Chapter 9 - Sergey
Roman was pissed. Of course.
If I truly know him, then I have every reason to believe he’s still angry that I went off script and likely will be for some time. He’s pissed that I acted without running it by him or Mikhail and picked Kat up off the street ‘like a fucking stray dog’, as he eloquently put it.
While he might’ve been right that my decision to take her for myself was impulsive, that doesn’t mean he should count it out entirely.
And frankly, I don’t care.
I haven’t felt this kind of drive or purpose in months. Regardless of how much of an obstacle her resistance is, I’m not used to being this clear-headed.
Even if I shouldn’t be this invested in anyone for any reason, I can see two targets ahead of me. One is Yuri’s complete surrender, and the other is Kat’s admittance…her surrender. But not just to my word. To the thoughts and feelings she won’t admit to me, and least of all herself.
She can act indifferent or repulsed by me all she wants, but I see the way she looks at me. Before any of the truth came to her attention, I saw how she looked at me at the car meet, and the way she tried her hardest to resist my charms at the garage.
Kat wanted me to believe more than anything that she was immune to me, but I knew she was just bluffing. I know she still is.
Her anger is understandably getting in the way of her divulging her attraction to me at this time, but I know she won’t be able to hold out forever.
Maybe I am delusional to some capacity, or maybe it’s just the backed-up adrenaline that came with making such a quick decision on my own, but I stood by my choice, and I’ll continue to do exactly that.
Roman may be our pakhan, but I don’t need his approval to do what’s right for everyone. Especially when what’s right goes hand in hand with my own burning need to have Kat for myself.
She’ll calm down…eventually.
When she does, I’ll be here because I don’t have any plans of changing my mind.
Kat has done nothing but plague me for weeks, managing to burrow under my skin without realizing it. She has proven herself to be potentially one of the hardest challenges I’ve ever faced, but that only makes it more exciting.
She can scream, threaten me, and break whatever she feels like, but she isn’t going anywhere either. She has given me a strange and twisted purpose, but a purpose nonetheless.
If I have to deal with a few glares and slammed doors in the meantime, then so be it. I can play the long game if it means getting what I want.
Legally, I already have her. But emotionally and physically, that will take time to fall into place.
As determined as I am, after three days in, I can feel the edges starting to fray.
Not because of Kat’s fury or any doubt on my end. No. It’s her damn phone.
The one that keeps ringing like someone’s house is burning down. It isn’t spam or anything from Yuri, which I’ve been keeping my eye out for, hoping I might catch him in the perfect opportunity. That’s the only reason I haven’t powered the thing down and stashed it in a drawer somewhere.
Instead, it’s fucking Roland.
Her business partner. The far too friendly one. The one who looks at her like he knows just how to protect her with his quiet determination and wisdom.
Sure, he never gave me any reason to believe he had a thing for Kat, but the thought of them being so intertwined in each other’s lives pissed me off. It still does.
And now, while I’m trying to prevent her from making contact with anyone who might stand a chance at coming between us, I have to deal with this godforsaken phone.
His name has flashed across the screen several times in the last half an hour.
He doesn’t text, but instead tries to leave his persistent and likely concerned calls and several voicemails.
It makes me tempted to crack the phone in half and be done with it.
But I know that would only be cause for more concern on his end.
I try to hold out. To ignore the persistent ringing, followed by the vibrations when I flick the sound off. But something beyond the constant noise is driving me crazy. Knowing he is this worried pisses me off.
Pacing outside her door, feeling the intermittent buzzing against my palm, I pull in an agitated breath before knocking on her bedroom door and pushing my way inside.
Kat doesn’t even look up when I find her sitting on the small love seat by the window with her legs folded under her and arms crossed. The breakfast I had sent up to her sits untouched on a nearby side table, and surely her eggs are long cold.
It annoys me, but I keep my tone dry rather than nagging. “Still maintaining that valiant hunger strike thing?”
Her eyes flick over to me. “Still doing the kidnapping thing?”
Fair enough.
I almost chuckle at her remark, but the phone buzzes in my hand again, pulling me back to the reason I’m even in the room. I huff to myself and hold the phone between two fingers.
“Your friend is persistent.”
Something akin to concern moves through her gaze. I guess it’s a mutual thing between them. She takes a deep breath. “I told you earlier. Roland is worried, and he’ll continue to be.”
I scoff. “He’s annoying.”
“He’s loyal. He’s also my friend and business partner…of course, he’d be worried. You should’ve expected that.”
Sure, I should have. But part of me was hoping he’d just give up after the first few calls and assume Kat had moved on to a different life.
But after everything she was trying to avoid before, why would she change her mind now? Why would she leave it behind?
A lack of foresight? Maybe. But it doesn’t matter.
“You don’t need loyalty from another man when I’m handling your safety just fine,” I utter, well aware of how possessive it sounds, mostly to a fault. But in truth, I forced her to marry me. That shouldn’t be too surprising.
“And how are you handling it?” Kat throws back at me, skipping over that part, thankfully. “You’ve been keeping me locked up in this room. I don’t think this should be a difficult concept, but you are the thing someone like Roland would want to protect me from.”
My blood boils at the thought.
I hate the insinuation, and I hate that she’s right.
I’m not exactly being Mr. Good Example, but I never claimed to be. I just know what I want, and having Roland in the middle of everything isn’t that.
