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But I can’t help thinking that, if I’d turned Jasper away that day he showed up on my doorstep asking for another chance, this never would’ve started at all.
46
ARSEN
I am ready to put this whole sordid day behind me and follow Laila up to bed when Vasily bursts through the front door.
“Boss!”
Laila jumps and it takes everything in me not to carry her up the stairs and ignore whatever new fire I’m supposed to put out. But I turn back. “Now what?”
“It’s—” He looks past me to Laila, his mouth clamping closed as he recalibrates. “There’s something I need you to see.” His hand twitches towards his holster. “Outside.”
Well, shit.
Not good. Not good at all.
I keep my face neutral as I turn to Laila. She’s already taken two steps down the stairs towards me. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t worry,” I assure her. “It’s nothing. Go up and get ready for bed. I’ll be back soon.”
“I’ve heard that before.” But she isn’t angry—she’s scared. I see it in the pinch of her brows, in the way she reaches for me.
“This time, I mean it.”
Her expression doesn’t shift, but she nods. “Okay. Please be fast.”
The moment she’s out of sight, I charge through the front door with Vasily tailing me. “What’s going on?”
“Jasper.”
“Blyat’. I can’t believe he actually had the audacity to show up here. Is he alone?”
“Looks like it.”
As we make it to the end of the driveway, security has converged around the gate. Dominik’s voice carries over the rest. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you where you fuckin’ stand, you worthless piece of shit!”
“Because I’m the only man Arsen can depend on!” Jasper shrieks. “I’m the only one here who is loyal to him!”
The man nearly killed us both and has been blowing my shit up all over town, and he calls that loyalty? If it wasn’t so deranged, it would be laughable.
“Fuck that,” Dom spits back. “You’ve never been Arsen’s man. The only person you know how to look out for is yourself.”
“Enough.” My voice carries through the throng of men. Dominik and Gedeon part to allow me through. “What’s going on here?”
No one answers, but only because there isn’t a need. Jasper is standing a few feet away with a manic gleam in his bloodshoteyes. It looks like he hasn’t slept in days. Which only makes the guns in his hands that much more of a threat.
“You don’t look so good, Jas.”
“I’m sober,” he snarls, answering a question I didn’t ask. He waves a gun in the air, sending my men scattering backward a few more feet. “I’m totally fuckin’ sober. And I’m here for you.”
I eye both weapons. “What do you want with me exactly?”
He follows my gaze. “You think I’m here to—? No, no. I’d never kill you, Arsen. I’m still loyal. I’m workingforyou.”
“That’s not how it looks.”
“Appearances don’t matter. Your men—these fuckers—” He waves his guns around wildly once again. “—not all of them are loyal. They’re working against you, Arsen. They’ve defected to the other side.”
