Going back into the bar to Irina was annoying, I didn’t have the head for her. Sitting down, I texted Sandir asking where the fuck he was and for him to come get me. I’d drank too much to drive anyway, which I thought was most likely Irina’s plan. Get me drunk, then take advantage, though what advantage she thought she could take I had no idea. I snorted out loud thinking how disappointed she was going to be.
“You have someone to pick you up?”
“You’re not coming back to the house?”
“No.” She didn’t need an explanation. Fuck her.
“Yan, you need to stop this nonsense, it’s getting beyond ridiculous.”
Gritting my teeth, I snapped at her. “What is ridiculous is you trying to hang onto something that never was. Stop it.”
Irina scanned the bar. “Who is she?”
“For God’s sake, there isn’t anyone,” I lied. Lied through my goddamn teeth until they hurt. “I want done with you, done with this life that should never have been mine in the first place.”
“Then you shouldn’t have killed your brother.”
“Fuck you, Irina. You really are a reprehensible bitch and deserve everything you get.” I was thankful we were in public, never had Irina been so brazen in pointing the finger at me. If we’d been at home, I would have squeezed my fingers around her throat hard enough to make sure another word never came from her mouth. “Thank your lucky stars you’re sitting in my bar.”
“Is that a threat, Yannick?” Irina glared at me, venom and contempt rife in her facial expression.
“How many do I need to issue before you get the hint? I will fucking hurt you if you keep pushing my buttons.”
Irina
Yannick was lying to me. Did he not realise by now I didn’t button up the back and could smell his bullshit a mile away? His poker face had always been terrible around me. There was someone in this bar that kept him coming back and I was going to find out exactly who the little whore was.
He’d been careful, hadn’t paid attention to any one woman in particular and I had to give him credit for being clever. I could squeeze Bill, the man was easy to manipulate though loyal to Yan so it might have been tricky, but waiting was a game I played well, and I’d always loved a game of cat of mouse. The only problem was, this situation with Yannick wasn’t going away anytime soon and he would likely snap if I pushed too far. I needed help. I could no longer ignore the time had come to wake the sleeping bear, a thing I took absolutely no comfort in because Lev was as shrewd as Yannick and I had never found the courage to go against his wishes.
“Get Sandir to take me home.”
Gulping down the last of my vodka tonic, I slipped my arms into my coat, grabbed my purse and walked from the bar. The sheep would soon follow.
Sandir was already waiting at the kerb, the car idling. He didn’t bother getting out to open the door like he once would have, another sign I was losing my grip on these men. Inside the car, I gave a sugary smile and waited for Yannick to haul arse. When he got into the passenger seat, slamming the door, the atmosphere tumbled decidedly toward arctic temperatures.
“Where to?”
“We’re taking Irina home.”
Yannick refused to talk or even look at me the entire way back to the house which suited me fine, I had other things on my mind. When Sandir pulled up outside the door, I glared at the back of my husband’s head, waiting.
“No. Get the fuck out.”
Sandir let out a noise that sounded almost like a gasp and all I could do was concede and let Yannick win this one. “Your choice.” I stormed from the car, unimpressed with Yannick’s attitude, and left them to it.
Inside the empty and cavernous building, the click of my heels echoed on the tiled floor of the foyer. Ostentatious sprang to mind, gaudy was how it looked. I’d loved this house once upon a time, but without Yannick, the sheen had worn off and the memories were blurring. There was no constant chatter of Yannick’s men, no comings and goings, the place a lonely shell of what it had once been. Maybe he had the right idea by getting the fuck out. Everything about us had been a lie from start to finish.
Tossing and turning the whole night did nothing for my mood the next morning and it took a long hour before I hauled in a breath and made a phone call I really didn’t want to because I was all out of options, and Lev my last chance at reeling Yannick back in. If anyone could, it was him. No one said boo to Lev Rafikov, his word was law and Yannick had followed it to the letter for years.
There wasn’t much I feared in life, but I did the man who’d taught me everything I knew about shady dealings and how to wield a blade without making a mess of my own hand. Before he’d slinked off to live the life of a recluse, my grandfather had been the most frightening man I’d ever know. Such was still the case, and I needed his help more than ever.
Jolie
Seeing Yannick up close and personal had set me on edge, the insult of a business card thrust at me, blazing with anger. When I returned to the bar, both him and his wife were gone from their table and it
