Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Alyona
When I arrive at The Vault, Viktor is on the main floor talking to one of the security guys.
I remember when I first arrived here and nearly pissed my pants when I was sent to The Vault and Viktor, the club owner, greeted me.
It was like seeing a ghost. For all anyone knew, he had perished years before in The V Games.
In reality, he was in the US, building a life for himself and taking in rejects.
He fucking hated Vika, she had plotted his death after all.
He threatened her with a million different ways of punishing her, and followed through on none.
I liken her to a cockroach in the apocalypse.
Nasty and annoying, but has immaculate survival skills.
Upon seeing me, he saunters straight over to me, arms open. “You can’t walk in a place like this looking like that, beautiful. You’ll make me hungry.”
Viktor can make any woman’s cheeks blaze red when he turns his attention to you.
He’s hot. That’s a given. He’s also weirder than shit.
I love him like a brother, but I’ve never spread my legs for that boy.
Not even once. I don’t care if he looks like a god in a suit.
Not interested. Plus, the whole Jeremiah thing and all.
I’ve definitely thought about it, though…
“I’m never on the menu,” I tease back, distracted by a text Jeremiah sent twenty minutes ago.
Jeremiah: Amelia said you went home?
Viktor’s smile widens. Anyone else would eat up that wolfish grin. “It’s a shame you’ve never let me even sample the appetizers. We could have a lot of fun together, you and I.”
Quickly, I type back to Jeremiah.
Me: I wasn’t feeling great and didn’t want to ruin your night. Went home.
I turn my attention back to Viktor and say, “I’m too innocent for your perversions.”
He winks at me. “I like all kinds…even the sweet ones. Innocence is just a beacon calling the sinners to corrupt it. And who are you kidding, Alyona?” he whispers my real name and my heart jumps at the sound of it. “There’s nothing innocent about you.”
He’s got a point there.
“I am a taken woman,” I remind him.
“What happens in The Vault, stays in The Vault,” he retorts, his wicked amber eyes gleaming.
As if I haven’t heard that line a million times when he’s offered to relieve my stress.
I notice his eyes straying over to a group of what looks like college assholes being loud and crude to Jasmine the barmaid who is attempting to clear their table.
“Viktor.” His attention snaps back to me at the mention of his real name, his finger pushing against his lips.
“Shhh. It’s Tanner in here,” he says with a smirk and then adds, “or Master if you’re into that sort of thing.”
A woman walks past us, biting her lip at his words, and there’s no doubt she would willingly take what he’s offering.
I’m probably the only person who hasn’t succumbed to his charms. Those charms extend to males too.
He loves dipping in both honey pots. Hence, Maddox Whitmore.
Rumor has it he and Viktor once liked to share women together.
Another slice of pain hits me right in the chest.
Don’t think about them.
It’s better this way.
Viktor, ever perceptive, watches me with laser focus. He nods his head to the back. “What are you doing here? Do you want to speak in my office?”
Giving him a grateful smile, I nod. “Yes, please.”
Following him down the corridor, I read an incoming text.
Jeremiah: Adam’s ready to go anyway. He’s picked up a girl. Take an aspirin. I want between those thighs.
“What’s going on with you?” he asks as soon as the door to his office closes, stealing the space between us and roaming a knuckle down my cheek.
Clicking my phone to silent, I shove it in my purse, and lift a shoulder. “It’s nothing, really.” I try to act casual, feeling anything but, and Viktor is no fool.
“Little liar who lies.” His smile widens, but darkness glimmers in his honey eyes. “Tell me the truth before I force it out of you.”
“Just thinking about home.” About them.
I frown and look down at my boots. I found these over-the-knee black Steve Madden boots with extra tall heels at my favorite shop.
Vika tried to buy them before I could, but it was before she met Maddox, and her credit card rejected the transaction.
The cashier was not impressed when I danced around in the store, showing off my badass kicks, and accidentally knocked over an old mannequin, before swiping my card for them.
Thank you, Jeremiah. I don’t like taking money from him, but some things you have to make exceptions for.
“Your home is here now and has been for a while,” he says sternly, almost as though he’s reminding himself.
In a rare show of real, non-flirty affection, Viktor pulls me in for a hug. I sink against his solid chest and let him hold me.
“Is everything okay with Jeremiah?” he asks, stroking his fingers through my long blonde hair. “Do you need me to take your mind off things?” His fist tangles in my hair and he tilts my head back with a sharp yank so I’m staring into his intense golden eyes.
“You know I’m not into your freaky shit. And you’re like a brother to me,” I grumble.
He gives me a cocky grin. “We’re in Arkansas. I hear jokes all the time that brothers and sisters can get their freak on.”
“You’re a dick,” I say with a laugh, shoving him away, thankful when he releases my hair.
“Come on, Voskoboynikov. Let’s role play.”
“There’s a woman out there that would let you do whatever you want.”
He snorts. “You and I both know I’d ruin a girl like her.”
