Page 22 of Wrath
“Yuri?” Misha stepped back, adrenaline already surging through her veins. He wasn’t changing his mind, was he? It all seemed so wrong, all—Misha’s mind halted when two other men followed Yuri inside.
Two of Dimitri’s enforcers. Petyr and Nikoli entered and shut the door behind them. Each stood to a side of the door, hands clasped in front, waiting like soldiers.
“What’s going on?” Her voice trembled, and she didn’t realize she’d been back peddling until her butt hit her small dining table, rocking it on its legs. “How did you know where I live?”
Emotion flickered in Yuri’s eyes and time slowed. It was the same emotion Misha had seen swamping Wyatt’s after he’d realized he’d made her bleed.Regret.
“No.” Misha put out her hand. “Whatever you were sent here to do, just no.”
“I’m sorry,lapochka. But you made a fool of Dimitri. He wants you to know he is serious about the ultimatum.”
“Okay. Okay, I get it. Pay up in two days. I get it.”
But that look wouldn’t go away. That look deepened, and as he came toward her, cracking his knuckles, she had the feeling this macabre dance would be the only one she’d see for days.
* * *
In her father’sborrowed car, Misha drove from the Pierogi Palace to her family home in Weston Park. She’d only intended to borrow the car for the Sunday night out, but… plans changed. It had been two days since Dimitri’s men delivered his ultimatum—pay up in forty-eight hours, or else.
Those men had actually beaten her!Yuri.Nikoli. Men from the club. Kicked her in the ribs, punched her in the arms. She thought they were her friends. Guess she was sorely mistaken. Ha! Her own joke made her giggle like a mad woman, then winced at her sore ribs.
God, what a start to the week… and the end of her life.
She should be sad about it, but she’d always known life was precious, short and fleeting. Her mother had died in childbirth. Something so natural, yet, so sudden. It was the biggest lesson she’d learned about the tragic brevity of the world.
While her bruises were still visible, Misha had to cancel her Monday and Tuesday yoga classes. She’d avoided her family, avoided the five million missed calls and text messages from Lilo, avoided the restaurant, and avoidedhim. That damned chef with his damned gruff attitude and his cute as hell surly lips. He was all she thought of for the two days. Goddamn it, she wanted to see him crack a smile. Would it kill him to break a damned smile?
No, it wouldn’t. But it would bring a small piece of happiness to the shit storm she’d been living over the past few days. When Dimitri had driven into the parking lot that Sunday morning, he had threatened to make Roksana work at the club if Misha didn’t increase her services offered. She’d told him she’d find the cash to pay the debt, just out of spite. Then that damned bastard changed his agreement from a few weeks to a few days.
Two days to fork over forty-thousand dollars! She could still hear Yuri’s voice, thickly accented, as he gave the final warning while she lay on her apartment floor, still shielding her face.“People know you declined Dimitri’s offer for extra services. They know you agreed to make payment in cash. No changing now or he looks weak. Forty-eight hours, Misha. You pay or—”
“Or what?” she braved.
A heavy sigh. A breathy resigned,lapochka, then: “Or we make you pay.”
The resounding click of the door as they’d left still echoed. It was the hollow sound of her fate, a fate she now accepted, after trying everything to fight against.Benedict Cumberbatch!The best way to protect her family now was to wipe the debt with her life. Surely that’s what he meant. They couldn’t force her to prostitute herself. If she refused, what could they do? Kill her.
“Benedict Cumberbatch!” She shouted into her empty car until the tension drained out of her body. It was such a silly curse word that it never failed to make her feel better. She carried on shouting until she burst out laughing, and then finally, drained of emotion and teary-eyed, she turned the corner of the street to her childhood family home.
In less than an hour, her time was up.
Less than an hour to do one last thing to make her smile… and maybe, just maybe, she’d make someone else smile too.
Pulling into the family driveway, she was surprised to see a figure in her way. She slammed on the brakes, stopping in time for the car’s bumper to narrowly miss hitting Wyatt and his prized vintage motorcycle. He barely blinked at her sudden entrance, while she… she barely drew breath. Dressed in that pair of worn jeans and a black T-shirt she’d seen hanging in her—his—closet, he looked so damned sexy that her mouth watered. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been out there, tinkering with his bike, but sweat dampened his shirt so it clung lovingly to his sinewy muscles.
Two unfathomable blue eyes locked onto her. Heat arrowed down her spine, pooling between her legs making her squirm with need. Goodness, she was going to jump his bones. Right then. He had no idea what was going to hit him.
Benedict-fucking-Cumberbatch, here I come.
Climbing out of the car, she put on a straight face and stalked up to him, forcing herself to take it slow, to savor the experience. Plenty of time for passion later.
Wyatt went back to turning the wrench, ratchet, or whatever that tool was in his big masculine hands.My goodness.She fanned her face. This is what locking yourself in your home for two days did. She was ravenous for him. Dark hair dropped into his eyes as he dipped his head to check his handy work. She needed some popcorn so she could park her ass and just stare.
“You quit,” she stated, voice husky and already thick with her desire. “You quit without finishing what you started.”
He responded with anI-don’t-owe-you-anythingarch of his eyebrow and stood up, never taking his eyes from his machine. He tested the part he’d just installed, pulling tightly to ensure it was secure. The muscles in his arms went taut, rolling and tensing as if to tease her, to show her all that she was going to lose. All that strength, all that man and sex, gone after today.
Wyatt had stormed out that Sunday afternoon and, curious, Misha had questioned Evan. He’d only said that his brother needed time. He’d also said she looked good together with Wyatt, and he wished them all the best. For a minute, she’d stood there dumbfounded, and then she’d caught onto his meaning. He meant good together, as in a relationship. Like him and Grace, or Lilo and Griffin.
