Page 9

“H e’s dead?” My stomach twists. It can’t be a coincidence, can it?

“He is.” Alexander types on his phone. “Get some things together, we need to go.”

I lean against my closet door, taking in a slow breath.

“How did he… how did he die?” My question comes out shaky.

If something horrible happened to him, maybe something horrible is going to happen to me? Maybe something horrible has happened to Mira.

That would explain the radio silence.

My stomach rolls. Sending her away was to keep her safe. Everything is going off the rails.

“I don’t know. He collapsed at an event he was at this evening. I will find out more later.” He pans the room. “Do you have a suitcase?”

“For what?” Traveling isn’t exactly in the budget these days. “You have enough to deal with. I’ll just stay here.”

“Let me make this clear, Megan, so we can stop the cat and mouse game you think is happening.” He steps over a pile of dirty clothes and comes nose to nose with me. “You have been caught. I’m not chasing.”

“I’m not… no.” I shake my head with a little laugh. “I can’t go with you. I have a life. A real life. A job, friends… uh, a boyfriend!” I blurt that last part out.

The right side of his mouth kicks up to the side. I’ve amused him.

“You’re lying. Again.” He runs the back of his knuckles across my jawline up to my ear. “You get flushed right here when you lie, do you know that?”

I’m new to it, so no, I didn’t know that. And how can I keep my body from betraying me like mine did earlier?

“If you were telling the truth, if you had a boyfriend, and he let you put yourself in danger the way you have this weekend, I wouldn’t let you keep him.”

“Let me keep him? You think you have some power there?” Why does this man have the ability to make my heart skip all over my chest and stomp on my last nerve at the exact same time? How am I supposed to be able to think clearly when that’s happening?

“I have all the power here,” he says.

There’s so much force behind his words, in the way he stares at me while he says it, that I completely miss him leaning into me.

His mouth crashes over mine. My body stiffens but melts a microsecond later as his hand wraps around the back of my neck. His lips are warm against mine, sending heated arousal through the rest of my body.

I put my hands against his chest to shove him away, but the tip of his tongue touches my mouth. All protest is gone as I open to him. He deepens the kiss, pressing me against the closet door. The hard length of his cock presses against my hip.

When he breaks away, my lips have to be swollen. There might even be a bruise. I’m too lost to his dark eyes to think about much else other than wanting his touch back.

“I’m in control here, Megan. Everything that happens to you from here on out is up to me.”

“What?” I blink a few times, forcing my brain back into action. “What does that mean? And who the hell said that was okay?”

“Until I have all the information I need to be sure you’re not a threat, you will be under my care.”

“I hear what you’re saying, but you make no sense. No one decides for me. No one.” I shove him, but it’s like trying to move granite. He goes nowhere.

“No one is coming to save you, Megan Reed. And if there was someone who allowed you to put yourself in this situation, I would break their fucking neck for it.” He takes a step back, squashing a pair of my jeans beneath his heel.

Great, now I have two mafia bosses wanting to ruin my life.

“Now pack a bag or don’t pack a bag. Either way, we’re leaving here in five minutes.” He snags his phone again, putting it to his ear. “This is Alexander.”

Pressed against the door, dazed and angry, I can only watch as he steps over more mess from the break-in and leaves the room.

I could disappear and no one would do anything about it. There would be no big search party. When I don’t show up to work, they might try to call me, maybe put in a police report. But the reach of the Volkov family would easily make that go away.

“Who are you?” a male voice demands from the other room.

Billy!

I jump over the piles in my bedroom and hurry down the hall to find the boy who lives on the third floor glaring at Alexander from the doorway. Alexander has one eyebrow arched and looks at me.

“Billy. It’s okay. I’m here.” I get between them. Billy’s barely twenty and lives with his ailing grandmother. He’s no threat to anyone.

“Yeah. I just came up to see if… wow, they really made a mess, didn’t they?” He surveys the living room.

“They? You saw who did this?” I urge.

“Yeah. They were looking for you, the same guys, you know?” He eyes Alexander, who has now gotten off his phone and moves to stand behind me.

“What guys?” Alexander questions.

