I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking. She doesn’t know anything. She’s too innocent.
And that pisses me off.
I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get caught up in the moment. They don’t call her a witch for nothing. I don’t understand how she was able to bring down my guard like that. The way she looked at me, I couldn’t fucking help myself. I wanted to know how her eyes would look up at mine with purpose, with need. It was better than I could have imagined. The twinkle in her blue eyes dimmed with passion.
Nothing like that can happen again.
I readjust my focus on the papers I laid out across the coffee table. I need Sloane to get what I want, and I don’t want to complicate things. She’s getting in my fucking head, and it’s not making this easier. I can’t even focus on what’s in front of me.
The way she tastes . . . so fucking sweet. I can still taste her on my tongue. The way she searches for something to grab onto because she can’t contain herself . . .
“Mikhail!” Max’s voice blares through the room, and I look to the main door.
He stands there with a man at his feet. Max clenches his fists and gives me a look with his eyes widened.
“Who the fuck is this?” I ask.
“I was hoping you’d know. He’s been pacing around the house searching for a way in. Don’t you have cameras here? Christ, Mikhail, you have Sloane—people are bound to be looking for her, and you need to keep her safe.”
I forget everything I was doing and step toward the man. His hands are in front of him, his head angled down.
No one knows Sloane is here besides Adrian, Lev, Dimitri, and Max.
My eyes search Max’s and we both give questioning glares in return. He doesn’t know who this man is or how he found us.
“Who sent you?” I finally ask.
The man doesn’t look up or even mutter a single word. I step on his fingers until I hear some kind of sound to show me he’s alive. He thinks he can just creep around my house and take what’s mine? He should swallow a bullet for the simple attempt. It doesn’t take much for me to realize he’s here for Sloane.
He seethes from the pain I’m inflicting on him, but that doesn’t tell me what I want to know. His head falls between his scrawny shoulders and he continues to make useless sounds.
“Great,” I tell him. I reach for my phone and order Lev to bring Sloane downstairs. “Max, why don’t we share a drink? You can bring him.”
We walk to the formal dining room and sit next to one another while we wait for Sloane. I can hear her struggling with the hold Lev has on her. She’s shouting at him. I didn’t want to wake her up, but I need to know if she knows this man. Lev isn’t making this any easier. I don’t like how he’s grabbing her.
He pushes her into the room, and she stumbles forward. Once she lays eyes on the man Max caught, her eyes widen.
She knows him.
“Sloane, kind of you to join us. Why don’t you take a seat?”
Her lips pout. It’s as if she knows what’s about to happen and she can’t do a damn thing to stop it. Hesitantly, she pulls out the chair on the opposite side of the table and takes a seat. “This is unnecessary,” she says in a steady voice.
“It’s unfortunate we don’t share the same opinion.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong.”
I sit back in my chair and admire her. I haven’t even told her a damn thing about what’s going on—she’s saying it all for me. She can be sexy when she tries to take control, but I need answers.
“I’d say trespassing on private property is wrong. I would know,” Max says with a laugh.
I laugh with him because I understand his meaning. He used to get caught trespassing with a girl all the time. I’ve only heard stories, but it happened when he was younger.
“Sloane, are you all right?” the man asks, refusing to look at anyone but her.
The look on her face is hard to decipher. I can’t tell if she feels sad or worried. Hell, she should be both.
“She’s fine,” I tell him, answering for her.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
“Anything that involves her involves me. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re here to take her from me, aren’t you?”
“She’s not yours to have.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. She is mine.” I reach into my waistband and pull out my gun.
“Mikhail, please!” Sloane shouts, and a worried expression takes over her confusion.
I glare at her. If she didn’t want any of this to happen, she shouldn’t have gone against me. I set simple rules for her to follow, and she is the one who chose to defy me.
“Please don’t kill him,” she asks with a sweet voice. There’s something about her tone that makes me want to listen to her, but I ignore it. Nothing pisses me off more than unwanted people coming to my house.
I laugh under my breath. “Oh, I’m not killing anyone,” I say, reloading the gun and sliding it across the table. “You are.”
The gun lands in front of her. Tears stream down her face, and her eyes flutter. “Mikhail,” she says softly.
I lift a glass of rum and bring it to my lips. “Close your eyes if you must.”
“I’m not doing this,” she says with a halted breath.
She’s weak. She doesn’t understand her actions have consequences.
“Why not?”
She shakes her head. “You’re fucking insane.”
I get up from my chair and walk over to her. “You want him to live?” Brushing her hair out of her face, I stand behind her and put my hands on her small shoulders. “Just be honest, Sloane.”
“Yes,” she says.
“Then you will serve the punishment for him.”
“Okay.”
The commitment she has to her family amazes me. I admire the hell out of her for it. I wish my brother would have shown his love for me the way Sloane shows her love for others. But her love isn’t the kind that gets things done. It’s a pond full of still water; nothing changes. Nothing happens in still waters.
I nod my head slowly and click my tongue. “Lev, dump him on the side of the road.”
“Sure thing.” Lev stands up from his chair and drags the man out.
I don’t need to know who he is in order to figure out Sloane’s father sent him. He thinks if he doesn’t come get her himself it won’t be seen as a threat. But here’s the thing: Ludis will do what I say. It’s always been like that. He works for me until he doesn’t. There isn’t a life for him if he doesn’t stick by my side. He’s raised Sloane to listen to him, but that will change.
Sloane will do as I say, not what he says.
“Max,” I call. “Take her out while I deal with this shit.”
Sloane doesn’t push me any further, and that’s a smart decision of her part. I’m trying to be kind to her, but she’s giving me a run for my money.
