Second Best (Volkov Bratva 1)

“How long?” he asked.

“What?”

“How long have you been fucking him?”

“I would never do that. Never.”

“You expect me to believe that after what I just saw?”

“If you saw correctly, you’d have seen that I was fighting him off.” My entire body shook.

I’d seen people killed before. Dead bodies were not new to me, but right now, I was in shock. I had to be.

The sheer violence, that was new to me.

He didn’t stop to ask Sergei any questions. He just killed him. Now he had the same gun pointed at me and thought I would betray him. Seconds passed as Slavik looked into my eyes.

“I saw,” he said. “Now tell me what the fuck happened.”

I nodded my head. The action felt jerky to me, but I stood there and told him everything. About coming home and Sergei pressing me against the wall. The kiss. I even told him about him wanting to be friends and getting close. I didn’t have any secrets.

All the while, Slavik looked at me.

What did he see?

Was he debating how to get rid of me?

“Go to your room,” he said. “Stay there until I come to you.”

“Slavik?”

“Now!” He yelled the word, and I didn’t stick around. I ran as fast as I could, tripping over my feet. Once inside the bedroom, I flicked the lock closed and ran toward the bathroom. Staring at my reflection, I saw the blood. Sergei’s blood.

This was all my fault. I tore my clothes off my body, scrambling to get myself clean.

I stepped beneath the water and cried out as the cold hit my skin. I didn’t move for a short time, trying to process everything that had happened. Grabbing the soap, I started to scrub my hands and my body.

Sergei had died because of me.

I should have told him no. Told Slavik.

I felt sick.

Getting someone killed had never been my intention.

I felt so cold. So alone. This wasn’t fair.

Tilting my head up to the shower, I couldn’t believe what had happened today. I’d lost a friend, and another who had wanted to be mine had been killed. What the hell was wrong with me?

****

Slavik

The cleaning crew knew not to ask any questions.

Sergei’s body would be removed. His apartment was already being cleared out along with any personal effects. There was no family for me to call. No one to shame with his behavior.

I waited as they cleaned my apartment. All that was left was my blood-soaked clothing. I stripped out of it, handing them the clothes, and they left my apartment. Everything had a price, even covering your tracks.

Seeing Sergei on my wife, I’d snapped. I’d never been possessive about any woman in my life and yet, seeing him kissing her was more than I could stand.

Deep down, I knew she’d been trying to fight him. Aurora hadn’t asked for the kiss, and still, I’d been hyped up on rage and the need to kill.

Sergei got an easy death, and for me, that didn’t sit well. I hated it.

With my hands on my hips, I stared around my now pristine apartment. The last five, no, nearly six months, Aurora had lived in my place and still, she hadn’t done a single thing to make her mark.

There was nothing here that stood out.

No trinket to tell anyone who visited—not that anyone did—that she lived here. This apartment wasn’t even mine in the true sense. I owned the building and I’d taken residence here, but there weren’t any personal effects of mine either.

Laying down roots was hard for me to do. It wasn’t something I could just do with the snap of my fingers.

“What the fuck am I doing?” I ran a hand down my face and headed toward the bedroom. The door was locked. I tried the handle, realizing she’d tried to keep me out. Not happening.

Aurora needed to learn there was no easy way to keep me away. With a simple snap of the handle and my body weight shoved against it, the door came open.

I expected to see her on the bed.

At least hear a scream.

Nothing.

The bathroom door was also closed.

Like the main bedroom door, this one was also locked.

“Aurora, open the fucking door,” I said.

My patience was at an all-time low. If I had any sanity left, I’d try to talk to her, but right now, I needed a shower.

“Go away,” she said.

Gritting my teeth, I clenched my hands into tight fists. “You think this door is going to keep me out?”

“No, but you need to calm down. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m not angry.”

“You just killed Sergei.”

“And I’ll kill any fucking man who thinks they can put their hands on you and get away with it. You’re mine, Aurora.”

“I’m what you had to have. I’m not yours.”

I slammed my fist against the door. Her anger actually aroused me. She wasn’t simpering in a corner. I liked the fact she talked back to me.