Evgeni's Obsession: A New Reign Book 1 Read online

  Evgeni’s Obsession

  A New Reign—Book One

  By

  Merel Pierce

  © 2020 Merel Pierce

  and Reticent Desire Publications

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Pierce, Merel

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent of the author. This includes electronic or mechanical transmission, photocopying, recording, information retrieval systems or storage.

  This book is a work of fiction and is intended for adults only. Some scenes may contain explicit material that could make some readers uncomfortable.

  Any names, businesses, places, or events used in this work are fictional. Any similarities to living or dead people, incidents, companies, products, or organizations are purely coincidental.

  To the Russian who started my obsession, and all the other sexy, real-life men we’ve known who inspire our fantasies.

  *

  His name is pronounced YehV-GYEH-Niy

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Prologue

  “You’re a good employee, Elena. This isn’t your fault. I just can’t afford to keep everyone on with how slow business has been the last few months.”

  Elena stared across the desk at her boss, too shocked to speak. She hadn’t expected to come in this afternoon and have him call her straight into his office, let alone have him tell her she was getting laid off. She had never been let go from a job in her entire life.

  “I’m really sorry,” he continued. “I wish I could find a way around it, but I have to give priority to Sandy and Dara, since they’ve been here longest.”

  “Uh… Yeah, of course.” Elena tried to rally, but her heart just wasn’t in making Hank feel better about firing her. “Um. So, when is my last day?”

  Hank looked sheepish as he lifted a hand and scratched at the back of his neck. “Well, I’ll pay you through Friday, but why don’t you go ahead and go at lunch? I just didn’t want to do this over the phone.”

  “Oh.”

  When Hank got up, Elena followed suit. The older man came around the desk, motioning toward the office door. “This way, you can start looking for a job while you are still getting a bit of money.”

  Elena gave him a half-hearted smile. “Right. Thanks.”

  Hank clapped her on the back, smiling kindly. “You’ll land on your feet. You’re a good girl. You can pick up your check Friday night. If you need a reference, you have ‘em call me, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  Once she was over the threshold, Hank closed the door. Elena blew out a sigh, staring across the bar in a daze. She felt helpless, confused. She’d never dealt with sudden changes very well, and though Hank had told her this wasn’t her fault, it was hard not to feel a little hurt.

  “Hey, sugar, you okay?”

  Dara, the thirties-something bartender, startled Elena out of her brooding. The look on the woman’s weathered face told her Hank had already discussed letting her go with the other employees.

  “Just in shock, I guess,” Elena muttered.

  “I’m real sorry,” Dara said. “Times are tough.”

  Elena tried not to roll her eyes. Yeah, times were tough all right, just not for Dara—she got to keep her job. “He said I should stay through lunch.”

  “Don’t worry about it, hon. It’s been slow today, and no one wants to work after getting that kind of news. Why don’t you go ahead and take off?”

  Elena had to admit trying to work for the next couple hours sounded awful. She knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate.

  “Yeah, okay. I think I will. See you, Dara. Nice working with you.”

  Elena gathered her things from her locker and said her obligatory goodbyes to the other girls.

  It was a sunny day, but its brightness was lost on her as she trudged down the street to the bus stop. To make matters worse, there were almost a dozen people waiting for the next bus. Everyone was enjoying the weather, listening to too-loud music on their phones or chatting with other riders.

  Normally a cheerful, social person, today Elena chose to stand a little further down the sidewalk, far enough away that no one would try to talk to her. She was still trying to process what happened and she was barely keeping it together. She really, really wanted to cry.

  When the bus finally came, she slipped in the handicapped entrance and took up residence in one of the pair of single seats flanking the double doors. She dutifully ignored the other passengers and stared out the window.

  On the twenty-minute ride home, she tried to find a silver lining in the situation. The bar hadn’t paid much and the hours were crappy. She’d been filling in for Dara and the other bartender more than doing her own job lately.

  She’d been hired as a waitress, not a substitute bartender. Friendly and detail-oriented, waitressing was a cakewalk for Elena even when it was busy. She liked the hustle and bustle of it. Tending bar was harder.

  She wondered if her lack of ability to move seamlessly from one position to another was why Hank laid her off. It seemed like Dara was always absent, but Hank sure wasn’t in a hurry to fire her. Elena thought she had an inkling as to why, but she’d never say that out loud. Hank was married, after all.

  At least now she wouldn’t be doing two peoples’ work.

  She could try to get another waitressing position at one of the restaurants down the street from her apartment, or maybe even look downtown. Her boyfriend, Jack, was always harping on her to let him get her a job at his communications company, but Elena didn’t want to do that. Not only did she think sitting behind a desk answering phones all day would be boring, but she didn’t want to owe anyone anything, either. Jack was already paying all the bills—he’d insisted on it so that she could save for a car and stop riding the bus—and that was all the “charity” she could stand.

