Page 15

CHAPTER 15

Oleksi

I stand there like a fucking statue, rooted to the polished marble as Sabrina walks away from me. Her head held high, her hips swaying with the kind of defiant grace that makes me want to grab her and pull her back. But I don’t. I just watch.

Something fractures inside me, clean and sharp like glass under a boot heel. It’s not rage, not exactly. It’s not jealousy either. It’s something deeper—something I haven’t felt since I was twenty-two years old, standing on the edge of a fountain with a diamond ring burning a hole in my hand and Judy Volkov telling me no.

I thought that was the worst feeling in the world. That twist of humiliation. The bitterness of rejection.

But this?

This is worse.

Because with Sabrina… I didn’t just want her. I needed her. I’m obsessed with her.

And I underestimated her. Badly .

I thought I could mold her. Train her. Possess her. But she’s nothing like the girls I’ve broken before. She’s intelligent, feral in her strength, fucking brilliant when backed into a corner. That damn video footage. The legal jargon. The way she didn’t even flinch when she dropped her threats like a blade across my throat.

She’s got me by the balls and we both know it.

I can still feel the echo of her voice in the room. The way her lips curled around the word, “ Checkmate. ”

And what scares me more than her threats? What rattles me to the core?

She just walked away.

She walked the fuck away—and I had nothing to hold her here with.

Unless…

My mind drifts. Elena . The daughter I never knew Sabrina had until this morning. She’s another mystery. Sabrina’s protective armor cracked when she mentioned her. Could Elena be the key? Who is the father? The mysteriously dangerous Marco?

The name makes my spine stiffen. I don’t know who the fuck Marco is, but whoever he is… he scares me just as much as she does because now I have some fucking black hat’s eyes on me. As if I didn’t have enough to contend with.

I’m still reeling, trying to stitch my thoughts into something resembling a plan when—

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

The sharp female voice cuts through the air like a whip. I turn slowly, my jaw ticking.

Judy Volkov stands just inside the suite, arms folded, eyes blazing.

Speak of the devil and you’re sure to tramp on his tail. “When the fuck did you get here?”

“A while ago,” she bites out.

Fuck. I didn’t even hear the elevator.

“You fucked, Sabrina Craft?” she demands before I can get another word out. Fury blazes in her eyes. “Seriously, Oleksi?”

“How long have you been standing there, Yudina?” I ask, using the name I know she hates. Her nostrils flare.

“Long enough to see that you’ve lost your goddamn mind.” Her gaze flicks to Syd, who’s leaning against the far wall, arms crossed, lips pressed in a thin line. She hasn’t said a word. Just watching. Judging.

“What do you want?” I ask Judy coldly.

She pulls a folder from her oversized bag and thrusts it into my chest.

“I brought you the marriage contract you asked me to draw up.” Her eyes narrow. “Jesus, Oleksi. Even for you, what you did to Sabrina is low.”

“Gloating doesn’t become you, Yudina,” I reply, clutching the folder.

“I’m not gloating,” she says, but then smirks. “Though I’ll admit, watching a five-foot-nothing woman kick your giant ass and slap your ego down a few stories without raising her voice? Yeah… that was kinda satisfying.”

I glare and hold up the folder. “Is this all you came here for?”

Her expression sobers.

“How long has this thing with Sabrina been going on?”

I arch a brow. “Why do you want to know? So you can report back to Radomir and Leigh?”

“No,” she snaps. “Because I want to know if you were planning on keeping her as your mistress while marrying someone else.”

I stiffen.

“This contract is just a contingency plan,” I say. “A way to secure the Dragunovs' loyalty should they fail to accept the new terms I have to offer now that Irina is dead. That’s all.”

“Nice,” she mutters, eyes filled with disgust. “You’ll never change and I don’t care what your aunt or cousin say, you’re no different than your father.”

“I’m nothing like my father.” I hiss. “If I was, you nor Viktor would be alive today. I’d have killed both of you for how the two of you betrayed me.”

“I never betrayed you.” Judy’s voice drops dangerously low. “We had broken up, remember?” Her eyes bore into mine. “And it was you that broke it off. You who wanted to explore your campus options or your perversions.”

“Do you blame me?” I say nastily. “My girlfriend of six years wouldn’t open her legs for me.”

“Thank God I had the good sense not to,” Judy gives as good as she gets. “I’m not into all the shit you are.”

“Maybe you’re the reason I’m into that shit?” I accuse.

“Sure, blame someone else for your crap,” Judy sneers. “It’s just like you. If you’re not shifting blame, you’re twisting things to suit your narrative to ensure you’re the one in control, blinding you from seeing anything you don’t want to see.”

