Page 45 of Ruinous Need
VIKTOR
LISETTE KEEPS TRYING to pull the silk blindfold from her eyes.
“Stop that,” I growl at her and pin her hands behind her back. “It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
“What kind of surprise involves driving half an hour out of the city and then making me walk blindfolded for a mile?”
That’s an exaggeration. It’s only a half-mile.
“It’ll be worth it. We’re almost there.” I keep leading her along the path with my arm around her shoulders.
Since our separation, Lisette hasn’t been the same.There’s an edge to her now, an anger. She’s realized that an entire period of her life was stolen from her, simply because Semyon decided she would be the prize in some twisted game he wanted to play.
I feel it when Lisette’s asleep. She’s restless, fearful of people who aren’t there. She talks in her sleep about worries that her family will be killed, though that danger is long passed.
I’ve been there, after Lev. She needs to let this fear out while she’s conscious, while she’s in control, before it eats away at her.
I feel guilty that I can’t do more to help.
Especially because I’m the most content I’ve been in my life. Work is a chore, with new alliances desperately needed to solidify my leadership, but as long as Lisette’s by my side, I’m satisfied.
And it never would have happened without the sequence of events that is the source of her trauma.
If she hadn’t been engaged to the Pakhan, she would have become a professional ballerina. I would still be chasing vengeance through Latin America and Russia in an attempt to erase my father’s legacy from existence.
If not for Lisette, I wouldn’t have realized how futile it all was. How Semyon was using my rage to keep me sidelined.
I want to thank her. I want to show her that her rage is normal, and controllable, and that I can help her with it.
If there’s one thing I understand, it’s anger at the way the Bratva uses people and discards them like they’re nothing.
“Okay. This is it.”
I untie the black silk from around Lisette’s eyes and gesture at the warehouse before us. She looks up at me with confusion.
“A present?”
I grin. “Of a sort.”
The warehouse is overflowing with things — a rainbow of expensive sports cars, designer furniture, priceless works of art. My cousin always loved his shiny objects.
“I felt bad about not keeping Semyon for you to destroy. He was your tormentor for years. This is the next best thing. All of it belonged to him. And you can do whatever you want with it. Break it. Burn it. Smash it. Whatever you want, Lisette.”
I bring her over to the table of tools, and her eyes widen in excitement. “What do you want to start with?”
I’ve given her the whole gamut to choose from. Molotov cocktails, a flamethrower, a sledgehammer. Parked beside the table are a giant bulldozer and steamroller.
“Hmm.” She looks at the tools I’ve assembled. “I’m going to start with the steamroller.” She casts a sideways glance at me, surprise etched on her face. “You’re really going to let me drive it?”
“I will supervise. Closely.” She pouts at that.
Once she’s driving through that warehouse, I feel like I’ve done the right thing.
I’ve never seen her unleash this kind of unhinged energy before. She drives the steamroller over a row of sports cars, again and again, whooping loud enough that I can hear it over the noise of the machinery and the crushing screech of metal on metal.
When she’s done, the sports cars are just a mangled mess of brightly colored metal.Lisette tips her head back and laughs, the first proper laugh I’ve heard from her lately, when she surveys the wreckage.
“That was fun.” Her eyes shine up at me, her blonde hair wild around her face. “Now let’s try the sledgehammer.”
Watching Lisette slam the heavy sledgehammer, again and again, into Semyon’s expensive furniture, fills me with pride. She’s stronger than her tiny frame would lead people to believe. And her movements are so filled with anger that I hope she really is getting genuine catharsis out of this.
She catches me watching her at one point and swings the sledgehammer over her shoulder like she’s striking a pose.
“Do you like what you see? Why don’t I come over there and bring my new best friend with me?” She waves the hammer over her head in wide circles.
“Fucking terrifying.” I laugh. “I should have known you’d be trouble as soon as I put a weapon in your hand.”
The final tool of destruction she wants to use is the flamethrower. I show her how it works and she giggles with glee while she sprays a stream of fire ahead of us, her face lighting up from the glow and from her own eagerness.
“Okay, it’s not the sledgehammer. This one is my new best friend.”
I take a step back as she glances at me, her sea-green eyes aglow in the soft light. “Don’t tell me we’ve got a budding arsonist on our hands.”
“I’m just saying, if you ever need something burned down, I’m here. With my best friend Monty.”
I splutter out a laugh. “Monty? You’ve given the flamethrower a nickname?”
We’ve both pulled on fireproof jumpsuits, but the look in Lisette’s eye has me wondering if this was such a good idea. All doubts in my mind cease when I watch her pour flames wherever she wants them. She’s reckless, she’s wild, and she is dangerous.
I can’t get enough.
Watching her in action makes me want to do crazy things like bring her into combat with me. Because the glee with which she lets go and torches every cursed object in that warehouse is one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.
At one point, I have to tackle her to the ground when she gets overenthusiastic with one of the sports cars and the gas tank goes up in a fireball.
This was a fucking stupid idea, I think to myself, but she laughs wildly and pulls herself to her feet like it was some kind of attraction in an amusement park and not a risk to both our lives.
Fearless to the point of stupidity. I’ve never wanted her more.
It makes her so happy to spray flames all over Semyon’s favorite things that I let it go on for too long. I can’t put an end to this. I expected her to let out her rage, but I didn’t anticipate she would have this much fun.
By the time she’s done, we are both soot-covered and coughing despite the filtering masks and jumpsuits.
“Come on,” I urge her, tugging her out of the warehouse. “And put that down. We’re not taking Monty home or I’m afraid the house wouldn’t make it through the night.”
I can’t see her face behind the mask, but I know she’s pouting at me.
At the door, we finally find some sweet fresh air and pull off our masks. I gasp for air, but Lisette seems perfectly calm. Exhilarated but put-together, like we’ve just gone for a run and not destroyed millions of dollars worth of property.
She stands on her tip-toes to kiss me. The taste of smoke and ash on her lips is intoxicating. I pull her in front of me and loop my arms around her shoulders.
“Remind me not to get on your bad side.” I kiss the top of her head.
Standing in the doorway with my arms wrapped around her and breathing a welcome mouthful of fresh air, I survey the damage.There are piles of ash, scorch marks, shards of glass and splinters strewn all over the space. I shake my head in wonder.
Lisette is an agent of chaos. She has scorched every inch of that warehouse until everything is coated in gray. Paint peeling, wood burned, and small patches of flames lick at the walls of the warehouse.
Not enough to blow up the whole thing, but it’s getting there.
A squad of guards will be there later tonight to torch the whole thing and take away the evidence.
Then there won’t be a shred of Semyon’s possessions left in this city. I wish I could eradicate him from Lisette’s head too — but that’s a work in progress.
Later that night, when her muscles are aching from her efforts, I give her a massage. “You did so well today, baby. I wish I could take away all the pain that he caused you.”
“You did,” she murmurs sleepily as I slide my hands over her shoulders. “Thank you, Viktor.”
For the first time in a month, Lisette doesn’t wake in the middle of the night with her hands curled against my chest, her mouth open in a soundless scream as she tries to escape from Semyon.
I know he’s still chasing her, in her subconscious.
But maybe I can hold the nightmares at bay.