The Debt (Sordid Debt Duet #1)

Chapter Fifteen

Jarek

The luxurious estate of Gregor Polov, Berkeley Lake…

For long, terse moments, Jarek returned Gregor Polov’s stare. The Bratva Pakhan’s cold assessment and that he might find Jarek wanting didn’t bother him, especially not with the feeling of hate surging through him as they finally stood face to face.

Jarek’s fingers flexed. One quick move and he could end Polov’s life. The old man’s throat would crush like paper under his grip. The fantasy blazed bright, then dimmed—a quick death was too merciful.

The rich aromas of borscht and fresh-baked bread didn’t register. Even the crystal chandeliers, the gleaming silver, and the priceless artwork dimmed to the background as the silent stare-down continued.

Polov’s steel-gray eyes narrowed as Jarek met his gaze with equal intensity. They were two predators sizing each other up, neither prepared to show weakness. The air crackled with an unspoken challenge.

Rein yourself in. Remember, he has to suffer. Not momentarily, but for a very long time to come.

The mantra pulsed in time with the beat of his heart and managed to cool his raw fury into strategic purpose.

“Jarek?”

He blinked and turned his eyes to her. The shock on Tatiana’s face cut through his hatred like a blade. She was different from Polov, very different, and if he had retained one iota of the man he used to be, he wouldn’t have involved her. Perhaps even now, end the facade… but there was no turning back. That man, the generously emphatic Dr. Farrel, didn’t exist anymore. He shoved the twinge of guilt down without further thought. Now wasn’t the time to show remorse. The game was set, and if it was the last thing he ever did, it would be played out to the end.

“Mr. Polov.” Jarek’s voice remained steady despite the rage churning beneath. “Thank you for having me.”

“Having you?” Tatiana looked between the two men. “What the hell is going on here, Dedushka ?”

Gregor shrugged. “I believe this is the man you claim you fell in love with, yes?”

Tatiana’s cheeks bloomed under Jarek’s stare, but it didn’t move him in the least. He already knew what she felt, even though she didn’t realize it.

“The question is how you know who he is.” She shook off the embarrassment as she frowned at her grandfather.

Jarek pushed his hands inside his pockets, thoroughly enjoying the sight of her eyes spitting fire at a man who was feared all over Atlanta and the South Coast.

“I contacted your grandfather, love.” Jarek smiled engagingly as her head snapped around. “It was time to put an end to his idiotic idea of you marrying an old man. It was putting a damper on our relationship moving forward.” He looked at Polov, unconcerned at the anger flashing in his eyes. “After all, this isn’t the medieval ages.”

“Are you calling me an idiot?” Polov barely managed to spit out the words.

“As the saying goes, if the shoe fits…”

“How dare you come into my house and insult—”

“Why don’t you introduce me to your young man, darling?” Elizabeth interrupted Polov with a gentle hand on his arm and a bright smile at Jarek. He wasn’t fooled. Behind her blinding pearly whites, he detected a steely resolve that would stand up even to the feared Pakhan should the need arise.

“ Babushka , this is Jarek Farrel. Jarek, this is my grandma, Elizabeth Polov.” She gestured at the man by her side. “And I believe you already know my grandfather, Gregor Polov.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” he said with a gentle smile as he shook Elizabeth’s hand. His eyes turned glacial when he turned to Gregor. Still, he politely held out his hand. “We haven’t had the pleasure to officially meet, apart from a very short phone call.”

Polov didn’t move but continued to scowl at Jarek.

“ Dedushka? ” Tatiana squeezed her grandfather’s arm. “You invited him here. Are you going to be a hospitable host?” She blinked once, as if silently begging him to take her feelings into account.

“Farrel,” Polov shook his hand stiffly, then immediately sat back down. “Let’s eat. The food is already cold.”

Jarek took his seat beside Tatiana. He watched with amusement as Polov stabbed at his borscht with barely contained fury. The old man’s pride had taken a hit, and his knuckles were white around his soup spoon. Every few seconds, Polov’s eyes would dart to him, as if trying to place where he might have seen him before, but he wouldn’t—Jarek had been thorough in erasing all traces of his past.

“So, Mr. Farrel,” Elizabeth’s melodic voice cut through the tension. “Tell us about your work.”

“I guess you could call me an entrepreneur.” He sampled the soup, allowing genuine appreciation to show. “In short, I’m an investor, a collector and seller of rare art, and owner of a statewide import-export company.” Jarek didn’t miss Polov’s sudden interest.

“That sounds like quite the achievement. We should talk about art sometime.” She gestured at the paintings adorning the walls. “I, too, am a collector of rare pieces. And your family, where are—”

“Actually,” Jarek interrupted smoothly as he took Tatiana’s hand. The movement drew all attention away from dangerous territory. “Did Tatiana tell you about our visit to Six Flags?”

Tatiana's face lit up exactly as he’d known it would. He had studied her reactions for months and knew how to manipulate her emotions with careful precision. The genuine joy in her eyes should have made him feel guilty. Instead, he felt nothing.

