Page 41 of The Dancer and the Grumpy Billionaire

“I know this is – what is word – surprise, but this is not about you, Baby Bear. This is about Papa Bear, yes? I want your father to hurt. This is message to Sasha.”

I make a disconsolate noise. “You cannot stand up to him, not even with five other goons.”

“Perhaps,” he says, “But Baranov family can.”

I sigh, closing my eyes. “Who are the Baranov family?”

“They have beef with Sasha. This plan works for both of us. I get big new position with their organization, they get Sasha’s attention. All is good.”

“Well, thanks for telling me your evil plan,” I say, trying for cool and disinterested. “What happens to me?”

“No idea,” he says, lifting a broad shoulder. “Maybe torture. Cut bits of you away to send to your father.”

He grins with all of his teeth and a single chill starts at the top of my head and travels down my spine.

“Or perhaps they will give you all the bad drugs and when you are so strung out, you become sex worker and make them money. Your father owes them, and they will get it either way.”

Involuntarily, I let out a guttural cry of panic, struggling again against my restraints. This seems to encourage Alexei, who reaches out and puts a beefy hand between my thighs.

“I am told they want you unblemished, but there are ways to entertain myself without putting a mark on you.”

The noises I am making now are practically inhuman. The thought of Alexei crawling on top of me, penetrating me,touching me… It makes me sick and scared in a way I have never felt before.

When his phone rings, he scowls. He answers in Russian and then curses before standing and kicking the chair back to the corner. Without another word to me, he leaves the room, slamming the door and locking it behind him.

My heart is at full horsepower; adrenaline and fear making me sweat. I force myself to breathe, to calm myself, but it only lasts a moment. Tears stream down my face and I realize that I was so, so stupid for being so flippant about my father’s concerns. I was such a childish brat, wanted to assert my independence at any cost.

And this is the cost. This is the cost.

My thoughts are a jumble, and in that jumble is Vasily. Vasily who has taken not one, but two beatings because of me. Vasily, who has a nice, normal life and a great job. Vasily, who is orderly and thoughtful and not at all a risk taker. But he was willing to take a risk for me. And who knows what will happen to him now?

I sob and scream until I am hoarse and dehydrated and so weak that there is nothing to do but close my eyes. Close my eyes and hope I wake up to find this was a dream.

CHAPTER 18

Vasily

Roman, very large and very imposing, has now grilled me at least three times on the sequence of events tonight. Or…yesterday? I am not sure at this point.

I sit on the sofa in Gigi’s apartment, sleep-deprived yet wide awake from nerves and adrenaline. I shared every detail I could remember, what the men looked like. How they sounded. If I saw anything unusual at the club. They asked when I arrived and what Gigi and I did when I got there. Where we went. For how long.

Now I have been told, under no uncertain terms, that I am to stay put. I cannot leave this couch, even to take a piss. Vera glares at me from her seat in an oversized armchair, coffee cup in her hand. She has already said, in both Russian and English, that she thinks it is disgusting that Galina would fuck a Ukrainian. She called me “an act of rebellion” and told me I am less than nothing. Fine thanks for coming here to get help for her missing ward.

With each insult, I grow closer to losing my temper. I do value my life and Roman carries a serious weapon at his hip, so Itry to bite my tongue, but when she says I must be the spawn of a Nazi and a whore, I bare my teeth at her.

“You must know all about being a whore,” I snarl. “I know you were just one ofmanywomen Sasha Gusev brought into his bed. And how good were you if he sent you away, halfway across the planet?You’rejust a glorified prostitute who uses her jealousy and frustration to control an innocent young woman.”

It is maybe the meanest thing I have ever said. My heart races in my chest as she stands and steps forward to backhand me in the face. She doesn’t say anything, though, and I know my insult has hit its mark. My face stings, but I smile at her, and she sits back down.

Roman steps in. “Put away your claws, kittens.”

I snort and shake my head.

“You were the man that night, weren’t you?” he asks. “The night we tracked down Galina on her run.”

“The man who saw you treat her like she was being abducted for human trafficking? Yes, that was me.”

Roman lifts an eyebrow. “Your police report took you down a road to nowhere, yes?”

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