Chapter Nine - Akim
I can smell fear seeping from her pores as I stand in the middle of her doorway. She made a big mistake by talking to me on the phone for so long. The longer I kept her on the line, the more time it gave me and my security team to trace the cell tower where she contacted me from.
Bad, bad move. And she made an even bigger mistake by returning to her townhouse apartment. The same place she’s been living in with her father for all her childhood.
She should have thought about skipping town before she called with her demands. I almost want to teach her how to be wicked. But this game is fun enough for me. More than anything, I’m both amused and impressed with the lengths she’s willing to go to, in order to save her father’s hide. Her sense of honor reminds me of the brotherhood of the Bratva.
What Kiara didn’t understand is just as I have the resources and the means to get her father out of jail, I also have those same tools at my disposal to track her down.
It pays to have an Omerta File on deck to keep the right people silent, bought and in place for when I require them. She might have locked her location on her phone, but the Bratva technology is too smart for her. It’s too bad, I would have enjoyed taking our little phone game further. The rest of my research was provided directly from the internet.
All I had to do was find her father, and it led me to the photos of Kiara and enough information for me to put two and two together. Another reckless move by her, but nothing shocked and angered me more than when I stumbled upon her college photo and Boris matched her up to the woman who entered my bar on the wrong night.
“Isn’t that her? I don’t forget a face, Boss. I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah. Kiara. Or should it be her alter ego, Ana Benito?” A deep yearning I haven’t experienced for years rumbled inside me as I stared at her photo, and that feeling has me intrigued, no matter how much part of me wants to kill her.
This being the same mystery woman who led me into a prison of dark infatuation since meeting her. I’ve had numerous dreams about her, but it’s a good thing I haven’t had to go searching for her. She found herself crawling towards me.
Kiara Jane. Her face was clear of makeup, the innocent sparkle in her crystal blue eyes giving her a special appeal. Her long honey-caramel hair hung straight, her face displaying similar inherited features from her father. Michael Jane’s daughter—a hidden beauty falling right into my trap. It makes all the sense in the world as to why she sat at the bar alone.
I was Kiara Jane’s target all along.
“How the hell did you get in here?” Her raspy question brings me a dirty type of joy. Winking at her, I run a hand through my slicked-back hair with a chuckle.
“Shouldn’t bother you. You called me, remember?”
She shoots me a cautious glance, but even in her fearful state, she holds her head high, impressing me even more.
“I called you because I want you to get my father out of jail. You framed him. That request didn’t include invading my home.” Looking past her, I take note of the small suitcase on wheels down the hallway.
I nod to it. “Going somewhere?” Silence hangs in the air as her cheeks bloom red. I’ve put her in a losing position, and there’s no way out. Stepping closer, I keep my eyes on her, but she only repeats the question back to me.
“How did you get in here?” It’s clear she overshot her mark. My fingers twitch near my gun, but I quickly abandon that idea. I’ve got far superior plans for Michael Jane’s savior of a daughter.
“I think the better question is why you thought you would be able to escape the Bratva.”
Her blue eyes pulse with the fury of the ocean on a stormy day as she stares me down. “Escape? You got my father into this, and he’s done everything for you and your corrupt organization! You trapped him in this contract and now you want him to take the fall? What—you don’t have enough control over Chicago already?” she rants, her face twisting up with anger.
Exchanging a glance with Boris, I chuckle, finding her cute and adorable in anger. “Yes, we want him to take the fall. He shouldn’t have signed the agreement, and that agreement, darling, is why your father can afford to keep a roof over your head on the good side of town,” I threaten.
“You’re the worst kind of people.” Her eyes well with the tears of defeat, but I feel nothing that speaks of remorse, only lust and opportunity. She’s a nuisance at this point, and needs to be dealt with, however.
“I guess all the talk on the phone got me hot under the collar. I thought it better we meet in person for the second time.” Flummoxed, she glimpses behind her quickly, as I close in on her. She’s got no room for movement. All my men have her only exit blocked. I already checked the balcony and the possibility of her scaling the wall to get out are slim to none.
“I’m going to call the cops if you don’t back off.” She whips out her cell phone, but I still don’t reach for my gun, but one of my associates does instead.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he warns. I want her to keep her phone, I’m only going to take it from her later when she’s under my control.
I’m surprised by her attire, and it makes me think she did a good job with her disguise when she came to Sky Lever. She’s dressed in an oversized pink hoodie, her face partially in shadow with her honey-caramel locks hanging out over it. Her sweatpants are also oversized, but none of that takes away from her natural sex appeal.
And her scent, it’s sent from the divine, but I can’t let her get away with what she’s done without punishment. My jaw twitches as she gears up to run. I know a runner when I see one. She’s looking for possible outlets, but there are none. Grinning at her, I fold my arms over my chest, reveling in her stricken blue eyes. I refuse to draw my gun. It’s not necessary, and standing with men in the middle of her apartment paid for courtesy of the Bratva is enough.
“Get out of here. Get the fuck out of my apartment.” Her request isn’t loud. It’s mouse quiet and frankly, it’s getting her nowhere.
