Cruel Paradise - A Mafia Romance Chapter 162

“Tell me—is mine bigger? Or is his?”

I don’t have to fake this roll of my eyes. “Are we literally in a big dick competition now?”

This has to be the Venera working its magic. I mean, no way would Adrik have admitted that unless he was under the influence?

“You know that Ruslan and I are basically the same person, right?” he presses.

I cock an eyebrow. “Could’ve fooled me.”

“He just happens to be luckier, that’s all. But I assure you, we are the same fucking person.”

“Is that why you feel the need to copy everything he does?”

His eyes flash with anger. Careful, Emma. Toe the line. “I’m not a copycat. I have a fucking vision for my future. For my empire. And you could be a part of it.”

“You claim not to be a copycat and yet you’re trying to take everything that belongs to him. Doesn’t add up.”

“Are you saying that you belong to him?” I tense and he laughs. But it’s not a laugh that’s remotely pleasant. It’s mocking and condescending. The equivalent of dragging broken glass over concrete. “He’s good at convincing people of that, isn’t he? He did the same thing with Jessica, poor thing.”

I thought I was the one pulling the strings here. But it strikes me suddenly that he’s playing the game just as hard. I might have bitten off more than I can chew.

“I’m not Jessica.”

He smirks. “You think you mean more to him than she did? Let me tell you something: the only difference between you and Jessica is the fact that she was smart enough not to get pregnant. You’re just a pretty incubator for his heir. The moment that baby pops out, you’ll go back to being a nobody.”

Don’t take the bait. Don’t take the bait. Don’t take the—

“That’s not true!”

Dammit.

Adrik just laughs. “Of course it’s true. I’ve known the man a lot longer than you have, Emma. You should be a fucking queen. Not the damn broodmare.”

Gritting my teeth, the words fly out of me with indignation. “I am a queen.”

“Really? Where’s the ring then?”

I flinch. “W-what?”

He advances closer. “If he genuinely valued you, if he was really planning on keeping you around after this baby is born, he’d have proposed. He’d have put a ring on your finger and locked you down. Instead…”

Suddenly, I feel like the one who’s been drugged. “I… Y-you’re trying to get in my head…”

He tut-tuts softly. “I’m trying to open your eyes. So open them, Emma! Open them and see that the moment your baby is born, he will abandon you for a woman who can really do things for him. Someone like… well, like Jessica, maybe.”

I cringe back, but I’m running out of room to retreat. The cold brick wall looms at my back, damp and foreboding. “N-no… no, that’s not true—”

“It’s absolutely true. You’ve seen that cow? She’s abhorrent. But everyone puts up with her because she’s loaded. She’s connected. She’s got the ear of one of the most powerful men in the city. She’ll be useful for Ruslan. But you? Your use will be wrung out once your womb is empty.”

I turn away from him. “Stop talking.”

He fixes me with a sympathetic stare that makes me feel pathetic. “Why, my dear? Am I starting to make sense?”

Adrik’s eyes are piercing. They bore into my face, peeling away all that confidence I built up in the past few days leading up to this moment.

“I can offer you more than him, Emma.” The tenor of his voice has changed. It has a strangely smooth quality. When my parents forced Sienna and me to go to Bible camp when we were younger, the counselor there used a voice just like this for the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Take a bite, Emma. Just one little nibble.

“Leave me alone,” I mutter.

“Is that really what you want, Emma?” Adrik croons. “You want me to leave you alone—like he left you alone?”

I know he’s talking about the club. About tonight. But my mind jumps to the months before now. The day Ruslan decided to believe his doubts over me. All those weeks where he clung to the worst version of me and refused to hear my side of the story.

He had left me alone then.

Who’s to say he won’t do the same thing again?

I tunnel through the memories until I get stuck on one: the image of Ruslan lying on a picnic blanket, both Caroline and Reagan sprawled on top of him while Josh laughs.

I take a deep breath. I refocus.

“You’re trying to turn me against him,” I snarl, making eye contact with Adrik. “He’s not the one who’s trying to use me. You are.”

He scoffs. “I’m—”

“You may not hate him but you are envious of him, of everything he’s built and everything he’s accomplished. This whole feud between the two of you started when you decided to give in to your inferiority complex.”

His jaw clenches. “I am inferior to no man! Least of all that motherfucker.”

“Why else would you try so hard to outdo Ruslan? Why else would you try so hard to mimic him? Hell, the moment he was done with Jessica Allens, you swooped in and scooped her up. If that isn’t the move of a desperate man, I don’t know what is.”

“Desperate?” He gawks at me. “You think I’m fucking desperate?” He takes a step in my direction and I back right into the rough brick wall that flanks the club. “I’m not fucking desperate. I’m the one with the goddamn upper hand!”

His eyes have this vaguely unnatural sheen over them. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume he was high. Although perhaps using Venera isn’t that far off. It’s been long enough now, right? He definitely seems less in control.

It’s ironic to think that I’ve been waiting for this moment since we arrived. But now that it’s here, it doesn’t feel powerful like I imagined. So many things could go wrong. So much hangs in the balance.

Keep your eyes on the ball.

Adrik inches closer. Another step forward and his chest will be pressed against mine. Too close. Way too damn close.

Alarm bells are blaring inside my head and panic is starting to rise up my throat like bile. My focus is crumbling under the surge of fear. But he hasn’t given me anything significant yet and I need to make sure I get something out of him first.

“‘The upper hand’? How do you figure that? Ruslan is the one with the empire, not you.”

He growls. “Ruslan assumes he thinks of everything. But he wasn’t even able to protect his precious Venera samples on the day of the launch.”

“So you did tamper with them?”

He laughs. “It was so fucking easy. Honestly, I didn’t even break a sweat. The great Ruslan Oryolov. He didn’t realize that it was over before it had even begun.”

“You killed innocent people.”