Page 8 of Devious Truth (Vicious Sinners #3)

“ I t’s a good deal all around, and with the shit that’s brewing with the DeAngelos, we can use the extra support.” Kaz sinks into the armchair beside me.

“No disagreements from me. Vasily can set up his business here so long as it doesn’t interfere with any of our current deals.” Alexander balances a glass of whiskey on the arm of his chair. “Ivan, your thoughts?”

“He’s not thinking about us.” Kaz reaches over the gap of our chairs and nudges me. “He’s been thinking about that waitress ever since he got in today.”

Alexander’s brow rises. “Vee?”

“Do you think you’ll ever grow up?” I glare down my younger brother, who only laughs in response.

It’s been too long since he’s gotten a good ass kicking. Maybe I should take some time to help fix that error.

“And be all work and business and serious like the two of you? Probably not.” Kaz lifts a shoulder. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for it. You’ve been eye fucking that woman for months, it’s about time you actually made a move.”

“I didn’t make a move. I drove her to work because her car died last night in the parking lot.”

“So you drove her home, too?” Kaz’s eyes light up as though he’s five years old again and has just been told he’s spending the afternoon in the candy store.

“Stop it.” I grab my empty glass to get a refill.

“You did drive her home.” Kaz chuckles. “What happened to your no fucking the employees rule.”

“I didn’t fuck her.” But I wanted to. There was nothing I wanted more last night than to take her into her bedroom and make her scream for me.

“And the employee part?” He presses.

“We were talking about Vasily, not my sex life.”

“Or lack of one,” Kaz says into his glass as he tips it back for a sip.

“Not all of us want a rotating door in our bedroom.” The man has never spent more than one night with a woman in his life.

Even in high school he had a line of girls trailing behind him. He’s at least honest about his preferences. None of the women who fall into his bed are under the delusion it’s anything other than what they see on the surface.

“Still, you’re always giving Kaz shit about dating the staff.” Alexander joins in the fun to poke my temper.

“If we’re done with the Vasily question, there’s a charity event tomorrow night that one of us needs to attend.” I grab the invitation from my desk and show it to them.

“What’s it for?” Kaz leans forward to read the embossed lettering.

“The children’s hospital is raising money for a new radiology wing or something like that.

They need money to get more equipment.” I hand the invite to Kaz, who skims the details and passes it off to Alexander.

“It’s good to put a positive public face right now while the fight with Marco is somewhat quiet. ”

We’ve made it a goal to keep our family with one foot in the realm of legitimate enterprise and one foot planted in the dark underbelly of the criminal world.

Keeping politicians under our thumbs with bribes and holding dirt over their heads only goes so far.

Having our hands in every cookie jar makes our empire more stable.

“I’m busy.” Kaz pulls out his phone as a text comes through.

“Oh? What are you doing?”

“I’m taking our sister to visit her mother’s grave. It’s the anniversary.” He frowns.

“I forgot.” I rub the back of my neck. “We should all go.”

“Let me just take her. I want to find out what the hell is going on with school, too. She’s been saying she’s doing shit online, but I never see her with her computer. And I know her classes didn’t all just magically shift to online.”

“Good. I wondered too, but when I bring it up, she changes the subject or just leaves the room.” Alexander frowns. “You think she’s dating someone? I heard Mira asking her about a guy, but Elana saw me in the doorway and never answered.”

“You didn’t demand an answer?” Kaz laughs.

“From our sister?” Alexander’s jaw tightens. “You know her; if she’s not ready to talk, she’s not going to.”

“If she’s seeing someone, we need to know.” I point out. “I know she likes to think she has all the freedom because she’s our half-sister, but she’s in just as much danger now as anyone. She’s still a Volkov.”

“She lets Artem drive her; that’s the best we can do right now.

When we brought her to live with us, we promised she wouldn’t be locked away.

If you start putting a group of armed guards on her, she’s going to get pissed.

Artem can keep her safe. If things get more intense, we’ll talk to her about letting another guard be with her too,” Alexander says.

“Fine.” I check my own calendar, then send a message for Vivienne to come up to my office. “I’ll take the children’s hospital thing tomorrow.”

“Are you going to bring a date?” Kaz gets up from his chair. “You know, maybe someone blonde, has a cute little freckle just above her eye.”

