Page 61 of The Bratva's Bounty

"Nicole, please, have a heart and reason. Your father and I just want what is best for you. We always have. We were taking away the stress of the company from you and setting you up with a good life with a rich man who would have spoiled you with all you could ever think of." If it weren't for the sheer desperation and lack of emotions in her voice, I might be inclined to somewhat believe her.

Too bad I knew better now.

"And I don't want to hurt you. You're my mother." Turning around in my seat, I looked at her with a frown and sad eyes. "This is why I wanted to have you with me in the car. I know I can talk to you." I continued to play the caring daughter despite the fact it made my stomach churn my lunch back up my throat. "Listen, whatever this Igor person is offering you, it's nothing compared to what the Volkovs—"

Out of nowhere, my mother shot up, leaning toward me. In a low voice, she spoke in Vietnamese, "The Volkovs can go eat shit!" Whoa, did not expect the sudden outburst from her. "Everything was going perfectly fine until they took over, and we had to obey their stupid rules. You have any idea how restricted we became? Our profits were cut in half overnight, and we've been on a downward trend ever since your stupid friend merged and gave leadership to her husband."

From the corner of my eye, I could see Lev flash me a look of concern. "Little lion, it's okay," I assured him with a wave of my hand. "Just drive, okay?"

Then, I turned my full attention back to my mother with a fake smile plastered on my face. Switching to Vietnamese, I conversed with my mother. "And Igor is much better? You know he has next to nothing, right? The takedown ruined his whole family. Even if you help him, that won't be enough.He has no funds, no men, no army, nothing. If you go to Russia with him to try and retake what his family lost over there, then I hope you're prepared to have an icy grave because the Volkovs control quite a bit of Russia and outpower Igor by far." Honestly, what the hell were my parents even thinking? It really made no sense to me, business-wise or not.

"The Volkovs are about to fall because of their stupid rules. No one likes them. They are all teaming with Igor," my mother told me in a slightly hushed voice. "It's only a matter of time."

Well, ploy or not, she had my interest piqued. "Oh? Who then? It doesn't matter if they're little people." Time to see what information I could pry from her.

My mother quickly prattled off a list of names, nearly all of whom have been dealt with accordingly rather recently. However, it would seem as if my mother had no idea about the recent shift in leadership and loyalty. "Oh? Wow, I didn't think there were that many." But her ignorance would bode well for me. "So, Igor, he's got a shot then? Like a good shot."

Realization beamed on my mother's face as she fell for my act. "Yes, exactly. Everything will return to how it was before with Lady Qing." Then, her face grew brighter with a hopeful grin. "And you know what? He's taken rather a liking to you and wants you as his wife. Isn't that amazing? You'll have all the power in the world with him as your husband, and our family's alliance with him will be complete."

And there it was, just as my informant told me. "Really? Why me?" Might as well dig for the whole treasure if I was getting dirty already.

"He really loves how you look, and he needs a woman by his side to look better for all the followers. It's actually one of the conditions he gave your father and me that for this working business between us to fully work, you had to be the one to solidify it through marriage." I didn't like how comfortable my mother was getting, as if she'd just won the lottery. "So, come on, stop this nonsense with those useless Volkovs and come back to your father and me. We can be a family again, and everything will be wonderful again."

A part of me hated how genuinely hopeful she seemed. This whole thing was nothing more than a grand delusion, in my opinion. Sadly, it seemed like she'd fallen for it all—fallen to the bottom of the pit with no chance of help. Granted, there was no help for her before, but it was pitiful how she'd deluded herself.

If I had more of a heart to give her, then maybe I could care enough to try and save her, but she was way beyond saving. She was too set in her old ways. I would always come third to her, Liam and my father being first and second. Whatever money I'd throw at her would go straight to one of the two men in her life, and even if I got her help somehow, she'd pull Liam along.

Unfortunately, it was the stupid dance of old customs and culture with my parents, and it was one I refused to partake in. For crying out loud, we were in the twenty-first century and in America. Women had rights, we had autonomy, and we definitely didn't have to bow to some stupid patriarchy.

Tearing my attention away from my mother, I leaned over the center console and hugged Lev's arm. "Hey, are you going to be fair to our children?"

Lev's arm shook gently with his confused chuckle. "What do you mean,zhizn moya? Of course, I'm going to treat them fair? I mean, if one of them needs more discipline or something, then obviously I gotta treat them a little different." His gaze fell down at me briefly before snapping back to the road.

Okay, I probably should have worded that a little differently. "I meant like our girls and boys like you won't favor our boys over our girls, right? Or treat them better and shit." I couldn't help the slight disdain from slipping into my words.

"Of course not," he quickly replied in a firm voice. "I don't give a shit about gender." He scoffed softly and muttered something in Russian before flashing me a playful grin, "Though, if I'm being honest, I might spoil our girls more than our boys." His soft laughter filled the car, along with the sound of my hand hitting his shoulder. "I'm going to treat and raise all of them the same, and according to who they are as a person. All our girls will know how to kick ass like our boys. And all our boys will know how to cook and clean just as well as any girl."

"Girls and boys? Plural?" I questioned him with a playful wariness. "How many kids do you want?"

Lev shrugged hisshoulders with a hum and chuckle. "Like enough to fill a van? So five? Six?"

Staring at his cheeky face for a second, I waited for him to change his mind to a lower number. When it was obvious that wasn't happening, I smacked his arm again while rolling my eyes. "Let's start at one or two, mister, then go from there." I decided for us with a soft chuckle and warm smile.

The thought of having to wrangle more than two kids seemed exhausting to me. If I was being honest, thinking about raising one child was enough to get my hair to fall out. I mean, what if I fucked up at being a mother somehow? What if I was an oddball where my mothering instincts don't kick in? Would I even be a good mother? Why didn't I think about any of this before agreeing to roll the dice with Lev and kids?

A soft pinch to my thigh derailed me from my train of worries. "Hey, look at me." Lev's prompting got my body moving accordingly. "Our children are going to be perfectly fine. We have all the money in the world to provide amazing lives for them, and we're going to be amazing parents." I don't know how he could sound so assured about something so unstable and unpredictable, but I'd take the comfort. "Or, at the very least, we know whatnotto do as parents." He barked out a curt laugh and grinned goofily at me.

I mean, he had a good point there. Even if we might not know the rights when it comes to parenting, at least we know the wrongs to avoid at all costs.

Kissing Lev's arm, I squeezed it in a brief hug before turning back to face my mother. "It's a shame. Lev's an amazing boyfriend, and he would have been an even better son-in-law." Sighing disappointedly, I shook my head at her. "Too bad you'll never know from The Catacombs."

Chapter 28

Lev

"Are you sure? Imean, I said you can pick anywhere," I questioned Nicole's choice of venue with a raised brow.

Bouncing a little in her seat, Nicole hit the 'go' button on the navigation screen. "Hey, small family-owned places are the bomb. I'd pick them over a freaking five-star Michelin restaurant any day," Nicole retorted with an excited grin.

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