Lies of My Monster (Monster Trilogy #2) by Rina Kent

“And you’ll keep doing that. In fact, when I become Pakhan, you’ll be my favorite.”

“You really don’t see the danger you’ll be exposed to when you’re at the top, do you?”

“The benefits outweigh the danger.” I grin. “No one will be able to touch me once I’m there.”

“I have one piece of advice for you, Kirill. Walk the fuck away before it’s too late.”

“There’s no going back now.”

“Right. Igor will kill you if his daughter is stranded again.”

“No thanks to you. Don’t you regret not taking this chance while you could? If you’d married Kristina, Igor would’ve made it his mission to get you to the top.”

“There are a lot of regrets in my life, but marrying Lia was never one of them.” He pushes me with his shoulder on his way out. “Enjoy the craziness.”

He calls it craziness, I call it power.

And I’ll soon have it all at my disposal.

My phone vibrates.

Viktor: Lipovsky is not on the property. One of the other guards told me he saw him leave.

Fuck.

My hand tightens around the phone, and I take a few calming breaths. I’m barely stopping myself from ditching the party that’s being thrown in my honor and going to search for her.

Kirill: Find him, Viktor. I don’t care about the method.

I swear to fuck, if she does something stupid…

My thought trails off when Rai intercepts my path and tries to push me back onto the balcony. I consider tripping her, but since I’m not in the mood to kill the infant in her belly, I follow the motion and thrust myself back into the cold.

“What the fuck is this? Corner Kirill Day?” I let my lips pull in a smirk. “Are you perhaps mad that I’m getting more power, Rai?”

“Oh, fuck you and your egomania,” she spits out. “How could you do that to Sasha?”

My humor disappears. “Do what?”

“She was a mess, Kirill! Didn’t you see her crying, or are you so far up your own ass that you didn’t notice the suffering you caused her? You’re a damn monster!”

I want to snap Rai’s neck, but then again, that would ruin the evening and my deal with her damn granduncle. So I inhale calming breaths. “What did she tell you?”

“She didn’t tell me anything, but I could see the heartbreak in her eyes. If you’d shot her in the chest, she wouldn’t have looked like that.”

My jaw tightens. “Do you know where she went?”

“No, and even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you. I said it before, and I will say it again. You’re a cunning fox and an unfeeling monster who doesn’t, under any circumstances, deserve someone as pure as Sasha. The only decent thing you can do in this situation is to let her go.”

Not in this lifetime.

I leave Rai outside and return to the party, ignoring her curses. She’s obnoxious on most days, but she’s especially irritating today.

My expression is welcoming as I step back into the engagement parade.

Anyone who’s watching from the outside would think I’m ecstatic about this. We even take pictures for the press and everything in between.

Deep down, however, it’s a raging volcano, and it’s all because of one damn girl.

By the time the evening is over, I’m ready to turn the earth upside down to find her because Viktor and even Yuri and Maksim couldn’t locate the little shit.

Before I do that, however, I have to take part in a private meeting with both Igor and Sergei and an extremely displeased Vladimir.

From what I know, he doesn’t want the position either, but at the same time, he doesn’t want me to have it.

But since he agrees with the Pakhan on almost anything, I don’t imagine he’ll give me any trouble. If he does, I’ll deal with it accordingly.

After we’re done, I leave and take a rain check on a drink Igor invites me to.

Since Viktor confirmed Sasha isn’t on the premises, we go immediately to the house.

Apparently, she’s not with Karina as I expected her to be.

Where else could she have gone? Sasha’s world has always revolved around the mansion and my protection. She has no friends, relationships, or places she can turn to outside the house.

Naturally, her phone is turned off, so I can’t track her through that.

Fucking fuck.

My men spend a whole hour flipping the mansion and the guards’ quarters upside down, but they find no trace of her.

Viktor calls off the search after they do it twice because, according to his words, “It’s a wasted effort.”

I’m really in the mood to waste his life now.

But he’s right. If I keep insisting on overworking my men, this might backfire and not necessarily against me. They might take this out on her when she comes back.

And she will come back.

I step into my room for a change of clothes. I’ll take a run around the mansion’s premises just in case they missed a spot.

That fucking irritating woman better be safe, or I swear to fucking fuck—

My thoughts halt when I walk into my closet. The automatic lights go on, and the stench of alcohol hits me in the face.

Sasha sits on the floor, her jacket thrown to the side and a bottle of vodka nestled between her hands.

Tears streak down her cheeks, and her eyes are too brown, too lost, as if they murdered all the green and are currently mourning it.