Page 105 of Fall into Savagery

From a friend.

Whoever sent this wasn’t my friend. And if they took this picture, they were nearby.

I needed to tell my men.

This wasn’t just my jealousy. Or at least, it wasn’t all of it.

Gleb met my eyes through the rearview mirror. He was a mountain of a man. He wasn’t as big as Damien or how Leo had been, but there was no doubt he was packing under his clothes.

He looked like one of those professional wrestlers, not like a Bratva soldier, but I also knew he wouldn’t have been put in charge of my protection if he hadn’t proven himself to my men somehow.

With dark brown eyes, short brown hair, and tan skin, he could be considered “pretty” in a very intimidating way.

His dark eyes glinted, and it almost looked like he was out for blood. That was, until he turned those eyes toward me. Call me crazy, but I thought he had a soft spot for me.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Catalina?” he asked me gently.

I nodded.

“Mr. Vasiliev might not be happy about you showing up unannounced.”

I pulled out a notebook and wrote what I wanted to say. I waited until we got to a stop light to show him.

He shook his head when he read it. “No, they haven’t called me back. I got his voicemail, same as you.”

I nodded. Unlike Leo, he wasn’t emotionless. He was also younger than Leo had been. I had him pegged to be around my age, or one or two years older, which wasn’t very old.

He also seemed genuine in his concern for me.

My heart pinched, and the image of Leo shooting himself flashed through my mind.

I shook my head and looked out the window, trying to forget it.

I shouldn’t still be affected by that.

Damien was taken from me because of him.

I knew that.

Gleb pulled up outside of a strip club in one of the worst parts of town. It was nothing like the one Gabriel owned.

This one wasn’t visited by people with power, but someone enticed by it.

People with questionable pasts, drunks, addicts, or someone down on their luck.

It wasn’t precisely rundown, but I wouldn’t say this place was well taken care of either.

Two huge men stood guard by the front, their eyes taking in our car parked nearby.

Gleb looked back at me. “Are you sure? Why don’t you stay in the car, and I’ll look for Mr. Vasiliev?”

His eyes shifted as indecision moved about in there.

He didn’t want me to go in there, but he didn’t want to leave me here by myself either.

“They might not be happy with you here,” he added.

Was that what Gleb was worried about? That my men would hurt me?