Chapter 4 #6
The guy hesitates… then backs off, wiping the blood from his split lip as he storms out, slamming the door behind him.
The room stills.
Just me. Rafael. Nikolai. Kellan. Ash.
No masks. No lies.
Only fire and whatever truth we’re willing to bleed for.
The silence swells again. Not awkward. Not empty. Strategic.
Rafael stands a few feet from us, hands loose at his sides, the faintest gleam of calculation behind his eyes. He studies us like a chessboard.
Then he speaks.
“So…”
“Let’s start simple.”
His voice is calm. But the tension beneath it coils like a leash being shortened.
“What were you really doing in my casino?”
Kellan scoffs, still rubbing the back of his bruised hand. “Working.”
Rafael’s eyes flick to him.
“You call breaking into security control working? ”
“We didn’t break in,” Ash grits. “We bypassed it.”
Rafael actually laughs at that. Low. Dry. The kind of sound that doesn’t reach his eyes.
“You’re bold.”
He walks forward slowly. Steps deliberate. My heartbeat ticks louder in my ears, but I hold still as he closes the distance between us, but he doesn’t look at me. Not yet.
He steps behind me, and I tense instinctively. But he doesn’t touch me right away. Not until his voice comes again, quieter this time.
“You must be something special, Natasha, ” he murmurs, letting the fake name drip from his mouth like a taunt. “To have two men ready to kill for you without a word.”
Then— I feel his breath against the back of my neck as his arms slide around me. One hand finds my waist. The other trails upward. Fingers brushing the torn fabric near my wound… And then drifting down—over the buttons of my bloodstained blouse.
Deliberate. Slow.
I don’t move. But I feel both Ash and Kellan surge slightly from behind me.
And Rafael sees it. He’s not even looking at me anymore—his gaze is locked straight across the room, meeting theirs as his fingers skim the edge of my second button.
I feel Ash step forward again.
“Don’t,” I say.
My voice is sharp. Final.
They freeze.
Rafael’s hand stills over the buttons.
And then— he chuckles. Softly. Like this is all some amusing joke to him.
“Relax,” he says, drawing his hand away. “I don’t take what isn’t offered.”
The way he says it sends something hot crawling up my spine. Not lust. Not comfort. Just a reminder. He doesn’t need to touch to own the room.
He lifts his drink from the bar again and takes a sip. Then nods once—to his right.
Nikolai moves. Too fast. I barely register the blur of his arm before a flash of silver gleams under the lights.
The blade is already at Ash’s throat.
Ash tenses, but doesn’t flinch. Not even with the sharp edge pressed to the skin beneath his jaw.
“I should kill all three of you,” Rafael says, voice soft— deadly. “You lied. You infiltrated my home. You tampered with my security.”
His eyes flick back to me.
“And you played the part of the innocent, all while planning something behind my back.”
His voice drops lower.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t have Nikolai slit his throat right now.”
Ash breathes slowly through his nose, not breaking eye contact with Rafael.
“Because if you do,” he growls, “you’ll never know what she really came for.”
Rafael’s jaw flexes. He glances at me again—studying. Waiting.
“You’re not here for me,” he says. “Not really. So what is it, Natasha? Revenge? Information? Or are you just playing a game you can’t finish?”
I don’t answer.
Because I don’t trust my voice. Not when Ash has a blade to his neck. Not when I feel my hands twitching at my sides. Not when the rage inside me is starting to outweigh the fear.
Rafael exhales slowly. And then—he speaks again.
“Nikolai.”
There’s a pause.
“Let him go.”
Nikolai hesitates. The knife stays in place.
“What?”
His voice is sharper now. Confused.
Rafael doesn’t even look at him. He’s still watching me.
“I said let him go.”
Another beat. Then, reluctantly, Nikolai lowers the blade.
Ash steps back, rubbing his jaw as if he hadn’t just had death kissing his skin.
I blink once. Because I didn’t expect that. And judging by the stiffness in Nikolai’s stance neither did he.
“You’re letting them go? ” Nikolai snaps. “After everything?”
Rafael finally turns to him.
“They’re not going anywhere. I didn’t say they were free. I said you’re done for the night.”
Nikolai’s mouth opens like he’s about to protest. But Rafael cuts him off with a look so cold it could snap bone.
“That’s final.”
Nikolai straightens. His jaw clenched. Fury burning in his eyes.
“She’s going to be the reason we bleed,” he mutters. Then he walks past Rafael without another word.
“You always said it’d be a woman.”
And with that, the door slams behind him. Leaving only the four of us.
The truth still unspoken. The storm only just beginning.
Rafael doesn’t speak right away. He just watches us—like he’s reevaluating the pieces on a board he thought he’d already won.
