Beastly Passions (25 page)

She wasn’t completely sure who was more shocked between everyone. Her, Taras, Karan or the many onlookers hovering about. His pained roar rang out and it fueled something in her that she would never have a name for. Whatever its origin, it was dark; it was dark and ugly and it fed off of that startled scream.

Shaking, and recognizing that she’d just turned a corner, Asha took hold of that letter opener and twisted, staring up into Karan's ever reddening face.

“Asha,” Taras tried from the other side of the desk.

It was her who held up the finger this time in a request that he quiet and leave her to what she was doing. “I’m sorry. It seems that you’re confused, brother. I believe that you’ve miscalculated in terms of who to challenge and who to drop to your knees before.” A quick tug and the blade separated from muscle and skin. He cried out again and a smile danced around her mouth. She then switched hands and speared him in the opposite thigh. Karan went down with a silent scream this time and she stood above him examining the blade in the light.

“The trouble with underestimation is that you extend yourself to categorize others as soft or simple. You’re fast to assume that because they are slower to anger they will never reach a point that makes them irrational and unfathomably furious.” Asha lifted her eyes from the blade, knowing that they were no longer their typical, tranquil gold; but a hardened, livid ginger. “I have been your stepping stool for years now. The carpet of our pride and the cheeky, intolerable girl that was viewed as a game piece to be moved. Yet what none of you seem to understand is that I am not a figure or a doll. I am not without breath or emotion. I fight the inclination to separate head from shoulder every day. I quiet the need to wrap my hand around heart after heart and squeeze until I have crushed the muscle in my grasp. I have mastered biting my tongue and covering my frenzied desire to slit throats when my flesh begs me to.” In illustration, she lifted the blade and tipped Karan’s chin upwards. “Who would have my husband? Me
.
Who would gladly bewitch the beast or pull the tiger’s tail without fear? Me
.
Because he is everything but sad or weak. He is everything but impotent. And guess what?” she asked on a hissing whisper as she angled her sibling’s way and took in the stench of his fear and contempt. “He is not the only one who is capable of raining down insanity or chaos,
bitch.”

Karan’s lips trembled and yet, she heard nothing pass them.

“Apologize,” she commanded softly.

A muscle in his jaw leapt.

Asha pressed the point on the blade beneath his jugular and saw crimson bead there. “I won’t say it again.”

“I-I am sorry,” her brother ground out.

“Say his name.”

“Taras,” he snarled. “I am sorry.”

“For being an impetuous dick.”

He repeated the words verbatim.

She flickered a glance in her silent husband’s direction. “Was that suitable?”

With both concern and pride stamped across his features, he nodded. “It was. I also think it may be courteous to allow him a rag or bandages so he does not ruin the rugs.”

“Yes,” Asha said almost absent-mindedly before looking up at the floundering men in the doorway. “I’m certain one of you has something he can use for his unfortunate injuries, correct?”

One nodded and came forward, but stopped at Taras’ headshake. Her husband then stated, “You may come and collect him from the floor. Any move to do otherwise will be seen as threatening. And if I feel threatened, many will suffer greatly.”

As if to drive that point home several of their own pride filled in the doorway space behind Karan’s entourage. Her brother’s men moved unhurriedly to aid him, careful in action.

Asha watched numbly as she plucked a tissue from Taras’ desk and wiped the letter opener clean. She then replaced it and focused on her spouse. “I’ll leave you with the knowledge that Karan will now be on his best behavior.” She turned her attention to her sibling. “Right, Karan?”

He nodded but said nothing else. She chose that moment to make her exit, carrying the weight of her choices heavily on her shoulders and deciding that perhaps they should remain there. Because she’d never felt stronger.

Taras
watched Asha sweep from the room with each ounce of elegance that she possessed and felt an adoration like he’d never known swell in his gut.
What she’d done to Karan. How she’d forced him to his knees because of his hastily spoken words…

Gods she was amazing! The wielding of her weapon had been decisive and without hesitation. So much so that he’d been stunned into absolute stillness. No matter his own fury driven wants, she’d moved far quicker than he ever could and the results had been stellar. She’d only proven his point. Asha Shankur-Verochka was no shrinking violet. She was no one’s victim or damsel. She was a deceptively mean feline with a sharp tongue and even sharper claws. Taras would continue to ride in on a stallion when he felt it necessary but this, 
this, 
would spread. The story of how she’d imbedded steel into a man’s flesh while taunting him in a completely aloof manner would be told again and again and again.

For every time that Karan gazed upon those scars, he would feel nothing aside from overwhelming embarrassment and that gave Taras overwhelming 
joy
. Of course he intended fully to compound the humiliation and shame at a later date, but that was neither here nor there. Karan was a thoughtless prick, however tonight’s audacious show of idiocy went far beyond typical arrogance. And it was proven in his words.

He looked to the simpering whelp and disgust roiled in his chest.

“Leave us,” Taras commanded.

Karan looked panicked and his men looked worried.

“I am indeed married to the woman who you just saw float from this room and I can tell you that I am much,
much
worse.”

They moved then, but before they could close the door, Taras called out, “Alexei?”

His second filled the doorway. “Yes?”

“Would you come in and close the door, please?”

The other man did as he was asked, leaving them alone with Asha’s brother.

“I am going to ask you this once,” he said lowly. “What was Grigoriy’s plot to fuck me over?”

Karan only glared.

