Wild Billionaire Romance - Chapter 18: Chapter 18

ADRIK
I hated leaving Sofia to talk to Matthew Castle in this goddamned house of his. The way he flaunted his family’s wealth was distasteful to say the least. I had no love for these parties or these people, but the rumors of Castle Corps increasingly troubled finances, and their impending audit by the Feds, were worrisome. I wanted to get CoreTech under the control of Volkov Industries before the shit could hit the fan.
“Welcome Adrik. Come on, let’s go where there is less noise,” Matthew said, leading me from the party.
I gritted my teeth as Missy Castle, his sister, walked towards me, claiming my arm in a possessive hold. It took all of my strength not to shake off. I told Zaika moya I would not touch any other women tonight, and while I did not initiate nor return this touch, I did not welcome it.
“Adrik, you look so serious. Maybe your little girlfriend isn’t taking such good care of you?” she said, as we entered a flashy office done in golds and maroons.
To me, it looked like something out of a cheesy mafia movie or a bad interpretation of Dracula. But whatever. I did not care how the Castle family decorated their home. I just wanted CoreTech, then I wanted to get back to my Zaika.
“My personal life is not your business, Miss Castle,” I said, finally removing her hand from my arm.
She gasped and frowned, hissing angrily as she took the chair behind the desk. I turned to see Matthew had not followed us inside.
“What is this? What do you want?”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet, Adrik? Matthew is nothing! He has no real pull anymore,” she said and snorted.
I stood frozen as I went over the hundreds of meetings we’d had over the past six months with Matthew Castle over CoreTech. His vague responses to questions. His noncommittal answers. Fuck. How did we miss this?
“What are you saying, exactly?” I asked, refusing to show her any emotion at all.
“I own CoreTech, silly,” she said, and batted her eyelashes at me in some horrific caricature of a demure young lady. But Missy was too hard and experienced to pretend that sort of innocence. Not that it would matter. The woman was repulsive to me.
“Okay. Then why would you have us meet with your brother and not you?”
“Well, I was hoping with these parties and dinners you or your brother would have broken down by now and proposed an arrangement that might include more than business. But you Volkov brothers are colder than even your reputation,” she explained, and I gritted my teeth.
“Had you simply asked, Missy, I would have told you there will be no merger between us. Not business and not personal. Volkov Industries wants to buy CoreTech. I am willing to pay the market price, but that is all I am offering,” I said.
“Well, it’s not enough!” she yelled. “Is it her? Is my former assistant the reason you’re being so dumb? It’s just pussy, Adrik. You can get that anywhere. Hell! I will even let you keep her. That is if you still want her after my brother is finished⁠—”
Her crazed eyes flashed, and for the first time since I was a child, I felt fear. Not for me. But for Zaika moya. What had this insane female done to my Sofia?
“What did you say?” I asked as fury and fear battled within me.
“I said my brother has her now, and he’s probably already left his mark. So, if it is sloppy seconds you want, Adrik, you can have them. After we are married and we merge Volkov Industries and Castle Corp,” she replied, cackling like a crazy witch.
I normally did not hit women. But I had never been as tempted to before then. I grabbed my phone and called Josef, telling him what was going on and asking for confirmation that Marat had Sofia.
“Where is Sofia?” I asked my head of security.
“She’s gone boss. She said she had to go to the restroom, but she never came back⁠—”
“FIND HER!” I bellowed into the phone.
I stalked over to where Missy sat behind the desk and took the chair by the arms, shaking it once, to get her attention. She giggled maniacally, then snapped her jaw shut when she finally looked at me.
“Where did your brother take her?” I asked between gritted teeth, hatred and fury boiling over inside me.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Missy started.
I shoved the chair back to the wall just as some of my guards filed in. One of whom was a woman. I stepped back and pointed to Adelita.
“She has three seconds to tell me where her brother is. If she does not comply, start cutting off her fingers until she does,” I said without emotion, even though my heart was beating wildly inside my chest.
If Matthew had hurt her—if he laid one hand on her precious head, I would tear him limb from limb. There was no coming back from this, I did not care how rich he was or how old his family name was. If my Sofia was in any way molested by him, I would wipe the Castles from the face of the earth. Anger filled me and I growled with it.
“No, no, no! Do not touch me!” shrieked Missy.
