Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 45957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Too bad the moment he entered the room, my common sense usually grew pretty little butterfly wings and fluttered right on out the door.
“James,” Ivan greeted as James stood, extending his hand while simultaneously dismissing the guard who’d escorted Ivan to the conference room. Darren stood next, shaking Ivan’s hand as well, and then, Jaxon followed suit.
Ivan looked at me and arched his brow the slightest bit when I didn’t budge from my seat. I met his green eyes head-on, our gazes clashing. Both of us knew I wouldn’t be shaking his hand nor giving him the respect he thought he deserved.
James sighed like he was fully put-out with me before gesturing to an empty seat—the one that happened to be right across from me. I shot James a dark look, but he ignored me. A glimmer of amusement flashed in Ivan’s eyes as he pulled out the seat before he smothered it and sat. He looked across the table at James. “Has everyone been brought up to speed?” he asked, his Russian accent thick but his English fucking perfect.
Because this mother fucker just excelled at everything he did.
“Yes,” James said. “I appreciate you being open with us.”
“Well, Inessa is married to one of your consiglieres,” he said as if any of us forgot that we were bound to the Bratva because of that marriage. “While she is not my family by blood, she is the granddaughter of the late Pakhan. She is still family. We protect family.”
Wow. It was almost like he was trying to claim he was only helping because of Inessa—not because he and James had signed a fucking treaty and that Jaxon, while happily married now, had given up his bachelorhood and married the previous Pakhan’s granddaughter, someone Jaxon couldn’t stand at the time, for the sake of that damn treaty.
I grunted in annoyance. James shot me a dark look. Darren looked fucking amused, the big-headed shit. Ivan flickered his gaze to me for a moment before dismissing me as if I was nothing more than a roach he’d smooshed beneath his expensive fucking Oxfords.
I ground my teeth together.
Fucking prick.
“I understand I will be working with Adrian on this?” Ivan asked.
James opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. “I still don’t fucking understand why it has to be me that goes.” I gestured to Jaxon, who was silently watching us, just like he always did. Fucker never had much to say. “He leaves Inessa all the time to do fucking missions. Why should this be any different?”
“Because when I go on missions, there’s not an immediate threat to my wife,” Jaxon said calmly. “Whoever is behind this is targeting the vulnerable ones in this family—not us.”
“I don’t have to do this,” Ivan said, drawing my eyes to him. Not a fucking thing showed on his face. Not anger. Not irritation. Not annoyance. Not even amusement. Hell, he didn’t even look fucking tired after flying all the way from Russia. He just looked bored. “The least you could do is be grateful that I am offering my services and opening my borders to you and your family and shut your mouth.”
I jerked out of my seat, sending it crashing back against the wall. James quickly stood as well, gripping my arm as I leaned forward, planting one hand on the table and jabbing my other finger in Ivan’s face. The mother fucker didn’t even blink. “The fuck did you just say to me?”
And there it was. That glimmer of fucking amusement again. Like he found me entertaining.
I was going to cut his balls off and shove them down his throat. Wonder how much he’d find that entertaining.
Ivan stood as well, adjusting the sleeves of his suit jacket, not even bothering to look at me. “How do you Americans say it…” he mused, finally looking at me. “Ah. Calm your tits, is it?”
I was going to break his fucking neck.
Darren snickered. I shot him a cold, dark look before focusing back on Ivan. “If you were any other man, you’d already have a bullet through your skull, Adrian,” Ivan warned me.
I bared my teeth at him. “And if it wouldn’t create a fucking war I don’t have the patience for, I’d have slit your throat fucking years ago.”
“That’s enough,” James growled, pulling me back some. “Stand down, Adrian.”
I scrubbed my hands down my face, my heart rate too high and that monster clawing its way to the surface. I gritted my teeth, looking at Darren and Jaxon, who were now no longer amused. Just watching me like they were seeing me for the first time.
Hell, maybe they fucking were.
I looked at James. “You’re really forcing my hand on this?” I asked. “I don’t get a fucking choice solely because I’m not tied down?”
James sighed, sounding put out with me. “Adrian, it’s not like that.”