Page 10 of Keeping My Enemies Closer: Pt. 1

“What...what am I supposed to do with all this...this food?”she asked, her tone incredulous.

“Eat it, throw it in the trash, or give it to the homeless...I really don’t care,” I told her.“Consider this a lesson in naïveté.”

Zoya’s back snapped as she asked, “And what of the bill?”

I arched a brow.“I’m sure that you’ll figure it out,lepestok.”

Nothing more was said as I exited the diner without paying for the wasted food, and Zoya was so pissed that she didn’t even notice how I had stepped back into the shadows to watch what she’d do next.After all, that was all a part of studying the enemy.You needed to anticipate what they were capable of, and the only way to do that was to see how they reacted in uncomfortable situations.

So, I watched as Zoya pulled all the food off the table, then take it back to the counter.However, instead of throwing it in the trash, she carefully packed it up like it was a to-go order, and then she tucked it underneath the counter for whatever she planned on doing with it later.

After that, I saw her digging into her apron, and something suddenly hit my chest as I watched her counting out all her bills and change.When she was finished gathering up enough money to pay for what I had ordered, she stuffed one single bill and a few coins back in her apron, and for the first time in my life, I felt something besides a bloodthirst for someone who I considered an enemy.

Once she paid for the meal, I watched as Zoya went back to her other two patrons, and the smile on her face was nothing short of incredible.After what I’d just done to her, leaving her with almost nothing in tips for the night, instead of falling apart or causing a scene, she was burying her rage deep enough to get her through the rest of her evening, and it was something that I could have gone the rest of my life never witnessing.

Two hours later, the sign on the door was being flipped, and the staff was beginning to clean up, no one else left inside the diner.However, instead of leaving to go about my business, I continued to ignore my phone as I watched Zoya help clean up.

When they were all finally ready to leave, all the other employees headed towards the parking lot, whereas Zoya began walking home on her own.It wasn’t until she had separated from the group that one of the guys called out to her.After a quick exchange, he walked over to her, threw his arm around her shoulder, then ushered her along, the both of them heading towards his car now, and a spike of adrenaline shot up my spine, a sensation that I refused to explore at the moment.

Eyeing them in the car, I quickly made my way to my own vehicle, and I ignored the low hum of that lyrical melody that I knew as well as I knew my own name.I followed the car until it pulled up to Darya Orlova’s house, and I had to grit my teeth as the jackass who’d driven Zoya home got out of the car, then walked around to open the door for her.

I watched as she smiled up at him as he helped her out of the car, and my hand itched to pull my gun from my jacket to kill the sonofabitch.Though the interaction was completely innocent, she was smiling up at him, and the smile reached her eyes, a genuine show of appreciation.

My irritation flared a bit more as he didn’t leave until Zoya had made it safely inside her home, and while that had been the decent thing to do, I still didn’t like it.Not only should Zoya be suffering for her uncle’s sins, but I definitely didn’t need to murder someone for trying to be her unsung hero.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat in my car, singing quietly, but once I felt my pulse return to normal, I drove away from Darya Orlova’s home, then decided to get back to work, finally answering all the calls and texts that I had ignored for two fucking hours.

Two fucking hours of watching a woman that I was supposed to hate.

Chapter 6

Zoya~

Twenty-four hours later, and I was still fuming over Kasmir Korolev’s stunt last night.For no other reason than to just torment me, he had cost me almost all of my tips last night, leaving me only seven dollars at the end of the night, and it’d taken everything in me not to get myself killed by punching him in his too-gorgeous face.

That was another strike against the youngest Korolev son.No one that evil should be so good looking.Kasimir was easily over six-feet, and he had that whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going for him, except that he didn’t have dark brown eyes that usually accompanied that sultry bedroom look.Instead, Kasimir had one bright blue eye and one white eye that was enough to give any sane person nightmares.Unfortunately, it worked for him.With a face carved in complete masculinity and a pair of eyes that could hypnotize you on the spot, Kasimir Korolev was as beautiful as Satan before and after his fall, and it wasn’t fair.