“Oh, here we go again.” I throw my hands in the air. “Poor Yudina. Pretending to be pure to snag yourself a Pakhan, only my father probably caught you spreading your legs for Victor and that’s how he knew you were nothing but a little whore.” My eyes rake her body as my anger intensifies. I know it’s not directed at her but she’s here and we have unresolved issues that have bubbled to the surface with all this crap with Sabrina. “I didn’t want to believe him until three weeks after I proposed you were suddenly getting married and eight months later you gave birth to a son. I can do the math, sweetheart.”

Her face goes pale. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her voice shakes with rage.

“Oh, I think I do,” I continue to taunt her. “What really happened in the dungeon Yudina?” I see her eyes widen some more and that haunting pain creep back in them. “Were you fucking my Father and uncle at the same time when Viktor found you and to save face you cried rape?” I know I’m being cruel but I can’t stop something is driving me on. “Is that what happened Yudina? You couldn’t let Viktor know you were not pure like he thought you were so you had to cry…”

Thwack!

The slap comes like a thunderclap. My head jerks sideways, skin stinging.

“Fuck you,” she hisses. “Find yourself another attorney. I don’t work for you. I work for Radomir, Viktor, Maxim, and I will leave for London tomorrow to join Radomir and Leigh after all. I knew this was a bad idea but Radomir begged me to stay here to help Gavriil. You were never part of the deal.”

She spins and storms out.

I stand there, cheek burning, shame creeping into my gut like poison.

Syd still hasn’t moved.

“You’ve got nothing to say?” I snarl, turning on her. “What the fuck do I pay you for?”

“To tell you when you’re being an asshole?” she says coolly. “Because right now? You’re being a fucking giant one.”

I growl. “If you’ve got something to say, Syd—just fucking say it. Everyone else has today.”

She pushes off the wall and walks toward me slowly, her eyes deadly calm.

“First, I agree with Judy. Setting Sabrina up? That was next-level twisted. Even for you.” She shakes her head. “And as for Judy…”

She stops in front of me. “Are you really this blind, Oleksi?”

I frown. “Blind to what?”

“The truth?” she replies. “It’s been right before your eyes for the past what… twelve years.”

“What truth would that be?” I rub my stinging cheek. Judy always did have a mean right hook.

Syd stares at me like I’ve grown a second head.

“You say you can do math?” She snorts. “Jesus, Oleksi. You need to go back to school.”

“My math is fine,” I bite out.

“No, it isn’t,” she says flatly. “Judy’s right, you know. You only ever see what you want to see. And let me guess—you never even questioned why Maxim was born a month early, huh?”

I blink.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying Maxim was born one month premature,” she says slowly. “And Viktor? He had a football injury when he was seventeen that left him sterile. He and Judy only started dating when he was about twenty.”

The world tilts beneath me.

“What?”

“You and Judy never had sex,” she continues, voice softening now. “So if Viktor can’t have kids… and it wasn’t you…”

Her words slam into me like a truck.

Maxim.

Maxim isn’t Viktor’s son.

But he isn’t mine either.

Which means if Judy really was still a virgin when my father and uncle raped her because she refused to marry me... A punishment for daring to turn down the next head of a bratva family.

I stagger back, breath catching in my chest as I redo the math and maybe Syd’s right I should go back to school.

My heart beats like a war drum in my ears. I can’t breathe. I can’t think.

I feel sick to my stomach as the thoughts churn through my head—my father and uncle had brutalized Judy and Viktor—because of me and then they made me believe she betrayed me.

I drop into the nearest chair, clutching the marriage contract in my hand like it’s a lifeline and an anchor all at once. My world feels like it’s falling apart as the outer shell breaks open and all the skeletons of my past tumble out.

And it’s my fault.

All of it.

Because I didn’t see what was right in front of me. I didn’t see Judy’s pain. I didn’t see Sabrina’s strength.

And I lost two people who were important to me because of my short sightedness.

Syd doesn’t say anything more. She doesn’t need to.

Two hours and a bottle of vodka later, I’m slouched in my office chair, the room dark except for the muted glow of my desk lamp and the slow swirl of amber in my glass. Syd’s gone to get me something to eat—or maybe she just needed to get away from the epic fucking mess I’ve become.

The silence stretches, thick and heavy. Every now and then, I hear the echo of Sabrina’s voice in my head, like a ghost that refuses to fade.

Checkmate.

The word makes my jaw clench every time.

My phone buzzes, vibrating angrily across the polished desk. I ignore it at first, until it starts again—this time longer, more insistent. I glance down.

Unknown number.

I almost let it go to voicemail.

But something… something in my gut says answer it.

