Page 14 of Bluff

“Do your worst, Mikhail. I did what I had to do.”

She’s dressed in a black, long-sleeved crochet crop top and tight, button-fly blue jeans. Knee-high, black suede heeled boots complete the look.

I press my hand against her heart-shaped ass and pull back. I smack her cheek, knowing the denim material will dull the contact. But she still moans and squirms against the desk.

My phone rings, and I pull it from my pocket.

“Don’t let them hear your moans, bunny,” I warn her before setting it on the desk.

I smack her again, then slide my finger across the screen to accept the call.

“Bring me Ainsley,” Aleksei barks into the phone.

“We are at the office. I have her here,” I tell him before hanging up. I’ve only got a few minutes before he shows up demanding her blood for whatever she’s done. All I know is she helped Lyric escape.

“Why, bunny?” I ask as I slide a hand up her shirt and take one of her pierced nipples between my fingers. I pinch it, knowing she loves the edge of pain as much as I do.

A text message pops up on my phone. I look down to read it.

Unknown: She was taken to MacDonald Highlands.

My soldier tracked the car to the Italian’s stronghold. I don’t know why Ainsley would send her sister into danger. She wouldn’t, so I don’t understand.

“Why is your sister being taken to the Italians?”

“What?” Ainsley’s deep chocolate eyes meet mine, wide with panic.

I flip her around and lay her across the desk with me between her legs. I wrap a hand around her throat.

“Why, Ainsley? This is your death if you don’t answer me correctly.”

“I didn’t know he was going to take her there,” she says. “I swear.” I see the fear in her eyes and know she’s telling the truth.

My doors burst open, and Aleksei is standing there. I know he wants blood. He, like me, used vengeance to lead his life for a long time, and now his wife has been taken. I know he cares for her, so this isn’t going to be good. I wanted to question Ainsley first and find out the truth before I told him what I learned.

“Where is my wife?” he yells as he focuses on her.

I look down and see Ainsley is crying. I’m pissed he interrupted us.

“Ainsley, I’m not playing around. Where is my wife?” His bark is so loud she flinches, and I want to pound him for scaring my woman.

Realization hits me that I referred to her as my woman. I take her in. Her beauty has always called to me, but her spunk and determination turn me on too.

“I swear, I didn’t know. He was supposed to take her out of town to a friend of mine’s place. They were going to hide her away,” she confesses.

“Why would my wife want to get away from me? We just got married.”

“And you went to work. You also just married her because you had to. You’re taking one for the team,” she spits at him.

I hear the bitterness in her voice and realize how much my words have hurt her.

“I never said that,” Aleksei says, confused.

“You all pretty much did. You only married or got involved with us to protect us,” she says, pushing away from me. I let her go. “You too.” She stands up and moves across the room. “Where is my sister?” she now demands.

“Your friend took her to Giovanni Costa.”

“Damn son of a bitch. He was always a bit of a flake. How did Costa know Ric was researching him? She just found out about the hit and your family.”

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