Page 79 of Bedazzled
A low growl came from behind me and it sounded like a rabid dog got loose in the cottage. When Yuri’s heat radiated off my back, I realized that the growl came from him and he, apparently, was coming for O’Rourke.
“Hey, hey, hey hey hey, honey. Hold up!” I stepped in front of Yuri, “You can’t kill the sociopathic billionaire. Not cool. Besides, I’m pretty sure you met your kill quota last night so please…”
Oh my god, I thought, disgusted with myself,I am joking about my husband’s Bratva killing a hundred men. I am the worst person alive.
Yuri clenched his fists, radiating fury and hate and scariness, his head was lowered like he was about to charge O’Rourke like a bull.
“Tania could have been killed because of your stupidity!” he roared, “There can be no excuse for putting her in the middle of this!”
“Yes, but you saved her,” O’Rourke said, looking a little bored which was not helping his case. “So, all is well.”
“You left her unprotected in a goddamned spotlight on stage while your bodyguards surroundedyou!”Yuri shouted.
O’Rourke’s eyes were turning that frozen earth color again. “You have what you want,” he said coldly, “and without my assistance it is unlikely you could have overthrown the O’Connell mob. And I have what I want. Our business is concluded.”
Maksim was no happier than Yuri was with this smug asshole, but he was apparently capable of more diplomacy. “Our business is concluded,” he said coldly. “While we have kept our part of the bargain, you deliberately put my sister-in-law in harm’s way. And for no reason we can find. I’ve seen a photo of Maureen Sullivan. Tania does not resemble her, even with the wig, makeup, and glasses. So, why?”
O’Rourke paused in the doorway, looking at me with an unkind little smile. “Do you remember, darling, when you shook my hand at the wedding, agreeing to repay my favor? You told me - quite nobly - that you would never kill anyone.”
My brow furrowed, “I remember.”
The midday sun came through the window, lighting his face oddly, one side in the sun, all handsome-looking, and the other half in shadow. It was jarring, and his little smile only made it worse.
“I wanted to prove to you that youwouldkill. That you would do anything I ask, steal, lie… Not quite so principled, are you, darling?”
“You had me hack those O’Connell accounts, dress up like that woman and watch those men be slaughtered just to- to-” I flailed, trying to finish the thought.
“You could have warned the O’Connell’s,” he said in his nasty, silky voice. “You knew these two were going to kill them. You could have saved over a hundred men, but you kept quiet, didn’t you? You killed those men just as surely as if you were holding the gun.”
My lunch was threatening to make a reappearance. He was a vicious, manipulative bastard. But he was right.
“You endangered my wife, just to show you could make her do these things to entertain you?” Yuri said viciously. “This was a game for you.”
His hand reached into his jacket and I panicked, knowing he was going for his gun. Yuri was not reckless with weapons, he made it a point to use his gun or knife only as a last resort.
I grabbed his arm. “Babe, he is not worth it. He’s not. Please.”
Yuri breathed in deeply, jaw clenched, but he pulled his hand away from the holster.
“I believe it’s time for you to leave,” Maksim said, herding O’Rourke out the door. Before the door closed, he looked over his shoulder at me with a saucy wink.
“Hey, remember when we talked about this?” I said, smoothing Yuri’s jacket with anxious hands, “Remember? You said, ‘Once one has amassed that level of wealth and power, playing with the lives of men is the only game left to play.’ He did all this, just to show he could. Because he was bored. Who knows? Please, let it go.”
He was struggling, my sweet husband, his hands clenched into fists, but Yuri forced himself to relax and kissed me. “You are right, myKoroleva.But I will not forget.”
I wish I could forget. I heard Nolan O’Rourke’s voice in my head for weeks after that day, telling me that I was capable of lying, theft, and murder. He was right. And I hated him for it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
In which there are revelations, a job offer, and happily ever after.
Yuri
A week later…
I leaned against the French doors that led to the gardens, listening to my wife play her violin, lounging in one of the chairs by the pond.
She was so beautiful, the weak sunlight filtered through her hair and made her skin glow, swaying slightly with the music as her long, graceful fingers moved over the violin strings.
