“I wanted to see you.” The lie comes easily to my lips.
“Come.” He steps back and holds out his hand.
He leads me across the room toward the dance floor. We weave through the throng of people as their bodies move in sync to the music. At the stairs at the back of the club, I pause and look around, double-checking everything. Tonio is leading me exactly where I want to be.
“Are you afraid to be alone with me, little Anatonia?” He smiles down at me, mistaking my hesitancy for fear.
I rub my lips together. “Have I ever been afraid of anything?” I ask. He won’t know the answer to that.
“I’ve waited a long time for you to stop playing with the boys and find me. You need a real man.” His confidence rolls off him. I want to tell him to go fuck himself, he’s so cheesy. Instead, I smile up at him.
“I was working up my nerve.” I want him to think he intimidates me.
“Then let me show you my world.” He pulls on my hand, and I start up the stairs with him. He moves ahead of me and through a hall at the top of the stairs that rounds a corner to a door. He enters and holds the door open for me to pass. I catalog the locks and step through. The wall I’m facing is all glass and looks out over the dance floor below us. I feel him walk up behind me, then he slides his finger down my spine. “What do you have on under this?” he asks boldly.
“You’ll just have to wait and see.” I step to the side and move away from him. “I have a question to ask you.” I need to get business out of the way first. My eyes move over the room and I take in everything. He left the door slightly ajar. He doesn’t trust me either.
Hmm, interesting.
“What is your question?”
I turn back toward him and hike myself up onto his desk. I cross my legs, exposing more of my thighs through the open slits.
“I know that you are in the know.” I appeal to his ego. “I was wondering what hits you’ve heard about lately.” I lean forward and rest my arms on my crossed knee. My cleavage is on full display. His eyes take the bait and check out the sternum and under boob tattoos he can see. The small lotus flower and mandala design is one of my favorites because it was all for me, not for something I did.
I move my tongue over my lips, drawing his eyes there, needing to get control of the situation. He advances on me, caging my body to his desk, and runs a finger up between my cleavage. He leans down to kiss me, but I put a hand up.
“Answer the question first, then we can play.” I gently press against his chest to move him back. His eyes look hungry as he takes me in this close.
“Oh, sweet Anatonia, I find it funny that you think you’re in control in here.” He waves his hand around. I slip along the desk away from him, putting space between us. I slide off the side with my back to him. I know the instant that he changes. I feel the moment he makes the decision to stop playing the game. I turn back around and he’s standing there with a gun aimed at me.
I smile, my grin big and wolfish. “You want to play, big boy,” I purr as I move around the desk, putting it between us.
“There have been a few hits issued, but I’m only interested in one.” He confirms.
“What are the others?” I need to make sure the family is safe and that they aren’t targeted.
“Some no-name hitman that defied the Bocharov Pakhan.”
“What’s the name? Maybe I want to go for it.” I cock my head to the side and slip my tongue against my top lip. I’m sure I know who it is. Something dark uncurls inside me. Anger that they would go after him. If I take out Konstantin, that will protect him too.
Tonio moves around the desk and sets the gun on the edge. He is overestimating himself if he thinks I’m intimidated by that weapon sitting there within his reach. I can kill him before he even turns back toward it, but he doesn’t know that. He’s overconfident in himself right now.
“Some guy named Vitaly something or other, don’t worry about him. Let’s talk about the other marker.”
“The other marker? But why? Now we can play. Now that I’ve got my question answered.” I’m going to have to make this silent so as not to alert his security guards I saw from the window moving toward the room.
He advances on me. His hands land on my shoulders. “Little Ana, you are the mark. I get extra considerations if I do a couple special things. You are my in to the Bratva.” I almost laugh because I knew I would be the other mark, but his words give me pause.
“Special things. Such as?” Again, I tip my head to the side, acting coy.
“Aren’t you scared? There is a bounty on your head.” He reaches down and lifts my mother’s cross from my chest. It lays on the top of my sternum tattoo. He wraps his fist around the chain and yanks it from my neck. I flinch from the pain, but I don’t cry out, and that should scare him. I hold myself still and wait for him to make his next move. He’s just signed his own death warrant. “First, I need this.” He turns slightly and throws the necklace toward his desk. It slides across the surface before stopping. “Next, I’ve been recording us.” He points behind me, but I don’t turn. I keep my focus on the man in front of me. He’ll keep giving me every detail of his plan because of his ego. “I’m supposed to rape you, suka shlyukha. Then a double tap right here.” He taps my forehead as he slaughters the Russian for “bitch whore.” Again, I don’t flinch. I bite my tongue to keep from striking him down.
“And you think this will get you in the Bratva?” My voice is tight, controlled.
“I know it will. It’s been months since you’ve been here, and rumor has it you helped kill Medvedev. I knew you’d be stopping by to confirm the family is safe. You’d also want one of the fixes you haven’t had in a while. I knew if I got to you first, you’d come to me.” He leans down and licks along the side of my face. I hold the tremor in my body.
“Then you better get to it.” I egg him on. His hands on my shoulders tighten, the skin bruising, but I don’t move.