Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
KATE
Present Day
Perhaps the very best thing about divorcing a psychopathic monster is that the experience makes you feel like you can survive absolutely anything.
At the beginning of my career, I used to be scared of coming to the high security prisons like this. I was worried that one of these criminals might find me, and ruin my life. I was constantly worried that somehow, one of them was going to hurt me. Now? I dare them to try. Touch me at your own peril. I know that some of them may see it as a challenge, but I no longer care.
I’m not the meek woman that I once was.
The meeting that I’m headed to today would have made me pause before. But in the last four months at my present firm, I’ve made a reputation for myself. They call me the barracuda. I’m frightening because I’m the very best at what I do. Which is why I’ve been hired to take on the case that absolutely nobody else would touch. Nikolai Volkovich - murderer, former Bratva leader, human trafficker and drug lord. Just to name a few of his former titles. But now? He’s a leashed little cat, harmless as a kitten. Just like all the rest of the poor bastards in this particular high security prison.
My heels click softly on the concrete as I head inside with my chin held high.
I feel the vibrating of my phone in my pocket. I truly do. I recite case details to myself in my head, I try to ignore the fact that my ex-husband has apparently found my new cell phone number and presumably my location. Billy may want me to go back to him badly but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to do it.
I know what the texts are bound to say anyway.
He wants me back. He can’t live without me. How dare I steal his daughter from him and break up our family. If he’s feeling particularly sad, he might be on a rant about how selfish I am. The messages can be anywhere from sweet and adoring to downright menacing. Very on brand for my ex-husband. Good to know that the six months that we have been apart have resulted in no personal growth for him.
It was the opposite for me.
I didn’t realize how desperately I needed freedom for Liz and myself until I had it.
I won’t let that go for anybody.
Never again.
“Ms. Thorne?” The guard beside the gate addresses me with a polite wave and a bow. I smile kindly at him, although I rarely manifest warmth these days. I think I left that behind in my marriage as well. Billy took all the parts of me that were good and light, and he beat them out of me. What’s left? A cruel, business-minded bitch unless I’m dealing with my daughter. I like it that way. I wear my reputation like armor.
I hold up my badge, identifying me and the firm that I work for instead of answering.
The guard’s smile falters and he ushers me inside of the gate quickly. He leads me through the prison slowly, stopping at various security checkpoints. I pointedly ignore all the cat calls and jeers from the inmates that we pass along the way, savoring the fact that they know I’m free and that they will rot behind these bars. Normally, once one enters this particular prison, there is no parole, there is no leaving.
If it weren’t for a very specific addendum in my own contract with Alek, I wouldn’t be here either.
But my new employer has offered me something that I covet, something that I cannot obtain on my own and I know for a fact that he can provide. In addition to generous financial compensation, he’s promised protection for me and Liz. Lifetime protection. Nobody will ever lay a finger on us again.
The guard stops in front of a small square room. No observation windows. Just a table that’s been welded to the floor and two chairs. One of which is also welded into place, for my protection of course. The prisoner inside will have their hands cuffed to the table and their feet chained to the floor. Their waist will be secured to the chair that they sit in. The man will not be able to so much as stand without permission, and he certainly will not be able to touch me. I don’t think that I would have taken this meeting in person otherwise.
“The room is equipped with no microphones, for client and attorney privilege, in accordance with all laws. But there is a live camera feed for your protection. That’s just protocol.” The guard explains. “You will have fifteen minutes with the prisoner, and after that time the light above the exit door will sound an alarm and blink red. Thirty seconds after that and I will enter the room and escort you back out again. Any questions?”
I don’t bother answering. I already knew all of that.
Besides, Alek assured me that the camera feeds would be turned off, thanks to one of his more technologically savvy men. Mr. Volkovich and I will have utter privacy for the next fifteen minutes.
Alek also warned me at great length of all the violent things that Mr. Volkovich is capable of. If it weren’t for that deal I made with Alek, the man who hired me, I would put Nikolai into the dirt myself for the things that he’s done. Heinous, despicable things. I understand better than almost anyone why a woman would need to get divorced from a monster like him at all costs. I know what I’m walking into. I’m prepared.
I certainly did not come unarmed.
The guards missed my ceramic pocketknife and taser - just like Alek promised they would - in case Nikolai pulls anything stupid. I had considered the pepper spray, but that might have caused more harm to him than I could explain away easily. I can’t afford to have any negative reports about this meeting. Not if I’m going to get what I want.
“Ready?” The guard asks.
I nod, holding my attaché case in front of my body as he opens the door and waves me inside. I keep my head held high as I saunter into the room, heels clicking. However, the man at the table isn’t at all what I had thought he was going to be.
