Chapter 14
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
KIRILL
Evelina’s still trembling against me, her pussy clenching around my fingers when I raise the gun and end Marco’s life. One less scumbag to walk the earth.
She deserved this. To see her would-be rapist killed in front of her. The orgasm was a little bonus. Twisted for sure, but judging by how hard she just came, and my soaked fingers, I don’t think she minded it.
I ease her away from me and turn her around so she’s facing me. Her eyes are wide and she’s pale, shock replacing the afterglow of pleasure.
She fought like hell to keep from being assaulted. She’s strong, and even though what I did was dark and fucked up, she responded to my touch.
I shrug out of my suit jacket and drape it over her shoulders. Then I take her face between my palms. “Hey, Evelina, look at me. You’re going to be okay. From here on out, you need to do exactly what I tell you, okay?”
She nods but doesn’t speak. Her hands clutch the jacket and she goes quiet when the guard I posted outside shouts something about men on the way.
Raised voices and heavy footsteps thunder through the hallway before Elio storms in, followed by three of his soldiers.
My brothers arrive next. Dem shoves past Elio and his men, weapon drawn, Matvey close behind.
No-weapons policy my ass. Every man in here is armed to the teeth and pointing guns at each other. This alliance was already tenuous at best. Now it’s about to snap.
“What the fuck did you do, Baronov?” Elio’s face contorts in anger as he surveys the blood-soaked bathroom and his dead soldier. His gun is pointed at my chest and his finger is on the trigger.
“What needed to be done.”
“You killed one of my men. In my club. At my fucking party.” Elio takes a step closer and his soldiers shift with him, creating a wall of armed Italians between us and the door. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t end you right now.”
“I can give you several.” I pull Evelina against me, making my claim clear as day. “But how about we start with the fact that your soldier was trying to rape a woman?”
Elio’s attention shifts to Evelina for the first time, taking in her disheveled appearance, my jacket around her shoulders, and the ashen hue of her face, before his gaze lands on Marco’s body sprawled on the floor.
“He forced himself on her,” I continue, my voice hard. “Cornered her in here, locked the door. I had to shoot my way in.”
I don’t mention that by the time I got here, Evelina had it handled. Marco was laid out on the tile. Whatever self-defense training she’s had, it paid the fuck off tonight.
One of Elio’s men with a buzz cut and a long scar across his cheek speaks up. “This Russian’s lying. Marco wouldn’t do that. He’s loyal. He’s been with the family for two years.”
“Watch your fucking mouth,” Dem growls, taking a menacing step toward the man. “A loyal rapist is still a rapist.”
Scarface’s weapon swings toward my brother. “Make me, you Russian piece of shit.”
“Everyone shut the fuck up!” Elio’s shout echoes off the tile, his expression carved in stone.
Evelina goes rigid beside me, pressing closer like she’s trying to disappear into my side.
“The woman. Is she your girl?” Elio jerks his chin toward Evelina.
She’s looking up at me, waiting for me to answer.
If I claim her, she becomes a target. Something Elio and his men could use against me if this stand-off goes south.
“She works for me.”
She flinches, and her gaze falls to the floor. I’d rather hurt her feelings than have Elio’s men know they can use her to get to me.
Elio clicks his tongue. “That’s not what I asked.”
I don’t answer. Instead, I look at Matvey. “Take her down to my car. Wait with her until I’m finished here.”
Matvey raises his eyebrows like he wants to ask, You sure you don’t need me here? But the truth is, if these fuckers want to blow us away, my brother’s presence won’t stop them.
I give him a subtle nod, and he holsters his weapon and moves to Evelina’s side, offering his arm. She takes it without a word, without looking back at me, and walks out with her spine straight.
Elio’s mouth settles into a humorless line. “So you risked our alliance over a woman you’re just fucking. That’s real smart, Baronov.”
“Like I said, she works for me. And that’s not the point. There’s no alliance if you employ rapists.”
“He’s not a rapist,” Scarface starts up again. “I saw her flirting with Marco by the bar. She practically invited him in here to fuck her. With all due respect, boss, these Russians are fucking playing you.”
“Is that right?” Elio’s voice goes lethally quiet. He turns his full attention on Scarface, gun still in hand. “You calling me stupid, Nico?”
“N-no, boss, that’s not what I meant. I’m just saying … are we really going to side with this stronzo and his Russian whore?”
Elio’s smile reminds me of a shark. He raises his gun and shoots his soldier point-blank through the head. His body hits the floor with a heavy thud. The room goes silent.
Dem and I exchange a look. I sure as shit didn’t see that coming. Watching him execute his own man for disrespecting the alliance and calling Evelina a whore earns a sliver of my respect.