Ash paces now, jaw tense, fists still curled from the rush of it all. Kellan stands just behind me, close enough that I feel the heat radiating off him—still on edge, still ready to move if Rafael does.
But Rafael doesn’t move. He just turns his glass in his hand, slowly, the ice clinking as it melts into the whiskey.
“Let’s try this again,” he says, calm and cool. “What were you doing in my casino?”
His eyes land on me now. Pinning. Demanding.
“And this time, make it worth my mercy.”
I meet his gaze without flinching. My arm throbs. My throat feels tight. But I speak anyway.
“We wanted in.”
His brow lifts slightly, not in shock—but in interest.
Kellan shifts beside me. Ash says nothing, but I feel his stare on the side of my face.
I don’t look at them. I keep my eyes on Rafael.
“Into your world,” I continue. “Into the Bratva.”
Rafael stares at me like he’s trying to figure out which part of me is real and which part is bait.
“Three nobodies,” he says, voice smooth. “No names. No ties. No lineage. And you thought you’d infiltrate the Vory v Zakone through a waitress shift?”
“No,” I say, steady. “I thought I’d observe. Learn. Find a weakness.”
That earns a small smile from him.
“You think I have weaknesses?”
“No one is untouchable.”
A pause. Then I exhale. Time to give him something. Just enough.
“The truth is… I’ve been looking for someone.”
He tilts his head slightly.
“Go on.”
“Someone responsible for my family’s death.”
It slips out softer than I intended. But I let it hang there—intentional.
“Your family ?” Rafael echoes.
I nod once. “They were murdered. A long time ago. The case was buried. Everyone who should’ve cared… didn’t. But I know the circles they moved in. The people they did business with.”
I meet his gaze, voice tightening.
“And a lot of those people gamble in your casino.”
Rafael says nothing. But I see it. The flicker. The shift behind his eyes. Like something just clicked. He studies me now like a whole new puzzle.
“So you thought if you played house long enough, the truth would just… slip out?”
“It was the only place I could get close enough,” I say.
And it’s a half-truth. Close enough to him. Close enough to kill him if I had to. But I don’t say that part. Not yet.
Rafael leans back slightly, setting his drink down on the bar top. He folds his arms across his chest, the fabric of his black button-up stretching over his forearms.
“And the two of them?” he asks, nodding toward Kellan and Ash. “Bodyguards? Brothers? Lovers?”
Ash scoffs. Kellan mutters, “Jesus.”
“They’re mine,” I say flatly. “That’s all you need to know.”
Rafael smirks.
“You don’t get to decide what I need to know.”
I don’t respond. I don’t have to. Because whatever he saw in me tonight—it gave me leverage. More than I had before.
He walks forward slowly now, stopping in front of us, arms loose at his sides again.
“You’re skilled,” he says, eyes on me. “You don’t panic. You handle a weapon like you’ve lived with one. And you didn’t hesitate when it mattered.”
His gaze drops once to my arm. To the blood there. Then back to my face.
“I could kill all three of you and leave your bodies in a landfill. No names. No ties. No one would ever find you.”
Ash tenses. Kellan growls something under his breath.
But Rafael just tilts his head.
“Or…”
He pauses.
“You work for me.”
The air freezes.
“What?” Ash spits.
“You want in?” Rafael says. “You’re in. On my terms.”
He looks at me again.
“You’ll answer to me. You’ll work when I say, where I say. And if you lie again—I will know.”
He steps closer.
“And as for you, Natasha —you’re done serving drinks.”
I blink.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not a waitress. Not a server. You’re a weapon.”
“So I’ll use you like one.”
He walks behind the bar again, grabbing another glass.
“We need someone on the floor who can read people. Know when they’re bluffing. Know when they’re hiding something.”
“And if they don’t talk?”
He smirks.
“That’s when you become something else entirely.”
My pulse kicks. He looks at me one last time.
“You’ll work under my command.”
“All three of you.”
“From this moment forward.”
A long pause. Then Ash steps forward slightly.
“What happens if we say no?”
Rafael lifts his drink again, takes a sip.
“You won’t.”
And somehow… he’s right. Because we can’t say no. Not without dying. Not without failing. Not without blowing everything wide open. And I’m not ready for that. Not yet.
So I nod once.
“Fine.”
My voice is steel.
“I work for you.”
My agreement hangs in the air like smoke—thin, dangerous, and impossible to take back. Across the room, Ash and Kellan are still coiled with tension, their loyalty radiating in every breath. But beneath it? They’re waiting for my cue.
Because even now— especially now—they follow me.
Rafael’s eyes cut to them.
“And the two of you?”
Ash doesn’t blink.
“Where she goes, we go.”
Rafael smirks faintly.
“You sure about that? Because where she’s going next… it’s not something you come back from.”
Kellan steps forward, blood still drying at his temple.