Billy looks to me. “You know, those guys.”

Oh, shit.

“Yeah, I do. Did you talk to them at all?”

“They asked about you. I said I didn’t know where you were. They said they were just going to leave a note for you on your door. Guess, they did more than that, huh?” He frowns.

“Who are these men?” Alexander questions again.

“They didn’t say anything else?” I press. I’m supposed to have more time. Why would they be here harassing me already?

“Just that they were leaving a note.” He blows out a breath.

Alexander puts his hands on my shoulders and gives a little squeeze.

“Still waiting on my answer,” he says.

Billy raises his gaze up to Alexander.

“Hey, man. Sorry. I’m Billy. I live up on three with my grandma.” He puts his hand out to Alexander, who stares at it.

I try to nudge him.

“Rude asshole,” I mutter under my breath, but not soft enough. He must have heard me because he lets me go and takes Billy’s hand.

“Alexander Volkov.” He pumps Billy’s hand, then drops it. “If you know who did this, I’d really like to know.” He evens his tone now that he’s assessed that Billy isn’t a problem.

Billy won’t be dragging me away on some white horse to save me from him.

“Volkov? Like the owner of Pulse?” Billy’s eyes widen.

Pulse is one of the clubs in my part of town that the Volkov family runs. It’s the least upscale of their businesses. A lot of the younger crowd hangs there because the booze is cheap, the bouncers ignore fake IDs, and street drugs flow like a chocolate fountain.

“Yes. That one.” Alexander puts on his charm, along with one of his business smiles, and straightens up. “I’m helping Megan with something, and when we stopped home tonight, we found the place like this. So, if you’d tell me who did it, I’d appreciate it.”

I try to catch Billy’s eye, but he’s a little enamored with the successful, charming Alexander Volkov and seems to have completely forgotten me altogether.

“Yeah, man, sure. I’d hoped they’d leave Megan and Mira alone by now, but when I was taking Grandma’s laundry downstairs, I ran into the same two guys that come by every month.” Billy shakes his head like it’s a big shame I’ve gotten myself into this mess.

Even though I’m not really the one who put me here. I’m just the one who remains stuck here.

“Billy—” I get cut off when Alexander’s hands rest on my shoulders again, closer to my throat this time. He squeezes hard enough to get the warning across.

“Same two men, huh? You have names?” Alexander asks all light and fluffy.

“Nah, never got their names. But they work for Marco DeAngelo, and it’s the same two every month.” He nods along like he’s helping Alexander and is proud to be part of some scheme to keep me safe.

“Marco DeAngelo?” His hands tighten even more. “I’ve heard of him.”

“Not a great guy.” Billy nods, then turns his gaze back to me. “Hey, I think I still have your vacuum. You want me to bring it down? I think you’re going to need it.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I have a cleaning crew on the way over,” Alexander says.

“Oh. Good. Okay.” Billy smiles.

“Thanks, Billy,” I say, starting to take a step forward, but Alexander’s grip won’t soften, so I put my foot back down.

“I’ll let you get to it. Let me know if you need anything. Good to meet you, Alexander.” Billy grins, then backs out of the apartment, still looking starstruck.

Billy shuts the door.

“Marco DeAngelo?” Alexander spins me around to face him.

I wish he hadn’t.

If possible, I swear flames burst in his eyes as he glares down at me.

“Alexander.” I lose my nerve to say anything after his name when he puts his hand up.

“Don’t.” He closes his eyes. “How much?”

“What?”

“How much do you owe the DeAngelo family?” The words are tight and clipped.

“Seventy-five thousand.” It might as well be a million with the interest rate they’re charging.

“How late are you on the last payment?”

“I only had half the money last month. Technically, I’m a month late on that half, but the regular payment isn’t due for another few days.” Mira didn’t send the money last month like she’d been doing for the past six months.

I slide back a step, but I don’t think I can get far enough away to escape his anger.

“Get your things.” He has his phone out again and is glaring at the screen. “One minute, Megan. You can go fucking naked for all I care, but we are leaving in one fucking minute.”

I hurry out of the living room, his words following me as I turn into my bedroom.

“Yeah. We have a problem.”