Page 14 of Keeping My Enemies Closer: Pt. 2

With his hands still on Kasimir’s shoulders, Viktor turned his head to look at me.“Moving forward, you do not presume to handle anything on your own.Am I clear?”

Even if I wasn’t inclined to agree with him, there was no way that I was going to argue with Viktor Korolev about anything, especially when the tone of his voice sounded like he’d flay me alive if I eventhoughtof disagreeing with him.

I nodded frantically.“Yes...yes...”

Turning back to Kasimir, he said, “We will handle this, Kasimir.Okay?”

Kasimir stopped singing, but his white eye was still a violent blast of ice, and it was hard not to feel scared right now.I’d known about Kasimir’s reputation, and I’d heard the whispers about his family, but having never imagined myself in this position, I truly had no idea what I’d gotten myself into, and this moment was proof of that.

“Let go of me,” Kasimir demanded, and I watched in crippling trepidation as it looked as if Viktor was actually scared of his younger brother, which just couldn’t be true.“Now.”

Slowly, Viktor removed his hands from Kasimir’s shoulders, then took a step back, giving both of them some space, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.The tension was thick, and I still wasn’t sure why.I had no idea what was happening, and it wasn’t a fun feeling.

“Come here,” Kasimir growled, and since his eyes were looking my way, I could only assume that he was speaking to me.“Now!”

With my heart in my throat, I walked past Viktor until I was standing in front of Kasimir, and as soon as I was, he reached out, grabbed my neck with his hand, yanking me forward, his grip tight enough to make me begin to panic.

“I am only going to tell you this once, so I need you to listen, Zoya,” he hissed.“I don’t care what your life was like before the night of the auction, now that you belong to me, your life is no longer your own.Every fucking move that you make, every move that someone else makes towards you, every fucking breath that you take ismine.Have I made myself clear?”

I nodded as best I could with his hand around my neck.“Ye...yes.”

“From this moment on, if I or my brother cannot be with you, then you will have a guard attached to your fucking hip with no fucking exceptions, and if you have any hopes of holding down a job, it better be one that allows you to have security at your side every second of your shift,” he continued before letting go of my neck.

“I didn’t know that she would go that far,” I said, and even though I knew that it made me sound weak, it was the truth.I’d never seen anything but kindness from Marcelle, so I never would have guessed that money would turn her soulless.“I had no idea that...that she’d ever do something like this.”

“I don’t fucking care,” he snarled mercilessly.

“Kasimir, that’s enough,” Viktor said from behind me, but he’d said it softly, like Kasimir might go off at any moment.“She understands.”

“Get upstairs,” Kasimir ordered, his voice hard but that crazy look in his eyes was no longer there.“Get upstairs and stay there until I come get you.”

My pride wanted so badly to argue with him, but I wasn’t suicidal, and if Viktor was taking care with the Kasimir Korolev that was standing before us right now, then I’d do well to do the same.

So, I turned, headed upstairs, then waited like sitting prey.

Chapter 8