Stealing Beauty

“Are you crazy?”

“About Marisol. Now be good to my sister and return her. If you harm a hair on her head, I’ll destroy you.”

“Relax, I’m not a killer unlike you, Dobrev.”

“You don’t know anything about me.” He ends the call and tosses the phone onto the dresser.

He turns to look at me and says, “Wait here. I’ll be back.” He angrily walks to the door, before stopping and turning back around to me. He comes up to me, slipping his arm around my waist, tugging me closer and slamming his mouth on mine. “Relax, I have some matters that must be dealt with.” He lets go of me then walks away.

I call for him, then I plead, “Please don’t hurt him. I know he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”

“My sweet, I am not concerned about him harming her, but how she managed to be confused for you. Someone didn’t do their job. My sister was supposed to be home and not traveling anywhere. Excuse me.” He kisses my forehead then leaves the room.

I don’t know how to deal with what he said. I go in the bathroom and wash my face. I have to check in with Destiny. I’ve been a terrible friend. I grab my phone which thankfully didn’t crack or anything. I slide it open and see I have a message from my brother. It was sent while I washed up.

Dile a Mikhail que no voy a devolver a su hermana. Ella es mia para siempre.

Shit. I wonder how he’s going to handle the news. I can’t believe he wants to keep Mikhail’s sister. I don’t change out of my shorts and top. Instead, I exit the room without my sandals, hoping to find Mikhail. I creep past a few employees talking while cleaning, but they have their backs to me. I keep going and see an open door with a desk. This must be his office. I walk in, but he’s not inside. I’m sure he’ll be back. So I go around and sit in his chair. After all, the only way to break bad news is with strength and sympathy. I can’t help myself and be nosy. As I look over his desk, I see a photo of him and Ivan with a smaller but beautiful woman. I try not to get jealous and just assume that she must be his sister, whose name I don’t know. There’s a file on the desk, it must not be too private since it’s out in the open or that’s the justification I’m using to be nosy.

I flip the manila file open and see a picture of my brother and me in Miami. Below it is a list of everything on my brother. Then I look a little further through it and see my information. He knows everything about me. The stuff he’s not privy to, like my social, banking, housing, and my life. There’s a picture of me at a party. And I remember that five minutes after this photo had to have been taken that the cops showed up. I wasn’t arrested because I hadn’t been drinking yet and we managed to sneak to our dorm unbothered. I have a feeling he’s the one who called the cops. Especially since it reminds me that one of the university’s baseball players had been hitting on me. He was cute, but I knew the game. He was looking for an easy lay. I should thank him for that, but if it was him, he was just stopping me from being touched. With all this information, I’m not surprised if he knows I’m a virgin.

“What are you doing in here?” I look up to see a man I don’t know coming around the desk. He’s staring at me like he’s going to hurt me.

“Um…I was looking for Mikhail,” I stutter, trying to take a step back, but bumping into Mikhail’s chair and falling onto it.

“I don’t believe you’ll find him in a file. Who are you working for?” He grabs my arm harshly, causing me to yelp.

“Viktor, let go now,” Mikhail roars from the door. I’m shaking as I stand there. He says something in Russian that I can’t understand for nothing. I can tell that whatever he told him is laced with rage and a warning.

“Marisol, I’m sorry for my cousin. He had no idea that I had someone here.” I remember he said that he hasn’t been with anyone in a very long time, so I just give him a nod. “What are you doing in here?” He rakes his eyes down my body, sexual intent as clear as day.

“I came to look for you.”

Chapter 5

Mikhail

I nearly killed my cousin. Seeing his hands on my most precious woman infuriated me beyond control. The look of fear in her eyes was the only reason I didn’t beat his ass. She was terrified of the situation, and that’s my fault. Jealously, I didn’t tell him about her because I didn’t want to share her with anyone in any way. It’s bad enough that I hired people to keep tabs on her, but I didn’t want my family trying to steal her from me.