Page 36 of Beautiful Villain

He’d kept me awake for hours, taking me several times. The man was completely insatiable with his needs. I turned my head toward the other pillow, moaning when he wasn’t beneath the covers. I couldn’t remember him leaving. Maybe my brain was a little foggy from the wine I’d consumed after the second round of sex, or the third. No, the hard fucking. I knew he’d correct me.

I dropped back onto the bed until I heard the sound again.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Whoever it was on the other side of the door was desperate to get inside. They also had a death wish. I rolled out of bed, woozy from the lack of sleep and the savagery my body had experienced. Wow. I could barely walk. I managed to grab my robe from the chair where I’d tossed it the morning before, trying to walk a straight line as I headed into the living room.

My eye caught the glass he’d used. I hadn’t noticed a bottle of bourbon remained on the floor. I tied the sash hurriedly, trying to smooth down my hair enough to look presentable. When I looked through the peephole, I cringed, trying desperately to keep from making any noise.

But I knew he wouldn’t go away.

“I know you’re in there, Candy. You need to open this door right now. Do you hear me?”

Shit. Rian. He was pissed. No, he’d probably been pissed when Sean had told him what had happened the night before. Now he was Irish angry, which wasn’t a good thing for anyone. I took a deep breath and unlocked the door, opening it casually as if nothing was any different than another day.

“Rian. What are you doing here?”

He glared at me with fire and brimstone in his eyes. “You know perfectly well what I’m doing here. Why didn’t you call me? Why? You can’t mess with people like that.”

“Shhh… I don’t want the entire building hearing your tantrum.” I jerked him inside, closing the door hurriedly. The truth was I didn’t want my vicious neighbor from upstairs to overhear him. And Rian’s voice was loud, booming.

“Tantrum? This isn’t a tantrum, cousin. This is an outright demand that you tell me everything that happened.”

“Nothing happened. I served a customer at the bar. So the fuck what?” Oops. There went my bad girl language again, but he had a way of getting under my skin.

“And you bought him a drink. Do you have any idea who that was? Do you?”

“Trust me. Sean made certain I knew who that was. So what? He deserves to be served like any other person.”

I knew that would make him angry, but I was furious too. How dare he act like he had a say in the matter?

“Well, maybe he didn’t do a good enough job explaining it to you so allow me to do it. That man is like all the other Russians in the Bratva. They are animals, pure and simple. Hell, I think they eat their young for breakfast, for God’s sake.”

“Oh, give me a break. I know for certain there are plenty of corrupt Irishmen in our clan.” Uh-oh. I’d gone and done it. I could tell by the fury in his eyes that I’d pushed him too far.

He started walking toward me, forcing me to back away. His glare was as brutal as I’d seen on Kirill’s but he was family, at least sort of.

“You will not see that man again.”

“That man,” I repeated for no other reason than to buy me time to figure out what to say to him.

“Kirill Sabatin.” He narrowed his eyes, his cold stare studying every movement I made. I could feel the damn twitch on the corner of my mouth, an absolute dead giveaway when I was nervous. “He’s the Kozlovs’ enforcer. Do you know what that means?”

“How the hell should I know what that means? As you continue to remind me, I’m from a hick town in Pennsylvania so I couldn’t possibly protect myself or be able to sniff out a bad guy.” I could tell that my defiant statement had irritated him, but for the first time since I’d come into town, a hint of embarrassment flushed his cheeks. He’d treated me like some wayward innocent fawn when I was anything but.

“That means,” he said, softening his voice to some degree, “that means he controls a deadly group of soldiers, men who have no qualms about killing anyone who the head of the Kozlov Empire even thinks is an enemy. They are trained assassins, their operations as close to military as I’ve ever seen. They don’t care about who gets in the way. They kill innocent people, Candy. Including women.” He stared at me, waiting for the information to sink in.

Women?

Was he serious? A single quiver shifted down my spine as I thought about the two nights I’d spent with the man. With the killer.

Swallowing, I took my time addressing him, but when he lifted his head, I could swear he was able to tell I was lying. “Until Sean told me who he was, I’d never heard of him.” I wouldn’t put it past my cousin to already know the man lived directly above me.

A few seconds later, he exhaled. “Just stay away from him. You will not see him ever, and I do mean never again.” He was giving me an order. I didn’t like to be commanded to do anything.

Then why did you enjoy Kirill’s dominance?

Damn it. The nervous tic remained but his demand really pissed me off. “I’m not seeing him, Rian, and you’re not my father. Just back off. I’m not a stupid girl.” Had he really killed women? I don’t know why that bothered me anymore than the fact he’d killed a man or ten thousand, but it cut right through me like a sharp blade.

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