Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(37)

“Then last night… I wasn’t lying when I said I had a drop for Mish. I was lying when I said that you wanted to leave with me. Yeah, I promised to never lie to you,” he said at the look on her face, “but there was a chance that if I told you the truth downstairs, you would have walked out of my place…and I couldn’t have that.”

“Luka, what the f*ck…you’re not making any sense.”

“You were so high last night that you didn’t even notice when I walked through their f*cking compound.” He was gazing off, as if he remembered exactly what she was afraid to hear. “That only told me that you couldn’t have known that the little shit who you were with was undressing you in front of everybody, one hand down that pathetic excuse for a f*cking dress.”

Alex swallowed, now feeling the irritation rolling off him in waves. Setting her plate down, she moved away from him.

“Oh, did I upset you?” he asked in a falsely sweet voice, those hard blue eyes of his now trained on her. “Imagine what the f*ck it did to me.”

“Whatever.” She got to her feet, heading for the door, but as she turned the knob, it didn’t budge. “What the f*ck are you doing, Luka?”

“We’re going to stay in here for a bit and hash this shit out. Oh, yeah. And you’re going to detox for a bit. You probably feel fine now, but once you come down, it’s going to be a bitch. Trust me.”

“Are you out of your mind? You can’t keep me here!”

He smiled, and she saw the exact look that she knew he gave to those he meant to intimidate. “Who’s going to stop me?”

“Luka, you can’t.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be here to get you through it.”





18

____





Ultimatums





He’d seen addiction back during his time with Bastian. He had seen the effects of it on the men who shot up before entering the Pit and even the women who Bastian bought for the men. Mostly, he remembered the one girl with the stringy black hair who’d lain across the desk as Bastian stood behind her, shoving his way into her body as she remained still in front of him. To this day, he still didn’t know whether she had still been alive at the time. The thought of Alex like that with Snow only managed to piss him off more, and earlier, after she’d passed out when he carried her from the shower, the walls of his bathroom had suffered the worst of his rage.

Whether Alex was ready to confront the issue or not, he was going to get to the root of whatever problem she had and resolve it, even if he had to break her in the process, but ultimately, he didn’t believe he would. She was strong, stronger than most gave her credit for, and he needed to remind her of that.

“So, what? You plan on keeping me here, like as your captive?” she asked slowly, her words dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t think that’s going to go the way you want. There’s that little thing where you work with my brother.”

If she thought that was going to be the thing that changed his mind, then she didn’t know him at all. While she had been passed out for hours, he’d prepared for this very reaction. Already, he had a case of water in the closet, not to mention enough food to last them…not that he thought she was going to be eating much.

“Wouldn’t be the first time I disappeared,” he answered evenly.

“What does that mean?” She snapped her fingers before he could answer. “Oh, right. You’re not going to tell me. And why is it so hot in here?”

It probably wasn’t as hot as she thought it was, but he had turned down the air, and even taped up the cracks in the window to make sure they retained the most heat in the room as possible.

“Whatever the f*ck you’ve been taking—and I’m going to take a wild guess and assume you don’t know either—has to come out somehow.”

“It’s not that serious, Luka. Okay, maybe I went a little overboard yesterday, but it’s not like I’m a junkie. And it sure doesn’t warrant this.”

Abandoning his own plate, he crossed the room to her. “Yeah? So, tell me, who’s Snow?”

Her eyes were glimmering, and he could see the moment when she thought of lying to him, but then thought better of it.

“Just a guy I know.” She frowned. “Is that what this is about? You saw me with a guy and now you’re in your feelings about it?”

“Did you f*ck him?”

She rolled her eyes at him, but her lack of an answer told him everything he needed to know.

“You don’t know, do you?” He waited until he saw the confirmation in her eyes, a look that infuriated him. “That’s what my problem is. I let you have your space, but now you’ve got my undivided attention.”

“The problem is,” she shot back. “I don’t want it.”

He smiled, though it wasn’t friendly in the slightest. “Too late.”

Gritting her teeth, she shook her hair back out of her face, staring up at him, trying to muster every last bit of courage that she had. “You can’t force me to stay here, Luka. You don’t own me.”

"I’ll only say this shit once. You’re going to sit your ass down, and we’re going to figure this shit out. Because if we’re being honest, you only have three options.