I should have been there for Grig. I should have been there.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I push the aching pulse away. I’ve grieved. I’ve dealt with my loss. All that is left now is guilt and anger. And I’m pointing every last drop of it at Boris.
He’s the one who gave the kill order on my best friend. He might not have been man enough to carry it out himself, but he’s responsible for Grig’s death, and he’s going to suffer for it.
My leather boots crunch against loose gravel as I walk in the dark back towards my car. It’s the only car up here, parked on the hill, away from the city and the people and the noise.
When I tug the door open, the light inside the car illuminates, and I blink, groaning at how bright it is.
I’ve been in the dark too long. Not just tonight, but for the entire past year.
It’s time for me to let the world know I’m still here—and to make a few waves in the Enzo shark tank.
***
It’s surprising what little sleep a man needs.
The midday sun is shining through the front window of my car, reflecting with a glare as I pull into the parking lot outside a coffee shop.
Tatiana is inside. I can see her through the window, standing at the counter, talking to the barista.
I bet she’s as much of a stuck-up snob as all of the Enzos are. Her brother’s a pretentious fucker, and she’s probably the female equivalent of him. Arrogant, bitchy, and full of herself.
I watch her laughing with her friend as she walks out of the coffee shop holding what I imagine is a vanilla, oat milk, sugar-free blah blah blah of some sort.
It’s always got to be complicated with people like her.
Guards follow her—five of them, with guns on their hips and blank expressions on their faces.
She glances at my car, her dark glasses are covering her eyes, so I can’t see if she’s looking at me or not.
She wouldn’t recognize me, anyway. Even if she caught a glimpse of me while I worked for her brother, I’d just have been another worker in the business; she has about ten servants who wait on her hand and foot, and she probably doesn’t even care to tell them apart from each other.
People are toys to the Enzos.
Things to be used and discarded.
Tatiana says goodbye to her friend while her bodyguards stand and wait, looking bored as fuck.
My eyes follow her across the road towards her car. She’s carrying shopping bags and that carryout coffee. Her long brown hair is tied up in a big bun on top of her head. She walks with a sway in her hips. Despite not liking her very much, I’m still a man. I’m not blind. It’s impossible not to notice how gorgeous she is.
She’s petite with curves in all the right places. Her jeans are tight over her ass and high around her narrow waist. The long-sleeved crop top she’s wearing shows off just a hint of skin, enough to distract me for a second before I manage to pull my thoughts together and remember what I want from her.
The idea of torturing a woman doesn’t exactly appeal to me. It’s a necessary darkness in the puzzle of revenge I’ve piecedtogether. Unavoidable, unfortunately. But the end result ofhersuffering will be herbrother’ssuffering, andthatis what I’m after.
A rush of adrenaline spikes inside me. I could take her now.
She’s surrounded by bodyguards, but they look bored and distracted. Following around this spoiled brat while she hops from store to store has them hating their lives, thinking about other things, and not doing their jobs properly.
Icouldtake her now…
But it would be a rushed decision, and too easy to make a mistake.
Stick to the plan, Andrei.
I’ve been drawing it out for months already—why the hell would I want to do something stupid like change it on a whim? It’s broad daylight, there are people everywhere, someone would see something. That many guards are sure to make a scene.
No.
