Mikhail

2

As I made my way back toward the main area of the club, a few drunken men and women passed me, rushing to the bathrooms for one reason of the other.

A dark haired man had sauntered toward me with a dirty and lopsided grin on his lips, eyeing my body hungrily.

Once he was close enough to register the sarcastic smile I gave him, I thrust my elbow into his stomach.

He clutched it with his arms which had been reaching for me a fraction of a second ago, and a pained yell left his lips, muffled out by the pumping music. The air was forced out of his lungs and his body slumped against the wall.

I continued on my way as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, hoping he wasn't too inebriated to have missed an important lesson in consent.

The music grew louder and flashing lights lit my way toward our private booth once I returned to the main area.

I managed to take one step into the mass of people before my arms were hooked up behind my back and I was tugged against someone's hard front.

Without thinking twice I pushed my heel into the foot of the person behind me, unable to remove my hands from the strong hold they were now in.

The dancing and grinding people around us seemed to have no idea of what was going on, and to my disappointment this was the only place on the floor Vinnie and James couldn't see without standing up from their seats.

"I've been looking for you, Natalia."

I froze, realising two things. My heel on his foot seemed irritatingly ineffective, and I recognised that dreamy guttural voice in a heartbeat.

He held my hands behind my back tighter, constricting any possible movement I may have attempted next.

"I could say the same..." I all but purred, lips tugging up with a surprised smile and voice raised enough for him to hear me over the music.

I had ended my reply in a way that expected him to now disclose his name to me, but instead he chuckled hotly by my ear.

His intimidating stature towered over me even with my heels adding to my height significantly. As much as I shouldn't have enjoyed it, I did, especially when accompanied by the sinfully sexy voice that was left ingrained in my memory from last week.

"Are you on a suicide mission?" I then wondered mockingly, both of us knowing he had stepped onto territory that usually left the men of whomever he worked for six feet under. This was our club, with our men stationed outside and running the show.

"I didn't know Philip Wellesley sent women to do his dirty work these days," he taunted, ignoring my question, "he must be struggling."

"What makes you think I work for him?" I laughed with audible boredom, trying then to catch him off guard and roughly rip my arms away from the firm hold.

I failed miserably and my futile attempt only made my arms hurt and gained no reaction from him.

He tsked smugly by my ear, his low tone and hot breath sending an involuntary and warm shiver down my body, which he no doubt felt and took great pride in.

"Otherwise you would be the one on a suicide mission going against Julio's men like that," he concluded, and I could be thankful that at least he hadn't managed to find out that I was Philip Wellesley's daughter, "it would be a shame if something happened to such a pretty girl."

My jaw clenched at his demeaning words, "is that a threat, or have you come to get kneed in the groin again?"

Reminding him of his failure to keep control last week levelled the playing field, at least in my mind.