Page 2 of Forbidden Bratva Virgin

“I’m just saying you’re not that bad. People talk shit all the time, and some others just want to kill you. But….” Damir caught my gaze, and his brows creased slightly before he returned his attention to the pining politician. “Whatexactlyare the people saying?”

“You haven’t seen the papers or heard the news?”

Damir shook his head, and I killed the cold retort on my tongue—a ready reply to Jeffrey’s stupid question. My patience was running thin, and I was reaching the boiling point pretty fast. The needle had crossed 170 degrees and was speedily rising toward 200.

I knew what they were saying. Damir and I both knew. We knew why there was an uproar amongst the people and what the pressure from the media had caused him to do.

But the reason for his betrayal didn’t matter to me. A betrayal was a betrayal.

Jeffrey, on the other hand, looked paler than ashes when his bony fingers combed through his hair. He sighed. “They’re calling me a pedophile—which I am absolutely not. I fell in love….Wewere in love—”

Talk about the saddest shit I’ve ever heard. Tell me a man’s stupid without telling me a man’s stupid.

“She was turning eighteen in two years, and the plan was to keep our heads low until then. But some nosy journalist blew our cover. PR tried to contain it, and for ten years, I’ve been good. Somehow, it’s resurfaced, and the heat surrounding it is a lot worse than before.”

“What did you expect? This is theGeneration Zage, where everything is blown out of proportion on social media. Different narratives, stupid hashtags. Christ, you were fucking a sixteen-year-old.”

Damir didn’t hide the disgust in his tone or the clear depth of darkness in his eyes. His scowl was deeper now than his reaction the first time we heard the scoop, and his tightened grip on the flute told me he wanted to break a tooth maybe as much as I did.

“Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t understand….”

No shit.

Jeffery chuckled dryly and tilted his head from our view to hide the wallowing sadness in his eyes. “Some fanatics are calling me the worst of God’s creation to be in the seat of power.”

“But aren’t you?”

Jeffery’s head perked up, and Damir just about froze and then sighed.

It was the first time I’d outrightly spoken since we arrived at the shitty party—the first words I’d said to Jeffrey since the start of the evening—and I thought I saw a flicker of fear cross his eyes before he masked it with the façade of over-confidence and annoyance.

“Aren’t I what?”

I inclined in my chair with a shrug. “The worst of God’s creation to be in the seat of power?”

A scowl settled on Jeffery’s face, and he looked offended. Anger blazed in his gaze when he leaned forward, and when he hissed in a low growl, the brewing heat in my chest might have as well passed the 212-degree mark for all I cared.

“Says the devil incarnate himself, Miron Yezhov.”

“At least I don’t pretend to be some saint.” I tilted my head and kept eye contact. “And I don’t fuck children, idiot. A real man wouldn’t even have the thought, fucking son-of-a bitch.”

“The hell is that supposed to mean? You, Miron, know better than anyone else that in our line of work, the number of saints we have is closer to the negatives, but I try to maintain clean hands where I can.”

And I officially blew beyond the limit of a steamer.

Intense anger coursed through my veins, and it felt like a raging inferno had come alive, consuming every fiber of my being. My heart pounded in my chest, pumping adrenaline-fueled blood through my arteries like a firehouse, threatening to burst free in seconds, and I drew in short, ragged breaths while the air thickened.

“Damir, the bottle.”

Beside me, my lieutenant sighed. “Miron, don’t.”

“The fucking bottle, Damir,” I seethed through my teeth. “I need a drink.”

Reluctantly, Damir passed the capped bottle of wine, and my fingers curled around the cold neck, waiting for that golden opportunity to pour myself a drink.

Jeffery’s eyes were on my face, with nostrils flared and his teeth gritted like a wild animal. The bastard wasn’t focused, which was good.

“Maintaining clean hands, you said? Was taking an eager jump on Victoria Clarisse’s offer one way to do that last night?”

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