Page 35 of Inked Adonis

But… nothing. Crickets. He stares straight ahead like I’m not even here.

I let out a bitter laugh. “Figures. We hauled ass across the park, but now, you have nothing to say?” Again, I wait for a reaction. This time, when he ignores me, I snap. “Sam!”

“How much is she paying you?”

I frown. “Considering the shit Rufus has put me through the last couple weeks and the size of her house, not nearly enough.”

His head whips towards me. “You’ve been to her greystone?”

The hair on my arms stands on end.How does he know where she lives?“Er, yeah, I have. Have you?”

“And you expect me to believe that you met her only today?”

“I did!”

“Kat doesn’t let just anyone into her home.”

The way he says her name tells me everything and nothing at the same time. He knows her, but how?

“What is going on?” At this point, I’m asking the universe. The man next to me isn’t much for answers.

His lips press into a cruel line. “What does she want from you?”

“Oh my God.” I point at my face. “Dog-walker.” Then back at Rufus. “Dog. I’m not sure how I can explain that more clearly. Katerina is busy and rich, and she clearly has no interest in taking care of Rufus herself, so that is where blue-collar peasants like me enter the equation.”

He turns to stare out his window. The muscle in his jaw works like it’s trying to escape his face.

“Sam,” I try, lowering my voice, “please tell me what’s going on.”

He doesn’t bother to look back as he answers. “You play your part well, Nova. You almost had me fooled. But I’m not going to fall for your innocent act again.”

He isn’t touching me—he isn’t even yelling—but Samuil Litvinov wields words like others do weapons. And he knows exactly where to stick them to make me bleed.

I blink back tears and try to understand how I got here. Better yet, how I’m going to get out.

After I’ve cycled through all of my options—a whopping total of none—Samuil asks, “What have you told her about me?”

“Nothing! We never talked about you. The only person I told was Hope. No one else—” I bite my tongue.

Maybe I shouldn’t tell the man who just kidnapped me that no one else knows he and I are connected. I mean, who would even believe it? Hope could barely believe it, and she witnessed our first meeting with her own eyes.

Two nights ago, I thought I’d hit the jackpot. Now, I’m wondering if I’ve just won a one-way ticket to my own funeral.

“This will go a lot easier for you if you cooperate with me.”

“Is that a threat?” The confidence I’ve gained in the last ten minutes is as precarious as my voice right now. I clear my throat and try to make both a bit more solid. “I’ve told you what I know: Katerina is a client. I met her today to talk about Rufus. I walk Rufus. That’s it.”

My words don’t sway him.

That fist of his stays clenched on his lap. And even though he’s half-turned from me, I can see enough of that dark gleam in his eye to start to ask the horrible question I used to ask of my father…

How much longer until he’s willing to use it?

“Who are you?” The whisper scrapes my throat raw. “Like, who are you really?”

“Someone you don’t want to lie to.”

The panic is back. It’s clawing at my throat, cinching around my chest. Hope mentioned something about the Litvinovs beinginvolved in the mafia, didn’t she? Of course, she’d said it with a squeal and a giggle. Like it was a good thing.

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