Page 85 of City of Salvation
Walking away from Ruska Roma was unheard of—death before betrayal.
Showing up here meant I’d have to pay the toll.
CHAPTER 35
NIKKI
SAY HELLO, AGAIN, TO ANDREI. HE’S CUNTY BUT I LIKE HIM
Andrei hadn’t changedin the years since I’d seen him.
Still the same handsome, smug bastard I’d crushed on. Back then, I’d thought I was in love. Now, I was sure that was never the case. He’d just been decent to me, and had given me a say in what I wanted to do next, two things that had been sorely lacking in my prior experience.
He leaned back in his leather chair eyeing me like a king did his subjects, one corner of his mouth pulled up in a smug grin. The man always looked more like a rockstar than a mobster with his lean, athletic body covered in tattoos.
He wore his hair shorn short into a bleached buzz cut. The style seemed to accentuate the sharp lines of his jaw and cheekbones. His blue eyes lightly lined with black.
I felt like I was being picked apart with every passing moment we sat in the silence of his office. He steepled his fingers on his desk, finally speaking. “Years later and you show up here unannounced? I’m guessing this isn’t a social call, is it,Tasha?”
The guy I’d hit glared at me from the corner, waiting for the command that would allow him to retaliate.
I flipped him off. “You ice your balls yet?” The smart comment earned me a chuckle from Andrei.
“Still as feisty as ever. No clue how Yuri ever thought he’d be able to tame you.”
The drop of his name reminded me why I’d come all this way and stepped back into my past. My irritation toward the guy drained, replaced by an icy fear.
“He knows I’m alive,” I said, picking off an imaginary piece of lint before locking eyes with Andrei. “What do you know about it?” There was a shift in his features, but it only lasted a moment before he schooled them into a cocky mask.
“So you’re here for my help? Who is it that you ran from this time?” he asked.
The truth in his words cut deep, but I pushed them aside and channeled my anger at him instead, dredging up the old wounds he’d inflicted on my battered heart before I’d shut it off to everyone.
“Fuck you, Andrei. What choice did you give me last time? You told me in no uncertain terms to get the fuck away from you.”
He stood, moving around his massive glass and metal desk to close the distance between us. Lording over my seat, he caged me in with his muscled arms, his cocky smirk growing wider when I glared at him. This would have been what my naive dreams were made of a few years ago. Now I wanted to knee the asshole in the balls like I had his man and watch him writhe in pain on the floor.
“Let’s set the record straight, shall we,zaika,” he said with a sneer. “Youlatched on to me,and I did my best to dissuade your little infatuation.What kind of man would I be if I allowed you to attach yourself to me? Awoman who wasgifted to a man she wanted nothing to do with by her father.You didn’t have feelings for me—you were simply looking for even an ounce of affection from anyone. For someone to let you make your own decisions.”
He leaned in even closer so our faces were barely an inch apart, the scent of marijuana and cologne floating between us. “I didn’t lead you on, Tasha. I pitied you and wasnice. You’d never experienced that from a man.” He pulled away shaking his head in irritation. “Stupid girl, I wasbarelykind to you. Your bar was on the fucking floor. I’m not a good man. No woman like yourself should ever want to be with someone like me,” he hissed.
Any fight in me drained. What Andrei said rang true. Hadn’t I just thought it myself?
He had never shown even a hint of affection toward me.
He’d just never treated me like fucking trash like the other men in my life had.
I took a deep breath and raised a brow, smiling. “You’re right, Andrei. Anyone who likes you does have their standards on the damn floor. That why you’re spending your evening in a chop shop filled with sweaty dudes who reek? No one wants you in their bed?” There was no real anger behind my words, I just needed to release some of the tension building between us. Especially if I was going to ask him for his help.
He laughed, sitting back in his seat across from me, resting his elbows on the edge of his desk. “I don’t need a bed to fuck. Now, who is it that you left behind now, Tasha? Think long and hard before you decide if you really want to leave them, to re-enter this life. You’ve been gone for years now.”
Was that what I wanted? To leave Ryan? Dex?
My voice lacked its usual confidence. “No. I don’t wantto leave them, but Yuri will come after them if I stay.”
He shrugged his shoulder, rolling his eyes. “So kill him,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
I scoffed at the suggestion. “Oh, yes, Andrei, because it’s so easy to kill the head of not only the Russian Bratva, but the Circle, as well.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Or do you not remember that we’ve tried that once before. Look where it got us.”