“What’s the mark?” I asked.
“Anton Lebedev,” Maksim answered.
“I thought Ukhov had him.”
“Ukhov missed.”
I knew what that meant. If Ukhov missed a mark, he became a mark. Maksim didn’t take shit from anyone. If you didn’t do the job right, he blew your fucking brains out, no questions asked. Wasn’t how to run a business, he always said. If you start accepting excuses, you build your house on a foundation of fucknuts and fools.
Now I was the backup.
“I know you’ll handle this.”
I nodded. It was an easy mission. I had to take out the guy from a rooftop. He followed a set routine: he went to dinner with his wife and twin girls every Friday night and spent Saturday evenings at the titty lounge with the boys. That was his first mistake. Routines killed you.
“Viktor,” Maksim said when I headed out, the case with the rifle under my arm. “Don’t miss.”
“I won’t.”
“Good. I’d hate to have to take care of you, too.”
Could I kill her if I had to? Anyone else, my answer would be an easy yes. But her? Those eyes pierced my soul, as if she knew my business inside and out. If she did, she would run in the other direction. Who could look twice at a man who had taken so many lives, ripped so many families apart? I was barely able to look at myself anymore. I couldn’t imagine what someone like her might think of me.
As if she could read the thoughts consumed by her, the beauty awoke from her slumber. She appeared suddenly, like a vision. Her long slender legs were bare. The vision of her exposed skin far too enticing to look away.
I wanted her. I’d never wanted someone so badly. It was alarming - considering I had no idea if she could be trusted.
I wanted those legs wrapped around my waist. Holding her close, my cock plunging deep into her until she moaned. I wanted to feel her nails dig into my back and the sounds of her pure voice in screaming in ecstasy.
She looked in all directions as she walked towards me. “You’re cooking out here?”
“Welcome to my cabin. Not exactly a 5-star resort. I don’t have a lot of heat inside, but I manage.”
She nodded as she reached me. She still wore the t-shirt, and she had pulled one of my winter jackets around her shoulders. She was so small, she drowned in it. In her seated position, it hung almost to her knees.
I didn’t like how much of her it covered up.
“Who are you?” I asked bluntly when she sat down on one of the bigger rocks nearby.
She rubbed her hands together, drinking in a bit of the warmth from the fire. She didn’t seem surprised by my question. “Angela Becker,” she said. “I told you that already.”
I shook my head. “Don’t fuck with me.” It came out harsher than I meant it.
Her eyes widened, though not with fear. Defense. “Excuse me?”
“If you’re here to find me, you might as well give up now.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “And I don’t appreciate the tone you’re taking with me. You may live in a cabin in the woods, but you can still use your manners.”
I blinked at her. Did she just scold me like a child?
“You don’t belong here,” I grouched, scowling.
She gaped at me. “Excuse me, but this is a strange situation for both of us. All I want is to get to know the man who saved me and brought me to his cabin. Is that so wrong?”
The fire in her eyes was so fucking hot, my cock twitched again. I wanted to kiss her so badly. Dammit, this woman is intoxicating.
“What’s your deal?” Angela asked, her voice a little softer this time. “You’re really worked up for someone so removed from the stress and hustle and bustle of society.”
“You don’t know me, Malen kiy,” I replied, tempering my tone as well, although I wanted to laugh. I pissed on how other people defined stress. Fuck, a little bit late for work? The wrong size coffee? Not enough fucking likes on a post? What a terrible life.
“Why do you keep calling me that?” Angela asked. “What does it mean?”
“Little One,” I grunted.
Her brows scrunched. “Really? That’s how you see me?”
I shrugged my big shoulders. Her attitude made me want to jump her bones. Usually, I got irritated with people who gave me so much shit. But when she did it, it was hot as hell. She knew how to handle herself in a discussion to make her point clear.
I wanted to see how she’d handle herself when it came to the erotic language that could only be spoken between two naked bodies. No words needed - just the sounds and sensations of her body responding to mine. Where words couldn't explain the level of pleasure she’d surely experience.
No, words wouldn’t be needed. But still, I wanted her screaming my name. No doubt, if I had my way with her, she’d be screaming my name with zero care in the world who heard.
“Do you live up here, all alone?” Angela asked after a silence filled only by the crackling fire.
“Da.”
She looked around the cabin at the woods, the views, and smiled softly. “It's kind of peaceful, actually. No care in the world. No drama.” She looked at me, her green eyes shimmering.
I could fall into those eyes, drown in those eyes. They appeared so wholesome and pure, evergreen, like the forest around us, and when I looked in them, I saw all kinds of shit that a man like me should have the chance to experience. But a man like me had done too much wrong to experience such beauty. She didn’t belong here. Which made my suspicions even stronger.
“Did he send you?”
“Who?” Angela asked. “Ryan?”
“Who the fuck is Ryan?”
She glared at me; the nice smile gone. “I work for him. I told you I work for an insurance company. But my answers are the wrong answers, apparently. I don’t know what you want from me.”
I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it again. She was fierce, and it caused all kinds of havoc in my brain.
After another long silence, Angela shook her head, as if she had decided something for herself. She stood and walked away.
“Where are you going?” I demanded.
“Inside,” she said over her shoulder. “It’s not like there’s anywhere else I can go wearing just my underwear and a hunting jacket. And I need space.” She disappeared into the cabin with a sharp click of my front door.
It took all my self-control not to follow her. But the bird was almost finished – maybe another five minutes – and then I needed to check the satellites. I didn’t want Angela around for that. It was good she was back in the cabin.
I lifted the bird off the fire and carried it inside, then pulled the door shut again. Leaving meat out in the wild unattended would only bring all kinds of animals around for a meal I didn’t want to share.
I walked around the back of the cabin and up the rocky path that headed into the mountain. Between two large boulders, a crack in the rocks led to a cave of sorts. The opening was so narrow, I had to squeeze my colossal frame through. I didn’t like tight spots, so if I didn’t like squeezing through there, no one else would. I was banking on that.
Deep in the cave, out of sight of the opening and protected from the weather, I found my equipment: another satellite phone that couldn’t be traced, a laptop, and solar batteries I set out in the sun twice a week to charge. There was no signal for normal phones, but I wasn’t looking to make a normal call.