Cruel Paradise (Oryolov Bratva Book 1)

I’m thinking either Per Se or Le Bernadine for lunch today. Emma’s partial to the latter but we ate there last week and I want to see her face when she tries the Oysters & Pearls dish. It’ll blow her mind.

But my appetite dies an instant death when I open my office door to find Adrik standing over Emma’s desk, leaning towards her with a sickening leer on his face.

Motherfucker.

Emma’s smile is polite but forced. She’s leaning away from him, the vein in her forehead throbbing gently like a warning flare.

“Adrik,” I snarl, “is there a reason you’re harassing my assistant?”

I expect a scowl but instead, he offers me a simpering smile. “I wasn’t aware having a conversation with her qualified as ‘harassment.’”

“It does when your breath reeks like you just tongue-fucked a graveyard.”

Emma pushes off from her desk, face pale as though caught in the crossfire of this conversation is the last place on Earth she wants to be. “I’ve got some work to do in the copy room. Excuse me.”

She hurries off and Adrik has the audacity to watch her go, eyes locked on her ass right in front of me. The mudak knows exactly what he’s doing.

“Is there a reason you’re here?” I spit, if only to draw his attention away from Emma.

He doesn’t look at me until she’s turned the corner. “I was in the neighborhood.”

There’s that smile again. The one that’s hiding an ulterior motive. “And you decided to stop by and see what a successful business looked like?”

That earns me a scowl. “So funny, as always.”

I dip my head. “Here all week. Now, what are you really doing here, Adrik?”

“I wanted to ask you out to lunch.”

“You’re not my type.”

Another scowl. “I’m trying to be the bigger man here, Ruslan. This lunch is meant to be a celebration. To commemorate the sale of Lees Industries finally going through.”

I raise my eyebrows. “So you’re here to celebrate the fact that you lost one of your subsidiaries to me?”

“Like I said, I’m trying to be the bigger man.”

“That would be a first.”

He shrugs nonchalantly. “I took a peek at your schedule when I was also admiring your assistant’s cleavage—” He grins a little wider at the black look I skewer him with. “—and I happen to know that you’re free for lunch.”

I could tell Adrik to eat shit. Or I could use this to my advantage. Maybe I can try and suss out what he really wants during the course of this lunch. Because one thing I know for sure—he’s got a plan in motion.

I just need to figure out what that plan is.

“Fine. We’re going to Per Se. You’re paying.”

He rolls his eyes but sweeps an arm toward the elevators. “Lead the way, your highness.”

The walk down to the front of the building is quiet. I can practically see the wheels in Adrik’s head spinning. His car is parked on the curb just outside the building’s canopy. “Meet you there,” he drawls with a sarcastic princess wave goodbye.

I watch him drive off first before Boris rolls up in the SUV. I text Emma from the backseat, already annoyed that we can’t have lunch together like I’d planned.

RUSLAN: Change of plans, I’m having lunch with Adrik.

EMMA: Wow, I’m being dumped for a man? I didn’t expect that.

RUSLAN: Just so you know, I’m rolling my eyes.

EMMA: :crying laughing face emoji: You’re supposed to actually use the rolling eyes emoji. That’s what it’s there for.

RUSLAN: Did he hit on you?

EMMA: Umm—no…

RUSLAN: Emma.

EMMA: He mentioned our dance once. Said he enjoyed it. That was it. And I shut it down, okay? It was literally, like, two minutes of small talk before you walked out.

My hackles rise instantly. Two minutes of small talk is two minutes too fucking long. And I don’t like the fact that she wrote “our” dance.

Our.

Like they had some sort of shared experience. Something that meant something to her.

The rational part of my brain tells me that I’m overreacting but the caveman in me is banging his fists against his chest and howling, already desperate to go back to the office just so I can remind Emma who all her dances belong to now.

EMMA: Ruslan? :eyes emoji:

RUSLAN: I’ll see you back in an hour. I expect to find you in my office, panties dropped.

EMMA: Yes sir.

I smile and breathe. That’s a good girl.

The food at Per Se is phenomenal. The company? Less so.

Adrik and I spend the first hour lobbing questions back and forth. It’s typical business small talk that has my head pulsating with boredom.

I could be feeling up Emma under the table right now. Instead, I’m stuck with this dipshit.

At the start of the second hour, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I’m also wondering when Adrik will get to the fucking point. He didn’t invite me out to lunch for the pleasure of my company.

“So, Ruslan—since I have you here…”

Fucking knew it.

“You want something?”

He raises his eyebrows innocently. “This is business, of course. I would pay.”

“For what?”

“I want to book out Alcazar for one night next week to host an exclusive event.”

I humor him. “Booking out Alcazar will cost you half a mil. Excluding food and beverages.”

He shrugs. “I’ve got the money.”

“You also have a club of your own,” I point out. “Hosting your event there would cost you nothing.”

“As you’ve pointed out numerous times before: despite my best efforts, my club doesn’t seem to have the same appeal that yours does.”

There’s definitely a trap in place. I eye him carefully, but he is the picture of innocence. “What night are you looking at?”

“The thirteenth of August.”

I grit my teeth.

The next day I believe in a coincidence will be the first. In my world, there’s no such thing—there’s just plans in motion and fools too stupid to see them tightening around their throats.

Because the thirteenth of August is the date of the full-scale Venera launch. And there isn’t a fucking chance in hell that Adrik doesn’t somehow know that.

Outwardly, I play it cool. “Unfortunately, booking Alcazar for any kind of event requires at least three months’ prior notice. I’m afraid your date isn’t available.”

“I figured that, since I know the owner—”

“You figured wrong. We’re booked.”

He eyes me over his whiskey. “Oh? Big event?”

I keep my face calmly apathetic, even as I daydream about throttling this bastard here and now. “Every event at Alcazar is a big event.” I get to my feet. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have meetings to get to.”

Adrik remains seated. He doesn’t seem miffed that I’ve denied him the use of my club, which is making me even more suspicious.

It’s a relief that lunch is over but I’m also hard-wired to sense when something is not right. Right now, all my senses are blaring red alert.

Kirill is in the foyer of the Bane skyscraper when I walk in. He makes a beeline straight for me. “What’s this I hear about a lunch with Adrik?”

“Just managed to get away.”

He narrows his eyes. “What did the bastard want?”

“He wanted a venue for some event. Alcazar on the thirteenth of August.”

Kirill’s scowl captures exactly how I’m feeling. “That can’t be a coincidence, can it?” I shake my head and his scowl deepens. “If it’s not a coincidence, that can mean only one thing.”

“Yeah,” I snarl with a grimace. “Adrik knows too much.”