SWNOVELS Chapter 8
I continue licking my lips, memorizing the taste of Anya. I stare at the glass of scotch, bittersweet from not yet having a sip so I don’t wash the remains of her away so quickly.
Dawson Taylor sits across from me in a bar owned by Crue Monti, head of the Italian Mafia. Dawson’s business is the sex industry, with both legal and not-so-legal endeavors. I’ve known both men for years now because any person who decides to dance in this dark part of the city always needs guns.
“Crue couldn’t make it, huh?” I ask, finally resigning myself to take a sip.
Dawson watches the women at work, mostly because they work for him. He’s always kept a keen eye on his staff and their safety. Something not many care about, considering his industry.
“Nope, all married and loved up, I’m afraid. They’re expecting their firstborn soon, so he’s been glued to her,” Dawson says matter-of-factly.
A chuckle escapes me as I pause the glass at my lips. Who would ever think men like Crue and Dawson would find female counterparts? And what also seems like genuine affection in their tone when speaking about them.
“You just came from the auction, didn’t you? You clearly didn’t piss Anya Ivanov off, considering you’re still breathing. You didn’t tell her I’d slipped you the invite, did you?”
I laugh and shake my head. “No, Dawson, I didn’t rat you out.”
“Anya isn’t someone to be trifled with. Although I have the right to invite whoever I want to that auction, you owe me big time.”
“I still offer protection to your staff on the West Coast, do I not?” I counter.
“So long as you don’t ruin my business here,” he warns.
I like Dawson and always have. For all his pretty-boy appearance, there’s a deadly tycoon beneath.
“You know she’s absolutely crazy, right?” Dawson continues. “You seem to be taking this lighter than you should be. You’ve already been here for over a month, but you’re still not entirely welcome.”
“What can I say? I find her personality and curves charming.”
He laughs, bewildered. “You’re smitten, and you haven’t even seen the full crazy of her.”
“What type of crazy are we talking?” I ask, because I want to know Anya inside and out. Maybe then I’ll discover why I’m so intrigued by her, and be able to get her out of my system.
“You know she doesn’t take partners, right? She has her bodyguards to eat her out and fuck her when she wants it.”
“Yeah, I kind of walked in on that,” I tell him, to which he raises a brow in surprise.
“Just casually walked in while she was…?” he asks.
In a compromising position. I then paid her a lot of money to have a taste. But I wasn’t telling him that.
The silence alludes to enough because he throws his head back and laughs a full belly laugh.
“The look,” he says between laughter. “The look on her face when you asked would have been priceless.” He shakes his head as the laughter dies. “I’m shocked she didn’t throw a knife at your neck. Or, I don’t know, gouge out your eyeballs? She does like pretty things.”
“Are you telling me I have beautiful eyes, Dawson?”
“Fuck off. I’m warning you she’s more than any one person can handle,” he warns. “Finish up with your dealings and go back to the West Coast.”
Backing down from Anya is not an option. But it does derail me from my original course of action by coming here. “When have I ever not been able to handle my business?” But truthfully, I’d expected to meet and deal with her brother, Alek. This should’ve changed nothing, yet somehow has.
“You think what you do to ruin competitors is bad. Well, the twins fuck up anyone who so much as looks at them the wrong way. I once walked in on both of them covered in blood, ‘playing’ with a man while he was hanging from the ceiling by his hands. And let’s just say, he survived. Because they are that good. They know where to cut and how to cut to draw the pain out. And if you’re on their radar, then you’re in serious shit.”
“I think I want to marry her,” I tell him in awe. Perhaps it says more about me being attracted to such an unhinged and lethal woman. I can’t deny the feeling that she was made perfectly for someone like me.
“Have you met her?” he asks in disbelief. “You really want more than what she gave you?”
“I fucking want it all,” I insist.
“Well, we can’t say you haven’t been warned,” Dawson adds, shaking his head as if I’m the crazy one.
“You know me, Dawson. Do you really think for a second I couldn’t handle her?”
He waits a moment too long before saying, “River, I get that you run a very successful business because people know not to fuck with you, but she will never be that person. She will fuck with you. Take every cent you have and let you bleed out but won’t kill you just so you know who took it.”
“I plan to marry her,” I tell him. “She can bleed me dry.”
“You really don’t know what she’s capable of, then,” he chastises.
“I’m certainly keen to find out. She’ll be mine within the month,” I tell him confidently.
My second in charge, Michael, shifts uncomfortably behind me. I can tell he thinks otherwise of mixing business and pleasure, but the knowledge that I have the upper hand this whole time stays true because Anya still doesn’t realize what serious strife she’s in.
“I still advise you leave the city within the month before she retaliates. You can’t start dealing on their turf without their permission. Even if you do have interested prospects.”
I shrug casually and take another swig. “I came here to deal with her brother. Unfortunately for her, he’s left some loose ends on our business transactions. It looks like I have no choice but to make her pay for that instead.”
“You plan on blackmailing Anya Ivanov?” Dawson shakes his head in disbelief.
“Blackmail is a strong word. I prefer the term persuading. Charming even.”
Dawson scoffs before he takes a sip himself. “You’re as good as dead, man.”
I enjoy the challenge. I didn’t know what to do with the sister at first. But now I know exactly how I want to handle her. I wonder how she’ll take to being cornered, most likely for the first time in her life.
With the added benefit of her brother’s whereabouts still unknown, she must be going stir-crazy. And I can’t wait to add fuel to that fire. How disastrous can the wrath of Anya Ivanov be?