Page 21 of Torn Souls

Sure, Kirill is a busy and important man, but Sierra is overstepping big time.

“Sierra,” my hard voice has the woman in question snapping her head towards me. The smile which started to grow on her face falls instantly when she takes in the look I’m giving her. It’snot surprising since I’ve never looked at her like I could slit her throat right where she sits.

That is exactly how I’m looking at her now.

Normally, I’m all smiles, joking, and flirty looks. Being charming and kind usually serves me better than being hard and unyielding. It throws people off and makes them underestimate me when it is the last thing they should do. Being able to find humor in life doesn’t mean I can’t be relied upon when life throws you in the deep end.

“Mr. Dalton,” Oaklynn breathes.

When I look over at her, I can’t help but smile. Her brown eyes are wide and filled with surprise. Her reaction to me has my dick twitching behind the zipper of my slacks even though now is not the time for that.

Not yet at least.

“Baker,” I correct her, and her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink. With a wink, I turn my attention back toward Sierra, my eyes cold and my jaw set.

Sierra swallows hard and makes a sweeping motion toward our woman. She clears her throat, clearly considering using my first name until I arch an eyebrow in challenge. Giving Oaklynn the privilege doesn’t mean Sierra can take such liberties.

“Mr. Dalton,” she tries to sound sweet and innocent, but Sierra can’t fool me, “this woman is asking to see Mr. Volkov. I told her she can’t go up without an appointment and have asked her to leave more than once.”

Oaklynn clears her throat, her words soft, “I’m sorry to come here to the office, but I need to speak to him.”

When I look at our woman, I can see the plea in her eyes. I hate that she believes she needs to beg me for anything. I get it, but I hate it.

Soon enough she’ll realize we’ll give her anything and everything. It’ll take time.

The longer I look at her, the more what didn’t seem right when I saw her on the monitor becomes apparent. Her make-up is heavier than it was the other night and she’s holding her body stiffly as if moving even a little bit is painful.

As realization dawns, I have to clench my jaw to stop the anger bubbling up in my chest from taking over. That would not serve me well right now.

“Oaklynn never needs to ask for permission to see Mr. Volkov or any of us,” my voice holds no room for argument or interpretation.

I hold a hand out to Oaklynn who looks at it for a moment before sliding her palm into mine. Her movements are stiff as she steps next to me. Most women would look smug, but not our woman. The only thing I see is relief and a little bit of concern.

And pain.

My eyebrows furrow and I desperately want to ask her what’s wrong. Biting my tongue isn’t easy, but I manage.

I lead Oaklynn toward the elevator with a final look at Sierra who is gaping at us with wide eyes and so many questions written all over her face. Thankfully, she doesn’t ask any of them.

Little does she know she is one of our employees. I’ll be looking into her and seeing if this kind of thing is normal. As far as she knows, she’s employed by the building and not VolkovEnterprises specifically. The reality is that we own the entire building.

Since we didn’t need all the floors, we’ve rented some floors out to businesses who needed the space. Why wouldn’t we?

Sierra is clearly more power hungry than I realized. But she’s replaceable.

Unlike Oaklynn.

She follows me willingly to the elevator, but the moment we’re inside and the doors slide closed, she pulls her hand from mine. It’s almost as if she thinks she shouldn’t be touching me. She’s adorable as she looks down at her hand with wide eyes.

The longer I study her face, the more anger wages war inside of me. One side of her face is off and then there’s the way she’s standing. If I didn’t know better, I would think at least one of her ribs is broken or maybe her side is bruised badly.

Are dark circles under her eyes or is that a bruise?

When I reach over and touch her face, she flinches away from me. It fucking kills me.

Making it so much worse is the fear in her eyes. It makes me want to roar and go on a killing spree. “I’m sorry,” she chokes out.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Oaklynn,” I promise her, my words sincere.

---