Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Yev’s speed is unchecked as he charges for Vasily. He hits him with so much force the air in the lungs of the twenty people surrounding them leave in a hurry when they slap the concrete with a hearty thud.
A painful groan overtakes the murmured whispers of the crowd when Yev throws his fists into Vasily’s face before he dislocates the hand he used to slap me.
After contorting his wrist in a manner that leaves no doubt he’ll need surgery to regain full function of his hand, much less use it to slap me again, Yev stands over Vasily with a heaving chest. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Like an idiot with no wish to live, Vas snarls, “What happens between my girl and me is none of your business—”
Yev silences him in the same way Vas silenced me, except his hit will keep Vasily’s pulse ringing in his ears for over a week. It also causes blood to ooze from his nose and stains his teeth with the same murky red coloring. “Alter your fucking tone. Speak to me as if you’re speaking to your father.” He leans in close to ensure the slur of his words won’t cause Vas to miss the threat in them. “And if you don’t like him, I suggest you act as if the sun shines out of his fucking ass.”
I mentally call Vasily an idiot when he says, “Do you have any clue who I am? I could destroy you.”
“I know who you are.”
Vas looks proud about Yev’s reply.
He shouldn’t.
“You’re the dumb fuck who thinks he can throw around an authority he doesn’t have, and I’m the man more than happy to show you how it really works.”
“And why would I—” He’s silenced again. This time by Yev yanking back two of the fingers he’s using to keep Vasily on the ground. Alek taught me this hold years ago. It subdues a man quicker than a knee to the nuts and keeps them down long enough to make an escape—though Yev doesn’t look eager to leave anytime soon.
I can barely hear Vasily’s howls over the wailing of sirens in the distance. The police are on the way, and despite a lot of locals mistaking them as the good guys, I know whose team they belong on.
It isn’t with men like Yev.
“Yev, you need to go.” When he continues shouting a heap of drunken words into Vas’s face, I wedge myself between them before repeating my warning. “You need to go. Now.”
My heart breaks when Yev locks his eyes with mine.
They’re so lost.
So empty.
He is only a shell of the man I once knew.
I’m not surprised. He and Feo weren’t just brothers. They were best friends, and at one stage, Feo was the only person who could get through to Yev when his head was spiraling.
That doesn’t mean I won’t try, though. “Please. I don’t want you doing time for protecting me.” I nudge my head to Vasily whimpering on the ground. “He also isn’t worth it. No one here is.”
He looks set to argue, but before he can, Natalya proves her tactical maneuvers work on people of all sizes. Within a handful of hearty shoves and a promise that Saka will take us anywhere we need to go, she directs Yev into the back seat of her SUV, then slots me in next to him. “I’ll deal with Vasily.”
“He’s—”
“A piece of shit who will keep his mouth shut for the right amount of money.”
My bewildered eyes dance between hers. “You can’t access that account.” She has a trust fund bigger than Prince William’s, but she doesn’t touch it because she knows it’s dirty money that will cause more trouble than it’s worth. “If you do, they’ll think you’re back in.”
“I’ll be fine.” She steals my chance to reply by slamming the door shut and tapping on the SUV’s roof.
I stop watching her tiny frame shrink in the side mirror when Yev mutters, “His girl.” He sucks in big breaths that double the wooziness in my head. “You’re his girl.” My heart freezes in my chest when he drifts his eyes to mine. They’re even more lifeless now than they were in the alleyway, and the very reason I walked away instead of welcoming him into the mess my life has become the past six months. “You don’t take long, do you?”
Even startled by the snarkiness of his reply, I can’t harness my response. “I beg your pardon?”
My warning tone doesn’t slow his response in the slightest. It snaps out of his mouth like a whip. “How long did it take you to get over me, Polly? A week? A month? One fucking day?”
“It’s been six months, Yev. I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of you in six friggin’ months—”
“Because my brother died! He was fucking murdered protecting your soon-to-be sister-in-law. Yet here you are, whoring yourself out to the first fuckface to show an interest in you.”