Page 53 of My Merciless Don

They didn't even bother to look at me. I was beginning to think that if they had made a mistake, they were willing to stick by it, and make the best of things. Maybe their leader would show me his impressive gun collection and ask me to go out with him instead. Personally, I wasn't into it. Furthermore, I did not have time for this.

Why did the most random shit always happen to me?

We took a sharp turn, graduating from travelling on tarmac to gravel. Either we had arrived, or we were going off grid. Each of these options could be true. I hoped it was the former. The car came to a stop.

Thank fuck! I thought with relief.

Soon I would hopefully know what this was all about.

The door opened and one of the men grasped my arm holding me a little too tight. I tried to yank my arm away from him, but his hold was unbreakable. I stumbled along, as he propelled me down a long corridor, to a yellow wooden door at the end. The place had a very Mexican feel to it, and I began to wonder if maybe some drug lords had decided to kidnap me because they saw me come out of Marco’s apartment building. Of course, they had no way of knowing which apartment I had come from, unless they followed us yesterday. I tried to decide on a strategy if this was the case, but the truth was, I did not know anything of use to anyone. They would be wasting their time with me.

We reached the yellow wooden door and the guy with me knocked.

“Yes? Come in.” An ominously familiar voice said from the other side of the door in a Russian accent. My heart sank. This could not be happening.

The door opened and I was thrust in. There was a man in a white suit behind a large mahogany desk staring out of the window. He turned around and gave me a gold toothed grin, his fat beringed fingers clasped behind his back. The white suit straining across his meaty shoulders, buttons fighting to stay closed, over his stomach.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to join us today,” Aleksandr Yegorov said.

I was so fucked.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

AUDRY

Even though he was smiling, it was clear that Yegorov was still burning with anger. His eyes were literally glittering with rage. Knowing he was such a volatile human being, I was aware I had to tread with care, or else I would be dead before I could say, ‘I can be useful.’

I wracked my brain for ideas on how I could be useful to this man. I'd already stolen his money, so of course he was going to want that back, or at least be recompensated.

Should I apologize?

I rejected that idea simply because apologizing would be an admission of guilt. At the moment, all he had was the supposition that I had stolen his money. I wasn't going to confirm it.

He leaned his pudgy hands against the chair, putting his weight on it so that it actually creaked.

“So,” he said with his head bowed, “you and I are together once again. The last time we met, I lost a lot of money. This time, maybe you'll make me some money.” He lifted his head to eyeball me. “What do you think?”

Unfortunately for me, I was quite amused and giggled. I mean it was just so funny, the Russian accent, the overweight villain, he was giving off vibes of Spiderman’s Kingpin. “Where's your cat?” I asked, knowing very well that it was an extremely stupid thing to say.

His eyes widened in startlement. “Cat? What cat?”

“The one you’re supposed to be stroking right now. To complete the picture.”

His face reddened and he pouted, the anger overflowing from his eyes. He took his hands off the chair, marched over to me and backhanded me as hard as he could. I stumbled away from him for half a step. I’ll admit that I saw stars and my left eye was watering, my cheek stinging. But now I was in control. He was reacting to me.

“That all you got, weak ass?” I jeered.

He growled, lifting his hand again. I cowered playfully, lifting up my hands to cover my face, “Ooh watch the merchandise won’t you? I can’t walk around with my face all swollen. People will think I have a husband who beats me.”

He growled again, showing me his yellow teeth. “Shut up!”

“Or what?” I shot back immediately. Yes, maybe I had a death wish, who knows.

“Or I’ll shut you up.”

I screamed with laughter. That was such a cartoon villain response. How was I supposed to take him seriously? He looked uncertainly around at his henchmen. Obviously, he thought I was crazy. I decided to perpetuate that narrative. I needed to buy myself time and being unpredictable was one way to do it.

I went over to the chair and sat down, crossing my legs and arms. “Look, clearly your whole macho, I’m-the-boss-act doesn’t work on me so why don’t you tell me why I’m here and I’ll let you know whether what you want is possible or not? Time is money and I already have people looking for me. I have failsafes for getting kidnapped you know, as we all do, I assume.” I looked around the room at Yegorov and his three henchmen, my eyebrows raised imperiously.

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