Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
They also had the audacity to ask Viktor if they could take over the night duty for Sasha so she could get some sleep.
I had Viktor shoo them away in his signature unwelcoming tone.
Fuck those two. Sasha will remain on night duty indefinitely.
She spends the night right outside my room. I’d prefer it if she were inside, but she refuses. Because she’s carefully keeping her distance.
Except for when it’s time to fight.
That’s when the fire inside her blazes, and she turns into an entirely different creature.
She has the determination of a cat who has an attention span of twenty seconds. Every day, she forgets that she was defeated and jumps back into the ring for more.
Is she making progress? Yes. Will she be able to defeat me anytime soon? Probably not.
This is starting to become more routine than anything else. The highlight of my day isn’t trying to form any type of alliance or slowly stripping the control Konstantin has over some of the clubs.
It’s being in that ring, waiting for Sasha to appear with her defiant expression.
I’m about to head there when Viktor appears in front of the office door like a damn ghost.
“Make some noise, would you?” I start down the hall, and he falls in step beside me.
“Igor is requesting to meet with you.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t say. He wants you at his house tonight.”
“Hmm. Tell him I’ll be there.”
That old man was one of the most eager to have me, instead of Konstantin, take over. I’m sure it has something to do with old-fashioned rules, where the eldest son should inherit his father’s legacy.
“Copy that. Since you’ll be busy tonight with the meeting, should we head to the club now?”
“No, I have a training session.”
“With Lipovsky?”
“Why is that voiced as a question when you know the answer?”
“I don’t trust him, Boss.”
“Why not?”
“He’s just…suspicious.”
“What a massive argument you have there, Viktor.”
“You know it, too. He’s been getting close to the young lady.”
I stop in the middle of the hall. “Karina?”
“Yes. She lets him into her room and asks Anna to prepare snacks for them.”
“Why is that bad news? In fact, it’s good that she lets anyone into her chamber of horrors. Even I am not allowed in there most of the time.”
“Seriously?”
“What?”
“He could take advantage of her, Boss.”
I laugh, and he watches me as if I’m an alien, so I stop and call forward my serious expression. “I will cut his head off if that happens.”
“Doesn’t mean it’ll stop him. Wouldn’t it be better to prevent that situation before it happens?”
“He’s not going to take advantage of Karina. I promise.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“He’s…let’s say, attracted to men.”
“He does seem gay.”
“Is that so?”
“Doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”
“Then why did you think he’d take advantage of my sister?”
“The fact that he has a functional dick.”
I suppress the need to laugh again, and Viktor narrows his eyes on me. “He was acting strange in front of your office a while ago.”
“Strange?”
“He pretended that he was there to knock on the door and search for you.”
“And that’s strange how?”
“The fact that I caught him doing the same thing again last week. And another time this morning. I was watching the surveillance video and caught him looking at the lock for two seconds before he left.”
“Are you watching him, Viktor?”
“He needs to be watched.”
Interesting. This means Sasha has something in the office. Or maybe she’s searching for something.
What could that be?
“Let me take care of him. Stay out of it and stop watching him.”
“But, sir—”
“Stay out of it, Viktor. That’s an order.”
He purses his lips in clear disapproval, but he doesn’t push it.
His words, however, definitely bring a lot of ideas to my mind. Such as Sasha’s actual motives for coming to New York.
During today’s training, Sasha managed to touch my chest. It wasn’t a punch, and she collapsed right afterward, but she had this victorious smile on her face.
As if she’d done what she set out to do all along.
She didn’t gloat, didn’t attempt to even count that contact as a point, but she did look at me with those defiant eyes that get me all fucking hard.
No. It’s the idea of what look I could put in those eyes that gets me hard.
“Let’s go. I know just the right thing to do so you can relax.” Maksim gathers her by the shoulder, and she uses him for support in order to walk. My eyes narrow, but I soon conceal it.
The right thing to do to help her relax.
That’s what he said, unless I’m hearing things. I’m about to follow after, when my phone rings.
I’m fully ready to ignore it, but it’s rare for my sister to call me.
My attention remains on Sasha disappearing with Maksim into the annex house as I pick up. “What can I do for you, Kara?”