He rakes me over with a look I can’t decipher and doesn’t bother answering. I can’t tell if he’s planning how to dismember my corpse or if he’s checking out my tits. It’s disconcerting.
“I don’t do green shakes for breakfast,” he says finally. “We’ll have bacon and eggs.”
Every morning, I have the same green smoothie with kale, banana, avocado, vanilla protein, and oat milk. I’m starting to think he really did do his research on me. A new chill goes down my spine, one that doesn’t have anything to do with the cold. I wonder how long he’s been watching me, waiting to make his move. What else does he know?
“Egg whites for me,” I tell him. “Hold the bacon.”
“You may as well eat air.” He finishes his espresso. “You’ll eat the yolks and the bacon too.”
“If I don’t?”
He doesn’t say anything, just turns a fraction to the left, and I see where his Glock is holstered. I guess that’s all the answer I need.
We don’t talk for the rest of breakfast.
Chapter 4
SCORPION
“I need a shower, Andriani.”
At the sound of Ekaterina’s voice, I scowl down at the sudoku puzzle I’m working on. It’s not that I’d forgotten her presence. She’s fucking impossible to forget, and not just because she’s loud, demanding, and the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever met.
Also because she’s the most gorgeous, fuckable, biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever met.
“There are needs, and then there are wants, Sidorova,” I call back to her.
She’s handcuffed to the other bed again. Mostly because I don’t need to keep worrying about her trying to escape, but also because I like leaving her where I don’t have to look at her. Or talk to her.
She’s decided to circumvent me by yelling from the other room.
I’ve been pretending I’m not here for the last hour, ignoring every word that comes out of her mouth. Threats, Russian, curses, lengthy explanations of what she expects to be served for her next meal—there’s no end to her desire to annoy me.
Unfortunately, we’re both stuck here together until my brothers Saint and Priest decide how best to use her to our advantage against her brother. My hike down the driveway to get cell service has left me with more questions than answers, but I’m willing to wait. I’m not the don or the consigliere. I’m just one of my brother’s most-trusted soldiers. I do what I’m told.
Mostly.
No one told me to kidnap Ekaterina Sidorova, but I was fucking pissed after the Bratva blew up our restaurant, and she was the lowest-hanging fruit.
“A showerisa need,” she calls back.
That mouth of hers is going to get her into trouble. What I’d give to see those pouty pink lips wrapped around my dick.
“Duct tape,” I growl back at her.
It’s not an idle threat. I’m not above silencing her the only way I can, aside from the permanent one.
For a few beats, she doesn’t say anything. I carry on with my puzzle. Being turned off and disconnected from the outside world appeals to me. Shit hits the fan twenty-four seven in my world, and it’s fucking amazing to be somewhere that can’t happen. At least not until I walk half a mile for cell service.
“What are you doing out there, torturing all the souls you’ve collected?” she asks.
My pen pauses and I sigh. “Trust me. None of the men I’ve killed had souls to collect.”
“What about the women?”
Clever. She’s testing me. Pushing me. Trying to get me to admit that I’ve never physically hurt a woman. Which I haven’t. But that’s none of her fucking business, and I need her to fear me and what I’m capable of.
“None of them did either,” I call back to her.