Kirill.
“Give it up, Tatyana. You need my protection. You know Baryshev is in the wind. Nobody quite knows where he is; you are completely vulnerable right now. He could snatch that girl of yours up in a heartbeat, and then do you know what he would do to her?” he asks, leaning in and practically touching my ear with his lips. I curl my own lips in disgust at his close proximity. “He will whore her out. Either sell her as a sex slave, sell her for a high ranking man in his army, or simply put her in a brothel to make him money.”
“You are a liar,” I say, taking a step away from him, my back colliding with the wall of my building.
“One of his men was given a girl, an extremely wealthy businessman’s daughter. They killed him and her brother gave her to him as some form of payment. Another man directly under him was given an American girl as payment a few years ago. One other guy, his sister wasn’t so lucky; she was sold at twelve years old as a sex slave. Disgusting really. I’ve seen pictures of these girls. Collared and used, just little girls. Kiska is nine. She is probably old enough to sell.”
I look up at him in complete shock, too surprised to push him off of me. How horrible, and those poor little girls. My stomach aches for them and I feel sick. When Agent Green bends down, I don’t realize his intent until it’s too late. His lips are touching mine and his tongue dives deep into my mouth.
I plant my palms on his shoulders and push him away, or at least I try, but he’s stronger than I am. He moans in my mouth, and without thinking about the repercussions, I lift my knee right into his balls—smashing them with more force than I need. In all honestly, this douche does not need to reproduce.
“You stupid bitch,” he moans as he cups his balls.
I turn to run from him, but he grabs my arm and slams my back into the wall. My head bounces off of the brick, but I don’t have time to register the pain. I’m panicking.
“Let me go,” I demand.
“Like hell. I’ve been keeping tabs on you for too fucking long. You’re not getting out of my sight now, not when he’s disappeared and the only reason I can think of is that he’s found you,” he chuckles.
“It doesn’t matter . I don’t matter. It’s been years, Ryan,” I cry out. His eyes dart around, unable to focus. He looks manic and crazy.
“He’ll come for you. I know it. And I’ll be fucking waiting. I’m going to get him this time,” he growls.
“Kirill won’t. He doesn’t want us,” I try to plead. I want him gone. He’s such a freaking psycho.
“I’ll be watching, and waiting. He’ll come. And when he does, I’ll catch him. I’ll get him,” he warns. Then he turns and leaves.
I let out a shaky exhale, closing my eyes. When I re-open them, none other than Kirill is standing right in front of me. I open my mouth to scream, but his hand covers it.
“We are talking,” he murmurs.
I nod and pull his hand from my mouth before I turn from him and walk into my building. I don’t look back to make sure he’s following me. He is. I can hear his fancy shoes on the shitty flooring of the staircase. We climb the stairs in silence, and once I unlock the front door, I throw my purse down on the futon I didn’t sleep in and slump down into the cushions.
“You didn’t sleep last night,” he announces. I look up at him in confusion.
He’s wearing a pair of nice, straight legged, gray slacks, black leather shoes, and a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. His tattooed forearms. My eyes scan his body and I notice he has some tattoos on his knuckles and his neck, too. When we met, he had a few on his chest and back, nothing major; but his body now appears to be covered in ink, and, Jesus, it’s hot as hell.
“I didn’t. How did you know?” I ask, trying not to look and lust after him.
“I rented the empty place across from yours. To keep an eye on you.” He shrugs and it sends