Page 186 of The Devil We Crave
“I didn’t ask you if you enjoyed beingmypawn. I asked if you enjoyed beingapawn,” he rumbles, tapping his fingers on the table. “Hispawn.”
My brow furrows. “Whose?”
“You know whose.”
I roll my eyes. “Look, whatever this is, I’m done, okay? I need to study, and I’m not playing this game with you.” I should stop right there, but I can’t help myself. “And for the record,” I snap, “I’mnotAchilles’pawn.”
He smiles coldly at me for a few seconds, not saying anything. Then he takes a slow breath. “Your boyfriend likes to put his hands on people,” he hisses. “He likes tohit thingsthat don’t belong to him.” His eyes flicker with manic darkness. “It’s not very nice to hit things that don’t belong to you, don’t you think, Yelena?”
My brows knit. “Kirill, I don’t know what you’re?—”
“At first,” he growls, “I wanted to put a fucking bullet in his brain.”
The library suddenly feels colder. A chilling sensation finger-walks up my spine as Kirill fires a malicious look at me.
“But…” His mouth draws to a cruel line as he reaches into his pocket, pulls his hand back out, and sets a small thumb drive on the table between us. “I think this will be evenmorefun than watching his gray matter splatter on the ground.”
I look at it, then back at him.
“What the hell is that?”
Kirill just smiles. “That’s a present for you, Yelena.”
“Whatisit?” I snap.
“Something you’re going to thank me for later,” he growls as he suddenly pushes his chair back and stands. “Even if I did try to use you as a pawn, Yelena,” he murmurs, “it doesn’t mean I have anything against you. In fact, I pity you. Which is why I’m giving you this.”
I scowl at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He cracks his tattooed knuckles and rolls his neck. “You should probably be alone when you watch what’s on that.” His lips pull into another mirthless shark's smile. “Anddogive my fondest regards to Golden Boy.”
He walks away without looking back. After he’s gone, I shiver as my gaze drops again to the thumb drive sitting on the table.
I pick it up, and for a second, my gaze slides across the room to the trash can near the ancient card catalog.
I should just throw it away. Just forget Kirill even talked to me today.
But the longer I look at it, the more an invisible tug begins to pluck at a loose thread in my subconscious.
Curiosity killed the cat…
Kirill is a snake, and whatever this is, there’s an angle that benefits him.
But not knowinghowgiving me this thumb drive might benefit him starts to burrow into me. Fester. And pull at my nerves.
Dammit.
It’s probably something gross like pictures of his dick piercing. In which case I’ll just tell Achilles, and then Kirill can reap what he sowed when Achilles breaks his fucking nose.
Just chuck the freaking thing.
I jam the drive into the USB slot of my laptop, then double-tap on the icon that pops up.
A cold feeling drags like a nail down my back when I see the file folder name: “little prey”.
What the fuck.
I scan the folder with antivirus software, because I’m not an idiot and Kirill isKirill. When it shows as clean, I wet my lips, swallow, and double-click on it.