The Nikolai Volkovich that had been described to me was supposed to be larger than life. He was supposed to be akin to the boogeyman who haunted children’s nightmares. The man in front of me might have been that once, but the life appears to have been sucked out of him.
I can tell from his frame that he’s in incredible shape. He hasn’t lost any muscle tone, but he’s certainly sicklier and paler than described. His hair isn’t as short as it was in the mug shot that I was given, and the stubble across his chiseled jaw doesn’t look natural on his face. He looks… haggard. A dangerous sort of devilishly handsome. Given the nature of this prison, I’m not wholly surprised. I’m sure that there’s a great deal of people in here that would love nothing more than to have his guts for garters. No wonder he’s been so willing to cooperate with everything that I’ve requested of him thus far. He must want out of here something fierce.
Even still, I don’t want to come within five feet of him.
But I don’t have a choice.
His soulless black eyes track my every movement as I cross the room and delicately slide into the metal chair provided for me. His posture is nearly relaxed. There are no lines of tension in his shoulders and his bound hands are uncurled. Like a lion in wait. He’s taking my measure, I’m certain of it. I cross my legs at the ankles, ignoring the way that I can feel his eyes raking over my body. I’m dressed fairly modestly today, despite the tailored cut of my outfit. Pencil skirt and blazer, emerald green silk blouse tucked into my skirt. Modest, natural makeup suits me best when I have to bother with it at all. I don’t like what a lot of makeup on my face tends to trigger within me, so If I can avoid it now, I do.
“Are you my birthday present?” Nikolai asks, his thick Russian accent curling around the words to make such a simple statement sound utterly filthy .
Chauvinistic pig.
“I am your attorney.” I answer flatly as I pull out a legal pad and a pen. I click it pointedly and train my hand in a writing position before I deign to grace him with a look. “I was under the impression that you were the one who requested this meeting.”
Nikolai’s tongue presses into the top of his mouth. I see the exact moment that his attention dips to my breasts. I am tempted to throw my pen at his damned head, but he would likely use it as a weapon somehow. A man like him? With his reputation? You never can be too careful.
He slowly eases back into his chair and shrugs a shoulder. “Can’t blame a man for hoping.”
I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a man be quite so comfortable in his damned skin. Even now that he’s a shadow of his former glory, I can easily see why so many women fall for him. Visually, he’s damned attractive. He’s got every bad boy aesthetic in the world going for him. Tall, muscled, jawline that you want to ride, perfect hands and tattoos covering most of his exposed skin. I have absolutely no doubt that if I were to crawl over this table and straddle him, that he would give me the most mind-blowing orgasms that I’ve ever had. Sometimes you can just see it in a man.
But unfortunately for him, I’m not like the other women whose lives he’s ruined.
He’s not going to benefit from the fact that my own trauma has ensured that I need that sort of man to get off. I have plenty of other options for that.
“I assure you, Mr. Volkovich, that this will be an entirely professional exchange between us. I will not allow a conflict of interest to jeopardize my case, or my perfect track records.” I say plainly, but I can’t help but smirk at the end. “I’m sure it is surprising to you, that a woman could keep from dropping her panties at the mere sight of you, but I’m sure you will live.”
The corner of Nikolai’s lip quirks up. I can see the exact moment that he takes the challenge that I’ve presented for him.
Maybe I’m a bit of a sadist. Maybe I do like the violence his gaze promises.
Nikolai leans forward in his metal chair, the chains around his body clinking softly as he narrows his focus down on me. “I know the cameras are off, are you sure that that you don’t want to give me a little present?”
My nose wrinkles in distaste. The only thing that I’m likely to give him is a swift kick in the balls if he doesn’t stop coming on to me. I keep my face stern and disinterested despite the hungry look he’s giving me. I’ve handled myself against worse. “Mr. Volkovich, if you aren’t going to take my counsel seriously, then why am I even here?”
Nikolai grins and it transforms his whole expression into something that nearly takes my breath away. I have to cross and re-cross my legs under the table under the intensity of his expression. It’s not joy, not at all. It’s something sinister, but alluring. He was testing me. I can see it. He notices the moment that I catch on, too.
“Can’t be represented by somebody so easily swayed, now can I?” Nikolai shrugs.
“And if I had said yes?”
Nikolai shrugs a shoulder away and feigns an innocent expression. “Win win for me then.”
“How about we stick to business, Mr. Volkovich?” I pull the paperwork that I have come here to have him sign from my bag. I pointedly ignore the way my phone vibrates in my bag, the screen illuminating every few moments from the barrage of texts and calls that I’m getting. I don’t know how that bastard Billy keeps calling despite me blocking his number every time. I have changed my number three times already and he just keeps finding me. I take a calming breath and place the neatly organized paperwork on the table in front of Nikolai. “As I was saying–”
He cuts me off and looks at my bag. “Something the matter?”