Elio steps over the body without looking down. “Anyone else want to question my judgment? Anyone else think I’m too stupid to know when I’m being played?”
No one speaks.
“Good.” Elio lowers his weapon and his remaining soldiers follow suit.
“I don’t tolerate rapists. Drunk or not.
And I won’t stand for anyone undermining me.
If any of you have a problem with how I run things, with this alliance, with working alongside Bratva to take down the Ghost, then walk out right now. ”
No one moves.
“Then lower your fucking weapons and call in a crew to clean this mess up.”
Elio crosses the room and stops in front of me. “Next time you have a problem with one of my men, save me the fucking headache and let me deal with it. Not you.”
I shrug. “What can I say? It was a crime of passion.”
No way in hell I’d hand over Marco to anyone. After he put his hands on Evelina, he was mine to kill.
Elio’s lips twist. “Get your head in the game, Baronov. We have a Ghost to hunt.”
When I leave the club, Matvey’s sitting on the hood of my Bugatti smoking, Evelina already asleep in the passenger seat.
He looks up as I approach, expression dark. The streetlight catches the tension in his jaw.
“What?” I say, stopping at the driver’s side door. “Just say it.”
Unlike Dem, Matvey prefers more words, not fewer. But tonight he only shakes his head, takes one last drag, and flicks the butt of his cigarette onto the pavement.
“I don’t have to say it. You already know.”
He pushes off the hood and storms back inside the club, leaving me alone with a sleeping girl and the mess I’ve made.
I slide into the driver’s seat and pull away from the curb. The drive to Brooklyn is quiet except for the hum of the engine and Evelina’s shallow breathing.
Her head is tilted against the window, my suit jacket still wrapped around her. The adrenaline crash must have hit hard.
Can’t say I blame her. She fought off Marco, got fingered to orgasm while I killed her attacker, then walked out of that room full of armed mobsters with her chin up. Most people would’ve crumbled.
Maybe I should wake her and make sure she’s okay. But instead, I drive and think about how royally I fucked up tonight.
I almost started a war over her. Nearly threw away the alliance with the Valentis, nearly got my brothers killed, nearly ruined everything. All because some mafia piece of shit put his hands on a woman I’ve known for less time than some of the food in my fridge.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
I glance at her. Even asleep, she’s beautiful. Wisps of hair falling over her cheek, lips slightly parted, one hand curled against her chest.
I don’t lose control over anything. Especially women.
She’s a distraction I can’t afford. Not with the Ghost operation happening so soon and everything riding on it. If I fail, Katya and I will have to live with my father’s choices. And I can’t let that happen.
I know what I have to do. Put distance between us. I just don’t want to.
It’s for her own good. The closer she gets to me, the more danger she’s in. Not only from enemies, though that’s real enough, but from me. I’m not built for whatever she’s looking for. Can’t be the guy who takes her to dinner, remembers her birthday, makes her feel safe.
I kill people. I run an empire built on violence and fear. Sooner or later she’ll see that the man who made her come with a soon-to-be-dead man watching isn’t some dark fantasy.
Her street is empty when I pull up outside her building. I cut the engine and the silence is immediate, though Evelina doesn’t wake.
I reach over and touch her shoulder. “We’re here.”
Her eyes open slowly. She blinks, disoriented, then sees me and her expression changes. Like she’s remembering everything.
She sits up and pushes hair back from her forehead. “How long was I out?”
“Twenty minutes.”
She turns to look at me. Waiting. For what, I don’t know. An explanation? Comfort? Some acknowledgment of what happened between us tonight? When I give her nothing, she hesitates.
“About what happened earlier?—”
“You should get inside,” I say, looking straight out the windshield. “It’s late.”
She huffs out a small breath. Better she hurts now than gets caught in the crossfire of my world.
She starts to shrug out of my jacket.
“Keep it.”
“I don’t need it. I’ll be inside in a second.”
“Keep. It.”
I don’t know why, but it feels vital that she keeps it. Maybe I am fucked in the head.
She pulls the jacket tighter and gives me one last look. Equal parts hurt and defiance.
Cold air rushes in as she steps out onto the sidewalk. One of my guards waits by the entrance to walk her upstairs.
I had him tail us. Someone needed to walk her up to her apartment, and it sure as hell couldn’t be me. If I go up tonight, I’m not coming back down until morning.
Before she closes the door, she leans back in. “Thank you for tonight. For what you did.”
With that, she slams the passenger door shut and spins toward her building. She doesn’t acknowledge the guard who follows her through the grimy glass doors.
I sit in front of her place and wait until I see the lights come on in her apartment. Through the app on my phone, I confirm she’s engaged both locks and armed the alarm as I do every night. Home safe. Locked away from everything that could hurt her. Including me.
Only then do I drive away.