Chapter 8
Chapter eight
JUDE GRAVES
My knee bounces in the backseat as we pass through the iron gates.
Tall trees line the driveway, their branches arching overhead like a tunnel, leaves brushing against one another in the breeze.
Nolan is driving, one hand loose on the wheel, the other resting casually on the door.
He looks far too relaxed for where the hell we’re going.
“So,” I mutter, breaking the silence. “What does Alexei actually want to talk about? Did he tell you?”
Nolan shrugs. “Hard to say.” He glances at me in the rearview mirror. “Could be anything.”
I scoff quietly. I want to tell him how fucking stupid he is.
Alexei could offer to fuck him in the ass, and Nolan would bend right over for him.
Adriana sits beside me, legs crossed, posture perfect.
She’s…different today. When she speaks, her voice is a little softer than usual, like she’s decided not to sharpen it into the weapon she usually does.
It’s strange how easily that happened. Like I finally surrendered and gave her what she wanted, and it relaxed her. The thought makes my chest feel weird.
Nolan slows the car as the massive mansion comes into view.
It’s all glass and pale stone, with security standing in a line near the front door.
I sigh and lean my head back against the seat, then turn to the window.
My reflection stares back at me in the glass—eyes tired, face already distant.
Something prickles at the back of my neck.
I don’t know why. I exhale slowly. Just another meeting, I tell myself.
The inside of the mansion doesn’t look like a place where bad things happen.
That’s the beautiful lie of it, I suppose.
Everything gleams, from the polished stone floors to the almost full-glass walls that look out over a winter-gray forest. There’s art in every room that would fool most people into thinking this man has some semblance of a soul.
The air smells like some kind of candle I can’t quite place. Floral?
I keep my shoulders loose and my face blank. I’ve learned how to do that around these men. Alexei sits across from me, long legs crossed, drink untouched in his hand. He studies me the way a collector studies a new piece in his collection. I suppose I am a new piece in his fucking collection.
“So,” he says mildly, swirling the amber liquid. “Moscow looks good on you guys, I’d say.”
Nolan shifts beside me. Adriana sits stiffly on the couch opposite, her hands folded in her lap, eyes flicking to the windows and back. She looks…uneasy. She always does around Alexei. She’s usually a cocky little bitch when it’s just Nolan. But Alexei? He scares her.
“I’m definitely feeling refreshed,” Nolan laughs. “Russia has the most incredible women.”
Alexei smiles. It doesn’t reach his eyes. “Ah. Yes, we do.” His gaze slides back to me. “And you, Jude?” he asks. “How are you and your lady adjusting?”
I refrain from cringing. Instead, I lift one shoulder. “It’s beautiful here.” A beat. Then Alexei laughs softly.
“Good,” he says. Something about the way he says it makes my pulse kick up a notch. He was intimidating in the States. But home? Jesus. He sets his glass aside and rises smoothly to his feet. “Now, the reason for summoning you today. Come,” he says.
Nolan frowns, but doesn’t argue as he motions for us to follow.
We move through the house, past rooms that feel staged rather than lived in.
I couldn’t imagine him enjoying most of these serene spaces, anyway.
The temperature drops as we head down some narrow stairs, the light dimming.
Every instinct in my body is suddenly screaming at me to turn around and run. But I can’t.
We stop in front of a steel, unmarked door. Adriana hesitates. “What is—”
He opens it anyway. The room beyond descends into shadow.
“After you,” he says pleasantly. My jaw tightens.
I glance at Nolan, and he gives me a look that’s meant to reassure but doesn’t.
I step forward, body on alert when the door seals shut.
It’s not colder down here, but it’s definitely heavier.
The fluorescent lights hum overhead, and concrete walls seal us in from every angle.
There are chains along the far wall and a drain in the floor. Nothing else. No furniture.
That’s when I understand. I turn slowly, dread creeping through my body.
Alexei takes his time crossing the room, moving with an obnoxious confidence. Nolan shifts beside me, tension rolling off of him now. Adriana has gone still, her hands clenched together so tightly her knuckles are white.
“What’s this room?” Nolan asks casually, though his tone betrays him. He’s nervous.
Alexei grins as he pulls up a metal chair and leans against it. “Where weapons are made.”
My stomach claws up my fucking throat. “This isn’t necessary,” Nolan says, apparently catching on as well. His voice is controlled, but that edge is still there. “Whatever this is.”
