Page 25 of Fierce Pursuit

“Open the door,” he said, irritation lacing every syllable.

“Fuck you,” I screamed back.

His silence was dangerous.

Then, “Little girl, if you talk to me like that one more time?—”

“Fuck you…you…murderous asshole.”

What the hell was wrong with me?

Shut up, my mind screamed.Stop baiting the bear!

One hit.

That was all it took.

One powerful strike, and the door exploded off its cheap hinges and hit the floor with a deafening crash.

I barely had time to suck in a breath before his voice curled around me like smoke.

“You want to try that again,moy zaichonok?”

My pulse thundered.

But I lifted my chin, refusing to let him see the fear—the heat—coursing through me. “I’m still not going with you. I know you killed my sister.”

His expression didn’t change. “Your sister was killed by a man named Aleksandrovich Solovyov. Not me.” Hisvoice was calm. Matter-of-fact. “I’m here to retrieve what she stole from Solovyov…and you.”

I hated how steady he was.

How effortlessly he took control of the conversation, of everything.

“Liar,” I spat, even though I knew his words weren’t entirely false.

I’d suspected Solovyov may have been the one to kill Veronika. I knew she had been playing a dangerous game, toying with men as if they were no more than chess pieces, cheating death with every reckless move. She had thrived on the danger. The higher the stakes, the bigger the thrill. I’d discounted it as wishful thinking, my traitorous mind trying to absolve Kostya of guilt.

But I wanted him to be the one who murdered my sister.

Ineededhim to be the one.

Otherwise…

Dammit. It was just like my selfish sister to leave behind such a twisted, fucked-up mess for me to handle.

She had never loved Solovyov. Just like she had never loved Kostya.

I wasn’t even sure Veronika was capable of love.

But Kostya was the only thing we had ever fought about.

I had begged her to be a good wife. To respect him.

She had been given something most women in our world would kill for.

Not an old, graying man with a gut and a violent temper. Not a drunken brute who would beat his wife into submission.

No.

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