Tamed (Club Sin 5)

“Good. That will make this easy,” Adrik replied. “My associates have told me that you’ve ignored the letters we’ve sent you and also had a few choice words for the two people who have called you.”

She crossed her arms and glared. Possibly because of being so frustrated with Porter last night, she’d had enough of powerful men. Her voice was as snappy as she intended. “Would you like to hear those choice words as well?”

Adrik smiled. It was the scariest smile Kenzie had ever seen. “I think I can do without them. I came today to see if we could come to an arrangement on your selling the store to me.”

She squeezed her arms tighter around her. This was the last thing she wanted to deal with after the memory she experienced, but he also wasn’t wrong—she had received four letters and two phone calls over the last month. From what she’d learned from his associates, Adrik had bought the whole block on the west end of the Last Vegas strip, which was the reason he wanted his grubby hands on her store. His plan was to bulldoze it all to build a new casino. Which meant Gran’s store would be demolished.

Not on Kenzie’s life.

“As I told your associates,” she said slowly, so he fully understood. “I will never sell my store. Not for any amount of money.”

He swatted at the air, dismissing her as if she were a fly irritating him. “Everything is for sale, m’dear, for a price.”

“Not this store.”

“One million.”

She snorted and moved toward the counter with the antique register, and leaned against it. The first offer she’d received was seven hundred thousand, and with every letter and phone call the offer increased. To her, this book shop was priceless.

Tension rippled through her and she snapped, “Do you need me to explain it to you in a different way so you understand that this store is not

for sale? There is no price that I will sell it for.”

His shoulders stiffened. “Ms. Hart.” He said her name as if he now planned to squish that fly. “I have put a lot of my personal money into this venture. It cannot fail. Only you are standing in my way to proceed with construction. I have many other locations in Vegas that we can move your store to. Would that suffice?”

“No.”

He frowned. “What if I agreed to give you a store inside the casino?”

“No.”

His neck corded as he stepped forward. “You are not willing to budge at all?”

She refused to back away from him, but she surely wanted to. Every word he spoke made his face redden. There was something scary about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Then she realized it was his eyes; they had no soul in them. “No, Mr. Petrov, I will not budge. My gran built this store. It will stay as she built it.”

He took another step toward her, coming too close. “You need to realize the game you are playing here and who you are playing it with, Ms. Hart.”

“Are you trying to intimidate me?” she retorted, now pressed against the counter to avoid him.

“I don’t need to intimidate you. I’m giving you the warning that you are not listening to. You’re playing a dangerous game. I’d suggest you find out exactly whom you are playing it with. When there is a billion dollars at risk, I wouldn’t be so quick to say no.”

Kenzie saw no deception in his features before he exited the store. Icy fright filled her veins, as she had the oddest sense that she had just been targeted to be hunted.

Chapter Five

Kenzie cut the ignition of her silver Volkswagen Eos, and the clock on the dashboard read 7:15. Heaviness settled into her body as she studied the Georgian-style mansion. Decorated with trees and cactuses galore, the mansion on the large lot set back from the road held a timeless elegance, looking almost Victorian, with rich black accents against the dark red brick.

She always preferred cozy houses with a lot of little nooks and crannies, just like Gran did. With a heavy sigh, she leaned her head back against the headrest, her mind swirling back to how much she missed Gran. How much she missed everyone who had left her. She needed tonight more than ever.

Being so emotional and on edge wasn’t a state she preferred. She also knew she was suffering now for more reasons than one. Turning her head, she read the magazine article she’d printed after work.

Adrik Petrov found not guilty of fraud and money laundering. Does the billionaire have Russian Mafia ties?

From the second she’d read the headline a hard lump had formed in her throat. It still remained, making her chest feel weighted. Adrik’s warning earlier had been clear cut, but she hadn’t suspected the man who entered her bookstore had dangerous ties to a crime family. Even if the article came from a gossip column, she always believed there was a bit of truth behind those trashy magazines—maybe not the entire truth, but at least a small part.

The strain that had insinuated itself this morning as she dealt with painful memories had multiplied after Adrik arrived. Now it became all-consuming. Dark strain sank into her bones, and her body ached as if she was fighting a high-grade fever. There was only one person to blame for all of this: Porter.

If he’d given her the scene she had been expecting, filled with pain and ecstasy, she wouldn’t be on such rocky ground. Her soul would feel a lot more put together. Though she realized part of the frustration came from not knowing how to deal with Adrik. She could talk to Kyler, who was also a cop on the Las Vegas police force, though she instantly rejected that thought. She didn’t want to bring the police into this yet; she wanted to deal with her own problems on her terms, at least until it was clear that it was out of her hands.