Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Leah
The door slammed, the loud sound of it making me jump.
Crying out, I fell onto the chair and curled into myself.
My breath came out in rasping gasps, almost like I was going into shock, which made a lot of sense.
With everything that had just happened, it was a miracle that I wasn’t already a hysterical mess.
I was close, though, I could feel it bubbling up inside my chest. A knot that was getting tighter and tighter.
Had that really happened, or had this just been one big nightmare?
Dion had been right, I’d been working too hard.
I’d thrown myself into work to get away from the grief of losing Alek so suddenly.
Closing my eyes I shook my head. “Fuck you, Alek,” I muttered to the empty room. Even though there was no one around to hear me, it didn’t matter to me.
Fuck Alek. I’d loved him once, part of me would always love him, but this was so him. He acted without thinking of the consequences. It was one of the reasons I’d ended things.
I didn’t want to be poor for the rest of my life. I wanted to go back to school and learn something useful. Dion and I had made plans to open our own business. We didn’t know what doing yet, but we had plans of pulling ourselves out of the gutter.
Alek had those dreams as well, but he was the kind of guy who always wanted a short cut. And it had gotten him killed. Deep down, I’d always been suspicious of his accident, and now those suspicions were breaking into my home in expensive suits and smelling delicious.
Fuck. Had Viktor killed him? No, that didn’t make sense. Viktor wanted his money, and dead men couldn’t pay up. Of course that didn’t mean Alek hadn’t crossed some other dangerous people.
How many more would come looking for their cash at my door? Was I in danger? Yes, a voice seemed to scream in my head. Viktor was dangerous. I’d known that the moment I had first seen him.
Men who looked like him, dressed like him, and talked like him always were. It was part of their charm. Except Viktor didn’t have charm, he had an animal magnetism that was impossible to deny. I had felt it when he had pinned me to the door with his hand flexing around my throat.
He was a man who always got what he wanted, he had said so himself. The kind of man who demanded obedience. And he was coming for me next. Alek’s debt was now somehow mine, and I hated him for it.
“Damn you, Alek,” I growled out to the empty room. “What the hell have you got into this time?” I asked, but I knew there was no one to answer me. I probably should have asked Viktor when he was here, but really I wasn’t sure he would have answered me.
Viktor wanted his money, but I had a sneaky suspicion that he wanted me more. Something about me intrigued him. Or was it me who was intrigued about him .
The thought was a sobering one. I knew I had a type: dangerous and bad for me. Walking red flags, and Viktor was a screaming scarlet. He couldn’t be any more of a red flag if he tried, so of course, I was attracted to him.
It didn’t hurt that he was gorgeous, but it was more than his looks. It was the feel of his fingers around my throat, and the gravelly tone of his voice. The way my body wanted to obey everything he said, just so he would be happy with me.
And why was I thinking about how he made my legs weak just from those small touches, when I should be thinking about how I was going to get his money.
I could work another job, I thought to myself, and inwardly I sobbed.
Realistically, I had the time, but that’s only if I gave up things like eating and sleeping, and I already didn’t have enough of those things.
Even if I could, there was absolutely nothing I could do that would give me over a hundred grand in three days.
I glanced at the clock, make that two and a half days now. I had been sitting and thinking about my options for a long time.
Run?
Also a no, I didn’t have the funds to run away, and even if I did, Viktor would find me.
Men like him didn’t just let that kind of money go. It would be bad for business, which left me with one option. Give him what he wanted. Me.
Could I do that? Sell myself to clear a debt that wasn’t even mine? Give my body to a darkly handsome man who wanted to use me. I squirmed as the thoughts of how he would feel between my legs made my core clench tight.
There was something seriously wrong with me because I shouldn’t want Viktor. He should terrify me, and he did, but that just made him hotter .
What would he feel like between my thighs? Would he be gentle or harsh?
Would he take what he wanted and leave me unsatisfied?
There was only one way to find out, and it would make all my problems go away.
But could I really do it?
Sighing, I reached for my phone.
“What’s happened? Why aren’t you asleep, Leah?” Dion answered after the first ring, which was surprising because we weren’t meant to have our phones on us at work.
“Nothing’s wrong.” I lied.
“But you decided to call when you should be asleep.” Dion knew me well. Sometimes, I thought he might know me better than I knew myself. We both had dark secrets in our past, things we were trying to move away from and forget. He just did it better than I did.
“Tell me what’s wrong, Leah,” he said softly, and in the background I could hear the sound of the bell over the door tinkle and a deep voice ask for gas.
A deep Russian voice.
My heart slammed into my throat, and I made a choking noise. It couldn’t be right? Viktor wouldn’t go back? What reason would he have?
There was more than one Russian in this neighbourhood. Hell, there were more than a hundred.
