I nodded. She did a damned good job of changing the subject, deflecting the shit I said about criminal lives. This little reporter knew a helluva lot more about it than anybody else who'd be sitting in that chair for a sensationalized bullshit rag.
“3:30 PM. A cold Wednesday, about four years ago. That was the day I held my old man as he coughed up blood and shuddered one last time, on his way to meet the reaper. It was a hit and run. They did it quick while he was walking on a busy street, slammed him to the wall and sliced his throat with a piano wire. Sloppy as shit. He played dead. Took him about a half hour to bleed out and go cold. Long enough for me to come running when I got his garbled call. Not long enough for the medics to do shit. It feels like it was yesterday, and it's still gonna feel that way next week too.”
Sabrina stiffened. She sat straight up, a dark sympathy swirling in her eyes. Good thing they were so bright just then, because with her sitting up like that, my eyes wanted to fall instantly to her tits. My hands hurt, begging to flatten themselves against the glass, wishing to high hell they could find their way through and squeeze her nips.
“And how did that make you feel?”
Fuck, was this chick even wearing a bra? I looked down, giving her my best sad puppy dog face, hoping it wasn't too fucking unbelievable. No, she had a bra after all, but it didn't do anything to hide her curves and edges. Thorns scraped my veins, a horny numbness, aching to get outta this cage, lay her down, and fuck the living shit outta her.
Patience, you bastard, I thought. Finish this shit right, and you might get your chance in another week.
“Alone,” I said. “Like I'd been thrown in solitary, except nobody was ever coming back. I was the only one of my three brothers who got to say goodbye to papa. I gave myself a day to be quiet and sad at his funeral, and then...”
When I wouldn't finish it, burying my face in one hand, she tapped the glass gently. I threw my hand down, making her think I'd swept a fake tear from one cheek.
“Then what, Anton?”
“I swore I'd storm heaven and hell paying back every last fucker who did this to him, to our family. Before papa bit it, I thought I might try to do some shit like Uncle Volodya, without letting my guard down. Maybe I'd learn to set guns or run a chop shop for motorcycles, something with a connection to the hard world I'd grown up in, without having to do outlaw shit into my thirties. That all went out the window the day my old man died. His death left us to head the Chicago clan. Ivankovs have a way of burying their own dreams for family blood. For honor. For all the shit that matters.”
She nodded, scribbling a few more notes. Had to look away when her tits pressed together, bobbing again, hypnotizing me to do something stupid that would blow this whole fucking thing.
When she met my stare again, her eyes were darker, reluctant, like they were holding something in. “You look like you know a thing or two about loss,” I said.
Sabrina shrugged. Smart girl. She wasn't throwing me a bone and turning over any control to me – not after she thought I was giving her everything.
“What? I thought you were gonna ask me all the hard stuff,” I said. “Looks like you're trying to protect my feelings. Don't bother, babe. I don't fucking have any.”
Liar. I had feelings for this chick, all right, but right now they were all concentrated in the red hot lava throbbing in my dick.
She bit her lip, and then pushed her chair in, closing the last tiny distance between her and the glass. “How does it feel knowing everything you wanted to accomplish is in your brothers' hands now? You're serving a life sentence, Anton. The bombing was too infamous. If there's ever any parole opportunities, you'll be an old man.”
Fuck. I'd underestimated her. She really knew how to sling arrows at a man's heart, and not all of them hit with a heart shaped kiss from cupid.
“How the hell do you think it feels?” I growled, letting more anger than I intended slip out. “I...you know what? Fuck this!”
Time to run with that anger. I jerked up, watching as she threw herself back fearfully, and then jumped when my chains slapped the glass. One day soon I'd break that shit and waltz outta here. Just not today.
“Question time's over! You got what you wanted. Get the fuck outta here!” I kept my angry eyes blazing on her as she stood and gathered her things.
I heard the door behind me burst open. Charlie and some other guys were coming in to get me the hell away from traumatizing the poor girl.
“Come on, big guy. Visiting hours are over when you start acting like an ape,” the old warden said.