Chapter Six #2
“I don’t. Not for Henry Miller, anyways. I had some of my men try to track him down, but there’s no sign of him. His record looks clean, but it might have been tampered with.”
His record has to be altered. If he wasn’t the real spy at the docks the night I took Elena, we’re back at square one. “Why’re you here, then?”
He tilts his head to the basement door. “The girl. Elena. Artem told me she’s not tied to the mafia or any other organizations. Her friends and family are also looking for her.”
I think I know where this is going. “So?”
“We can’t keep her any longer.”
“You want me to free her so she can go straight to the police?” I ask, keeping my voice low.
“Not that.” He pauses as if considering whether to say his next words or not. “It doesn’t matter whether or not she’s a witness. But one thing’s for certain—she’s a liability, and we can’t let her get into the wrong hands.”
“You’re suggesting I keep her?” I ask, because that’s what I’m already considering, and if everyone else agrees, it won’t be obvious that I’m attracted to her.
“I suggest we kill her.”
A wave of violent rage crashes into me. My hands curl into fists, my teeth clenching so hard my jaw aches.
“Don’t you dare say that again,” I snarl.
“She’s mine, and I’ll kill anyone who touches even a single strand of her hair.
Tell the others I said so. Rather than blab like an idiot about killing a random woman, find out who’s behind this mess and why Elena was dragged into it. ”
For the first time in his life, Mikhail is stunned into silence. He tries to hide it, but I can see the shock on his face. The only person I’ve ever protected this much is Tatiana.
I don’t wait for him to get his thoughts in order. If I wait for him to speak, he’ll just say something new to piss me off and I’ll probably snap his neck before I even realize it. Turning away from him, I walk into the basement and slam the door behind me.
Elena is still by the window, staring outside like a little bird longing to spread its wings and fly.
“What are you looking at?” I ask. My voice is still rough from my conversation with Mikhail. I’ve never fought with my cousin like that. While I might not agree with his mode of operation sometimes, our ideas are usually in sync.
But with Elena, everything’s different. It’s strange because it’s only been a couple of days since I met her, but she has a hold over me that I can’t explain.
Even without bowing at my feet like most women I’ve been with, she has me wrapped around her little finger already, and she doesn’t even know it.
“How far is it from this room to the front gate?” she asks without even turning around to look at me.
“About fifteen minutes’ walk, depending on how quick and long your strides are.” Given her height, I believe it’ll take her a few minutes longer. “Are you thinking of escaping?”
She finally moves away from the window and spins around to face me. Even in the oversized pajamas with her hair in a messy bun, she still manages to take my breath away.
Her green eyes bore into mine, searching for something, and her plump pink lips are slightly parted. The image of her naked body pressed against mine the other night flashes in my head.
Yebat.
I still remember the softness of her breasts against my chest, and how my whole body tensed as I struggled to restrain myself from touching her. When she realized the towel had fallen off her body and gasped, I imagined her moaning into my ears as I fucked her.
The memories are torturous.
“To escape, I’d have to find a way to kill you first,” she says, looking straight at me.
There’s a flicker of fear in her eyes, and it blends perfectly with the defiance in them.
“Then I’ll make a run for it and pray none of those other sickos you work with notice you’re nothing but a decomposing corpse before I make it to the gate. ”
Amusement rises in my chest.
Christ, that mouth of hers.
“Then?”
“Then I’ll report you and your minions to the cops and make sure you never get a proper funeral.”
A yacht charter manager? Scratch that, she’s better off working as an enforcer in the mafia with how ruthless her words are.
She’s braver that most men I’ve seen. Most of them cower in my presence, but this small, fragile-looking woman dares to plot my murder right in front of me.
I snort. “Is that supposed to scare me?”
She folds her arms across her chest and shrugs. “I don’t know. Is it working?”
A chuckle rumbles in my chest. I cross the room, making my way over to her. She instinctively steps backward, but I take that as an invitation to inch closer.
“Just so you know, this entire house is surrounded by my men. If you try to escape, you’d be dead before you even make it out the front door.”
Fear bleeds into those green pools, consuming whatever defiance there was in them. Still, she refuses to back down. “I don’t care as long as you’re dead, too.”
I scoff and press my fingers to her jaw, then tilt her head so she’s forced to look into my eyes. “I’m not that easy to kill. Men have tried. Men who are stronger and more powerful than you could ever be.”
“Has a woman ever tried?” She gives me lopsided smile. “I don’t need to be brave or powerful. I just need to make a perfect plan.”
“And how do you plan to do that, ptichka? I ask. The pent-up frustration and anger I feel at this entire situation are slowly turning into a deep ache for her. I don’t fight for self-control this time.
Instead, I tighten my grip around her neck and pull her closer.
“By seducing me? Is that why you had your towel slip?”
Her breath hitches and her cheeks turn red with heat. “You fucking animal.” She sneers at me. “I’d fuck a log of wood before I ever let you touch me.”
“Is that so?” I grin, lowering my face to hers. I’m intoxicated by her scent and the way she bites her lip when I bring our faces only about half an inch apart. “Let’s find out.”
I crash my lips against hers.
Elena freezes for a moment, locking her jaw even as her fingers curl around the collar of my shirt.
I groan at the resistance I meet before pushing my tongue into her mouth and kissing her like a feral animal who’s been starved for far too long.
She moans into my mouth, and then she begins to kiss me back slowly. I feel her rise up to her tiptoes before she wraps her arms around my neck.
Deepening our kiss, I wrap my arms around her waist and instinctively reach for her ass cheeks, squeezing them. They’re soft.
My cock throbs painfully in my pants, every cell in me yearning to know what being inside her feels like. My obsession burns through my veins like electricity, and before I know it, I have her pinned against the wall.
Fuck!
I’m almost far too gone before I realize what I’m doing.
Elena’s my prisoner, and as much as the thought of her makes me want to lose my mind, I shouldn’t be doing this. Intimacy is a recipe for disaster, one I should be avoiding at all costs, not diving into headfirst.
A pang of regret hits me as I pull away from her.
She’s breathing hard, gasping for air. Her lips are red from the intensity of our kiss, and the anger I saw in her eyes earlier has completely vanished.
She’s seeped into me like venom, flooding my bloodstream and spreading through my chest until I’m entirely consumed by her.
I’ve survived enemies. Bullets. Betrayals. Wars.
But Elena…
She might be the thing that finally destroys me.