by SR Jones
“I told you he was a dick,” Liza says, and I hear Konstantin make a half-strangled sound, as if he’s swallowing down the urge to kill her.
“I see you have Liza there; Denis too?”
“Denis is no longer with us.”
There’s a beat of silence. Then Konstantin sighs. “How irritating, I really wanted to dispatch with Denis myself, seeing as he also took something of mine. Something I most certainly wasn’t done with.”
His words confuse me. Does he mean he wanted to hurt Liza? He makes it sound almost as if he’s jealous that Liza left with Denis. I sneak a glance her way, and she’s super alert, listening closely. I’m starting to think I don’t quite know anything I thought I did.
Tigran speaks again. “I’m starting tomorrow, at eight in the am. Every eight hours afterward, I will cut off part of Cassie and send it to you via special delivery. I’ll start with something small, like a toe or a finger, but I’ll soon run out of those, and I will then have to move on up, as it were, to something bigger, like an ear or her nose.”
I gasp, I can’t help it.
“What makes you think I give a fuck what you do to her? She’s been more hassle than she’s worth. I’ll admit, I’m pissed at the sheer fucking audacity of you coming onto my property… And, Popov, you’re dead. But Cassie? Take her off my hands; be my guest.”
Konstantin’s words cut through me like an icy winter wind. They chill me to the bone. I try to tell myself he’s playing a game, some sort of 4D chess where he doesn’t want to let on I mean anything to him, but it isn’t easy to do. He sounds sincere, final.
I see Tigran falter a little. “Well, you better tell Andrius I have her because he has a thing for rescuing women.”
“I’ll tell him, but I doubt he’ll care, and by the way,” he says.
“Yes?”
“Treat Liza well, she’s pregnant. In fact, Andrius is a lot more likely to care that you’ve got a pregnant ex-girlfriend of mine there than the fact you’ve got the incompetent hacker who has caused him and me nothing but grief.” He laughs, and it’s bitter. “You took the wrong girl, when you had the right one all along. Popov, you stupid fuck, you seem to make a habit of this.”
I have no idea what those last words mean, but Popov pales as he looks from me to Liza in shock.
What. The. Fuck. I glance at Liza and see momentary shock on her face too, and then a triumphant smile.
She looks at me, and her smile widens.
I’m at a loss. I thought when he said that about me, he was playing Tigran for some reason, but there’s no earthly reason for him to say this about Liza. None.
“You better get back to me within the next twenty-four hours because this time tomorrow the clock starts for your little blondie.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’ve got to go. We’re at the hospital.”
Then he adds, “Liza likes Coke floats; get her some in. She needs to eat more, and she’s had ongoing sickness.”
And he hangs up. He hangs up, and I don’t know what just happened.
“I knew he’d come around,” Liza says.
Popov glares at her, but she doesn’t hide her glee. “Me and him? We always play this game, back and forth, lust and hate. It’s so entertaining.”
I look around me and feel as if I’m going to faint. I’m trapped with an Armenian gangster, Liza, the woman I hate, and the insane Popov, and to make matters worse, it seems as if I’ve utterly misunderstood Liza and Konstantin’s sick and twisted relationship.
“Why do you want Andrius?” I ask, focusing on the only thing I can right now to stop myself from falling apart completely.
“Not that it’s your business, Jane.”
“My name is Cassie.”
“Jane because you’re plain, Plain Jane.” He laughs, and I see gold glint in his teeth. “As I say, not your business, but I want him because he did this to me.” Tigran runs a finger down his face, over the scar. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this and, finally, I get a chance. My boss wants Allyov gone, so now I can do what the fuck I want to Andrius and not suffer the consequences. It’s just business to my boss, but it’s personal to me.”
“Take her upstairs,” he orders Popov.
“Stop fucking ordering me around.” Popov widens his stance, his thick neck bulging.
“Please,” the Armenian adds, making it sound utterly condescending.
Then he nods at Liza. “That one too. It seems she might be more important to Konstantin than you ever understood. I told you it was weird he’d taken her in and not done everything in his power to find her when she’d stolen from him.”
“Liza is mine,” Popov says.
“She’s not yours. You had some fun with her, and now it’s clear as day she’s much more interested in the fact that Konstantin wants her back.”
“You can’t lock me away. I helped you.” She shakes her head furiously.
“I can, and I am,” Tigran says.
Popov goes to open his mouth, but Tigran beats him to it.
“Do I need to ring my boss? Are we going to have trouble? Over a woman? Popov, really? Come on, what do you care. You can find anyone to suck your dick.”
“Fucking arsehole,” Liza mutters, and Tigran stalks to her.
He takes her face viciously in his hand, squeezing. “Don’t think you can manipulate me, bitch. You are going to go and sit upstairs and be a good little girl, or you’ll find out what I do to women who give me mouth, okay?”
She nods, but her eyes might as well be firing min-rockets at Tigran the way she glares at him.
Popov takes us by the arm, one each, and marches us out of the room, and up the stairs to an open door. He throws me into the small room, and shakes his head at Liza before pushing her in after me. “Whore,” he mumbles, and slams the door.
So that’s how I find myself locked in a room with the woman I hate.
I can’t even look at her triumphant face. Doesn’t she know that her victory over me is what has put her life in danger? Does she even care? Or is this twisted ride she and Konstantin are on more important than her life?
They say it takes one sociopath to understand another, and I’ve been playing amongst them as if I understood the rules of the game, but I understood nothing.
Now, I might very well lose my life, and all because I trusted the wrong man, at the wrong time.
I won’t cry, though. Not in front of Liza.
Instead, I turn away from her, hug my knees to my chest to try, and control my shaking, and do something I haven’t done for a long time.
I pray.
Thank you for reading. You can find out how Konstantin and Cassie’s story plays out in part two, THE WAR, available July 23rd
If you want a heads up on when it is available, then sign up for my newsletter.
MORE BOOKS BY SR JONES
RAW HEROES SERIES
RAW
HARD
FAST
DEEP
RAW HEROES BOX SET
BRATVA VOWS SERIES
THE TRAP
THE GIFT
THE HIT
MAFIA VOWS SERIES
THE CONTRACT
THE DEBT
THE PROMISE
THE PLEDGE
THE BETRAYAL
BRATVA BLOOD SERIES
THE SOLDIER
THE KING
THE WAR