Embrace the Darkness (The Maura Quinn Series Book 1) - Ashley N. Rostek Page 0,85
us all widened their stances. As each unexpected visitor walked into the room, my instincts screamed at me that something wasn’t right. Without even thinking, I swiveled my steak knife inward, hiding it under my arm before placing it in my lap as I continued to watch as more men entered the room.
Four more mean-looking men filed in, followed by a less bulking man in a gray suit with Russian tattoos on his hands and neck. The last man to enter the room was Sasha, the Russian owner of Anarchy, looking as tall and gorgeous as I remembered from the other night.
I felt a little relieved it was him, but as I looked around the room at all his men, I couldn’t pull myself off the edge of my seat. Something still didn’t feel right.
With my back painfully straight, I watched Sasha walk toward us. Stefan got to his feet and they clasped hands.
“I heard you were here and wanted to pop in to say hi, but I see my timing was poor. Your food just arrived. Please, sit down.”
Stefan gave him a tight smile, not liking the order, but he took a seat anyway.
Sasha looked to me, his remarkable gray-blue eyes filled with recognition. Before he could say something to me, Stefan intercepted, “What can I do for you, Sasha?” His tone was polite. Only someone paying attention could tell it was forced.
“Like I said, I was just popping in to say hi.” He glanced at Jamie. “I heard someone tried to hit one of your trucks yesterday.”
Across the table, I noticed Jamie had tensed up.
After an uncomfortable amount of silence, Stefan schooled his face into a polite facade. “How’d you hear about that?” His eyes traveled the room, studying all of Sasha’s men and how they were surrounding us. His gaze flicked to Jamie and they exchanged a look.
The man in the gray suit pulled out the chair next to mine. As he took a seat, his jacket opened just enough to flash the gun holstered under his arm. “It happened in our backyard. How could we not hear about it?” he stated, slouching back in the chair before looking at me. His eyes traveled slowly down my body, blatantly checking me out. I tightened my hold on my steak knife, squishing it between my arm and thigh, making sure he couldn’t see it. I ignored his wandering eyes by staring forward at Jamie, who was glaring at the man sitting next to me.
“We heard you caught someone from the raid,” Sasha said, pulling my attention from Jamie.
“No,” Stefan replied, and his eyes locked with mine, warning me. It was only for a breath. I almost missed it. My heart rate spiked as adrenaline surged through my veins.
“Are you sure? I had multiple witnesses say otherwise. Unless you killed him?” Sasha was fishing and he wasn’t fooling anyone. I was beginning to think that our truck being hit in Sasha’s backyard was a little too big of a coincidence.
“I think I’d know if we captured someone,” Stefan replied.
Sasha turned toward me. “Maura, it’s good to see you again.”
“You two have met before?” Stefan questioned me.
I opened my mouth to speak but Sasha beat me to it. “Yes. We met in my club the other night.” He reached toward me and grabbed a piece of my hair, twisting the ends around his fingers. “You have a beautiful daughter, Stefan. How have you kept her secret for so long?”
“I’m a lesbian,” I blurted, putting on a stoic mask. “I’m what you call the black sheep of our very Catholic and old-fashioned family.” I gave Stefan a pointed look and the corner of his mouth twitched.
“A lesbian?” Sasha repeated.
“Yup. I’m all about the pussy.”
Sasha shifted his attention to Jamie, who looked ready to lunge across the table. His eyes were glued to where Sasha held my hair. When he looked up at Sasha, his murderous glare spoke louder than words. Pain was in Sasha’s future.
Sasha returned Jamie’s glare with a knowing smirk and reached inside his jacket. My lungs seized as Sasha’s gun came into view and was aimed at Stefan. The rest of Sasha’s men mimicked their leader, pulling out their own pistols and turning them on our men. Jamie shot to his feet, reaching into his jacket, but froze when the barrel of a gun was placed to the back of his head. He was shoved back down into his chair by one of Sasha’s guards.