And every single one of them probably had ties to Viktor, a small mocking voice said in my head.
“Well, that was strange.” I could almost see Dion shake his head through the phone. I didn’t answer. “Leah, are you there?”
“I’m here.” My voice shook, and this time I couldn’t hide it.
“Leah, love.” Dion’s voice dropped down a few octaves, almost like he was whispering so that he wouldn’t be overheard. “What’s going on? Did something happen?” It dropped even lower. “Did you see the car again?”
Lie. A quiet voice said, and it strangely sounded like Viktor’s. Lie, otherwise I’ll have to go after him as well, and you wouldn’t want that, would you?
I could almost see the mocking cock of his head as he said it, the way a knowing smile played across his lips.
Even in my imagination, he was a domineering asshole.
“No.” I cleared my throat and lied, and just like that, I made my decision. I couldn’t put the people I cared about in danger, and I couldn’t pay Viktor back. The only thing I had of worth was my body.
Would I break something inside me to sell myself like that? Yes, but what other choice did I have?
I knew what Dion would say, he would tell me to go to the police, but I couldn’t do that either.
My hands were well and truly tied.
“No,” I said stronger than before. “Nothing happened. I think I just freaked myself out for no reason. You’re right, Dion,” I sighed. “I’ve been working too hard, and I don’t think I’ve dealt with Alek’s death.”
Silence met my words.
“I think— I think his accident—”
“Wasn’t an accident at all,” Dion cut in. And I sucked in a hissing breath.
“What do you mean? Of course, it was an accident.” I frowned. Why did my voice sound so defensive?
“He got hit by a car, Dion.”
“But the driver didn’t stop. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, Leah, and then when you said about the dude from earlier—”
My lips twitched. What would Viktor think about being called a dude?
“Alek had no reason to be in that neighbourhood, Leah. It’s known for, well, it’s not exactly the posh end of town.”
“We aren’t exactly in the affluent part either,” I reminded him.
“No, but that area is bad. There are rumors.” His voice dropped to a whisper, and my heart sped up.
“What kind of rumors?”
“That he got in with a seriously bad crowd. That he was running drugs for them.”
My sigh was loud. That sounded like Alek. Always looking for an easy way to make money. I hated to speak ill of the dead, but Alek was a complete nightmare. Not even dying seemed to have changed that.
“That sounds about right.”
“Rumor is he stole some—”
I fell back against the cushions and pinched the bridge of my nose. And there it was. The reason for the debt. My darling of an ex boyfriend had stolen drugs from the Bratva, and now they were knocking on my door for the money.
“I want you to be careful, Leah. Don’t go anywhere alone and lock your doors, ok?”
“Ok,” I said in a small voice. “But I don’t think—”
Again, he cut me off. “I’m probably being paranoid, but I love you like a sister, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’ll come right over after work.”
How could I tell him that it was already too late. Alek’s stupidity had already brought danger to my door in the shape of a tall, older man with a growly voice and the kind of touch that no woman should want, but I did?
How did I tell my best friend that it was already too late for me?
“Chinese food?”
His question took me by surprise, and I blinked rapidly. “It’s my turn to cook or order.”
“My treat,” Dion said smoothly. “Saves you going out again today. I have to go, a delivery just arrived. I’ll see you about six, ok? Love you.”
“Love you, too,” I whispered, but the line was already dead. Tossing the phone back onto the table, I sighed.
Dion was worried about me going out alone, when he didn’t really need to be. Danger wasn’t waiting for me out on the streets. It had been waiting for me right here in my own home.
“Damn you, Alek,” I muttered into the suddenly quiet room. “Damn you to fucking hell for getting yourself killed.” My eyes closed. “If you weren’t already dead, I would kill you.”
Standing, I flipped down onto the threadbare sofa and pulled the throw over myself. I let my thoughts drift. I was tired, exhausted, and wrung out, and I didn’t know how much more I could take without sleep.
It came quickly, but it wasn’t Alek’s face I saw when I drifted off. It wasn’t even everything I had just been though. There was only one thing on my mind when I slipped into unconsciousness.
And that was Viktor.
More specifically, how he would feel when he slipped between my thighs and pushed into me for the first time? What kind of woman did that make me? A fucked up one, that was what.
My core clenched, a tight knot deep in my body. Would he be a gentle lover? No, that didn’t seem like Viktor at all. There was nothing gentle about him. He was all power, all the time, and part of me knew that he would be like that in the bedroom, masculine, demanding, fucking dominating.
Half asleep, I gave a whimper. Would he even care if I came? Or would he be all about his own pleasure and forget mine? Would he take my body and give me nothing but freedom from my ex’s debt?
I didn’t know, but I knew I didn’t have long to find out.
In three days time Viktor would be back to claim me, and I would find out then just what kind of lover he was.