Unfortunately, my father had been right about one thing. Weakness wasn’t allowed in any manner. She was my prisoner and under my strict requirements to follow through with her end of the deal. Whether or not she was Russian royalty couldn’t matter.
She was going to follow my rules.
I eased onto the bed, ready to rouse her when she opened her eyes, taking a deep breath.
“Mmm… Your scent woke me,” she purred.
The night before had been spectacular but not real. I reminded myself of that again before I spoke. “Time for you to get dressed. We need to make contact with your brother. I suspect he has a private number that you know by heart.” I moved to a standing position, heading for the door.
“Wait, Aleksei. Has something happened?”
“Why do you ask?” I countered, loathing distrusting her. What if she was as much a victim of her brother? There were too many possibilities, none of which had a good ending. I couldn’t allow her to get too close.
“You’re entirely different than last night. You’re also wearing your gun.”
I shot her a look over my shoulder. “I’ll be leaving for a meeting as soon as the arrangements are made. You will stay here and there will be no escape attempt.” I kept my words even. Cold.
Willow sat up, dragging the sheet over her breasts, her eyes darting back and forth. “I don’t understand. You acted like you gave a damn about me last night, as if we were close. The intimacy was amazing.”
“Last night was about your submission and you did extremely well. That is all that occurred.” Fuck. I could see the look of hurt covering her face as she pinched her lips together. The knot in my stomach was raw, gut-wrenching.
“You bastard. Why bother acting like you gave a damn? Why? Did you have fun doing that? Did you get your jollies from making a fool out of me?”
I exhaled, fighting every urge to go to her. I had to think about my family. “As I said, you did very well. Now, get dressed and meet me in my office.”
“I thought you said I wasn’t allowed in your fucking office,” she huffed as she climbed out of bed, still yanking the sheets.
“This is business.”
“And what about the information you were going to show me?”
I thought about her request. Perhaps seeing her reaction was necessary. “I will allow you to see various facts. Then you will make a call.”
“Fine. Sir.”
I walked out, waiting until I was at the end of the hall before smashing my fist against the wallboard. The anger was overwhelming, taking me to my own private hell. Perhaps that’s exactly where I belonged.
She was my weakness.
And I wanted her.
No, I needed her to keep me from the fire pits of purgatory.
Willow found me only ten minutes later. She’d swept her long hair into a ponytail, had donned another pair of black jeans and matching tee shirt. She’d become the assassin once again.
She stood in front of my desk with her arms folded, her legs far apart, the glare icy cold.
“Show me,” she commanded.
I eased the file across the desk and even though I’d removed certain portions, I’d left enough for her to understand just how powerful and devious her brother had become.
At first, her defiance remained, yanking the pages as she turned them. Then I could see that her eyes had glazed over, her mouth twisting as she read everything more slowly.
Taking in the various items.
She slowly lifted her head, her face ashen. “Where did you get all of this?”
“I have certain friends I work with, colleagues of sorts. They alerted me to what was really going on with Church Exports.” There was no sense in lying, although she’d never learn about the Sons of Darkness. I studied her face, the light sheen covering her porcelain skin and the way her pupils were slightly dilated. If she was playing an act, she was a damn good actress.
“Colleagues,” she repeated, slowly lowering the file to my desk.
“Yes. We look out for each other. Besides, they were concerned about the attack on other territories.”
“Attack. You say that like my brother is intentionally out to take you down.”
The truth was the man was indeed brilliant. He’d hidden any connection with the Solntsevskaya Bratva well, living life as a simple American. “I believe, as do my colleagues, that his intentions are clear, and it is also my belief that he has the manpower to do it.” If other Bratva were already in the United States, he could call upon an entire army.
“My brother has maybe two hundred employees. How in the hell do you think he’s going to manage to take over several cities in different states?” She looked away, as if a thought came into her mind.
“Tell me about your father.”
She seemed taken aback. “He has nothing to do with this. He’s dead, for God’s sake.”
“Just tell me, Willow. It’s important.”
Huffing, she began to pace the floor. I could see goosebumps along her arms as she wrung her hands. “I didn’t know him or my mother, not really. They died when I was just a child. I was four years old. I remember my mama’s face, but even that is fading. Peter took care of me as my guardian. Why?”
“I need to understand why Peter would do this, his motivation. I always gather intel about every enemy.”