Page 104 of The Dark Side

A smile pushed on his father's lips. "Look at you." Yakov laughed with admiration."My son! Tough. Protects his wife and his family. This is my heir. Do you see?"

Adrik clenched his teeth. Yakov tried so hard to appease, but it came out as belittling. He held out chocolate-covered poison and looked confused when it made others sick.

Alexei put a hand on his brother's arm. "No one wants this more than me, but not like this."

Adrik fired. Li-Choy's body fell backward from the jolt, and he hit the floor with a loud thud.

The silence that followed broadened the space between them. Adrik dared Yakov to say something. To move, to smile, to flinch—he didn't care what, but he waited. He waited for his father to say anything to make killing him easier. But Yakov only looked down at his dead soldier, shrugged, and went back to eating.

Adrik walked out of the room. He hit the stairs and paused against the wall, gripping the railing and digging his nails into the wood. Part of him wanted to go back and finish it. The mafia in him couldn't handle the disrespect; the line Yakov crossed could not be forgiven. Yakov disregarded every warning because he believed himself superior. It was time for that to change. Yakov needed to learn his place.

Adrik looked up the stairs. He had to calm down if he was going to face Jolie. She'd never seen this side of him, and he wasn't ready for her to see it. She would question the gunshot. She would have to acknowledge that he killed someone. Though he dreaded Jolie's response, he needed to know how she would react. This could be her first test to see if she could ever become a wife to a mafia boss.

Adrik took the stairs two at a time, slipping the gun into its holster and fixing his jacket around it so it wasn't visible. His hands shook, full of suppressed rage. The death of Li-Choy wasn't enough. He wanted to punish Yakov, but he restrained himself. Alexei always held him back, pulling him out of fights he wanted to finish, taking his gun when he wasn't done shooting, and standing in front of him when all he wanted was vengeance. Ever since they were teenagers. How much damage would Adrik have caused throughout their lifetime if Alexei hadn't been there?

He'd probably be in prison.

Adrik wanted to head straight to Jolie, but he knew the impossibility of it. There were still cameras, and his father's spies were always watching, waiting for him to slip up.

Against his desire, he knocked once on Katia's door before stepping in.

Jolie stood up from the bed.

He was frozen upon seeing her. She wore a jumper with tropical flowers and sandals. It was something casual you could wear to the thrift store, but it looked amazing on her. Her curled hair hung over her shoulder, and she played with the tips in nervousness.

Adrik shut the door behind him, putting out a hand to stop her from approaching. He needed to face Katia first.

The witch stepped out of the bathroom with her arms crossed, smug and proud. "My hero," Katia mocked."Did you do it?"she asked in Russian."Did you finally kill him?"

He clenched his teeth, eyeing her, daring her to make a snide comment to his silence. He didn't want to hear her bullshit right now.

She snickered."Of course. How foolish of me."

Adrik clenched his fist at his side, his eyes blindly ahead as he bit,"What do you want?"

"What makes you think I want anything?"

"Cut the shit, Katia. What do you want?"

Katia shrugged, swaying over to Jolie and slipping an arm through hers. In English, she replied, "We are going to the beach. We deserve an extravagant day after our night, don't you think? We might even stay at the Don."

Adrik didn't want Jolie out of sight, but he knew if he wasn't careful, someone else might spot his unnecessary attention toward her. It was better to let her go, but it was like gnawing his fingers off with his teeth.

In Russian, Katia added,"I'll have my list of demands ready for you by tomorrow."She let Jolie go and grabbed her travel bag off the bed. "You're babysitting," she threw out as she bypassed him, opening the door.

Adrik snatched the handle before she could close it, turning just enough to see her face."I found him."

The smile slipped from her lips. It was a delicious sight to see. Just when Katia thought she had won, thought she held power over him, he kicked her legs out from under her and reminded her just who he was. With her brother in his hands, her control was limited.

"Be very clear with your 'demands.'"Adrik shut the door, the sense of victory dying as he felt Jolie's gaze on him. It was stupid what he was feeling at this moment. He was a man who could stand in front of drug lords and kingpins and not cower. He had a gun pressed against his head a dozen times and still had no fear.

But facing Jolie was going to be challenging. Would she hate him? Blame him? Discard him?

Then her arms surrounded him, and her face pressed into his chest. All the tension in his shoulders drained, and he wrapped her in his arms, squeezing to assure himself she was here, she hadn't been hurt, and she still wanted to be with him.

"Are you alright?" Jolie nodded but didn't pull away. She kept her face hidden as she breathed in his cologne. "It will never happen again. I swear it."

Jolie's brows knitted. She wasn't sure he was able to promise something like that. Since she got involved in his life, she's experienced a shootout and a home invasion. More horrible things were happening to her now than ever before in her life. "I heard a gunshot," she whimpered. "Are you okay?"

---