Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Don’t you miss that power rush?” I ask curiously.
He leans back. “Not one bit. I’m not the same man I was.”
I try to imagine him as a drug lord and remember the quiet yet utterly chilling voice he had used on the two goons. Yes, I can. “Have you become a good man, then?”
He shrugs. “That’s not for me to judge, but those around me.”
I ponder his statement. Where would I be without the job he offered me? Where would Justine be? Or Lacey? And those are just the people whose stories I know. So, he made a few mistakes when he was younger. It’s not like I’ve exactly had a sheltered upbringing. Heck, I’ve bought weed in the past. Who knows? Maybe from one of his shipments. But…
I take a deep breath. Better to be honest. Put all my cards on the table. “Yes you are, but I kinda got the impression from our encounter at Larry’s place that you are in the protection business, which is surely not a legit enterprise.”
He frowns. “That is not actually my business. I unfortunately inherited it from my cousin, Alexei. It’s not the kind of thing I would ever willingly invest in. I detest dealing with sleaze balls like Larry or Ivan so my first instinct was to walk away from it, but Alexei has implicated me, and I have to be careful how I dispose of it as there are a few unsavory characters who will come back to cause me problems later.”
“So, you’re not going to have me kneecapped if I don’t properly clean the windowsills in your house?”
“Uh no… unless you’re into that kind of thing, of course,” he drawls, with a grin.
I laugh, but the sudden turn in the conversation into sexual innuendo makes me feel like I’m on slippery ground. Already, I can barely keep my eyes off him. It must be the alcohol, but I really wish I could touch him, kiss him. Yes, he has a past, but somehow, hearing about how he used to be and how he’s changed now only makes him more attractive to me.
“You said something happened that made you realize you had to get out of the drug business,” I croak. “What was it?”
For a second, his face clouds with some intense emotion I can’t quite decipher. It could have been unbearable grief, or even pure hatred. I haven’t known him long enough to know for sure. He covers his blip quickly and smiles at me.
“This is not the occasion to talk about such things.” He forces a grim smile. “But enough about me. Tell me more about you.”
“There’s really nothing more to tell. I had a Cinderella-ish childhood, but I was rescued by a Prince.”
Viktor raises his glass, and his eyes glitter. “I’m no Prince, Amelia.”
I lift my glass too. “You could have fooled me.”
“In that case, Cinderella shall go to the ball,” Viktor says as he signals to our waiter to bring the check.
12
VIKTOR
Amelia is even more beautiful than I remember. Out of that sleazy barmaid uniform and without that haunted, terrified look in her eyes, she’s as radiant as a fucking angel. I’ve never fucked an angel before.
Whenever I look at her, I feel my cock stir. I just want to take her to my bed and make her cum in my mouth. Then I want to fuck her all night long, until she’s too sore to think straight or walk… whichever comes first.
I remember her as she was at the bar. Fearless and yet fragile. Even then she intrigued me in a way no girl had before.
A girl who clearly didn’t have the best start in life, but no way was she quitting. With her looks she could have become a lap dancer or a stripper and brought in the big bucks, but she’s out there working hard, earning her own keep. That’s real independence. I admire her fierce courage. It reminds me of myself when I was a free spirited thirteen-year-old boy. When the whole world was my oyster.
It's only sometimes that her tough façade slips, and she shows how naïve and vulnerable she really is. Those times I get the unreasonable and totally crazy feeling I want to lock her away from the world and protect her from its casual brutality, but I know that’s just insane. She’s not mine and she never will be. What happened to Lisa is never happening to her or anyone else for that matter.
Lisa was gunned down in front of my eyes.
Five years and twenty-two days ago, I held her in my arms and watched the life bleed out of her. We’d gone to a private party in a club, and she had refused to drink. She said she was too happy to drink. I didn’t know it but she was pregnant with our child. As we came down the steps a man appeared to my left to distract me. While my attention was on him another one appeared to my right. He had a gun. She had instinctively thrown herself in front of me and taken the bullets meant for me. The bullets ripped through her chest and stomach, killing the precious life inside her and then her. She clutched her bleeding stomach and stared at me in horror.