Drazen nods, turning to pour himself a drink. “I’ve got shit whiskey, too, if that would make you more comfortable.”
I seethe silently. “What would make me more comfortable is hearing from your own lips why you thought it was remotely okay to fuck with my family.”
He turns back to eye me as he takes a sip.
“You mean my investment in your building.”
“No, I mean you using us as pawns to fuck with your enemy.”
He exhales. “Kratos, all I’m doing is helping your family buy a building. That’s—”
“Bullshit,” I snap. “You’re having a pissing contest with Boris Chernoff.”
Drazen’s face darkens, his eyes flashing as they pierce into me.
“A pissing contest?” he chuckles quietly. His lips curl savagely in the corners. “No, Kratos. A pissing contest is bidding on the car your rival wants at auction, winning, and then demolishing that car just to be an asshole. A pissing contest is fucking that rival’s woman. What I engage in, Kratos,” he says coldly, his voice venomous, “isn’t a pissing contest. It’s guerrilla fucking warfare. And you haven’t a single goddamn idea of my history with these people, or what goes on in my heart.”
I bristle but stand my ground as he walks toward me and jabs a finger in my chest. “So back the fuck off.”
“And if I don’t?” I snarl.
He eyes me coolly. “Then maybe Ares and the rest of your family would be interested in hearing about your clandestine chats with CIA Agent Amaya Mircari. Who, as I’m sure you know by now, isn’t working for the CIA anymore.”
When I stiffen, he cocks his head, arching a cold brow.
“Don’t mistake me for a blind man, Kratos. It could be fatal.”
“Stay the fuck out of my and my family’s lives, Drazen,” I growl back.
“Gladly, if you rearrange your lives so as not to cross my goals.”
My eyes lock with his. A second ticks by. Then, without another word, I turn and march out of the living room toward the door of his sprawling penthouse.
“Kratos?”
I stop at the door, turning my head partway around to catch his eye.
“You may be big, but I’m very close to your size. If you ever come into my home and threaten me again, I’ll cut your fucking head off.”
“Asshole!”
I let the final word of Ares’ tirade sink in through the phone before I exhale.
“I should have checked in with you first.”
“Oh, you fucking think?!” he hurls back. “Drazen is a fucking ally, dipshit!”
I scowl as I get out of the G-wagon, phone to my ear. “Maybe he’s not an enemy, but do you still want to call him an ally after everything I’ve just told you?”
“What I want to do after everything you’ve just told me is have a fucking conversation!” he roars back. “All of us! Together! Not barge into his fucking home, guns blazing!”
I pinch the bridge of my nose tiredly as I walk around the corner to my brownstone. It’s almost dinnertime, and after this shit-show of a day, all I want is to sit down with Bianca and eat.
Well, that’s not entirely true. After this shitty a day, what I want is to abduct her from our home, drag her blindfolded and tied up to the old church, and then chase her through the dark before I fuck her until she can’t walk for a week.
…Actually, that’s what I might do when I get home in about seven seconds.
“Ares, I’m almost home. Let me call you back after—”
“Oh, fuck off,” he snaps angrily. “I’ll call you back, jackass.”
He hangs up sharply.
Shit.
This will take some repairing. But I stand by what I did. Yeah, maybe Drazen’s influence and money get that development built and our pockets lined. But I fucking loathe being someone else’s pawn.
The front door to the brownstone swings shut behind me. I exhale the tension of the day, and slowly, a smile spreads over my face.
This place hasn’t been my house for long. It also never felt like home until recently.
Until Bianca became a part of it.
My mind replays the feel of her sliding into my lap earlier as I turn to glance up the stairs.
“I’m home!” I call out. “Is it too cliche if I do Greek for din—”
