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“Ravil.”
Kolya’s voice cracks through the air like a whip. It feels like the first time he’s spoken in a long time. I keep my eyes on his face, because it’s the only thing that’s keeping me from completely freaking out. That steely calm—I need that.
“What’s the matter, cousin?” Ravil asks sweetly. “You seem a little put-out.”
“Do you think she can’t see your smarmy smile? Do you think she can’t feel you like slime on her skin?”
“All I’m trying to do is make nice with my cousin’s woman—and their future child,” Ravil whines. “Family over everything, remember?‘Krovabove all.”
His phrasing takes me off guard for a moment. It’s almost like he’s implying that Kolya is the father of my child. Maybe I’m just imagining things though, because Kolya doesn’t exactly jump to correct him.
“Ignore my cousin,” Ravil says, turning to me. “He’s never been very sociable. All I want is for us to be friends.”
Even if he had managed to fit a modicum of sincerity in those words, his eyes don’t exactly inspire trust. They scale over my body as though he’s looking for flaws.
No, not flaws.
Weaknesses.
“He is not your friend, June,” Kolya says, his eyes slicing into mine. “He may say all the right things, but you can’t trust a single word that comes out of his mouth.”
“Like you’re any different,” I spit.
Ravil’s head twists in my direction and his eyes glow with pleasure as he chuckles. “It seems she knows you better than I thought, cousin.”
“The problem is, she doesn’t knowyou,” Kolya snaps. “She wasn’t there when I found you with your hands dripping with the blood of that innocent maid. She didn’t see that fucking smile on your face. You took such pleasure in it.”
Ravil’s eyes glow again, but this time, there’s an almost radioactive sense of threat in it. Something toxic and deadly. That tongue does its dancing pass over his lips once more.
“Your father needed a favor,” he says. “And I am nothing if not helpful.”
I stare at him, wondering if he genuinely expects an answer. I lean away from him. From both of them. If this is the family that Adrian ran from, then I can no longer hold his secretiveness against him.
With that, Ravil stands. “I should be going. But, Kolya, I suggest you think on what I said.” His eyes find mine and I can’t look away no matter how hard I try. “It would be such a shame.”
I have no idea what that means, but I don’t like how it comes out. Ravil lifts his hand and belatedly, I realize that he’s going to touch me. It’s like The Accident again, the other car coming up so fast at our windshield, faster and faster, but I can’t look away, I can’t stop us or them or it, I can’t do anything but suck in a breath and get ready to scream—
“Ravil.”
Kolya’s voice. One word, crisp and dark. But it does what I couldn’t do—stops Ravil in his tracks.
Ravil’s tongue flashes out and disappears again. He drops his arm, but keeps the smile plastered on his face. “You have a lot to think about, cousin. I’ll leave you to it.”
Then he’s gone, leaving a trail of brimstone and black pepper stinging my nostrils in his wake.
“Kolya,” Milana says, breaking the tense silence. “I’m sorry. She broke—”
“Leave us.”
Milana bows and retreats out of the room. Kolya doesn’t say anything for a long time. I sit in place, too dazed and overwhelmed to do anything but close my eyes and wish I could click my heels like Dorothy to just go back home where I belong. This place, these people… they aren’t meant for me, and I’m not meant for them.
I just want out.
I. Just. Want. Out.
“You’re a fool for coming in here,” he says at last from where he’s seated a few yards away. “I told you to stay put.”
I grit my teeth. “I don’t take orders from you. I don’t let violent assholes dictate my life. You want to be a monster? Be a monster. But do it away from me. Do it away from my baby.”
