Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(74)
She sucked in a sharp gasp. Her body might be weighted and fatigued from the prolonged adrenaline rush, but her sex clenched and fluttered at the promise.
He chuckled and glanced over his shoulder, checking the lane to his left. “If I’d have known that was the way to distract you, I’d have leveraged sex thirty minutes ago.” Settled in the HOV lane, he poured on the gas and wrapped his hand back around hers. “Now, spill. Who’s Ruslan? What’s he want?”
Countless times in the last month she’d thought about how to share what had brought her here. Had dress-rehearsed all kinds of scenarios and dialogue in preparation for this moment. Now that she needed to put voice behind them, they dried up.
He scowled at the road and squeezed the steering wheel so tight his knuckles turned white. Despite his open frustration, he kept the hand around her own gentle. “I’ve got a full tank of gas and can keep us moving for a good four hours before I have to stop, so you might as well get it out.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. I just don’t know where to start.”
His thumb smoothed back and forth against her knuckles. “You went to school. What happened after that?”
Right. The beginning was easy enough. She opened her hand and laced her fingers with his. “I studied business in school and did well in my studies. Well enough one of my instructors shared my name with a man named Yefim Mishin. He hired me as a personal assistant.”
He nodded like the news wasn’t exactly a surprise to him. “If you studied business, why take a PA job? Why not something with more meat to it?”
“Oh, there was plenty of meat when it came to working with Yefim. As his assistant, I was with him constantly. Was included in every meeting and traveled with him extensively. And while I was rarely a voice in those meetings, I learned much by watching him work. It was a very coveted position. One I was not only blessed to be offered, but eagerly accepted.”
“He treated you good?”
She smiled down at her lap, memories of the days before all hell had broken loose drifting in like a soft morning breeze. “He was like a second father to me. Indulgent in the extreme. Not only was I compensated more than others might be in a similar role, he mentored me. Took the time to review the nuances of each meeting and strategic move he made.”
“And?”
Outside the car’s windshield, the sun crept toward the horizon, not a single cloud to mar the orange and indigo ahead of them. A far different view than the dark ominous fog rolling through her memories. “And one day he took me someplace he shouldn’t have.”
Knox kept his silence for a moment, the same narrowed focus he always aimed at his screen when attacking troublesome code marking his face. “What kind of business was he in?”
“Not one business. Many businesses. Have you ever heard the term oligarch?”
He frowned at that, but kept his eyes on the road. “Top businessmen in Russia, right?”
She nodded. “A small number of entrepreneurs accumulated much wealth under Gorbachev. Yefim served as the closest advisor to one of these men. But he also was an associate of Anton Fedorov.” She paused long enough to suck in a tight breath. “Anton is mafiya.”
Surprisingly, the word didn’t ruffle him as much as she’d expected. Beyond a slight lift of his eyebrows, he seemed utterly unperturbed. More like she’d told him an unexpected cold front was predicted to blow. “And this Ruslan guy who’s after you works for Anton?”
Darya shook her head. “Anton is very traditional bratva. A pakhan, or boss, who lives the old life of vory v zakone. But as an advisor to Anton, Yefim was called to negotiate with another family. Their pakhan, Ruslan Sokolov, is reckless. Power-hungry. So much so, he killed his own mentor and assumed his place. His business deals often drew attention Anton and the other pakhans detested. Yefim was sent to negotiate boundaries.”
“So, Ruslan and Anton are rivals.”
“Yes.”
Knox glanced over his right shoulder, shifted quickly at the HOV interchange all the way to the far right lane and took an upcoming exit at top speed. His gaze locked on to his rearview mirror, watching for anyone to repeat the unexpected exit. “So, you went with Yefim to negotiate. Did you do something to piss this Ruslan guy off?”
“No.” She focused on his hand curled around the gearshift. The lazy yet powerful confidence as he shifted from one gear to the next. Right now, she’d give a lot for that hand to be back in hers, holding her steady. “I didn’t anger him. I caught his attention.”
Knox whipped his head toward her, his attention lingering uncomfortably long considering how fast he steered them down the access road. “You’re telling me you had to run from a guy because he wants you?”
“I don’t think you understand how things work with men like Ruslan. Traditional Russian men are possessive. More primitive in the way they approach women than Americans are.”
He cocked one eyebrow high. “Are you the same woman who’s been in bed with me for the last month? Because I’m thinking most of what we’ve done belongs in the primitive category.”
Leave it to Knox to draw a smile from her at the most frightening of times. “Yes. What we have is quite primal. Carnal.” Her smile slipped. “But you’ve always given me a choice. There would be no choice with Ruslan.”