“Leave youalonewith him?” His voice drops to a frightening range.
“Okay, don’t leave me alone with him. But can you at least back off for a moment?”
“No.”
“Just…” I release a harsh breath so as not to lose my cool. “I only need ten minutes.”
“Five.”
“Seven.”
“Five.”
“Fine.” I look him up and down. “You’re still standing here.”
He takes a step back. No kidding, just one.
“You need to go farther.”
“No.”
“At least stand beside Viktor.”
He narrows his eyes, and for some reason, they appear colder than usual, which is terrifying in and of itself, but he does go to stand beside Viktor.
It’s not that far, but they’re at least behind Konstantin, so he can’t see them. He can probably sense the hostile energy radiating from them, though.
I slowly turn to face him, and he glares at me with his one good eye. “Whatever the fuck you think you’re doing—”
Kirill steps forward, and I lower myself so that my face is level with Konstantin’s. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me anything.”
I grab a box of tissues from the coffee table and wipe at the blood on his temple. I can sense Kirill’s stare—or more like glare—but I ignore it and focus on Konstantin instead.
He curses under his breath with each of my ministrations, and his breathing turns shallower. He definitely has a fever, too.
“They really did a number on you,” I say with enough nonchalance to sound concerned, but not like I’m pitying him.
“Wait until I get my hands on those motherfuckers.” He coughs and wheezes. “I’ll drill their brains with holes, I swear to fuck—”
“Isn’t it too late after they already got you?”
“What the fuck do you know, asshole? Were you there?”
“No, but if I had been there, none of this would’ve happened to you.”
“You think you’re all that?”
“No, but I’m probably better than your useless guards who allowed this to happen.”
He purses his lips. “They were shot down. We were ambushed, so they couldn’t have done anything.”
“Doubt it. If they’d had the right security plan—”
“It was a setup!” he strains. “We were supposed to meet a contact from the Chicago branch, but it turned out they were out for me.”
“You mean me.” Kirill strolls to my side. “Your only power is being my brother.”
“Fuck you, motherfucker.”