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His blue eyes twinkled with malice. “Because I know that you’re Avgust Kotov’s whore,” he said, stunning me. “And everyone knows that a man’s whore always knows more than his wife does.”
“You’re confusing me with someone else,” I told him, though my mouth was a bit dry.
“Am I?” he chuckled. “Perhaps I should introduce myself, so that you know how much I am not fucking around.” He straightened in his chair as he finally gave me his real name. “I am Louie Manziel, and I’ve been tracking the Kotovs for a while now. So, though coincidental, I was there the other night when you were escorted into a black SUV by the Kotovs. Then, being the observant fellow that I am, as I waited to see when they were going to bring you back, I saw that Kotov had sent a guard to your place, and he was the same guard that started following a sweet brunette around.”
Fuck.
“Now, while the plan was to keep digging, like the gift that just keeps on giving, you popped back up, and I thought to myself, what better way to get information on Kotov and Barychev than from an actual source,” he went on.
I shook my head, my stupidity really an amazing talent. “You were following me this morning, weren’t you?”
He grinned, and I felt violent with how naïve I’d been. “You really should be more aware of your surroundings, darling.”
Trying to keep myself from getting killed, I asked, “What could you possibly expect me to know? I mean, if you really believe that I’m Kotov’s whore, why would you think that any talking was done during the couple of days that I was with him?”
“Pillow talk,” he replied. “It’s a real thing.”
That got a laugh out of me.
A genuine laugh.
“Are you high?” I finally asked after I stopped laughing. “Do you honestly believe that Avgust Kotov would have ever become the head of the Russian Bratva if he engaged in pillow talk?” I shook my head in disbelief. “If you’ve been tracking him like you said you’ve been, then you’d know that Avgust Kotov would never pillow talk with whores. In this instance, you’ve got your cliché backwards. Avgust Kotov’s wife would know more about what he’s up to than some random whore.”
“Well, well, well,” he sing-songed. “You seem to know Avgust Kotov a lot better than you were letting on if you know that much.”
I straightened my back, doing my best to appear condescending. “It’s not rocket science,” I spat. “Men don’t become as powerful as Avgust Kotov by having loose lips.”
“Would it surprise you to know that I don’t even care about Avgust Kotov that much?” he remarked, making me wonder what game he was playing.
“What?”
“It’s actually Maksim Barychev that I’m interested in, but you can’t get to Maksim without going through Avgust first, so…” He shrugged. “The more that I know about both of them, the better.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but you kidnapped the wrong woman,” I told him. “The few hours that I spent with Avgust weren’t spent talking.”
His brows rose. “So, you are his whore.”
I actually rolled my eyes at that.
“No,” I corrected. “To Avgust, I’m a whore. One of many, in fact.”
“Be that as it may, you’ll still serve a purpose,” he replied confidently, making dread dance down my spine.
“Which is?” I asked, sounding way more rational than I was feeling.
“Even if you mean nothing to Kotov, he’ll still know that we’re close enough to know more than he would like,” he answered, and my attention caught on one word.
“We?”
Ignoring me, he said, “I wish I could tell you that it’s not going to hurt, but it is. All of it will.”
My mouth dried up again, and though I could feel panic trying to set in, I knew that I couldn’t allow that to happen. I needed to keep my wits about me, no matter what. If I had any hope of saving myself, I needed to remain calm.
“So, you’re going to torture me?”
His blue eyes took on a sadistic glint. “I like to think of it as…playing with you.”
He was going to rape me.