Alexei stops a few feet in front of me, several of his men behind him. “Oh,” he says lightly. “It’s very necessary.” His gaze rakes over me like he’s checking for weak points. “I told you once,” he continues, “that you wouldn’t have to worry about the public eye anymore.”
My jaw tightens.
“That time has come,” he says. “You’re no longer a performer for the public. You’re an asset.”
Adriana swallows hard. “Alexei—please.”
He glances at her, annoyed. “You, dear, refer to me only as ‘sir.’ Do you understand? You have little importance.”
Her mouth snaps shut, her gaze dropping to the floor. She doesn’t even waste time looking at Nolan. He tenses, but remains silent.
Alexei looks back at me. “What I need,” he says calmly, “is someone who can withstand pressure. And pain.”
My heart is beating faster now, but my body stays still. I don’t give him anything.
“You have the mind for it,” Alexei goes on.
“Wild. Unpredictable. Dangerous, when you let it be. I’ve seen the monster inside you, little rockstar.
” A smile ghosts across his mouth. “But the exterior?” He clicks his tongue.
“Too soft for my liking, personally. But you're so close. You just need a little…sharpening.”
His men step closer.
Nolan stiffens. “This is not what we agreed to.”
Alexei doesn’t even look at him. “This is precisely what you agreed to. You just didn’t read the fine print.
” One of the men grabs my arm, but I suppress a reaction.
Another hand clamps onto my shoulder, and anger surges inside my chest. The urge is there now, screaming to be let loose.
The audacity of them to think they could do this to me.
I swallow it.
Don’t.
Alexei watches my face with interest. “Look,” he murmurs. “You’re trying. You're holding yourself back because you have some bullshit moral code. Well, boy, that doesn't exist in this world. So I need you. To fucking. Kill it.”
The first punch lands in my ribs. The explosive impact knocks the air out of me.
I stagger but stay upright. My vision blurs for half a second before snapping back into place.
Adriana gasps. The second hit catches my jaw.
Stars burst behind my eyes. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth immediately.
My knees buckle, but hands keep me upright, shoving me back into place like I’m nothing more than a training dummy.
“Stop—!” Adriana cries. Her voice cracks.
Alexei tilts his head. “Nolan, control your bitch.”
She gasps again, and instead of Nolan getting a fucking spine, he presses a finger to his lips. Another punch to my face, then a strong hand closes on the back of my neck.
“Good fucking dog,” he says. And I immediately recognize that voice. He was the man I attacked last time when Alexei’s guys followed me on a job.
I inhale through my nose. Exhale through my nose.
I see Adriana out of the corner of my eye, her teeth sunk into her lip as if that’s the only thing keeping her from screaming.
Her hand fumbles blindly until it finds Nolan’s arm, gripping him like he might actually do something to stop this.
But I know he won’t. Although he does look sick.
Genuinely shaken. This wasn’t part of his script.
He never liked the bruises anywhere the public could see.
Another blow lands. Then another. And another.
My body starts to burn, and every nerve is screaming.
I focus on breathing, on staying present, on keeping the thing inside me locked down.
I don’t know why I should. He’s just ultimately going to get what he wants, anyway. So why am I even fighting this anymore?
Alexei exhales, almost disappointed. “Still holding back,” he says. “I was hoping for more. Perhaps I need to go find someone to inspire you, da?”
That does it.
The next punch snaps something loose.
I don’t think—I react. I twist hard, ripping free from the grip on my arm, and drive my elbow back into a throat. I feel cartilage give, and hear the wet, choking sound as the man collapses. Everything goes red.
I grab the second man by the collar and slam him into the concrete wall.
Once, twice, knocking him the fuck out. He goes limp in my hands, sliding down the wall like dead weight.
Shouts erupt, and someone tackles me from the side, but I throw him off.
I’m not feeling pain anymore. I’m not feeling anything except the need to fucking kill whatever’s in front of me.
Hands grab at me, but my body is moving on its own volition now. And then a gun cocks.
“Enough.” Alexei’s voice cuts through it all, the entire room coming to a halt. Weapons are trained on me now—three barrels pointed straight at my chest. The man at my feet isn’t moving. Another is coughing on the floor, clutching his neck.
I’m breathing hard, chest heaving, blood dripping from my mouth onto the concrete.