Page 94 of Viripotent

“What did they say?”

Three sets of eyes land on me with anger and no fucking context. Stepping away from Vlad, his fingers tighten on my nape, and he closes the distance I’m trying to create.He has an accusation in his eyes when I didn’t fucking do anything.

Meeting each of their eyes, I leave Vlad for last, and he knows I’m going to bullshit before I’ve even opened my mouth.

“They wanted my autograph,” I lie.

Vitali laughs, and it’s cut off with the anger coursing through Vlad as he pins his youngest brother with his stare. Tension fills the air, it’s deadly and wouldn’t be out of place in a morgue as I steel my spine. He takes a step closer, and I should record this for that dumb cunt so he can see what intimidation is supposed to fucking look like. His deadly one- word order doesn’t have the intended effect.

“Speak.”

Vlad has desensitized me to his violence. There’s always restraint with me, the same way he’s playfully angry with his family has been extended, bringing me in. It’s what tells me I’m safe, even if it’s fucking stupid. That’s what has my tongue moving, forgetting our audience.

“Do not speak to me like I’m a fucking dog you’re training.”

My heels scrape against the floor as he pulls me closer by my neck and I’m turned around to face the room quicker than I can anticipate. Valentin hesitates to stop his dickhead brother and Vitali tries to hide his laugh, fucking asshole, I thought we’d bonded during our spa sessions. Vlad wraps his arm around my waist and holds his hand over my mouth. If he wasn’t shutting me up, it would be sweet.

His chest vibrates through my back as he barks at his junior.

“What the fuck happened?”

I like it and don’t try to get away as Dima gives the wrong answer.

“We don’t have any cameras set up on that part of the road, they were in the blind spot.”

Looking up, I smile against his palm, knowing I’m the only one who can give him what he wants. Realization has Vlad taking a deep breath and his warning is silent as he stares down at me.

My anger has nearly all disappeared being around these assholes. I’ve passed it into each of them and they become my little puppets, waiting for whatever ruling I give. If I knewplaying with dolls was this fun, I’d have kept the ones Dariya gave me. Power fills me and the hand on my mouth slides down, making it go to my head.

Stepping away from Vlad, I push myself up on my palms and sit on the counter with one leg crossed over the other. I need to be taller than my subjects. I speak slowly so I can keep the thread of control longer, and I’m nearly bursting with energy.

“He said, I’m too pretty for Vlad’s ugly ass.”

Starting with the wrong thing, there are shrugs of agreement and one hard stare working around the room as Katya curls her lip into her mouth to stop from laughing.

Keeping the comment about my mouth to myself because society has fucked with my brain assigning shame to me when I’ve done nothing wrong, I turn serious, giving them the rest.

“There wasn’t a threat, they must have heard Katya’s car, and they left.”

Nodding towards her like they don’t know who she is, she becomes a bigger fucking snitch and asks, “Why were you out of the car?”

There’s supposed to be a sisterhood, women supporting women and all that shit. But she’s a fucking idiot and drops me in shit. Vlad is a predator sniffing out my omission, and he slowly turns towards me. His eyes move to my neck that I’m sure is still red from my scrubbing. For the first time I feel fearful with the murder directed at me. His foot lifts as little footsteps run towards the kitchen, and I could kiss Viktor for saving me. I don’t need his controlling bullshit in front of other people, we both know better than to disrespect each other publicly even if they are his family.

The murderous tension warms as Viktor softens everyone and drags a metal baseball bat behind him. The metal scrapes against the tiled hallway until the clinks get softer against the wood. Valentin’s fixation on filling up the acreage with whatevergames he can find to keep his son occupied and less lonely has Vlad’s attention as he fixes on the metal. Without looking away from it, he speaks low and deadly.

“Did he touch you?”

I gulp audibly because I didn’t do anything, but he’s acting like it was my fault. The answer is written on my face for everyone to see. He nods once to himself then charges forward, swiping the bat from Viktor’s limp hand and he doesn’t turn around.

Everyone rushes out, even Vitali who should be fucking resting with not being fully healed yet. Katya shakes her head, staring at the door with longing and I know the asshole is going to come back to fucking rage at me.

Viktor turns watching the door too and his brows come together as he asks, “I’m not going to get it back, am I?”

I slip off the counter and go to him and give him a tight-lipped smile.

“I’ll buy you a new one.”

Whatever carnage is going to be enacted will mean that there’s going to be DNA on the metal, and he deserves something clean.

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