Sighing, I take a step forward. She takes a step back, fumbling with the chair in front of her. Oh. How scared she is. And the tables have turned. I’m not averse to offing a woman, but generally it’s men I battle with on a daily basis. This time things are a little more personal, and Kiara’s worked her way into a place unknown to me.
“No. I won’t be able to leave as soon as you want. I’m going to have to take you with me. As unfair as that sounds, I can’t let you give that information over to the cops,” I admit as my men grow restless, shuffling in their positions, but this situation requires a little more finesse and delicacy.
“Please,” she whispers as tears spills onto the tiled floor. “Save my father. That’s all I want. You don’t need to take me anywhere. If you do, I don’t care about the information I have on you. I will forget all about it. Please. I can give it all back even.”
My face hardens. The fucking begging. Unless it’s in the bedroom, I don’t care about it. The sound of it triggers me. When I used to ask my father not to send me on drug runs for fear of losing my life, he looked at me as if I was the vilest child born on earth.
To this day, I hate beggars. It reminds me of my own suffering too much. “Don’t fucking beg,” I warn, narrowing my eyes to slits at her. “You asked for something and now you’re backing down? Silly,” I chastise.
Her loyalty to her father is admirable, and she did something I never could. She held her ground and fought. I was five at the time of being snatched from my small village in Moscow. Taken from the arms of my loving mother, cast to the wolves of the street, bound by the rules of the Bratva, scrapping and clawing my way to the top of the food chain. It’s been a brutal fight; it was either kill or be killed. I chose to live and become the killer.
I didn’t have enough time with my mother. Not enough time, and here she is, tears welling in her crystal blue eyes vowing to save her loved one. But it’s what makes her weak. Vulnerable to my attack.
Stroking my finger along the back of her kitchen chair, I watch as she ducks behind one further away. “Nice place. You would have thought your father should have been able to afford a doorman with what I’ve paid him over the years,” I tease, watching a spark light in her eyes.
“I knew you did it.” Her hard glare does nothing but turn me on as I knock the chair out of the way to get to her.
“Get away from me!” she shrieks, climbing over a chair to her left. Instantly I snap my fingers and one of my men lunges left blocking her path.
“Going somewhere?” he asks, smiling down at her. Her hoodie falls, revealing her long locks. She hides her beauty, but I’m captivated by it. More than I’ve ever been with any woman, and that’s intriguing enough to want to claim her. Not to mention she’s savvy with hacking into computers. She could prove useful to the Bratva.
“I’m going to catch you if you run. You might as well come with me willingly,” I coax, meeting her easily, and backing her down near the kitchen wall. Up close I have the strong urge to drag my lips across her sexy mouth, but my men are here, and that private interaction is going to be for our eyes only when the time comes. And the time will come.
“Get my father out of jail,” she protests, her eyes showing her despair and hurt.
“Your father knew what he was getting into when he signed the contract. He’s not part of the brotherhood. He should have worked for UPS if he didn’t want to go to jail,” I respond with cold indifference, my men snickering in the background.
She tips her chin as I inhale her scent. “You smell damn lovely. Too lovely to be an extortionist.” Her breaths are fast and shallow, her hands shake, but the dark side of me kicks in, remembering I can’t let her go. She’s a menace, and if she broke into the database so easily, then I want to know how, and prevent it from ever happening again. I take great pleasure in cupping my hand around the base of her throat, my hot breath landing on her face.
“You little shit. You broke into our database and all you can talk about is saving your father.” I lift her off the ground, my anger getting the best of me as I close off her windpipe, nice and slow. Her hands tap at the back of mine to let go, but I’m too far gone now. Part of my anger is due to my own blindness. Blinded by her long legs, her mermaid hair, her outfit, her wits. I got too complacent, and it’s a trait my own father recognized in me early.
“Women will be your downfall. Trust me. It’s an Utkin trait. Be careful.”
“Stop,” she strains out like a strangled cat. “I can’t breathe.” She gasps as the hard glaze of my eyes watches her suffering, veins popping up in her neck as I slowly close the gap, her eyes rolling back in her head.
“You fucked with the wrong man. The Bratva don’t take blackmail lightly.” I grin as I black out, forgetting she’s a woman, her face blurring in front of my eyes as she passes out. In a quick second, I realize it’s her, loosening my hand from around her neck in shock, but it’s too late. She slumps to the ground as I snap my hand back. I wanted to scare her, not knock her out, but the poisonous man trapped inside my body got the upper hand this time.
“Boss?” one of my associates asks as my men spread throughout the apartment searching for the evidence she claims to have. Standing for a second, I pull my suit jacket together without answering my associate. Instead, I bend down, sliding a hand down the side of her face, staring at the beautiful mouth I ravished only nights ago.
I want to claim her. Badly, and this is the perfect opportunity. “Yes?” I reply to my men still staring at her.
“Want this?” Boris hands me a cloth filled with enough chemicals to put her to sleep without hassle. I place the cloth under her nose as she stirs.
“Repaying the favor, Kiara,” I whisper in her ear, kissing her flushed cheek. “Now we’re even.” Hauling her out of the apartment complex discreetly, I direct my team to discreetly remove the security guard and any incriminating evidence along the way.