I pick up. “Mirochin,” I growl, my voice hoarse and scratchy from vodka and bad decisions.

“This is Sam Winters,” the voice snaps back, clipped and urgent.

My brow furrows. The name slices through the haze. “Who?”

“Sam Winters. We met briefly at Sabrina’s place the other night.”

I sit up straighter, the burn in my gut replaced by something colder. “The sugar daddy.”

“The what?” Sam’s voice spikes an octave. “Are you fucking mad?”

His outrage rattles through the speaker like a slap.

“Sabrina’s father was my best friend. Nikolas Vasilikis is practically my brother. I treasure my nuts too much to even think about going near that girl like that. She’s like a goddamn daughter to me!”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, already regretting the words.

“What an insane thing to say,” Sam hisses. “Maybe I made a mistake calling you for help.”

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out at first.

Because yeah… maybe he did.

But the second he says help—and it’s about her—the vodka haze vanishes like mist under fire.

“What’s going on?” I ask, voice dropping to something rougher. Sharper.

He exhales hard. “I picked up a distress signal from her building. Sabrina’s security system has been triggered and she’s not answering her phone.”

My stomach drops. “What kind of system?”

“One I helped install myself. It's a motion activated one—not some cheap shit either. It only goes off when someone’s either in her place, trying to get in, or if Sabrina triggered it herself either panicked or in danger. Combine that with her silence? I don’t like it.”

“I’m the last person she wants to come to her rescue,” I warn him.

“Look, I don’t give a shit what she wants right now and I don’t really like the idea of having to turn to you either.” By the sound of him I know he’s telling the truth. “But, there are two not-so-nice Russians in town, looking for something they think Tara has,” Sam says. “Tara lived with Sabrina. You get where this is going?”

“Too clearly.” I’m already pushing my chair back.

“I’ll make this clear for you—I don’t trust you,” Sam continues. “But I know you’re dangerous enough to make a difference if something’s wrong and you speak Russian. I need eyes and firepower on the ground now there in Vegas as I’m stuck out of state right now..”

I’m even more suddenly alert now. “What Russians?”

“Twins,” Sam answers. “At the moment I’m still trying to figure out who they are. Up until forty minutes ago I thought they were still in New York until a contact of mine verified they boarded a plane to Vegas this morning. Are you getting the big picture now?”

My blood runs cold. “You don’t have to say more. I’m already out the door and collecting my men.”

“I take that as yes, you’re going to help me,”

“Like I said, I’m already out the door.”

“Keep me updated, Mirochin. This is my number,” Sam demands. “I don’t believe I’m going to ask this but I need you to keep her safe until I’m back. I don’t care if you have to fucking bind and gag her, get her and her daughter somewhere safe. Those Russians don’t fuck around—they’ve already put one of my best men in a coma.”

“Who?” I ask heading out the study door.

“Clyde Smythe, I believe you know him,” Sam’s words send shock through me. Of course I know Clyde, he saved my life in Russia two years ago. He was Syd’s partner when she still worked for Nikolas Vasilikis. Then something else dawns on me as I wait for the goddamn elevator. “Was Clyde hiding Tara?”

“I can’t say,” Sam says. “Call me when you have news of Sabrina and she and Elena are safe. And Mirochin, don’t make me regret calling you,” he warns before hanging up.

“Where the fuck is Syd?” I mutter, checking the time and hit the button as if that’s going to hurry the machine up. As I wait for it I feel the ice in my chest crack, replaced by something burning. A fury I haven’t felt since—

The doors to the elevator slide open.

“Where the hell are you going?” Syd’s voice rings out as I nearly collide with her stepping in as she steps out with a takeout bag in one hand and her phone in the other.

“We’re going to the car,” I bark, already moving past her. “Are Ivan and Lev downstairs?”

“Yes.” She blinks, stepping back into the elevator. “What's happened?”

“It’s Sabrina,” I grind out as I message Ivan for him and Lev to meet us in the basement. “The man I thought was her sugar daddy called me to go find her. Apparently some silent alarm has been tripped at her apartment and she’s not answering her phone.” I finish telling her the story by the time the elevator finally hits the basement.

Her eyes sharpen. “Who is this sugar daddy?”

“Sam Winters.”

Her eyes boggle. “You thought Sam was Sabrina’s sugar daddy.” She snorts. “Jesus, I hope you didn’t say that to him.”

I don’t answer. “You know him?” Of course she does—she worked for Nikolas for years.

We don’t waste another second as we climb in the SUV and Ivan takes off.

And for the first time in hours, my heart isn’t drowning in guilt—It’s thundering with purpose and I might just get to kill someone which would also make me feel a whole lot better right now.