Page 109 of Hunter's Revenge

Yuri and Vladmir escort me outside, where I’m ushered into a black Bugatti.

Yuri gets into the driver’s seat, while Vladmir sits next to me. There’s another car behind us with more guards. Seeing them heightens my nerves.

Although this might be normal for them, I’ve never been around so many guards before. It instantly makes me wonder if they’re anticipating some sort of attack.

I pray not. I wouldn’t put something like that past my father’s family, but to my knowledge, I should still be a secret.

We set off down the driveway then off the property.

Once we’re on the main road, I gaze out the window at the scenery, which looks so different from Wilmington.

As beautiful as it is with the stately homes and greenery, it’s not home.

Unlike Wilmington, which has a more lackadaisical feel to it, there’s a fast-paced vibe in Boston that holds the promise of wealth and a sense of accomplishment.

It’s ironic. Boston is exactly the kind of place Dru and I were thinking of heading for the future. Now she thinks that’s a possibility, and I’m going to have to make up another lie to cover the previous one.

Thinking of Dru takes my mind back to Grams. Dru is supposed to see her today.

As far-fetched as today is, I wish they were both here with me.

Both stand to gain as much as me from this venture of mine, but I won’t kid myself—I know I’m being used.

I never had any choice in the matter. Malik would have kidnapped me and forced me to marry him anyway—which is exactly what he did.

The other stuff is just fluff—the promise of a billion-dollar fortune of fluff—to make me feel like I’m agreeing to this willingly.

The money and wealth at the end of this is the goal I’m focusing on, but everything would just be so much easier if I felt nothing for Malik.

An hour later, we pull up in front of an office building next to the Civic Center.

I'm taken inside and enveloped in stunning décor that has a European aristocrat ambiance to it.

We get on the elevator, and I'm taken up to the fifth floor and then into a massive hall with stained glass windows.

There Malik stands at the head with his brothers on his right and an older man with short-cropped dark blond hair on his left.

I recognize the man from the Knights database to be Aleksander Ivanov. He’s their leader. He has the same dark vibe as the Volkova brothers but with an authoritative presence that makes my spine go rigid.

They’re all wearing expensive suits that make them look like they’re getting ready to pose on the cover of GQ magazine.

Seeing them together is jarring, but what’s worse for me is facing Malik again after last night.

My heart flutters just at the sight of him standing there looking so handsome in his suit, about to marry me, then memories of how he consumed me pour into my head with image after image of scandalous pleasure.

From the heat radiating from my cheeks, I know I’m blushing and showing my obvious attraction to him.

As we get closer, our eyes lock with his. But he looks different than the man he was hours ago when he devoured me.

He’s looking at me as if he’s never seen me before. As if he doesn’t know me and I’m just some girl he picked off the street.

The man before me looks cold and uncaring with eyes so guarded, you’d need a key and a password to unlock his thoughts.

I don't know how he's able to switch between personalities and versions of himself so effortlessly.

He's able to disconnect from the sexual haze that held us captive, but I'm left behind.

Maybe the coldness comes with the job or experience of feeling nothing but darkness and desolation.

---