Page 79 of Dark Deviant

Larysa reaches for a twisted metal piece next to her on the coffee table and holds it up in front of her face. “I thought destroying that painting would make me feel better. It didn’t. Maybe I need to throw this at you. Maybe then I’ll feel better!”

That thing could cause blunt force trauma if it lands against my head.

But I don’t move out of the way.

I don’t try to stop her.

“What the hell?” Luka groans, scrubbing a hand down the front of his stubbled face.

“You’re not scared that I’ll kill you with it?” she seethes.

I hold her gaze, sparks of anger spitting from her eyes. “You won’t.”

“You have a lot of faith for someone whose head is about to be taken off by this gaudy piece of shit.”

“If you really think I’m conspiring against your family, then do it. Throw the fucking thing. Kill me.” My voice raises and within seconds, a tearful cry hits the air.

“Mama! Daddy!”

Larysa’s fiery glare can sear through flesh and bone. Her face flushes a deep pink, knuckles white from gripping the sculpture. “Fuck you,” she screams, slamming the metal into the floor. The tile cracks, deep fractures spreading over the squares hit by the piece.

Kind of like the fissures in my heart, ones I thought Larysa and the baby might actually fill.

She turns and runs down the hallway to comfort Daniela. The door slams shut, the walls shuddering from the force.

“You’ve got your hands full with that one.” Luka rolls his eyes.

Ignoring him, I say, “Everything set with security for the performance tonight?” I sink onto the couch and let my head fall into my hands.

“Yeah, it’s been taken care of.” Luka pauses. “So what you said to Larysa outside…does that mean you think someone else tried to kill you? That it wasn’t her brothers?”

I lean back against the cushions and let out a deep sigh. “The fuck if I know. I still don’t trust them. And I don’t believe she knows anything, either. They’d keep her in the dark about it all.”

“You think they’ll make a move tonight?”

“Somebody’s gonna make a move. And we’re gonna be ready for them.”

Luka sits on the arm of a nearby recliner. “You’ve spent the better part of a week playing house with this girl and your daughter.”

“I’m not—”

He holds up a hand. “Shut up. You are and you know it. I just saw it out on that balcony. You could choke someone with the amount of tension between you two. But you need to remember what we’re up against. You can’t have it all, D. Nobody can. So you’d better make the right choice tonight and stick to your responsibilities to this family, otherwise a lot of people might get hurt. Or worse.”

“You think I’ve forgotten what we’re up against? Are you fucking kidding me?” I spring up from the couch and pace the length of the room, the vein in my neck throbbing as anger bubbles in my chest. “Lemme ask you this…have you always made the right choice? Have you ever fucked up because you were more focused on Natasha and the life you wanted to have with her?”

“And we’re still paying for the choices I made because I let my emotions control my actions.” He glowers at me and stands up to face me. “I picked you to handle things in my place because I knew you were the only one who could. Don’t prove me wrong, Danil. Keep Larysa close and don’t trust anyone. You know exactly what can go wrong if you do. The priority is the family — always.”

He turns to leave without another word. I fist my hair and storm out the sliding glass door. I gaze at the ocean below. Waves lazily slosh against the shore, the beach peaceful and tranquil…the exact opposite of the turmoil ravaging my mind and heart right now.

“Don’t trust anyone.”

My cell phone pings with a notification as Luka’s words loop tauntingly through my brain. I pull it out of my shorts and peer at the screen.

A new outgoing call was just made from my landline.

There are only two people she could have called.

I tap on the notification.

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