Ravaged Throne: A Russian Mafia Romance (Solovev Bratva #2)(30)

“Darling, you can lie to everyone else, but not to me. I can spot a lie a mile away. Do you think I would’ve survived so long if I couldn’t?” She smiles. “You care entirely too much. About me. About Leo. About me and Leo… together.”

I tense, hating that she’s right. But I stubbornly cling to denial. Denial is comforting and easy. It’s the best way to combat the raging fear in my gut.

“You’re wrong,” I say. “I don’t care. In fact, I think the two of you are made for each other.”

She smiles. “You’re right about that. More right than you know. We’ve suffered the same losses and battled our demons together. We’ve comforted each other through the worst times.”

Her words are sharp and painful. I want to run from them, but I’m the one who’s invited them in.

“I love Leo Solovev,” she announces, standing up slowly and approaching me like a protective lioness. “He is and will always be my family. Now and forever.”

She leans down so we are eye to eye again. “You want to know who I am?” she asks, her smile slipping away. “That’s who I am.”

My heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest, but I force myself to speak up again anyway. “Let me go, then. Let me go, and I’ll be out of your way for good.”

She cocks her head to the side and regards me with curiosity. “Do you imagine he’ll forgive me for that?”

“What does it matter?” I ask frustratedly. “He doesn’t want me. He doesn’t love me. You’re the woman for him.”

“But you’re the woman that’ll deliver him the Mikhailov Bratva on a silver platter,” she hisses. “And I’m not fool enough to stand in his way.”

I shake my head. “Is this your whole purpose, then? Running around trying to please the men who pull the strings?”

“There’s only one man I want to please. The rest, I couldn’t give two fucks about.”

So many half answers, so many glimpses at a bigger, darker truth. Who are you? I want to scream at her again and again until she paints the whole picture. But I know better than to ask. She’d never spill it so easily.

She’s a mystery, like she said. An enigma.

“Borek!” she calls.

The door opens and a hefty guard enters the room. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Prepare the jeep,” she says. “We’re leaving in five.”

“Where are we going?” I ask in a panic.

“Where do you think?” she asks impatiently. “Back to the cabin. Did you really think that escaping Leo would be so easy?”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

Her mouth turns up in a cruel smile. “Did you know you jump a little when you punch? You should work on that. But it was still a mean jab. It broke Nikki’s nose.”

I stare at her in shock. “You were watching?”

She nods. “Riveting stuff. Couldn’t look away.”

“Then you could have stopped me. Why let me get this far?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she asks, like I’m stupid. “To help you realize that no matter how far you run, no matter where you go… we will always find you.”

The fear that sparks inside me has nothing at all to do with the threat. It has everything to do with one simple word. A word that acts as the line in the sand, ensuring I’m firmly on the outside looking in.

We.





12





LEO





“What the hell were you doing back there?”

She gives me an innocent smile which, on Brit, is lethal. “What ever are you talking about?”

“You were flirting with me. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

She smiles and drapes herself on the arm of the recliner I’m sitting in, positioning herself so my arm is wrapped around her ass. Which of course is exactly the moment Jax and Gaiman choose to walk in.

Great. Just fucking great.

“Pardon, boss,” Jax says with a wicked smile. “Are we interrupting something?”

“Jaxson Harper,” Brit says, with a smile that matches his, “have you been working out? You’re filling out.”

“I was going to say the same thing about your—”

“Any news about Anya’s movements?” I ask, cutting off any potential sparring match between the two. When they get going, they’re insufferable.

Jax pouts, but Gaiman cuts right to the chase. “She’s searching, but so far no luck. Our guys have succeeded in throwing her off the scent.”

I pull my hand out from around Brit and get out of the armchair. “Good. But I doubt it’ll stay that way for long. She’s closing in.”

“Does that mean we need to get out of here?” Gaiman asks.

“That bitch isn’t going to chase me off,” I say. “I’ll leave when I’m good and ready. And if she gets wind of the fact that we’re here, all the better. She’s got something of mine.”

“I never did say congratulations,” Brit says. This smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “You’ll make a good father. If you get the kid back, that is.”