And in one swift motion, Conrad is ripped off me.“The fuck is going on here?” Sofiya wedges herself between us. I can’t see her face, but her entire body is simmering with rage.“This is between Daphne and me.” Now, Conrad is officially pissed off. He steps forward and reaches out to push Sofi aside, his gaze set squarely on me.Again, Sofi grabs him, but this time, it’s for leverage. Her hands grip both his shoulders so she can deliver a knee to his groin hard enough to crush his testicles into baking powder.His eyes bug out of his head the same time his lungs emit a high-pitched wheezing sound. When he doubles over, Sofi takes the opportunity to uppercut his chin, snapping his head back and making him bite his tongue with enough force that blood starts trickling between his lips.The man crumples to the floor. Bloody, wheezing, and curled up in the fetal position cradling what’s left of his nuts.“Are you okay?”The petty side of me wants to ask him if he’s painting a new abstract
DAPHNEI don’t know what sort of “business” Pasha does in the middle of the night. I’m not sure I want to know.What I do know is that, whatever it is, it compels him to come home and sit on the bed next to me for a while. He never says anything. Never touches me. He just sits there, assumes I’m sleeping, and stares off into the dark.Last night was one of those nights. He sat down next to me, sighed, and gazed at the wall for a while. I didn’t say anything, too afraid to break whatever spell had him bewitched. Then he got up, went into the bathroom, and took a shower before heading off to sleep on the couch.This morning, he insisted on taking me to work himself. No special occasion, and my guards were perfectly capable of doing it themselves. But Pasha calmly stated this was happening, ushered me into the car an hour earlier than I usually leave, and took us to the drive-thru for a vitamin smoothie and pastry.He seemed on edge. I asked him about it, but he just forced a smile and
I saw nothing but him as my enemy.I felt nothing but pure, unadulterated rage.The one lesson I learned from my father that day was to never allow my emotions to overrun my logic. If I let my heart get in the way, I’ll miss the knife coming for my back.The one lesson he learned that day?My little brother and sister don’t care how big my enemy is. My enemy is their enemy, and they do not hold back when it comes to protecting their big brother. They may have cowered in the corner while our mother screamed for them to run.But when I hit the floor, they turned into demons.Kostya never raised a hand against our mother after that night. He also lost half the sight in his left eye and walked with a permanent limp. He’d do his best to fake it, to pretend like he didn’t need a cane, but his men knew.Everyone knew.“You’re not like him,” Sofiya offers, her voice quiet.“I look like him.” I rub a hand over my jaw. “And sometimes, I… Blyat’. I catch myself sounding like him. Making the same
PASHA“Don’t look at me like that.”“Like what?” Sofi protests. “It’s not like I’m?—”“Stop. Don’t try to moonwalk into the conversation you’re clearly angling for.”“Rude,” she sniffles. “Extremely rude.”I roll my eyes. “You want polite? Fine. I’ll thank you for keeping your thoughts to yourself. How’s that for polite?”“Which thoughts specifically?” Sofi tilts her head to one side in mock concentration. “The ones about you being head-over-heels in love with Daphne?”I clench my jaw. “Don’t be ridiculous.”“Oh? So, you don’t find it interesting that, after your gushingly romantic date, you’re brooding in your office instead of home with her?” She lifts a hand. “Don’t start with me on that ‘I have work to do’ bullshit. You don’t. This isn’t work; it’s avoidance.”It wasn’t gushingly romantic, I think to myself. Matter of fact, it was a silent, bitter disaster. After she brought up my father, I shut down, and it’s taken hours since dinner ended for me to claw my way back out of the ps
I frown at the white box tied with velvet ribbon in her hand. When I take it from her, I recognize the gold embossed logo on the lid.No. No way.Hazel steps inside and locks the door behind her. “What is it? Please, I’ve been dying to know ever since the courier made me sign for it!”I tug on the ribbon and let it fall away. I know that ribbon, though. I know the place it came from. I know the kind of price tags they use.“It’s… silk.” I hold up the first carefully folded layer of cloth inside the box. The fabric feels so unbelievably soft, pouring between my hands as I spread it out. “A silk scarf.”Hazel whistles low. “Damn. Dude is not fooling around! Was that it?”Good question. In true Pasha style, it’s not the only thing in the box. There are two buttery soft cashmere scarves, a handwoven fine linen scarf, and a heavy-but-warm raw silk scarf at the bottom.“Let me guess.” Hazel openly stares at the hickeys on my neck, her mouth twisted in a playful smirk. “Your man is making up
DAPHNE“Daphne, yes. Please come in.” Keith gestures for me to enter his office, where Todd is also waiting. “We’ll make this quick.”My baby flutters and kicks inside my womb, but it’s nothing compared to the knot forming inside my stomach. “What’s up?”Todd clears his throat and glances at his brother. “It’s not that we want?—”“What we want,” Keith cuts in with a sharp glance back, “is for you to maintain some semblance of propriety while you are under our employ.”I swallow. It feels like I’m about to be fired.“We cater to exclusive, dare I say elite, clientele who expect us to conduct ourselves discreetly and appropriately.” Keith leans against the desk and fixes his disapproving stare just below my eyes. “What you do on your own time is none of our business. But it also is not our clients’ business, either. Flaunting your… dalliances, shall we say, is unacceptable. And highly unprofessional.”My fingertips graze the necklace at the base of my throat. Seriously? “This? This is w