She looked afraid as Adelita approached dressed in all black, guns and knives holstered to her person. I’d seen her work before, and the woman was a master. I wish I could say I cared what she would do to Missy. But I didn’t.
“Fine, fine. I will tell you! Adrik, just stop her and I will tell you where they are. I can’t believe you are getting worked up over Sofia,” she said, shaking her head. Stupid woman. “She is nobody! Look, consider my offer first⁠—”
“Adelita,” I said, cutting off another insane tirade.
Time was wasting, and I nodded at one of my deadliest security guards as she stepped forward. Adelita was very well trained in martial arts, but her specialty was knives. I did not like to hurt women, but this was the twenty-first century, and I was not a fool.
In fact, I was a feminist. Women made war too. So, I made it my business to have my own female guards so they could handle cases such as this. Adelita grinned, nodding her head before she grabbed Missy by the hair.
“Ahh! He has her down the hall! He has her down the hall! In Daddy’s old office. Now, let me go,” she whimpered, but it was too late for her.
“On it,” Josef said, racing out the door in front of me, Marat on his heels.
“Let me go now. I told you,” Missy yelled, but it was too late for her.
“Finish it,” I commanded.
Missy Castle should never have fucked with me or mine. I nodded once towards Adelita, giving my permission for her to dole the lesson that woman needed to learn before I joined my head of security and brother in racing out of the room.
A scream followed by a loud blow resounded in the background. A few more and a familiar popping sound followed. But that did not concern me. My team was well-trained and very loyal—that happened when you paid like I did.
They were all handpicked by me. Each had a past, a history that made them unemployable elsewhere. I knew all their secrets and I kept them close. So no, I had no doubts whatsoever that they would do what I commanded.
It took three precious minutes to race down the hall to what was old man Castle’s office. Of course, we’d reconned the place before the first time any of us had ever stepped foot inside. A holdover from our criminal enterprise days, but smart, nonetheless. Josef reached the doors first, pulling them open. But I was inside before any of them, and I had that motherfucker by the throat before he could finish whatever he’d been attempting to do.
I turned my head to see Sofia shaking against the wall. Another man had had his hands on hers, holding her back, but Marat and Josef were on him.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
My eyes raked over her face, her body, then back to her tear-stained face. That motherfucker was going to pay. Anger filled me, made my vision red. Sofia gasped. She was shaking, but she nodded, and I noticed a red mark on her face.
“You hit my woman?” I turned slowly as I asked the question.
“No! No! It wasn’t me. It was Charles!” Matthew said, gasping and trying to get my fingers off his throat.
“You. Hit. My. Woman.”
My voice was guttural and deep, more animal than man. I spoke with my jaw clenched so hard, it was amazing any words came out at all. But I was holding on to control by a thread.
“Adrik, we can work this out⁠—”
I punched him in the gut before he could finish whatever garbage proposal he’d planned on making. Then, I pummeled his face, driving my closed fist into his pasty flesh again and again. Blow after blow, relentlessly, I hit him over and over the crunch of his nose and cheek bones breaking, then his teeth, echoed in the room. Blood spurted as I kept hitting him, but I did not stop. I could not. I hit him over and over again until his face was a bloody pulp, and he was dead weight in my grip.
“Adrik, that’s enough,” Marat said, grabbing my arm, and I almost hit him, too.
Luckily, I was not too far gone to remember who he was or where I was. The second I dropped what was left of Castle, I moved towards Zaika moya. She crumpled in my arms, sobbing against me.
“Get everyone out of here. Bring him and this soon to be dead motherfucker to the place. No more games. We take over Castle Corps now, tonight. Hostile as fuck,” I ordered between gritted teeth.
“Torch it?” Josef asked.
I nodded once, picking Sofia up in my arms and walking out the door to where my car waited. She was shivering uncontrollably, and I knew I should have washed the blood from my hands before touching her, but I could not spare the time. I had to get her home. Not to my penthouse, but to my home. I had to make sure she was safe. Needed to see it with my own eyes.
Murmuring to her in Russian for the duration of the twenty-minute drive to my own estate on the Long Island Sound, I ordered my men to double the guard and make sure we were not disturbed.
“Y-you can put me down. I can walk,” she said, but I squeezed her tighter as I took the stairs two at a time.