He taps the exact spot on his own forehead where Vivienne’s freckle resides. My insides shake.

“Stop looking at her.” I order my younger brother. And just like all the other times I’ve told him what to do, he laughs.

“Stop looking at her? How can I give her a drink order if I can’t look at her?” He laughs.

Alexander steps between us. “That was Rurik on the phone.”

He shoves his phone into his pocket; a dark frown sets.

“His storage unit was hit. Our entire floor is gone. He’ll know more tomorrow about how it started, but I think we’re safe in assuming it was the DeAngelos.”

“Revenge for taking out their pleasure house.” I nod.

Alexander’s jaw flexes as the mention of how close his wife came to being killed at the hands of the DeAngelos.

“I’m going to head home, see if my wife has bothered to go back there.” He shoots Kaz a disgruntled look.

“When I left them, Elana was getting ready to go out with some friends and Megan was planning on leaving when Elana was done. I will never understand why it takes a gaggle of women for one of them to get dressed.”

“A gaggle? They’re women, not geese.” I get my phone and tap out a message to Meredith downstairs.

“Whatever. I’m going downstairs. Enjoy your wife, Alexander.” He winks, buttons his jacket at the waist and leaves my office to prowl the club.

“You’ll handle the dinner tomorrow then?” Alexander points to the invitation.

“I will.” I nod.

He opens the door just as Vivienne was about to knock. With her hand still poised in the air, she stumbles forward. Alexander grabs her arm, catching her before she falls, but quickly rights her and shoots me a look.

One trait all three of us share is our protectiveness over our women.

“Sorry.” Vivienne straightens up and smooths her hands over the bodice of her dress.

When Kaz picked out the uniforms for the waitresses, I hadn’t bothered to give them much attention other than to note it was an elegant look.

Obsidian is for the elite of the elite; having our waitstaff look cheap goes against our brand.

But now that Vivienne stands before me and my brother in the tight dress with its hiked-up hemline and low-cut neckline, I’m having a change of heart over the uniform.

“We’ll talk later.” Alexander steps around her, pulling the door shut with him.

It’s been three hours since we parted ways, with her going into the women’s locker room and me making my way up to the offices.

But seeing her now makes it seem like it’s been longer.

She’s changed out of the leggings and oversized sweatshirt she was wearing when I picked her up at her building and put on a full face of makeup.

The more I notice the painted-on foundation and blush on her cheeks, the hotter my blood becomes.

“You weren’t wearing that much makeup last night.”

Her mouth drops open, probably a little surprised by my brash tone.

“I tried something new. I guess you don’t like it.” She lightly touches her fingers to her cheek.

“Did you want me to like it?”

The spot on her throat, just behind the club emblem on her choker, bursts into a red blush.

“Did you want something? Meredith said you wanted me to come up here.” She folds her hands in front of herself.

If this is some sort of pretense of obedience from her, it’s failing. Defiance glares back at me through the battlements of the stone wall she keeps around herself.

“Yes.” I retrieve the invitation for the children’s hospital event. “I have an opportunity for you.”

“Oh?” She slides her weight to the left foot and juts her hip out just enough for me to know she’s already suspicious.

And she should be.

“It pays well.” I assure her, holding the invitation lightly between my fingers.

“It’s a job?” She straightens her stance.

“Yes.” More or less.

Her bottom lip disappears between her teeth for a moment.

“What’s the job and the pay?”

“It pays fifty thousand dollars.” It’s not enough, but it will put a dent in the bills that I saw. The rest I’ll take care of later.

“Fifty thousand dollars?” Looking at me with those wide, cynical eyes of hers she stakes a step toward me. “What’s the job? I assume it’s a full-time position?”

“It pays fifty thousand dollars for one night.”

Her expression goes blank, but she recovers quickly and anger flashes in her eyes.

“What for?”

I hand her the invitation. “I need a date.”

She reads over the details of the charity event while muttering to herself under her breath. It’s barely audible but I’m pretty damn sure she called me a few names. I decide to let it go. Later, when she understands all the rules, I’ll punish her for it.

“You want to pay me fifty thousand dollars to go to a charity function? Are you completely insane? I’m not taking your money.” She thrusts the invitation back at me, but I slide my hands into my pocket.

