk my chin at Lazar. “This fucker?”
The man in my grip is shaking now, his cane slipping from his grasp. He doesn’t dare to even make eye contact with me. “Tell them what happens when people fuck with me,” I snarl.
His breath stutters. “We didn’t— We didn’t know—”
“No?” I dig the barrel of the gun harder against his temple. “You know now.”
The tension hangs in the air like a blade. One wrong move, and they’re done. It’ll be their last.
“Get your people the fuck out of here,” I command. “Before you give me a reason to finish this.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” he says, nodding. “We’ll leave now. Everyone out!”
At my glare, they scramble to obey. I don’t lower the gun until the last of them is out the door.
Anya stares at me when they’re gone, her lower lip trembling.
“Well, that was intense.”
I give her a grim smile. “Welcome to my world, queen. Let’s go. You have the electronics packed?”
She nods wordlessly. “Yeah. In a bag in the room.”
I blow out a breath and pull out my phone to give Rafail a quick update. I slide my gun away.
For now.
“You need anything else, take it now. Oh, and Anya?”
She pauses, her eyes wide as she stares at me with something like newfound respect. Or is it fear?
“We’re taking that pink duvet home.”
Chapter 18
ANYA
Matvei meets us in the kitchen when we arrive back in The Cottage. He’s sitting at the table, dunking large cookies into a glass of milk across from Stefan, who imitates him. His eyes are wide as he watches the huge, obviously powerful man sitting across from him. I imagine Stefan feels he’s met a real-life superhero.
Ha. Little does he know.
But something about the wild look in Matvei’s eyes makes me put my hand on Stefan’s shoulder.
Matvei smirks. It doesn’t make me feel any better.
“You find what you needed?” Matvei asks Semyon.
“That and a little extra bonus,” Semyon says with a wry smile. I cringe, frozen in place at the idea of Stefan knowing what happened with my father back there.
I can still feel the tight grip on my heart when Semyon defended me and promised to hurt my father. I half wish for just a moment that he was around when my father hurt my mother.
No. That would’ve been terrible.
Gloriously vindictive but terrible.
Maybe then I wouldn’t have felt the need to blame him for my mother’s death. I close my eyes when a rush of emotions chokes me.
Sometimes it feels like a betrayal to my mother to forgive him so quickly. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe I misjudged.
Semyon looks at Stefan and then back to Matvei. “I’ll fill you in later.” He hands the computer and mobile over to Matvei, whose eyes instantly light up with excitement, grinning like a kid handed his dream toy. Matvei leaps from the table and hurries to a barstool by the kitchen counter, practically bouncing on his feet. He eagerly arranges his setup, not wanting to waste a minute.
“We’ve been busy,” Stefan says with a belabored sigh. I pinch my lips together and nod sagely. “She made me peel potatoes and carrots and wouldn’t give me any cookies until I’d eaten a bowl of soup.” He makes a face.
Zoya smiles at him from the stove, where she stirs a large pot. “Oh, I know, I’m so mean. You only asked for seconds to be polite, right?”
Her eyes twinkle at my brother, making my heart ache.
God, I’m so damn wound up.
“It’s good for you,” Semyon tells Stefan while looking over Matvei’s shoulder. “Manual labor puts hair on your chest.”
When Stefan takes a surreptitious look under his shirt, I stifle a snort.
Matvei stares at the screen, Semyon looking on. “Motherfu—” Semyon backhands Matvei, who quickly shuts up. Stefan stares wide-eyed.
“Sorry, yeah. Listen, I’m going to need way more time with this. These are heavily encrypted,” Matvei says, shaking his head. “But something tells me—no. No, I won’t say anything until I know.”
I stare, my belly sinking to my toes. “Days?” I lick my dry lips. “But if—if my brother’s in any danger, I—”
“I’m fine,” Stefan says with a grin, taking another cookie from the plate in the middle of the table. Oh, thank god he’s young and self-focused enough he didn’t consider the fact that my brother meant anyone but him. I don’t want him to know anything about Eli. Not now.
But for some reason, my eyes are watery, and my throat feels tight.
“Anya,” Semyon says gently, his icy-blue eyes behind his glasses fixed on me. “I know you want all the information you can get immediately. But I promise, he can’t be in any immediate danger. If they’re using him as leverage, they’ll need him healthy. He may be uncomfortable for a little while, but he’ll live.”