woman as a friend, but if someone came close enough, Anton knew they would see the fear written all over her features.
“I’d say you know who I am, then,” he said, sneering.
“Let—”
“Scream, I dare you. I’ll have someone outside of your place of work at the end of your shift. Or maybe I’ll wait to have them catch you tomorrow morning on your trek to the university. Hell, how do you know I don’t already have a man standing outside your father’s apartment waiting for my call? I very well could.”
“You wouldn’t,” Vanessa spat.
Anton cocked a brow, challenging the girl. “You don’t know for sure, though, do you? The only thing you really know about me, or my wife, is what you’ve been told. Don’t let me sully your opinion or anything, because most of what you’ve heard about me is likely true. Viviana is a completely different matter.”
More than once, Anton had been told when he leveled on someone, he did so with a predator’s graceful composure. Swathed in calm and unbothered by any and all of the activity around him, when the boss moved in, he went straight for the kill and didn’t give a second glance back. Striking with a gaze that could burn in a single look, and terrorizing with a voice that rolled and coated like sweetened molasses, he was frightening.
Anton preferred dangerous .
The girl didn’t seem to know what to say, so Anton continued with his same cool, quiet tenor. “If you had considered to think about the things you said to my wife, you would have known just why it was a stupid choice and you wouldn’t have done it at all. I’m not just affiliated with the Russian Mafia in New York, Vanessa, I fucking am it. You’d disappear, sweetheart—just like that. Poof , gone. Did you realize that when you told Viviana her hands were just as filthy as mine? Did you consider I could have blown your brains out and still made it home to wake my wife the next morning with a smile on my face when you called my unborn son a criminal’s bastard?”
“I—”
“Shut the fuck up.” Anton’s grip on her wrist squeezed tighter again. “You had your chance to speak, and now I’m going to have mine.”
The girl swallowed nervously, her gaze flickering somewhere behind him. With a simple tug on her arm, Anton had her attention back on him. “What, did she run home and cry to the criminal who shares her bed that some nasty girl made her cry?”
Anton scoffed. “Oh, no. My wife has a hell of a lot more intelligence than that. In fact, she told me very little about your encounter. What I learned, I heard from your friend George. Nice guy, but trust he knows which is the safer side for him to be on, Vanessa. That was probably a better outcome for you. If I had heard it from my wife, I would have shoved my gun so far down your throat that when I pulled the trigger, you’d have felt the bullet rip through your esophagus before it killed you.”
Water formed behind Vanessa’s eyes as she breathed shakily. “Please …”
“Yeah, now is the time you’d want to beg, girl. Unfortunately, my patience for you is already worn terribly thin. I think it’d make my wife awfully upset to wake up tomorrow morning to a broadcast about a Long Island University student who went missing the night before.”
“You’re not going to—”
“No,” Anton said, his gaze narrowing. “And you’re fucking lucky. It wouldn’t have bothered me a bit to end someone’s life who made my wife unhappy. But, I will tell you what you’re going to do, Vanessa.”
Swallowing audibly once more, she asked quietly, “What’s that?”
Anton nodded his head to Erik who was watching their encounter ten feet away with a bored fascination. Now, with Erik being so close to the quiet conversation, Anton knew he understood exactly why he had been asked to meet his boss at the gym.
“See him?” Anton asked.
“Yes.”
“His name is Erik, and he’s a very good friend of mine. When I leave, you’re
“I’d say you know who I am, then,” he said, sneering.
“Let—”
“Scream, I dare you. I’ll have someone outside of your place of work at the end of your shift. Or maybe I’ll wait to have them catch you tomorrow morning on your trek to the university. Hell, how do you know I don’t already have a man standing outside your father’s apartment waiting for my call? I very well could.”
“You wouldn’t,” Vanessa spat.
Anton cocked a brow, challenging the girl. “You don’t know for sure, though, do you? The only thing you really know about me, or my wife, is what you’ve been told. Don’t let me sully your opinion or anything, because most of what you’ve heard about me is likely true. Viviana is a completely different matter.”
More than once, Anton had been told when he leveled on someone, he did so with a predator’s graceful composure. Swathed in calm and unbothered by any and all of the activity around him, when the boss moved in, he went straight for the kill and didn’t give a second glance back. Striking with a gaze that could burn in a single look, and terrorizing with a voice that rolled and coated like sweetened molasses, he was frightening.
Anton preferred dangerous .
The girl didn’t seem to know what to say, so Anton continued with his same cool, quiet tenor. “If you had considered to think about the things you said to my wife, you would have known just why it was a stupid choice and you wouldn’t have done it at all. I’m not just affiliated with the Russian Mafia in New York, Vanessa, I fucking am it. You’d disappear, sweetheart—just like that. Poof , gone. Did you realize that when you told Viviana her hands were just as filthy as mine? Did you consider I could have blown your brains out and still made it home to wake my wife the next morning with a smile on my face when you called my unborn son a criminal’s bastard?”
“I—”
“Shut the fuck up.” Anton’s grip on her wrist squeezed tighter again. “You had your chance to speak, and now I’m going to have mine.”
The girl swallowed nervously, her gaze flickering somewhere behind him. With a simple tug on her arm, Anton had her attention back on him. “What, did she run home and cry to the criminal who shares her bed that some nasty girl made her cry?”
Anton scoffed. “Oh, no. My wife has a hell of a lot more intelligence than that. In fact, she told me very little about your encounter. What I learned, I heard from your friend George. Nice guy, but trust he knows which is the safer side for him to be on, Vanessa. That was probably a better outcome for you. If I had heard it from my wife, I would have shoved my gun so far down your throat that when I pulled the trigger, you’d have felt the bullet rip through your esophagus before it killed you.”
Water formed behind Vanessa’s eyes as she breathed shakily. “Please …”
“Yeah, now is the time you’d want to beg, girl. Unfortunately, my patience for you is already worn terribly thin. I think it’d make my wife awfully upset to wake up tomorrow morning to a broadcast about a Long Island University student who went missing the night before.”
“You’re not going to—”
“No,” Anton said, his gaze narrowing. “And you’re fucking lucky. It wouldn’t have bothered me a bit to end someone’s life who made my wife unhappy. But, I will tell you what you’re going to do, Vanessa.”
Swallowing audibly once more, she asked quietly, “What’s that?”
Anton nodded his head to Erik who was watching their encounter ten feet away with a bored fascination. Now, with Erik being so close to the quiet conversation, Anton knew he understood exactly why he had been asked to meet his boss at the gym.
“See him?” Anton asked.
“Yes.”
“His name is Erik, and he’s a very good friend of mine. When I leave, you’re
Similar Books