“You need the money, and I need a date.”

What I needed was a way to get money into her account without her fighting me tooth and nail about it.

“So, you figured you’d pay me a crazy amount of money to hang off your arm? No. I’m not buying into that. Moving debt from one place to another doesn’t actually get rid of the debt.”

“What debt? It’s a payment, Vivienne.” I turn on my heel and make my way to my desk. “It’s one night with me. You’ll get out of a lot of that debt you’re buried under. We both get what we want.”

“I understand why I would do this, but you haven’t given me any sort of reason as why you want me to be there? Why not make this offer to any of the girls downstairs? I’m sure some of them that work in the cages every night would love to help you out.”

“I don’t want them. I want you.”

“Do you understand how crazy that sounds? Ivan, we barely know each other. There’s no reason why you would want me over the other girls.”

I ball my hands into fists and press them into my desk. My knuckles crack with the pressure.

“Because I do.”

“You only want me because you can’t have me.” She stomps to my desk and throws the invitation down.

“If only that were true.” I lower my voice.

Wanting this woman has given me nothing but sleepless nights, if I could squash this fucking desire to possess her, I would.

“And what would this night entail?” She folds her arms over her chest. Heat blooms over her cheeks.

“They’re usually pretty boring. There’s dinner, some longwinded speeches, and dancing.”

“And it would be just for the night? For the dinner?” She chews on the inside of her lip.

With slow steps, to keep her from bolting from the room, I make my way to her.

“For the night, Vivienne.”

Her wide eyes meet mine, and even the makeup painted on her face can’t hide the blush sweeping over her cheeks.

“Ivan, I don’t…I mean…seriously?”

“Nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen. But yes, for the night.” There’s a single strand of hair stuck in the lipstick of her bottom lip, so I pull it free.

“And if I say no?”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I don’t date?—”

“It’s a job, not a date.” I see that I’m going to have put more pressure. Whatever is holding her back has a death grip on her. “I’d still be your boss. You’d still be under my employ.”

“You realize you’re opening yourself up to a huge lawsuit here, right? I mean, if you fire me for saying no to this. I think even asking me this is legal,” she blusters.

It’s all a show to hide that she’s finding it difficult to say no.

Digging out a business card from my desk, I hand it over to her. “Here’s a lawyer. But you won’t be able to afford his retainer unless you take the job.”

She grips the card, quickly reading the law firm’s name embossed on the front.

“You know there are other lawyers in this city.”

“That would take us on? No. And not to mention, you signed an NDA. Suing Obsidian would go against that contract.” I flick the end of the card she’s gripping. “This guy actually put that part in to protect us. So, maybe he wouldn’t be much help to you.”

She throws the card at my desk, but it floats to the edge and slips off onto the floor.

“I don’t want to lose this job.” Her voice lowers, and for a brief moment guilt strikes me.

I’m putting her in an awful place, making her chose between financial freedom and her personal freedom. Only an asshole would keep pushing.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven,” says the asshole in the room.

“I haven’t said yes, yet,” she says, a flicker of annoyance in her eyes.

“I thought we just covered that. You’re not saying no. I’m picking you up at seven.” I pick up her arm and trail my thumb over the fading bruise still lingering on her skin. “And maybe you’ll tell me who did this to you.”

“It was nothing.” She pulls free of my grasp.

“Keep your secrets for now.” I gesture toward the door. “You can go.”

Flames bursts into her eyes, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all day.

“Fine. But you’ll pay me even if you have a horrible time.”

“Why would I have a horrible time?” Other than the event itself is mind numbing.

“I’m just putting that out there. If you don’t have any fun, you’d still pay me?” The little quirk to her lips gives her away.

Stepping up to her, I wait to see if she’ll cower away. Of course she doesn’t. This woman has a spine of steel.

“Well.” I give a slow grin. “If you’re planning on misbehaving to make my night hell, I should warn you. I don’t let naughty girls have dessert.”

Her pupils explode. But she recovers quickly.

“I think I can do without a little ice cream.” She huffs, trying to laugh, but the rose tint to the tip of her nose is a testament to how hard she’s blushing beneath all that makeup.

I move my stare to her mouth just as the tip of her tongue touches her upper lip.

“That’s not the dessert I’m referring to.”