“Ah, yes. The Big Dipper.” She squeezed his fingers. “It was so much fun but also terrifying.”

He played his role perfectly, bringing her hand to his lips. “You screamed the whole way down.”

“I warned you I had a fear of heights.” Her laughter rang through the room. “And yes, I was scared… a little.”

“A little? The entire park heard you.” He threw in a besotted look for good measure, watching from his peripheral vision as Polov’s scowl softened at his apparent affection.

The rest of the meal passed in carefully orchestrated domesticity. Jarek played the attentive suitor, hanging on Tatiana’s every word while touching her with noted tenderness. When she blushed, he smiled. When she joked, he laughed. It was a perfect performance.

“Do you remember when you were ten?” Elizabeth beamed at Tatiana. “Standing on your grandfather’s desk, boldly announcing your presidential campaign?”

Polov finally relaxed enough to join in. “She had a whole speech prepared, fully intending to change the world.’” He chuckled as the wine and memories mellowed his earlier anger.

Jarek wasn’t fooled by the change. Deep down, he would always be a cruel, murdering bastard.

“She still does.” Jarek raised his glass. A hint of his true self surfaced as his eyes darkened. “Some of us spend our whole lives working toward change. Watching. Waiting. Planning. Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Polov?”

“Indeed.” The old man just nodded, missing the steel beneath the velvet. He didn’t recognize the wolf at his table. Not yet.

Jarek sipped his wine as he savored the moment. Soon enough, Polov would understand exactly who he had invited into his home. Soon enough, he would remember the innocent people and the family he had killed in a territorial war two decades ago.

For now, Jarek would play his part—the perfect suitor, the successful businessman, and the man in love.

“Really, Gregor?” Elizabeth’s lips thinned as Polov’s phone shattered the dinner conversation. “At the table?”

Polov’s face relaxed as he checked the caller ID. “I have to take this.” He got up quickly and walked out of the room. Elizabeth’s disapproving sigh followed him into the hallway.

Jarek lifted his wine glass and took a sip to hide his smile behind the rim. He’d been waiting for this call.

“ Blyat’ !” Polov’s voice thundered from the hall. “How the fuck did that happen?”

Tatiana flinched at her grandfather’s tone. Elizabeth murmured an apology, but Jarek was focused entirely on the unfolding drama. Each word was music to his ears.

“My offer was above the asking price. No one else would pay that much!” Polov’s heavy footsteps paced the marble floors in the hallway. “Who? What do you mean you can’t tell me? I don’t give a fuck about closed corporations and confidentiality agreements!”

Jarek savored a bite of his beef stroganoff. Satisfaction at listening to Polov’s control cracking warmed him better than any wine or meal could. The deed for Cherokee Sunrise Casino Resort had been transferred to one of his shell companies just forty-eight hours ago. Paid with three hundred million in cash, untraceable through a web of offshore accounts. The old man had never seen it coming.

“First Boston Finance fucked me over, then I lost the shipping routes, and now this?” Something crashed against a wall. Elizabeth closed her eyes as her lips moved in what might be a silent prayer. “Find the fuck out who’s behind this, Ivor. I don’t care what it costs.”

Jarek watched Polov’s shadow pace past the doorway as he savored his reaction. It had taken years, but now, he was finally dismantling Polov’s empire… piece by piece. The casino was the perfect cover for Jarek’s own operations, just as Polov had intended for himself.

Poetic justice at its finest.

“Just do it and do it quickly before I lose anything else.” Polov’s voice cracked with fury, then silence fell. His heavy footsteps approached.

Jarek schooled his features into polite concern as Polov reentered with his face flushed and his tie askew. His hands shook as he reached for his drink.

“Bad news, Dedushka ?” Tatiana asked tentatively.

“Business,” Polov growled, downing his drink in one go. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

But there was plenty to worry about, Jarek knew as he watched Polov pour another shot. The mighty Pakhan was unraveled. Three major deals collapsed in as many months, millions in forward losses, and his reputation was taking hit after hit. And amid it all, he still had no idea that the architect of his destruction was sitting at his dinner table, courting his granddaughter.

“More wine, Mr. Polov?” Jarek offered innocently as he lifted the crystal decanter.

Polov grunted as he pushed his glass forward. Jarek’s hands trembled slightly with suppressed triumph as he poured the wine.

Soon enough, Polov would understand. Soon enough, he would know what it felt like to lose everything. But for now, Jarek would watch him drown his sorrows, knowing every sip brought them closer to the final act of his revenge.

Tatiana

Two weeks later, Sovereign Residences, Peachtree Road, Buckhead, Atlanta…

The morning sun trailed lazy shadows over the couple lying entwined on the massive bed. Tatiana traced gentle circles on Jarek’s chest as she watched the play of light across his face. These quiet moments were her favorite—when the world was still waking, and it felt like they were the only two people in existence.

The two-and-a-half months they had been together seemed both like an eternity and a heartbeat. She smiled as memories of special moments flashed through her mind like a movie reel.