“And me?” I ask, my hip jutting out as I curl up my lip. “You’re not worried about ruining me?”
“Can’t ruin you,” he says with a smile. “If those bastards over there couldn’t do it, neither can I. You’re a little monster like me.”
“You’re right,” I say with a sigh. “Monsters are destined to be alone.”
“You’re not alone. Remember that.”
It’s just like him to make me want to tear up. He’s right, though. I’m not alone. I’ll never be alone because of her.
After pouring us a drink, Viktor sits behind his desk and watches me with curious eyes. “Don’t make me keep asking, Alyona. I’m not a patient man. Stop toying with me and spill it.”
I exhale an exhausted breath, resigned to the fact I need to tell him the truth. “I heard the Vetrov twins are coming over here. Is it true? I know you know. Tell me.”
The Madmen of Moscow.
They can’t be here.
My heart won’t survive.
“They are.” Nodding, he gestures around the room with a wave of his finger.
“This place is going to be changing, and soon. I want to create something unlike anything else, and only the high class of society should be allowed to enjoy its rewards. The twins have built a legacy of their own in Moscow with Klub Chernyy and it’s not one passed down to them or dictated by old men.
They plan to expand on that here, with the launch of the first Klub Chernyy in the US.
I helped them acquire Club Vibe to do that.
I knew Darrell needed money, so I got a deal before it could even hit the buyer market, and in return, they will help me establish The Vault as its own legacy.
I know it’s hard being away from everything we know, but it’s also a blessing.
You can do and be anything you want here. Don’t forget why you left.”
I don’t speak because I can’t. The stone lodged in my throat prevents me from being able to.
I haven’t told him all the details of why I took off to the US, or who I abandoned in the process, only that his father would want my head for defying the rules.
It’s too raw, even after all this time. Rodion and Zahkar barged into my heart like they’d lived there before and were just returning home.
And no matter how hard I try I can’t get them to leave, they’re a part of me.
I think they always were. Soulmates returning to each other. I broke us by leaving.
I wonder what they’ve been doing and who they’ve been doing it with.
“Alyona!” Viktor shouts and then chuckles. “I lost you.”
“Sorry.” I shake my head, grabbing the glass he poured me, and downing the contents. A cough rattles from me because of the after burn. “Fuck, you trying to poison me?”
“Ha,” he deadpans before slapping a hand on his desk. “Not my style. I like my prey with fight left in them.”
He’s so creepy sometimes.
“So the twins are planning on setting up shop here?” I clarify, trying to keep my emotions out of my tone, but my voice betrays me.
His eyebrow cocks up in a curious way. “Is there a reason you’re so invested in the Vetrovs? Are they why you were so heartbroken when you arrived?”
“I wasn’t heartbroken,” I choke out.
“There are those lies again.” He chuckles. “You can’t lie to me. I’m immune to them.”
“Do they know I’m here?” I jolt, not even realizing that they could have known this whole time where I was, and just not cared. Why would they?
“If they do, I’m not aware of it. I haven’t and would never tell them you’re here.”
A relieved whoosh of air fills my lungs.
“So there was something going on with them?” he pries. “Tell me everything.”
That’s never going to happen.
“They trained me for The Games and got me out in the end.” My heart thunders admitting that information out loud. Viktor would never speak to Yuri since it was his father who banished him, let alone inform him of those facts, but it scares me all the same putting the words out there.
“You must have really made an impression on them for them to risk everything to get you out. Death is the reward for that sin.”
A shiver snakes up my spine and curls around my chest, squeezing.
“Hence why I ran.”
He tilts his head in thought as he works over what I’m not saying. “To protect them from Yuri finding out they helped you, perhaps?”
It’s not lost on me that he calls his father by his given name. There’s no love there.
“They can’t know I’m here, Viktor.”
“And they won’t.”
The air feels heavy, the weight of the world we come from pushing in on us, crushing. But I believe him. I trust him, too, even if he’s a little freak always trying to drag me into his sheets.
“You know I love you, right?” I tell him, swallowing past the rock lodged in my throat. “And I’m grateful for everything you did for me.”
“How grateful?” His face transforms back into the cocksure devil I know so well and I’m honestly happy to see it. Soppy shit isn’t something we do. We’ve both been too hardened by life.
“On that note, I’m out.” I roll my eyes and rise to my feet just as a set of knuckles rap on the door.
John, Viktor’s bar manager, pokes his head in. “Jasmine says someone is asking for you, boss.”
I check my phone, and my stomach rolls. Fuck. Five texts and four missed calls.
Jeremiah: Where are you?
Jeremiah: I’m home. You’re not.
Jeremiah: Where the fuck are you?
Jeremiah: Why are you not answering your phone?
Jeremiah: Are you with someone?
Crap! How long have I been here?
I jerk my gaze to the clock on the wall. It’s nearly one in the morning.
“I have to go,” I yelp, throwing Viktor a wave as I rush toward the door, not waiting for his response.