His shoulders have broadened, and his physique has sharpened to a level that looks more menacing than when we were in the army.
This noticeable change in his build certainly doesn’t help when I’m trying to stop being affected by his presence, warmth, and intoxicating scent that I’m currently breathing into my starved lungs.
Kirill slips a hand in his pocket and tilts his head as he speaks to Damien in a bored tone. “As I told everyone inside, and you obviously weren’t listening, this war is draining our resources and offering nothing in return but some form of entertainment for you. Therefore, it’s tasteless, needless, and, most importantly, profitless. It’s more logical to work on gaining allies than indulging in meaningless wars.”
“Blah, blah, and fucking blah!” Damien gets in his face. “Those wars are my only source of entertainment and the one thing I do best. If you take them away, what the fuck am I supposed to do?”
“Take a rest and work on your anger issues?”
“Only if I get to kill you. Pretty sure my anger issues would be fucking resolved.”
“I will refuse that offer, but here’s another one for you. How about you explore endeavors other than fighting like a madman? Don’t you get bored?”
“Fuck no.”
“You need other sources to help you let go of all this toxic energy. How about you learn more effective ways to invest your fortune? I can help.”
Damien raises an eyebrow. “Does that mean you finally agree to fight me?”
“How did you get that from my last sentence, I wonder?”
“The fact that you killed my fun and are under obligation to offer me something in return, or I will break your fucking neck while you sleep.”
“That won’t be possible, but here’s the deal.” Kirill clutches Damien by the shoulder, and I step to the side to get a better view of him.
His face is serene, calm, and since he’s kept the light stubble after his injury, he looks like a different type of beast. He’s scarier, more closed off, and…unreachable.
I can watch from afar, but it’s impossible to touch him. It’s even more impossible to know what he’s thinking anymore. It’s like he locked himself in a vault and threw away the key.
“Allow me to invest twenty percent of your assets. One condition, though. I get fifty percent of the gains.”
“You fucking high? Fifty percent?” Damien, who everyone knows doesn’t give a damn about finances and would’ve already gone bankrupt if he didn’t have the right people by his side, thinks that amount is crazy. “My broker guy takes care of my investments. I don’t need you.”
“I’m telling you that, even with my fifty percent cut, I can give you more than what your broker currently does.”
Damien narrows his eyes, seeming frustrated, then he lifts his hands in the air. “I don’t give a fuck about money. So if this is the master plan you came up with to dissuade me from stopping that war…”
“I’ll get you another war.”
Damien pauses, and his eyes shine like a kid who’s found countless presents under the Christmas tree. “How soon?”
Kirill adjusts his glasses with his middle and ring fingers. “Pretty soon.”
“If you’re fucking with me—”
“If I don’t give you that war in the span of a few months, I’ll fight you.”
“Not months. Only one month, and even that is fucking pushing it. I don’t know what the fuck I’ll do during all that time. I might start killing people randomly, and no one wants that drama in their lives, now, do they?”
“You need to rein in the fucking craziness, Damien. It’s your weakest point and the only thing that’s holding you back from moving up.”
“I don’t want to move up. I want the fucking war that you’ll give me in a month, and if you fail me, you’ll fight me anytime I wish to.” He pushes him with his shoulder. “If you fuck with me, I’ll kill all your men. Starting with the pretty boy Sasha.”
On his way out, Damien pats my shoulder. “No hard feelings. It’s only business.” He leans over to whisper in my ear, “Get in my way again, and I’ll stab Kirill while he sleeps, got it?”
My spine jerks, and I remain frozen long after Damien and his men have gotten in their cars.
Kirill spins around and faces me with those emotionless eyes that I’m starting to dread seeing. “What did he tell you?”
“You…heard him.”
“What did he whisper to you just now, Lipovsky?”
“That…uh…I shouldn’t get in his way again.” I omit the last part, and something tells me Kirill can feel I’m hiding something, because he narrows his eyes, a muscle clenching in his jaw, and he remains like that for what feels like an hour but is actually a few seconds.
Then, as if he didn’t just turn my world upside down, he walks to the car.
Viktor follows after him, but Yuri stays behind and even approaches me as I catch my breath.
“You okay?” he asks in a soft tone.
I hate that he always has to check on me lately. Maksim doesn’t. Yuri, however, is more attuned to people and changes, and he said that he feels like I’m not myself lately—despite all the effort I go through to appear normal.
Not myself is an understatement, though. I used to think that it was only a matter of time before I got Kirill back, but that hope dims with every passing day.
Now, I think I’m on the verge of mourning him. No, we weren’t best friends or anything, but we were intimate, and he let me hold him sometimes—mostly after sex. He used to joke and lash out his sarcasm and made me feel so safe in his company that I actually considered never leaving.
Everything is different since fucking Russia.
“Sasha?” Yuri asks again when I don’t answer. “Did Damien say something that bothered you?”
I shake my head. “It’s not that. I’m just…not on my game, I guess.”
“No, you’re good.” He squeezes my shoulder. “You were able to escape Damien’s hold. Not just anyone can do that. I’m proud of how far you’ve come.”
I grin. “It’s all thanks to you.”
“Don’t be humble. None of this would’ve happened if you weren’t disciplined.” He releases me. “Come on. We should go before Viktor starts being a pain in the ass.”
We’re about to leave when I catch a glimpse of Rai—the Pakhan’s niece—being guided by her guards into her car. She got married a week ago to someone chosen by her granduncle. Her new husband is dangerous and mysterious. Everyone is keeping an eye on him.
Their wedding day was complete madness, and everything that followed was weird.
Since then, she’s changed, but I’m not sure if it’s for the better. Rai has always been a careful businesswoman who’s made of steel. She used the secret she held over Kirill’s head to make him vote for her to become the executive director of V Corp—the organization’s legitimate front. Since that time, she’s been slowly but surely eliminating his and even Adrian’s spies from the company. Something both men don’t appreciate and have been secretly plotting to get back at her for. How, I don’t know.