Visions of moonlight walks while eating ice cream as they strolled through Piedmont Park. Watching indie films at the Plaza Theatre, where they sat in the back like teenagers, making out, purely because she had confided in him that she had never done it when she was young.

Images of the trip to the secluded waterfall flooded her mind. Jarek had led her down a hidden trail with a secretive smile playing on his lips. The crystal-clear pool had taken her breath away, but it was the heat in his eyes as he’d slowly undressed her that made her heart race even now. They’d swum naked in the cool water as his hands constantly found excuses to brush against her skin until she was trembling with need. He had carried her to a sun-warmed rock, laying her down beneath the cloudless sky, and worshipped her body with his mouth and hands, taking his time until she was writhing beneath him, begging for more. When he finally joined their bodies, the tenderness in his eyes had brought tears to hers.

Even their scenes at The Pearl Icon had transcended. Master Hades still commanded her submission, but there was an underlying current of affection that hadn’t been there before. He would bind her with silk ropes, creating intricate patterns across her skin, but now he would press gentle kisses to each knot. When he pushed her to her limits, it was with whispered words of praise and encouragement.

“The night he blindfolded me and spent hours teasing me with ice and hot wax will always be one of my most treasured memories,” she murmured to herself.

Even when the scenes were intense, leaving her marked and sated, he never let the darkness fully take over. His control was absolute, but it was wrapped in tenderness that left her feeling cherished rather than just possessed.

But there were other moments, too. Times when darkness clouded his eyes and turned him distant and cold. She had caught him many times staring at nothing with his jaw clenched and his hands fisted at his sides.

He scares me when he’s like that, but luckily, it passes quickly.

Jarek stirred beneath her touch. His eyes opened, immediately alert in that way she’d noticed he always woke. The words he uttered were like ice water over her skin. She had known it was coming, but she wasn’t ready for it.

“I need to return to Boston soon.”

“I don’t know how I’ll sleep without you in my bed,” she whispered, fighting back tears. Tatiana swallowed hard against the tightness in her throat. How had she let herself become so vulnerable? She was usually the one in control, keeping others at arm’s length. Yet here she was, fighting tears at the thought of him leaving.

I am stronger than this. Man up, Tatiana. It’s too soon to take the relationship to the next level, especially since I still know so little about him.

Jarek was an enigma wrapped in contradictions. One moment, he’d be playful and open, surprising her with impromptu dance lessons in the kitchen, and the next, he’d retreat behind an impenetrable wall as his eyes grew distant as if he was seeing ghosts. He deflected questions about his past with practiced ease or answered with carefully curated details that revealed nothing of substance.

She had tried to piece together his story over their months together. His company, Deluxe Enterprises Incorporated, was legitimate and thriving, but sometimes, she overheard glimpses of conversations about other business dealings that seemed to exist in shadows. He spoke multiple languages fluently but never mentioned where he had learned them. The scars on his body told tales of violence that he never bothered to explain.

Most telling were the nightmares. She had woken several times to find him rigid beside her, muttering incoherently with his face contorted in pain. But when she tried to comfort him, he brushed it off with a kiss and a change of subject.

One night, she had whispered, “I love you,” after he had fallen asleep, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them when he was awake. She was terrified of shattering whatever fragile thread was between them. For all his tenderness, for all the passion they shared, she sensed there was a part of him that remained forever guarded and forever out of reach.

The few times she had tried to breach those walls, his eyes had turned to steel, and that frightening coldness seeped in. It was as if two different men lived within him. One who held her so gently and the one who sometimes looked through her with eyes that had seen too much darkness.

“I woke up with the same thought, love. You’ve become my beacon in the darkness these past two months.”

She traced her fingers over his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat beneath her palm as his words settled in her mind.

“Darkness? Is that how you see our lives together?”

“No, love.” His expression became closed off. “It was a reference to the darkness of night.”

Tatiana sighed at his response. Sometimes, she caught him watching her with an intensity that made her shiver, as if he was memorizing every detail of her face. Was it love she saw in those moments or something else entirely?

How much of himself did he keep locked away from me? Will he ever trust me enough to let me in? I wonder if he’ll ever admit he loves me.

Reading what he was feeling was nearly impossible. She had to bide her time.

As the saying goes, all good things come to those who wait.

She forced a smile. “How long will you be gone?”

He cupped her cheek to brush away a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen. The tenderness was back in his eyes and chased away the shadows her mind had conjured up.

“I have a business to run, love. There are certain aspects I need to stay on top of, which I can’t do from a distance. I can’t stay here indefinitely, no matter how much I don’t want to leave.” He smiled gently. “But I will be back for short visits. There’s no way I’d be able to stay away for too long.”

“And what if we eventually get married? How are we going to overcome the distance?”

“Let’s not worry about that now. Time is precious, and I’m not going to spend the little we have left before I leave on what-ifs.” His lips silenced further discussion as he kissed her passionately.

She wished there were more of those little snippets when he lowered his guard and showed her the man behind the carefully controlled exterior. Those were the moments that made her fall deeper in love with him.

But even as he made love to her, she wondered if she would ever truly know all of him.