With a sigh, Taras waved his hand. Alexei stalked over to the young man and lifted him from his perch on the couch easily. Taras rounded his desk and came to stand before him. While Alexei held his arms, Taras covered his mouth and then stuck his thumb in one of Karan’s newly acquired wounds.

The whelp screamed behind his palm.

“I won’t repeat myself, boy.”

Karan mumbled something.

Taras withdrew his hand and swiped it down his brother-in-law’s shirt. “What was that?”

“He wanted access to our port in Chennai so that he could bring in illegal goods to turn over for a profit,” Karan forced out from behind clenched teeth. “Specifically a shipment of diamonds they were expecting.”

“This would explain his desire to make us invest into their pride,” Alexei stated. “The boatyard and proper connections would get him whatever he was in need of without raising eyebrows.”

With his father’s extensive network, that was indeed true.

“But what use would he have of diamonds?” Alexei then queried, curiously.

“Currency,” Taras murmured, beginning to put the pieces together as he pulled his digit from Karan’s injury and cleaned it with the hem of the whelp’s shirt. “
The exchange rate of jewels is what?”

“If we are discussing diamonds of a proper, pure quality? At least seventy-eight thousand ruble per carat.”

He quickly calculated that to come up to at least one thousand American dollars per carat or sixty-seven thousand rupee. That could easily turn into billions depending on the size of each stone and how many stones Grigoriy had been given.

Taras explained as much to Alexei.

“And what does this have to do with the Matveevs?”

“They are enemies of mine, are they not?”

“Yes, but the print shops,” Alexei hedged. “Why would he get involved with their print shops?”

“Because they were producing counterfeit bills,” Karan filled in quietly. “The son, the one who hates you for what you did to his face, he offered both your father and mine help to undermine you.”

Taras stared down at him. “Continue.”

“You have to swear that you will pardon Nirav.”

“You think yourself in a position to negotiate with me, boy?”

Karan licked his dry lips. “Yes. Because despite my sister’s disgust with me and all that we stand for, she doesn’t want to bury her father before his time.”

And Taras knew that to be the truth. No matter what he’d done, he was still her father. A bastard of a father, but her father no less.

“I will allow your sister to make her choices on what should be done to Nirav. As for mine, I will not hesitate to strip him of both skin and power. Now speak,” he demanded.

Alexei released Karan.

“You said it yourself, the diamonds alone could be worth billions when exchanged. That is enough to
own
all that you’ve acquired here if placed into the hands of the right individuals. He unnerved my father when he crossed the men he’d partnered with to import the jewels and had them disposed of. Because of his reaction, he knew Grigoriy would not trust him to continue on with their plan. So he told me all that he could before he went missing completely a few days ago.”

It was quite the proposal. One that would have worked had he considered one simple thing—not all parents hated their offspring in the manner Grigoriy hated Taras. Some even went so far as to confide in their children.

“And the point of the counterfeit ruble?” Alexei questioned.

“Because the right buyer would be willing to pay a fraction of the ruble’s worth for each note,” Taras retorted. “This one,”—he motioned to Karan—“is right in his assessment that this is more than enough to buy all that I have right from up under me and hire someone who is insane enough to come after me.”

“He took my father,” Karan told them. “He took him because he still needs the paperwork that would assign the port to him and then he will probably kill him.”

“Which leaves your pride vulnerable,” Taras weighed. “And then he will most likely come after every stake I have in my businesses before attempting to push me off of Verochka land and have me murdered.”

“Which leaves
Asha
vulnerable.” This came from Alexei.

“And places the Shankurs back in a position of servitude for whatever purposes he sees fit while getting me out of the way for Matveev who he will most likely split his proceeds with.” Taras placed his hands together and rested his chin on top of them. “The system is a smart one, but ultimately flawed.”

“How?”

“Because he does not know that I am aware of his thievery. He won’t care about my finding out about his intentions because he will stupidly think that I have neither the proof nor means to stop him in his tracks. However,”—he moved to his desk and picked up the floppy disk Alexei had given him weeks ago—“I do. Everything is here. This will tell us the accounts he has used to create those parent companies. Where his money has been deposited and even lead me to where he intends to hide the diamonds.”

Alexei smiled slowly. “Mischa can help with this.”

“Yes,” Taras answered. “She can. And while she does, I can scour every inch of land to find my dear Papa and his accomplice.”

Fifteen

“I think 
that between you and your husband, you are far better at both skulking away and brooding in shadows.”

She didn’t jump. More so because Asha had 
heard 
Alexei coming. It was impossible not to with the way he lumbered about. She did, however, point out one thing…

“I do not brood.”

“So says you,” he responded, taking a seat beside her on the stairs. “But rigid set of jaw and pensive face tells another story. We have not known each other long, but I’d like to think you can be honest with me about brooding.”

“You’re tormenting me again.”

“Or I am being usual charming, interesting self. It is up for interpretation.”

No, it really wasn’t. Asha wasn’t in the mood to argue this though. She hadn’t moved from this very spot since Taras had stalked from their home earlier with a small group and Karan being escorted off the property behind him. He’d given the rest of those left the simple instruction to ensure her safety or risk injury. His only words to Asha were for her to make sure she cleaned her hands properly. So here she sat still unaware of when her spouse would return.

“The two of you are stubborn,” Alexei suddenly announced. “I find this amazing because before your arrival I thought Taras to be biggest ass I’d ever seen.”

Asha cut her eyes in his direction. “For some reason that comment just gave me the urge to gently nudge you down the stairs face first.”