Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
With his eyes on Yev’s furious battle to escape from beneath the man battering his ribs with thundering punches, Leon mutters, “Respectful? Ha!” After watching pain stretch from one side of Yev’s face to the next, he angles his head to me. “If you want this to end, tell the truth.”
“The truth? What truth?” As the words leave my mouth, I seek Vasily’s assistance. If this is about our ruse, he should be a part of his father’s interrogation. He’s the one endeavoring to fleece him of millions of dollars. All I want is a measly signature. It won’t cost him a damn thing.
My eyes are forced back to the ring so fast, my muscles scream as loudly as the women in the front row when Yev breaks out of his opponent’s hold before he punishes his aggressor with a roundhouse kick to the head. It sends blood spraying out of his competitor’s mouth and over the woman who paid for a front-row seat.
I almost throw a fist in the air when Yev comes out swinging from the corner the referee forced him to so he could check if his competitor was still good to fight. He’s barely coherent, and blood is pouring out of his nose, but his anger is at a pinnacle, and he is refusing to go down without a fight.
Regretfully, Leon doesn’t let that be an option for long.
After reminding me that it is more than Yev’s life on the line by digging his gun in further, he jerks his chin up to his driver. One flick of the driver’s hand sees another two men enter the ring. They’re both double the size of Yev and a head taller than his original opponent.
Tears burn my eyes when Yev holds them back for several painstakingly long minutes. He’s only overwhelmed when a man with a snake tattoo skating up his forearm jabs something in his neck. It pulls Yev’s legs out from underneath him and has his eyes shooting around the ring like he can’t see a foot in front of himself.
“Stop the fight!” I scream, my voice begging. “They injected something into his neck. This isn’t legal. It’s against the rules. He can’t fight like this.”
The crowd laughs at me before someone in the front row yells, “If you want legal, you’ve come to the wrong arena, girlie.”
Realizing there’s only one man who can save Yev, I lock my eyes with Leon and ask, “What do you want?”
With his face void of a single wrinkle and his lips quirked about his son’s disinterest in our conversation, he murmurs, “The truth. I want the truth.”
As confusion bewilders me, a sickening crunch silences the crowd. It can’t be misconstrued as anything but a bone being snapped in half, and it has my lips moving before my brain can decipher what I’m trying to say. “He hasn’t always been respectful, but that is more my fault than his. He would have never stepped over the boundaries if it weren’t for me. He’s always seen me as more than a friend. Once again, that isn’t solely his fault. We’ve always had a spark. A connection. I’ve wanted him as long as he’s wanted me. I just couldn’t tell him that until now… until I’m terrified of losing him.” My last sentence was meant to stay in my head, but when I am upset, I blabber.
After dragging my hand under my nose, clearing away the contents spilling there, and uncaring that his gun’s muzzle is bruising my rib, I ask, “Is that enough truth for you? Does that answer your questions?” I thrust my hand at the fight keeping the crowd enthralled. “I love him, okay? I’ve loved him for years.”
“More than my son?” Leon questions with a vicious sneer as the horrifying noise of a man being beaten to death fills my ears.
“Yes!” I blurt out before I can realize I could be making matters worse for Yev.
Shockingly, I don’t.
With his free hand in the air, stopping the fight, Leon asks more calmly, “So you’re using my son to get to me?”
As I nod, my panic too diverse to deny my earlier admissions, the horrid noises that will keep me awake for weeks on end, everyone’s focus diverts to me. “But that’s on me. I used Vasily, not Yev. He wasn’t even in the country when I started pursuing Vasily, so if you want to punish anyone, you should be punishing me.”
I don’t know why I’m shocked by Vasily acting surprised by my revelation. He’s never been, nor will he be, an upstanding member of society. I guess I had just hoped he had a withered heart somewhere in his chest.
“I had no idea.” After dropping his eyes to mine, Vasily says, “What did I ever do to you to deserve this? I thought we were in love?” He snatches up my hand and rips off my engagement ring. “This is my mother’s ring! How could you taint it with so much disrespect?” He’s acting as if he didn’t announce a wish to spit on her grave only yesterday. “Fuck.” Unbelievably, tears flood his eyes as he lifts them to his father. “Thank God you found out who she truly is before it was too late.”