“No, nothing. Thank you for asking.”
“That’s twice today that you’ve lied to me, and I’m supposed to trust you to represent me?”
He wants me to ask him what it is that I’ve lied about. I’m not going to play into his little games. “I don’t think you have much of a choice, do you? Seeing as I’m the only lawyer on this continent willing to represent you, let alone woman.”
The muscle in his sharp jawline ticks. He knows that I’m right.
Now it’s my turn to smirk.
I tilt my head to the side and bat my long lashes at him pointedly. “You do know that it’s greatly beneficial for a woman to have been assigned your case, don’t you? I would think that instead of sitting here testing me when I’ve more than earned my reputation, you should be attempting to convince me that you’re a man worth saving. I am the last thing between you and the death penalty. Your smart mouth won’t stop that poison from being injected into your veins. Will it, Mr. Volkovich?”
Sitting before me is a man that has been in control of every single aspect and person in his life for a very long time. Nothing happened in his Bratva without his permission. Nobody moved an inch without his say so. Being helpless here and at the mercy of a petite blonde woman? It’s got to be driving him absolutely mad.
I tuck my ankles under the chair and lean forward. I make sure that the angle of my arms pushes my cleavage up for his perusal and lean into the airheaded bimbo act that so many men like to think that I am. It couldn’t be further from the truth.
“You can sit there and think of all of the ways that you would handle a woman like me. You can imagine bending me over this table and hate-fucking me all you want. Whatever you need to do in order to sleep at night, Mr. Vokovich. But it will do nothing to change the facts here. I have you by the balls in all of the ways that you don’t want. If you don’t start doing exactly as I say, when I say it, then it’s not going to work very well for you. Understand, pumpkin?” I wink at him for good measure before sliding the papers toward him with the ballpoint pen. “Be a good boy and sign these papers for me so that I can do my job. Then, when you’re breathing free air again, we can see whose dick is really bigger. Mine or yours.”
I’ve got him. We both know it.
I ease back into my chair as he stews in his anger. He has to let me talk to him however I want. He’s helpless. I don’t think he’s ever had to sit with that particular emotion before in his life. I’m happy to be the one to cause the feeling. Nikolai takes the pen, clicking it angrily while he scowls. I won’t even try to deny the thrill of feeling powerful over a man like Nikolai as he signs page after marked page. When he’s finished, he flicks the papers toward me and I take them with a saccharine sweet smile. “Good boy.”
Nikolai’s grin widens into something bordering on feral. The lack of emotion shining back at me through those black eyes almost makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Somewhere deep in me awakens a very real and primal urge to run from him. Nobody with a soul can look like that.
Dammit if it isn’t fucking sexy though.
I stand on my side of the table, frozen, as his tongue wets his lips before he speaks.
“For the record, mine’s going to be bigger.”
I sure hope it is.
Back in the safety and quiet of my car I take a moment to collect myself. I press a palm into my chest. My heart’s beating like a rabbit’s and I can’t seem to make it slow for anything in the world. I don’t even want to consider looking at my phone. Nothing good is going to be waiting for me there. I put the car into drive before my morbid curiosity can take over.
It doesn’t occur to me to look over the paperwork that Nikolai signed until I’m thirty minutes from the prison and stuck in traffic. I cannot allow my mind to start to wander, so I flip through the pages. He’s signed every bit of my contract, but there in the last pages of the actual divorce paperwork itself - nothing at all. There’s nothing there. Bastard. Damned smug, handsome, stupid bastard.
Muttering to myself I fumble around my bag for my phone and call the prison right back, setting up another appointment with the damnable Volkovich. I’m only a few exits from turning right back around and marching back into that damned prison. Naturally, the woman on the phone can’t get me in. As if the inmates have such busy fucking schedules. Day after tomorrow, the very best that she can do.
I probably shouldn’t have hung up on her like that, but I can’t always help my own temper either.
My phone rings a second later, before I even have time to process what’s happening. Thinking that it’s the prison, I answer the phone on the first ring without meaning to. “Fuck me,” I fumble the phone and hope that they don’t hear my swearing on the other end of the line but of course they do.
There isn’t an immediate response from the other end of the line. That should have been enough of a warning sign that whatever was about to come next wasn’t going to be something that I wanted. For half a moment, I consider pulling my car onto the feeder. The number isn’t saved in my phone. My blood runs cold, waiting to hear his smug voice on the other end of the line. Did I just answer one of Billy’s calls?
“Oh well, if you ask so nicely, but I’m not sure that would be a good idea.”