After a flicker of quiet, the phone buzzes again.
“Jesus Christ,” I mumble, scrubbing my opposite hand over my mouth. “I swear, if he doesn’t stop calling…”
“Just give me the phone,” Kat says, gaze narrowing while she watches me pace. “Let me at least tell him I’m okay.”
“No,” I say before I can stop myself.
This visibly annoys her further while she unravels herself on the couch, taking a more defensive position. “If you don’t want anyone coming for me, then I need to let Roland know I’m fine.”
“That’s the problem,” I grit out, growing more impatient the longer the phone buzzes. “He shouldn’t need to know you’re okay because you are. Because you’re with me.”
She scoffs. “Do you really think he’ll just accept that I’ve vanished into thin air without a single word? Not to mention, he has no idea where I am, or that I’m with you of all people.”
I know she has a point, and her logic is more sound than I want to admit, but even having her reassure him has my fist balled up at my side.
“Maybe if he wasn’t acting like such a needy little shit—”
“Sergey,” Kat says, voice cutting straight through my irritation with that firm inflection.
Turning again, I find her standing now, expression turning more furious than before.
“If you want to play pretend as my protector, then protect me from the worry you’re causing,” she propositions, tone sharp. “Let me reassure him that I’m fine and he’ll stop.”
Another buzz comes from the phone, followed by another new voicemail.
Looking down, I watch as the phone screen eventually turns dark again. My jaw tightens, and an idea springs into my mind.
Without thinking twice, I turn the phone around to face her, lifting it high enough for it to register her features. Within seconds, the screen unlocks with a satisfying sound.
Got it.
Kat freezes with the realization, brows raising before furrowing. “Don’t you dare—”
But my fingers are already moving across the keyboard, doing my best to craft a disarming text on the spot.
‘Hey, everything’s all good. Just taking time for myself. Don’t worry, I’ll check in later.’
And…sent.
As the text goes with the familiar sound to confirm it, Kat growls to herself and lunges forward, reaching for the phone.
“You asshole!”
Pulling the phone out of reach, I feel as her body collides with mine, sending a brief shiver through me. With it out of the way, I lean a touch closer.
“You’re welcome.”
Those brown eyes of hers flare with barely-contained rage as she hits my chest, but I don’t move away.
“You can’t just…what gives you the right—”
Pocketing the phone, I gently grab her wrists between us, making her pause. “Everything gives me the right. Legally, you’re mine now. My responsibility and my problem. I won’t have some side character assuming he gets to insert himself in this.”
“Side character,” she echoes incredulously with a subtle shake of her head.
That rage holds on tightly while she looks up at me, but she doesn’t pull away either.
The flicker of something else beneath the surface gives her away.
“Roland is my friend. He has been for some time, and if that’s something you can’t stomach, then it’s not my problem. ”
“Are you assuming I’m jealous of him?” I ask, tone lowering at the suggestion.
Kat looks at me like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “What else could it be? You’re so used to getting what you want, and it makes you reckless.”
“I’m not reckless, and I’m not jealous of someone like him. Don’t assume I think so little of myself,” I utter, growing more irritated by the second. “I’m efficient, and I go for what I want.”
We stand so close that we breathe the same air, both glaring with our heated gazes. Close enough for me to start losing fragments of all sense in her presence.
She’s so near, it wouldn’t take much for me to lean in and feel her lips against mine for the first time. I could reach out and grab her waist. I could push her back against the couch and take everything I’ve been wanting for weeks.
But of course, that would only prove her right.
We might be legally bound, but I won’t let her assume I’m some brainless beast. I have to wait, regardless of how straining that may be.
Urging myself to pull it together, I take a discreet breath and lower my voice while keeping it soft. “Speaking of efficiency…pick something nice to wear. We’re going out.”
I take a step back right as she blinks at me, seemingly trying to navigate the whiplash of that statement.
“What?”
“You heard me. You’ve been stewing here long enough,” I tell her, allowing some of that frustration to ebb away at the thought of getting out of the house. “So have I.”
Refusal immediately floods her features. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“But you are,” I say flatly. “Because if you don’t, I’ll continue texting your friend. Maybe I’ll burn that bridge so he can’t be a problem anymore.”
Her face twists. “You are deranged.”
“Maybe I am. But I don’t feel like sharing, and I don’t like distractions.”
Not bothering to conceal any of her rage, Kat grabs a pillow off the love seat and hurls it at me without hesitation.
“You’re such a prick!”
I catch the pillow midair and laugh at the attempt.
God, for as infuriating as she is, she makes me feel everything. Good and bad.
Kat pisses me off, yet she makes me feel so high at the same time. Territorial, even.
She has shown me glimpses of the raw, scorching fire she has inside her, and it’s so fascinating that I can’t stop. She’s full of surprises, and I need to see more.
Tossing the pillow aside, I turn around and head for the door.
“You have fifteen minutes to get ready,” I tell her, pulling out my phone. “Don’t make me come back in here and pick something out for you.”
“Try it, and you’ll never do it again.”
Her threat makes me grin. “I’d love to see you try.”
The sound of her agitated groan follows me out of the room and down the hall, and I can’t help but grin.
She wants to hate me so badly, but I know there’s more to it. There’s something beneath it all that she refuses to acknowledge.
But soon enough, she will.