Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
I don’t speak because I can’t. The stone lodged in my throat prevents me from being able to.
I haven’t told him all the details of why I took off to the US, or who I abandoned in the process, only that his father would want my head for defying the rules. It’s too raw, even after all this time. Rodion and Zahkar barged into my heart like they’d lived there before and were just returning home. And no matter how hard I try I can’t get them to leave, they’re a part of me. I think they always were. Soulmates returning to each other. I broke us by leaving.
I wonder what they’ve been doing and who they’ve been doing it with.
“Alyona!” Viktor shouts and then chuckles. “I lost you.”
“Sorry.” I shake my head, grabbing the glass he poured me, and downing the contents. A cough rattles from me because of the after burn. “Fuck, you trying to poison me?”
“Ha,” he deadpans before slapping a hand on his desk. “Not my style. I like my prey with fight left in them.”
He’s so creepy sometimes.
“So the twins are planning on setting up shop here?” I clarify, trying to keep my emotions out of my tone, but my voice betrays me.
His eyebrow cocks up in a curious way. “Is there a reason you’re so invested in the Vetrovs? Are they why you were so heartbroken when you arrived?”
“I wasn’t heartbroken,” I choke out.
“There are those lies again.” He chuckles. “You can’t lie to me. I’m immune to them.”
“Do they know I’m here?” I jolt, not even realizing that they could have known this whole time where I was, and just not cared. Why would they?
“If they do, I’m not aware of it. I haven’t and would never tell them you’re here.”
A relieved whoosh of air fills my lungs.
“So there was something going on with them?” he pries. “Tell me everything.”
That’s never going to happen.
“They trained me for The Games and got me out in the end.” My heart thunders admitting that information out loud. Viktor would never speak to Yuri since it was his father who banished him, let alone inform him of those facts, but it scares me all the same putting the words out there.
“You must have really made an impression on them for them to risk everything to get you out. Death is the reward for that sin.”
A shiver snakes up my spine and curls around my chest, squeezing.
“Hence why I ran.”
He tilts his head in thought as he works over what I’m not saying. “To protect them from Yuri finding out they helped you, perhaps?”
It’s not lost on me that he calls his father by his given name. There’s no love there.
“They can’t know I’m here, Viktor.”
“And they won’t.”
The air feels heavy, the weight of the world we come from pushing in on us, crushing. But I believe him. I trust him, too, even if he’s a little freak always trying to drag me into his sheets.
“You know I love you, right?” I tell him, swallowing past the rock lodged in my throat. “And I’m grateful for everything you did for me.”
“How grateful?” His face transforms back into the cocksure devil I know so well and I’m honestly happy to see it. Soppy shit isn’t something we do. We’ve both been too hardened by life.
“On that note, I’m out.” I roll my eyes and rise to my feet just as a set of knuckles rap on the door.
John, Viktor’s bar manager, pokes his head in. “Jasmine says someone is asking for you, boss.”
I check my phone, and my stomach rolls. Fuck. Five texts and four missed calls.
Jeremiah: Where are you?
Jeremiah: I’m home. You’re not.
Jeremiah: Where the fuck are you?
Jeremiah: Why are you not answering your phone?
Jeremiah: Are you with someone?
Crap! How long have I been here?
I jerk my gaze to the clock on the wall. It’s nearly one in the morning.
“I have to go,” I yelp, throwing Viktor a wave as I rush toward the door, not waiting for his response.
Chapter Seven
Zahkar
Dumdumdumdumdum.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
My heart races and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I’m drug free at the moment, much to my dismay. It’s not that…it’s something else.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
Unease. A feeling. A deep sense of…dread? Whatever it is, I don’t particularly like it.
“I’m bored,” Rodion grumbles from beside me as we ride from the airport to our hotel, dragging me from my inner thoughts.
I lift a brow and smirk. “You’re always bored.”
“I’m more bored than usual.” He points into the dark night. “Do you see anything?”
Squinting, I shake my head. “Not anything worth looking at.”
“Exactly. Remind me why we’re here again…”
Dumdumdumdumdum.
Turning my head, I look at my pouting brother. I can still smell the vodka on his breath from the plane. Makes me thirsty. Licking my lips, I lean forward to reach his ear. “I’ll entertain you later.”