AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 4 - Maxim
“How do you know she won’t cause any more trouble?” Vlad asked, his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t impressed with Gianna trying to run away, and he made it pretty obvious with the frown on his face.
I sighed, reaching for my tequila on the bar. After my marathon with Gianna half an hour ago, I’d drugged her and carried her to my mansion, where she’d be staying until I decided what I was going to do with her.
To be honest, I was still in shock that she managed to deceive me so easily six years ago. It was even more appalling that while I looked for her around the world, she was busy making plans to kill me.
Such an interesting character.
“Truth is, I don’t know if she’ll cause any more trouble,” I replied, swirling my glass. “You’ve seen how wild the woman is. She can’t be tamed, so I can’t guarantee anything.”
My brother gave me a curt nod. “She came to the warehouse to kill you. Are you sure you don’t just want to put a bullet in her head and get it over with?”
I shot him a glare, but he didn’t back down. “I’m not killing her.”
“I’d like to hear her say the same thing. Be careful, you can’t trust a woman like that,” Vlad said, tapping his finger on the oakwood bar. “She’ll try to kill you when she gets the chance.”
“She won’t get the chance to.” I’d imagined many scenarios of my death. A rival family could storm in and shoot me in the chest. Maybe I’d die in an accident or at a ripe old age. Of all those scenarios, dying at the hands of a woman who lied to me and deceived me wasn’t one of them.
“You’re not planning to keep her captive forever, right?”
I took a sip of my tequila and groaned. “She’ll be my prisoner for as long as I want her to be.”
That could be forever. I’d missed her so much, craved her tender touch and the sweet way she always smiled at me. Now that I found her again, despite my newfound hatred for her and her vileness, I wasn’t sure I could let her go.
We would probably rip each other’s throats out someday, but anything was better than living without her.
“She’s Michael’s only daughter. What if he comes looking for her?” he asked. “It’ll mean war. It’s been four years since the last one, and I’m really not in the mood for another.”
“It won’t get to that,” I said simply.
Vlad pursed his lips, his brows quirking. “And if it does? What the hell are you going to do then?”
Anger coursed through my veins. I was too angry at everything that had happened tonight to answer questions like that. “You just suggested I should kill her,” I bit out, failing to keep my tone calm despite wanting to.
“I did.”
“Then you’re a fucking idiot if you didn’t consider it will be a bigger mess if she’s dead.” I took a swig of my tequila, downing all of it, and then I slammed the empty glass on the table. “Michael doesn’t care enough about her to start a war over her. And if he did, we’d have a bargaining chip on our hands.”
He rubbed his temples, nodding slowly. “That makes sense.”
The door to the living area creaked open. Mariana stomped inside, her eyes crazy with rage. She wasn’t pleased about me drugging Mariana and nagged about it all the way back to my mansion. I wasn’t in the mood for whatever she had to say now.
She held my gaze. “How long will it take before she wakes up?”
I shrugged. “An hour. Maybe two.”
Her eyes widened. “I can’t believe you did something like that to a woman.” She spared a glance at my pocket. “Where the hell did you even get that drug? Do you carry it around in your pocket all the time?”
More nagging? Great! I almost got killed tonight, and now I couldn’t even get a moment of peace to myself. “In case you didn’t notice, that woman you’re defending so hard tricked you and tried to kill me?” My tongue darted out, swiping over my lips. “I suggest you leave unless I’ll have to give you a dose so you can shut up.”
A scowl grew on Vlad’s face. “Do not talk to my wife like that.”
“Then get her out of here. It’s my home, I don’t have any reason to listen to her yell at me.” On a normal day, I treated my sisters-in-law with as much respect as they deserved.
But this wasn’t a normal day, and it pissed me off that she couldn’t understand that.
“Mariana, let’s go.” Vlad reached for Mariana’s hand, but she jerked away before he could grab her.
