Chapter 12 - Tatiana
As soon as Kon’s hand was off me, I shoved back, but he pinned me in place with a dark look and a commanding tone that chilled my blood. He was a monster, and my heart was doing its best to climb up my throat as he stalked a few feet away to answer his phone.
What did I see in his eyes as he forced my head back? I couldn’t explain it, but it had my hands shaking and my breath coming in sharp pants. It was impossible to drag in a full breath when he was still so close. So overwhelmingly close.
As fast as a bullet, and he had me completely under his control. Even now, six feet away, he was totally in charge. Bitter hatred welled up in me as I glared at his back, trying to calm myself down enough to find the courage to slink away to my room.
Not that I’d be safe there. This was his domain. I was his.
I shivered, then went still.
Whoever was on the other side of the call that had saved me said my father’s name.
Grigor Kanatova. I heard it as plain as if the man was in the same room as us.
I twisted my shaking hands together and leaned forward, freezing when Kon turned and pinned me in place with a suspicious glare.
I dropped my gaze, straining to hear anything else as he went back to his conversation.
It wasn’t exactly the most relaxed of dinners, and frustration had come to a head when Kon refused to believe my father might be in trouble.
I never believed he would care more about money than the bonds of friendship, but then again, a million dollars wasn’t nothing, and Kon had already told me that there was never enough money in the world for men like him.
I never believed he’d hurt me, either, and I was still reeling from that lightning-fast grab. And the look in his eyes. I still wasn’t completely convinced there was blood on his mind. But whatever was on his mind as he held me had me reeling.
The phone call was a blessing, or maybe a curse. It got him to let go, but as soon as he ended the call, he ignored my questions and flew out of the apartment without a word besides muttered curses.
So something was wrong, but what? Did he know where Papa was now? He had told me he wouldn’t torture my father, but he never once promised he wouldn’t kill him.
All of this was for some lost money and the perceived notion he’d been betrayed.
If his damn pride got my father killed, I would find a way to end him myself, and I wouldn’t be quick and easy about it, either.
Ignoring the dinner dishes, I went out onto the balcony for some fresh air, but the night was muggy and too warm.
Traffic noises wafted up, seeming very far away.
I was the proverbial princess locked in a tower, but no one was climbing up to rescue me.
In Konstantin’s mind, he was the prince who’d already saved me.
From Riku Yoshida. Damn the man, whoever he was or however he was involved in Papa’s disappearance.
Kon wasn’t exactly wrong to keep grilling me, pushing me for information. I wasn’t exactly telling him everything, because why should I when he wasn’t going to help me? He wasn’t on our side. If he found Papa, he’d probably shoot first without asking a single question.
And what I knew was probably inconsequential.
I had led Kon to believe I didn’t know anything about Riku Yoshida in particular, just that I needed to speak to someone high up in the Yakuza.
It was the organization that wanted Kon dead, after all, and by extension, my father.
What I wasn’t telling Kon was that I’d been explicitly told Riku’s name.
Nothing more. Just one last cryptic text from Papa’s assistant, right after she told me to listen to him and not get involved.
Riku Yoshida. Nothing else.
And then she disappeared. Was she really in hiding, or was she involved somehow? And if she was involved, was she working for or against my father? I didn’t dare put her in Kon’s cross hairs if she was trying to help Papa behind the scenes, or if the poor woman was trying to stay alive.
Damn the Bratva. Damn all of it. Loyalty, money, blood. I hated all of it.
The city seemed to be breathing, closing in on me despite being so vast. I went inside and, figuring out the ridiculously complicated remote control, gave me a few minutes of respite from the thoughts and worries spinning around in my head.
Nothing could keep my attention on the big screen, and I headed back to the kitchen to clean up the dishes.
Not to be helpful or kind by any means, but because I couldn’t sit still when Kon could be out there at that moment, bringing down his misplaced wrath on my father.
And what if it wasn’t misplaced?
“Absolutely not,” I said aloud, plunging my hands into steaming, sudsy water. The sting was also a distraction from the fears that kept piling in on me the longer Kon was gone.
I didn’t want him to return, but I needed to know what was going on. I needed answers, and far more than he did. This wasn’t merely money to me. It was my only family.
Someone who claimed to value family as much as Kon always purported to should have known that. And then what? Cut Papa some slack because his only daughter wouldn’t know how to live without him?
Yes, that was exactly what Kon should do, and it was the root of all my anger toward him, no matter if I wanted to admit it or not. He should have cared more. Not just keep me safe, as he claimed he was doing, and that was arguable.
I slammed the wine glasses back into their spot in the cupboard so hard that one of them cracked. A drop of blood welled at the tip of my finger, but I ignored it, tossing the broken glass into the trash. Sucking on my finger, I went into my room and threw myself on my bed.
Of course, the fact that Kon wasn’t on my side wasn’t the main reason I was pissed. Why should I care at all about that? He had ruined my chances to speak with Riku, the one man who might be able to lead me to my father.
If he had done something wrong, I’d forgive him. Kon could rot in hell, with or without his missing million dollars. Now I was trapped, with no means of escape. No way to find out the truth or help Papa.
Thinking about how easily Kon had found out where I was staying before he kidnapped me, I was supremely grateful that I’d had the sense to delete the most recent message from Papa and all of the messages from his assistant.
I may have been sheltered, but I wasn’t stupid.
If Kon was certain I knew more than I was letting on, even something so trivial, his efforts to get that information out of me would double.
And I didn’t need those intense eyes paralyzing me, planning some fate for me that I couldn’t imagine. Remembering the hunger in that gaze as he reached for my throat had me curling up under the covers for the mere illusion of safety.
But it was only an illusion. There was no such thing as safety anymore, not with Papa gone and Kon in charge. There was no sleep either as long as Kon was still out there, hunting my father.