  She couldn’t rule the possibility out yet, though; not until she’d exhausted all her other options.

  By the time she got off the bus, she had a plan. Starting tomorrow, she’d canvas the neighborhood and apply at all her favorite restaurants. If she couldn’t find anything in her neighborhood, she’d head downtown to the arts district where all the fancy new bakeries and restaurants were popping up. Hopefully she’d have a job by the end of next week.

  She started to feel a little better as she walked the three blocks from the bus stop to their building, even going so far as to force encouragement on herself as she ascended the two flights of stairs. Everything is going to be fine. It’ll work out just like it’s supposed to.

  Elena paused with her key almost to the lock of the apartment door when she realized there was music coming from inside. She frowned. No one was supposed to be home. Jack worked a 9-to-5 downtown, and she’d been the last one out of the apartment that morning. She was sure she hadn’t left the radio on.

  More cautious than before, she slipped the key in the lock and eased the door open.

  The living room was empty, and a glance to the left told her the kitchen was too. The music was coming from the bedroom.

  Elena swallowed hard, her stomach twisting with dread. The likelihood that a robber was
jamming out while he ransacked the place was pretty slim, especially considering all the electronics were still where she’d left them. Sometimes Jack let friends from out-of-town stay over when they were passing through, but he always told her beforehand. Unless her landlord was riffling through her panty drawer, that didn’t leave many other reasons for someone being here in the middle of the day.

  Only one that she could think of.

  She crept down the hall, tiptoeing even though the music was so loud no one could have heard her coming, and stepped into the bedroom doorway.

  Jack was fucking a stranger in their bed.

  He was on his knees with his back to Elena, plowing into a redhead sprawled beneath him with her knees hooked over his shoulders. Beside them, another naked man was watching him and palming the woman’s breast.

  Elena froze, staring in morbid fascination. A year together, and she’d never seen any red flags. Jack had never lied, that she could tell, and had never behaved as if he were unhappy. For all intents and purposes, he had seemed like a great boyfriend. They had an active social life. They always had fun together. Hell, even their sex life was pretty decent.

  This didn’t make any sense.

  A single tear rolled down her cheek, her chin quivering as a torrent of emotions crashed over her. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d tried so hard to be a good girlfriend. This wasn’t right.

  Elena backed out of the room and moved down the hall, wiping away the treacherous tear as she made her way to the kitchen.

  She opened a cabinet and pulled a trash bag from its box before making her way back down the hallway to the bathroom. She fought the tears down and made quick work of scooping her medications, hygiene products, and makeup into the bag. Only then did she reenter the bedroom, steeling herself against the filth happening in the bed as she approached the closet.

  She almost made it to the closet door before they noticed her. The girl squealed. Jack cursed. As Elena began pulling clothes off hangers and stuffing them into the bag, the music stopped.

  “Jesus, Elena… What are you doing home?”

  “Really, Jack? What am I doing home?” she choked out. “That’s what you’ve got to say?”

  She stepped to the left and pulled open the dresser, hastily unloading the contents of the two top drawers into her bag.

  Jack sighed. “Can you just… stop for a second?”

  “Just let her go, Jack!” the redhead whined. “You said you were tired of her anyway.”

  “She could join?” the man suggested. “Come on, why don’t you just join us, hon?”

  The sting of the woman’s words made more tears leak down Elena’s cheeks, and she bit her lip to smother a sob as her stomach rolled. She caught sight of Jack shimmying into his jeans as she turned to leave, zipping up on the move as he tried to intercept her. Elena rushed to the door, swinging around the corner and out into the hall before he could catch up.

  “Elena! Please, please, just wait! Let me explain.”

  She shook her head, hands balling into fists as she marched into the living room. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “Elena!”

  When he tried to snatch hold of her arm, Elena gave a wounded cry, turning to shove him away. Jack stumbled back so hard his elbow put a hole in the drywall. His expression morphed into one of shock, then hurt. He’d never expected her to put her hands on him.

  Neither had she.

  Elena tried to stand tall, but she was shaking so badly she knew it wasn’t believable. “You fucked another girl in our home, Jack. Brought another couple into our home like some… some kind of disgusting wannabe swinger. You never even told me you were into that crap! There’s nothing for us to talk about. I’m obviously too boring for you. You got your wish. I’m done.”

  She turned her back on him, picking up her phone charger and laptop off the coffee table before she lost her nerve. Elena had never seen herself as that girl—the one who would flip a cheating man the middle finger without listening to his excuses. But here she was, trying to do just that.

  It would have been so much easier to let him tell her why it was somehow her fault, to promise him she’d change if he’d just let her stay. Leaving—even if it was justified—was so much harder.

  She glanced over her shoulder as she tucked the computer under her arm and headed for the door, tears flowing freely now. “I’ll be back for the rest of my stuff later. Don’t call me.”

  The slamming of the door echoed behind her and she jolted to a stop, a wretched sob breaking loose before she could silence it.

