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I don’t. I follow him even if he’s not looking back. I don’t make it one step. Sam is already in front of me, his huge form completely blocking me. I step to the side and he follows silently, making sure I can’t go around him.
“You are so tough, Samuel. Such strong men, you and your boss. Two big, brave men against one dangerous five-foot girl.”
I hear things being moved around in my room. I try to slide left and he blocks me again. It makes him chuckle.
“Hilarious,” I fume.
But he doesn’t say anything.
“What are you doing?” I feel myself paling as I see Nathan walk back into the living area with a shoe box.
Not any shoe box.
The one I keep hidden under my bed, the one that contains the very limited bits of information I have about Volkov. He is an impossible man to find, but his men on the ground aren’t ghosts like him. They’re discreet, but I’m very nosy.
“Nathan,” I panic as he heads to the kitchen with the box. He puts it on the counter next to the empty sink. I follow after him, but before I can reach him, Samuel grabs both my shoulders and pulls my back to his chest. He slips an arm around my neck and I feel like I’m being suffocated by a boa constrictor. His arm is huge enough to completely stop me from moving any further. He’s not squeezing hard at all, but my airways constrict at the size of his biceps against my neck.
“Let go of me,” I rage, hitting his arm with both my hands. It’s like a mouse fighting a lion. I stand no chance whatsoever.
Nathan puts the gun on the counter and opens the box. He takes out the pair of old sneakers I had left in there to hide my secret and takes out the small notepad. He opens it and chuckles.
“Volkov’s club in Silver Falls is Vue. Private sex club,” he mimics my voice. “Samuel Thomas equals against Wolves. Diaz brothers not selling for Volkov anymore. Man from the café is Dimitri.” He laughs so hard I wince. “Fuck, ‘Me, you’re a real detective, aren’t you? You even wrote that Garcia-Diaz is Volkov’s bribed attorney here in Stoneview. How did you figure that one out?”
“We tried to get her help after I was shot. She refused, advised us to ‘not go against powerful men like him’.” Why am I telling him the truth?
“Interesting,” he nods. “Your information is outdated, she’s my bribed attorney now.” His eyes move as they read along the lines of my notes. I don’t have much, it’s little things I have picked up with time. Little notes I made when I would lie to everyone that I was not looking into it. This is all I have. I keep it hidden so my mom doesn’t find it.
“There are a lot of notes in here, Jamie.” His voice has turned darker, lower, and I tremble. His eyes widen slightly when he reads a new page and I wriggle in Samuel’s hold. I found something. Something real. Something he knows about Volkov and that I got right.
“What is it?” I struggle some more, desperately trying to get an answer. My heart picks up, I need to know. “Nathan, what is it?”
He throws the notepad to the side and reaches in his back pocket, pulling out a cigarette pack. “Tell me, beautiful. What’s the big plan? You gather all these shit notes. Then what? You find Volkov?” He lights up a cigarette and takes a drag before going back to his little speech. “Let’s say you find him. What do you do then? You go to him and force him to tell you what happened to your brother? You seduce him into telling you his darkest secrets?”
He takes another drag and smiles at me. Not the warm kind he used to give me, the freezing kind that makes me shiver again. “Stealing Ozy’s phone so you could talk to Sam.” He laughs again. “Sam doesn’t fucking know where Volkov is. I don’t know. No one does. That’s the whole point of his business tactics. You think curious Jamie Williams from Stoneview Prep is going to find him? You stupid, naïve girl.”
He takes his lighter again and grabs the notepad.
“Nathan!” I panic. “Don’t. Don’t do this, please.” He looks at me with no emotions in his eyes. Nothing, not even the slightest regret. “Nathan…this is the only thing I have left, the only thing linking me to Aaron.”
He doesn’t even react. He simply lights up the paper and watches it burn with a sadistic smirk, then lets it fall in the sink when the flame reaches his fingers.
The sob that wrecks my chest is so loud I feel Sam shifting behind me. Tears spring in my eyes and I let them fall freely. I don’t even fight back against Sam’s arm anymore. There’s nothing to do.
Nathan takes long strides toward me and grabs my jaw tightly, making me wince in the process.
“To say I’m pissed at you would be the understatement of the century. It’s a big bad world out there, Jamie. Careless girls who look into the Wolves get killed. And guess what? I have other shit to do than to look out for you. I have other shit to do than kill a fucking Wolf who thought it was a good idea to keep a close eye on you. In your own home.”
Another sob passes tightly through my throat, but he doesn’t care. “Are you listening to me?” He insists by tightening his grip. “Stay away from the Wolves. You think your brother is the first man Volkov had killed? Get over it.” The coldness in his voice breaks my heart all over again.
I watch helplessly as the flames die in the sink, the last notes I had regarding Volkov and the Wolves gone.
“You were meant to love me,” I rasp.
He lets go of my face and takes a step back, finally showing emotions. It’s rage, it’s…sadness? “Go wait in the car, Sam.”
It only takes him about three seconds to execute. Now free to move, I try to stand tall in front of Nathan. I never noticed how intimidating he could be. As soon as the front door is closed his hand flies to the back of my neck, and he grips me hard enough to make me scream in surprise. He pulls me toward him, steps to the side and I land face first against the counter. He keeps me bent over, his hand a warning not to move.
“I’m just really fucking sick of all this blame you put on me. You were meant to love me back,” he growls. “I guess all this fooling around with my brother changed your mind. It’s a really believable cover you put on, isn’t it? That untouched, goody-two-shoes persona.” His knee pushes my legs apart and I gasp when his thigh settles against my leggings-clad pussy. It feels good, that’s undeniable. But it’s not what I want, not after what he just did. I’ve never hated someone more than I do him now.
