Blood of My Monster (Monster Trilogy #1 ) by Rina Kent

My phone vibrates on the desk, threatening to destroy my creation. I carefully grab it and lean back in my office chair to check it.

Viktor: Operation phase one is completed.

Kirill: Remain on standby until further instructions.

Viktor: Copy that.

I’m about to place my phone in my pocket when the door barges open, and Sasha appears on the threshold. Her shirt is disheveled, and her face is sweaty.

“Don’t you know how to knock?”

She breathes heavily before she blurts, “Your…your mother was kidnapped.”

“Is that why you decided to stop avoiding me?”

She strides inside, her brow furrowed. “How can you be so calm? Your mom…she was taken in the middle of the road.”

“Were you following my mother, Sasha?”

She swallows. “Is that important right now?”

“Maybe.”

A dark shadow falls over her eyes, making them appear somber. When she stops in front of my desk, her lips roll forward in a strangely adorable pout. “I know your mother isn’t the best person out there, but I’m telling you right now that her life is in danger. I saw it with my own eyes when the masked men hit her car, eliminated her bodyguards, and kidnapped her. So you have to do something. Now.”

I slowly place two cards at the top of my house. “Why should I? She wouldn’t have done anything if the roles were reversed.”

“Then how are you any different from her?”

“Who says I am? She’s my mother, after all.”

Her expression doesn’t change, neither in surprise nor in shock. Instead, she announces in a calm tone, “I don’t believe that.”

I stand up, and she flinches back slightly. It wouldn’t have been noticeable to an outsider, but I know the exact reason behind the gesture.

She prefers to avoid me.

Interesting.

“I might take action if you tell me why you were following my mother.”

“I was…trying to figure out who she was going to meet.”

“Have I given you the order to do that?”

“No, but I thought—”

“Did I ask you to think?” My voice deepens, and Sasha must feel it, too.

Tension crowds her shoulders, and she looks at me like a mouse who’s trapped.

“Answer the question, Sasha. Have I brought you here so you’ll think?”

“No.”

“That’s right, no. So quit the habit of being a busybody and a problem solver when I haven’t asked you to take action.”

“Well, I’m sorry I tried to help.”

“Apology declined.”

“I take it back then. It wasn’t sincere in the first place.”

I narrow my eyes on her disobedient ones. If it were anyone else, I would’ve either fired or shot them for the insolence.

But something about Sasha’s defiance has been stirring the ugly beast inside me.

I don’t want her out of my sight. On the contrary, I want her so close that I can possess her. That her being will merge with mine.

My eyes meet her defiant ones. “You’re pushing it.”

“I just don’t understand why I can’t help. You did that for me countless times. Why can’t I do the same?”

So she’s considering what I’ve done a favor, and all this time, she’s been paying me back.

Interesting.

“Karina is out of this game. If I’d wanted to get her involved, I would’ve, but I didn’t, because her condition doesn’t allow her much stress or pressure.”

“I didn’t pressure her.”

“You want me to assume you asked nicely?”

“Well…almost. I didn’t threaten her, though. In fact, she’s the one who threatens me with bodily harm every time she sees me.”

“Next time, don’t get involved, or at least notify me when you do.”

“I can agree to the second, but I can’t guarantee the first…sir.”

I don’t miss the way she added the last word as an afterthought. I’m going to have my hands full with this one for sure.

“From tonight onward, you’ll be my night guard.”

She blinks, probably at the abrupt change of subject.

I’ve been meaning to make this decision ever since we came to New York. The idea of her sleeping ‘sandwiched’ between Maksim and Yuri has left a weird taste in my mouth.

In the beginning, I thought about giving her a solo room, but that would look suspicious. Not to mention that the little fucker Maksim has no sense of personal space.

So the best way to keep her from sharing a bed with my men is to assign her as my night guard.

“Okay. What do I do?” she asks.

“Stay by my bed as I sleep.”

“Oh…uh, are you sure you don’t prefer someone else…like Viktor?”

She’s running again. I can see it in her awkward body language and backpedaling speech.

“This is not a request. It’s an order.”

She’s about to say something else but stops when I point at my creation. “Do you know why a house of cards has a bad reputation?”

“Are we really talking about a house of cards when your mother needs help?”

“Answer the question, Sasha. Do you know why?”