  She had been wrong. There was no silver lining. This was the worst day ever.

  Chapter One

  “I just don’t get it.”

  “There’s nothing to get, Lena. He’s a worthless, disgusting slut.”

  Elena tipped her chin back, looking up at the woman whose lap her head was currently resting in. “It sounds weird to call a man a slut.”

  Kat smiled, scooping a spoonful of ice cream out of the container in her hand and aiming it at Elena’s mouth. “And yet that is exactly what he is.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” She opened for the spoon, closing her lips tight around the mint chocolate chip offering before Kat could pull the utensil back.

  “No ‘I guess,’ ” Kat scolded. “He cheated on you. He’s a slut. He doesn’t deserve you.”

  Elena rolled the ice cream around in her mouth, letting its sweetness drown her sorrow. She cast a sidelong glance at the half-empty Chinese food containers on the table and the open bags of chips and cookies they’d already abandoned. She was going to feel like hell tomorrow.

  She sighed, folding her arms over her stomach as she stared up at the ceiling. Kat returned the spoon to the carton, scraping up a mouthful of ice cream for herself this time.

  Elena had called her right after she’d left the apartment. True friend that she was, Kat had immediately dropped what she was doing to come get her.

  For the past two hours, Elena had been eating, crying, and raging. Now she was lying on her back on the sofa, her legs propped up on the arm and her head in Kat’s lap.

  They’d been friends ever since middle school when Kat’s family had immigrated from Russia. Elena had liked the dark-haired girl with the funny accent right away. She was bold and friendly, and never gave a rat’s ass what anyone thought of her. She was tough too; Elena had always admired that about her.

  From the day they’d met, they’d been thick as thieves, spending practically all their free time together. Kat’s English improved with Elena’s help, and in turn, Elena learned Russian. It was almost like having their own code—no one in their circle spoke Russian.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I knew I shouldn’t have moved in with him,” Elena groaned. “I’ll never find an apartment as affordable as that one was.”

  “Lena, that apartment was shit. You had cold air coming through the outlets in winter.”

  Elena frowned, waving off the next mouthful of ice cream that headed her way. Kat just redirected it to her own mouth.

  “I know, but still.”

  “Don’t be silly. You’ll stay here till you figure it out.”

  The casual way Kat said it—as if it had already been decided—made Elena smile. She didn’t know how she’d gotten so lucky, but she was grateful every day for her little Russian doll. It was a nickname Kat disliked, though she tolerated it because Elena had started calling her that after she’d heard Kat’s papa say it.

  “I don’t deserve you,” Elena declared. “Really, you’re the absolute best.”

  Kat rolled her eyes. “You would do the same for me, so hush. It’s not so big a thing.”

  For a few moments, Elena was quiet. It was hard not to sulk, even with Kat here to lighten her mood. Her whole life had been upended in a single day; every plan changed by circumstances beyond her control.

  Sighing, she scrubbed her face with both hands. “This really sucks. I’m so over it alrea
dy.”

  Kat tapped her on the head with the ice-cream carton, a not-so-subtle suggestion to sit up. “You know, this might be the perfect time to take a trip. Take some time to reset, and all that.”

  Reluctantly Elena sat up, and Kat stood to gather the bags and boxes from their dinner and cart them to the kitchen. She plopped back against the couch cushions, throwing her hands in the air.

  “Where would I even go? Vegas?” she said sarcastically. “Maybe I could get drunk, find some hot dude to marry, have some amazing sex, then get it annulled a week later. Isn’t that what people do on the rebound around here?”

  Henderson, Nevada, was only twenty minutes away from Las Vegas and was the second largest city in the state. People were always going to Vegas when things went wrong in their life out here, then slinking home weeks later with their tails between their legs when they’d made it even worse.

  “Actually…” Kat peeked around the corner from the kitchen, a mischievous look on her pretty face. “My cousin Sven has to go to Brussels for business for a few months, and he’s looking for someone he can trust to house-sit for him.”

  Elena shot her an incredulous look. “Sven? As in… ‘I-live-in-Moscow’ Sven?”

  Kat grinned broadly before disappearing into the kitchen once more. “Yes, that Sven. But, think about it, Lena. You’ve got no job to worry about right now, no rent, no utilities…You have money saved up, and a place to stay when you come back.”

  Elena listened idly as Kat continued to rattle off the list of pros from the other room, not entirely put off by the idea.

  “You wouldn’t have to pay for lodging,” her friend pointed out as she strolled back into the room and sat down on the arm of the sofa at her side. “You already have your passport from when we went to Mexico last year, so you’ll really only need to pay for airfare and food, and whatever else you decide to do while you are there.”

  “But… Moscow? By myself?” Elena had never traveled alone, especially not to a place like Russia. Being friends with Kat had taught her a lot about the country, and it wasn’t anything like most people thought. On the other hand, she’d always loved the architecture in Moscow, and she’d never been anywhere so daring.