“Why is that important with regards to divulging the identity of the person you called?” He takes one step toward me. “I’m not asking because I can’t find out on my own. I’m asking to give you a chance to tell me yourself.”
My heartbeat thunders in erratic intervals, not allowing me to think properly. It doesn’t help that Kirill is approaching me in even, steady strides that mess with my line of thinking.
For the first time in a long time, I’m acutely aware of how big and imposing he is. There’s a predatory quality to the way he walks. It’s similar to a fire that’s about to burn everything in its wake.
When he stops in front of me, it’s no different than being sucked into another person’s orbit and having the air stolen from me.
He looks down at me with his freezing eyes, and I’m slammed by the difference in our height. Only now, he seems to have gotten bigger and taller.
Intimidating.
Dangerous.
“Who was it, Sasha?”
The more I stare into his unforgiving eyes, the dryer my mouth gets. The harsher and deeper they swallow me into their depths.
“Last chance.”
One second passes.
Two.
Three.
He reaches for me, and I squeal when he wraps his arm around my waist. In the beginning, I thought he was done with verbal intimidation and was moving to the physical, but he doesn’t pull me to him or shake me as I expected him to.
Instead, his hand reaches for my gun holster. I only realize what he’s doing when it’s too late. Kirill grabs hold of my burner phone with baffling ease, then steps back to inspect it.
Every cell in my body goes on alert, and I leap up to grab it, but he effortlessly keeps it out of reach.
With the phone in the air, he stares at me with his cold gaze. The one that every member of the organization and even his household dreads to see.
“Please give it back,” I implore, my voice shaking.
“I’ve given you multiple chances to divulge what you’re hiding from me. My patience in itself is a chance. But since you refuse to take it, I have to resort to this method.”
“So I’m not allowed privacy?” I ask in a biting tone.
“No, you’re not. I told you that your life is mine, and I specifically said that I wasn’t joking, but you apparently chose to believe the opposite.”
In a last attempt to fix the situation, I pull out my gun.
Kirill doesn’t change his stance and merely stares at me in the same manner he has all along. “Are you going to shoot me, Sasha?”
I don’t allow myself to think as I aim and shoot.
The phone flies out of Kirill’s hand and clutters to the ground with a hole right in the middle.
I release a breath. Uncle Albert’s phone number is safe now. Kirill can’t, under any circumstances, get a hold of that part of my life.
Not only does he have no loyalty to anyone but himself, but he’s still his father’s son. He’s clearly overachieving what his father failed to do, so what if he also decides to exterminate the rest of us like his father wanted to?
One moment I’m standing, and the next, my feet leave the ground as Kirill grabs hold of my neck.
His fingers dig into the sensitive flesh, and I can’t breathe as he tightens his hold. I thrash, scratching at his wrist, but I might as well not be touching him.
His voice darkens, sounding like it’s underground due to the buzzing in my ears. “Who is he that you’d go to this length to protect him, hmm?”