Sold to the Hitman(9)

Before I realize what I’m doing, I muscle my way to the front of the stage and shout out an offer.

“Three-hundred thousand!”

I’ve only felt that many eyes turn to me a couple of other times in my life, and never with such hostility. Even Oskar seemed stunned for a moment, stammering before echoing my offer.

“Th-three hundred from the man in black! Finally, we’re getting some real offers on the go!”

“Three-fifty,” came a bark from a new voice, and I looked over to see Sergei’s wealthy young Chechnyan standing up for the bid. Sergei was giving me a warning look, but I wasn’t in the mood to be jerked around by him tonight. I looked up at the stage and glared Oskar in the eye.

“Six hundred.” A few moments of silence pass, and I can feel stunned eyes on me all around the room, including one from the young lady I’d just bid several men’s lives’ worth of work on.

Every time the Chechnyan bid, I upped the ante. I couldn’t believe it, not with how my boss kept staring daggers at me. I was cutting off my source of income while at the same time laying down months of hard, dangerous work.

And then, a half-dozen bids later, they’re defeated.

“We have a winner at one point six million! And yes, this is in American!” Oskar nearly splutters when it was clear nobody dared outbid me. “This young lady is all yours, my good man! Meet the boys out front to settle the details, aaaaand we’re off to a rolling start! Now then, we still have nine lovely ladies who…”

I turn and push my way towards the stairs as Oskar starts to drone on with the rest of the auction, my heart still pounding furiously.

Did I really just drop over one-and-a-half-million dollars on that woman?

As I push my way towards the back, I hear one of the men who had been jeering at the girl spit, and I hear him mutter to another loudly, “Didn’t think they let the help place bids at these things.”

“Hope he gets his fucking money out of it — for that much, I’d make a cum-slut out of that bitch all over New York State.”

Without a second thought, my body whirls around like lightning, my fist flying out and cracking the second man on the jaw. A moment later, he hits the ground, out cold.

Before the people around me can react, the man’s friend lurches at me, but I catch him with a quick punch to the gut, doubling him over, and with a quick crack to the back of the head with my elbow, I send him to the ground with his friend.

Up on the stage, Oskar is trying desperately to keep the audience’s attention, but many of the men are staring at me now. A few of them might have been thinking about jumping into the brawl, but my quick end to the hecklers seems to make them think twice. I cast them all a steely gaze before hearing a groan from one of the men I’d just dropped.

Kneeling down, I take him by the collar with one hand.

“Speak so crudely about a woman again in my presence, and it’ll be the last words out of the few teeth you have left,” I warn him.

Standing up, I glance at the men staring at the scene. “What are the lot of you looking at? Don’t you have a meat market to enjoy?”

Without looking back, I make my way up the stairs, and the other patrons give me a wide berth. I don’t look back, even though I can feel many eyes on me — Sergei’s, his wealthy friend’s, the bidders’, and even the young woman’s.

Nobody pays me much mind as I cross through the cafe and out onto the streets. None of them heard anything, I imagine. But as I start to head down the street, my head still buzzing over everything that’s happened.

I’d disobeyed orders, embarrassed Sergei Slokavich in front of more than a few wealthy friends, and abandoned my post.

More importantly, I’d just sealed my marriage to a young woman I didn’t even know. A woman whose first impression of me was beating two men to the ground without breaking a sweat.

I just bought a marriage. What in the hell was I thinking? I swear under my breath, running a hand through my hair as I walk. I had wanted to spare her, but instead, I bound her to a contract assassin for life. The money was no issue — it was a little more than a dozen jobs’ worth, sure, but I had more where that came from. Besides, jobs outside the Bratva tend to pay better, and I might not be their most favorite person right now.

But marriage? I’ve never even come close to considering such a thing. Both in Russia and in the States, I’ve had plenty of fun with women, but married life doesn’t pair with my line of work.

Yet when the thought comes to mind, I can’t help but remember the sight of her up there, far too cold and alone for a ray of sunshine as beautiful and innocent-looking as her. I run a hand over my face, though, as I remember that she saw me strike down those two drunks — a harmless lamb’s first impression of the Shadow who now owns her.