Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(11)

It was not too long later that Lauren exited her bedroom, her gaze going over the three of them until her smile faltered a bit. “Everything okay?”

Alex liked to think of her brother’s new wife as the peacemaker between all of them. She wanted everyone to get along, and if there was a problem, she found a way to fix it. Most of her efforts were put toward mending the relationship between Mishca and Klaus—the twin no one had known existed until about a year ago. It was almost fitting how someone as dark as Mishca appeared to end up with someone like her. While he had dark hair and blue eyes, she was tan, with brown hair with highlights from the sun, and hazel eyes that seemed to miss nothing. In all, Lauren was the nice counterpart to Mishca’s seriousness.

Alex, glad that she was still wearing her sunglasses, looked up and nodded, forcing a smile before turning back to her phone, watching the dial spin as she played a trivia game that she was currently mastering.

Luka, ever the cheerful one, looked ready to commit violence as he shoved a hand through his hair, his body tight with tension as he glared at Alex, at least until he relaxed and smiled over at Amber.

“I think I left a shirt at your place back—”

Alex should have known he was trying to goad her. It wasn’t like this was their first go-round, but even still, she found herself asking, “Why were you at her place?”

She clamped her mouth shut, realizing how that must have sounded, but the damage was done. He was still angry with her, she could see it in his eyes, but he was pleased to get a reaction out of her more…the *.

Amber, who was clueless as to what was happening between them, quickly tried to explain. “It wasn’t—”

Alex, who had yet to turn away from Luka said, “At least I could understand why you’d sleep with her, unlike that—”

She might not have understood what his problem was with the word, ‘whore’, but that didn’t stop her from attempting to use it.

“Poshyol ty’—Fuck off.”

Now she got the reaction she’d wanted.

Her smile was brittle as she faced off with Luka, but she was immune to his anger, had never feared it a day in her life despite how others reacted to him. Canting her head to the side, Alex asked, “Sensitive about your whore, Luka?”

“Who I f*ck doesn’t concern you.”

That much was true but tell that to her stupid heart that actually cared about him. “Likewise.”

She hadn’t meant it, it wasn’t like she was spending time with anyone recently, but her thoughts had immediately drifted to Snow—whose name had finally come to her—when he’d said that, and to the conversation they’d had earlier.

There was confusion on his face for the briefest of moments, and something akin to hurt if he were capable of that kind of emotion, but all too soon, more anger replaced it, which confused her. Why would he care now?

Sensing where this was going, Lauren, ever helpful, jumped in, grabbing Luka’s attention before he could respond. “I thought you were with Mish today?”

He glanced back at her, gaze immediately returning to Alex. There was accusation there that she still didn’t understand. “Long f*cking story. I’ll get the car.”

With him on his feet, heading for the door, Alex wasn’t ready to deal with the questions she knew Lauren would be prone to ask with him gone. Instead, she headed for the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her, wishing that she liked anyone but him.





4

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See You Later

His arms folded across his chest, Luka contemplated whether it was worth the trouble to go off on Alex as he longed to. No one talked to him the way she did, not when there was even a hint of his anger. But she was fearless when she faced off with him, never once backing down, even when others would wither under his gaze.

That was because she knew he would never hurt her, not in that way.

And mostly because she was a major pain in his ass.

He knew she didn’t like Natasha, but it was not because Natasha had done anything to her, but because she was with him. The feelings Alex had for him were complicated. Fuck, their entire relationship was complicated, and not just because he was always two steps from the abyss.

She had the misfortune of being the boss’ daughter. Not only was she practically mafia royalty—it didn’t matter who her father was, they were both very high up—but she had been deemed untouchable long before Luka had ever reached New York.

It had been easy enough for Luka to control himself around her back when they first met. She had only been sixteen at the time, and despite his predilections for breaking the rules, he refused to cross that one. Not after what he had seen back at Bastian’s compound. And with that image stuck in his head, it was easy to ignore her advances. But the longer he was around her since she had chosen to stay in the city instead of returning to France where she had lived for the better part of three years, the more he found that he actually liked her.

She was pretty, of course. Her mother was too, though that bitch was treacherous. But he found Alex to be rather refreshing since she didn’t shy away from him the way others did. The persona that he had adopted once he’d entered the fold of the Bratva was not one meant to make friends, and he’d managed to keep others away from him since they all thought he was crazy.