Page 100 of Hunter's Revenge

“What do you use this room for? I thought you already had an office.”

“Entertaining private guests.” He walks ahead, going straight to the wine.

“Private guests? Like strippers and high-end prostitutes?”

He takes down a bottle of expensive-looking wine with Russian letters on it, then he gives me a challenging stare. “Do I look like the kind of guy who needs to pay for women to strip for me, or for sex?”

The question couldn’t be more rhetorical. I’m sure women throw themselves at him all the time. I did, which is why I won’t give him the pleasure of an answer.

“What sorts of guests do you see in here?” I rephrase the question.

“The kind who can’t show their faces anywhere else.”

That must mean criminals and other people like him. “Oh.” I give the simple reply because I don’t know what else to say.

“The other passages in the house are for escape if we ever come under attack.”

“Attack? You mean people coming on the property to hurt us?” Like Conrad did to me at Grams’ house.

“Tokillus, you mean, Malyshka.”

“Oh, Jesus.” My voice is a rasp, displaying the terror I feel for just imagining such a possibility. I want to tell myself he’s bluffing and trying to scare me, but I know he’s not. It’s not as though I haven’t encountered dangerous people who didn’t attack me the first chance they got. My face is still hurting from where Conrad hit me. The attack Malik is referring to, however, is more like something you’d see in Rambo.

“Don’t worry. That’s why I’m always prepared. I’m just telling you, in case something does happen, you know exactly where to run.” He’s smiling as if he’s talking about the weather. “I coded this room with security so it won’t open the door for anyone it doesn’t recognize. If they try, they’re dead.”

“Wow, I guess you really are prepared.”

He takes out two long-stemmed glasses from the cabinet, then opens the wine and fills the glasses.

He hands me a glass, but I just look at it.

“Drink it. You’ll like it.”

“I’m not in the mood for drinks.”

“Drink it.” His voice is more demanding. “Drunk Gwen is a lot less tense. She also has a filthy mind when it comes to me.”

My cheeks heat with the memory of our first meeting. “That’s all the more reason I shouldn’t have it.”

“Afraid you’ll want to fuck me again? Newsflash, it wasn’t the alcohol talking.”

I roll my eyes at him and steel my spine. He’s never going to allow me to live that down. It’s fine. Fuck him. I don’t have to stand here and listen to this.

“You are an arrogant asshole, Malik Volkova. I’m going to bed.” I whirl around and march back to the door, then press my hand to the wall for it to open.

It doesn’t.

Frustratingly, I push against it, but nothing happens.

Malik comes up to me and holds out the drink for me to take. “It will open whenItell it to. The same as you’ll leave once I’ll allow you to. Now, drink with me. Remember what happened last time you defied me.”

God, this is so humiliating. I take the drink, give him the filthiest look I can summon, and take a sip of the wine.

The taste surprises me. It’s sweet like oranges and something else that makes it tantalizing and quite unlike any wine I’ve had before. Even from the collection Duke labelled to be the best of the best.

“Like it, don’t you?” He smirks, observing my reaction.

I decide against confirming that I do. “What is it?”

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