Page 6 of The Bratva's Plus-Size Bride

Nothing. Her expression briefly resembles that of someone failing a test before she catches herself and meets my gaze. “Whatever it is, I can handle it. Trust me. The manufacturing company I worked for was always on the lookout for better contracts. I’ve participated in deals before. Now, I haven’t led them, but I understand how it’s done and I’m more than capable of being ruthless, Mr. Milov.”

Fucking Luka. This girl doesn’t know anything about the real work we do. The family business. She has no clue she’s just been hired to work for the area’s biggest crime family and that this casino is part of a money laundering operation. Sure, it’s a legitimate business too, and she seems capable of managing that side, but for Luka to throw her in without her having the slightest idea of what’s happening behind the scenes? I’m going to skin him for it.

Now it’s me who needs a minute to compose myself. She’s patient, back to scanning the office for a hint of personality, maybe, some insight into the man she’s sitting across from, but she won’t find it here. This is Luka’s and I’m just borrowing it. For now. One day, I’ll be running a string of casinos around the world, and I’m going to do it with this woman by my side, whether it’s as my secretary, my right-hand man, or my wife.

I just wish she knew what she had gotten herself into. I wish she had approached this with her eyes wide open. There’s being innocent, and then there’s being vulnerable. If she doesn’trecognize the danger she’s in, protecting her from it is entirely on me.

“I don’t doubt it,” I grumble finally. She’s not responsible for the irritation in my voice, but she responds to it, sitting up a little straighter. “I need to make a call. Find us some coffee and be back here in twenty.”

If she’s wounded by my abrupt dismissal, she doesn't show it, giving me a terse nod before standing up and giving me the show I’ve been waiting for since she walked in. I get to watch her walk all the way back to the door, her high heels making that ass wiggle. My cock stiffens as I imagine pushing her up against that door and taking her right there, muffling her moans with my hand so the rest of the office doesn’t hear what it sounds like when she’s coming for me.

Instead, I watch her leave, and when the door closes, I pick up my phone and dial Luka. He answers on the third ring.

“Well, what do you think?” His tone lets me know that I was right; he had way too much picking out Ella for my assistant. “Pretty perfect, right? You can thank me now.”

But I’m not in the mood for his jokes. “Did you seriously hire someone who doesn’t have the faintest fucking clue who the Milov family is? Because it’s either that or she’s got the best poker face I’ve ever seen.”

Luka’s voice snaps to serious. “No, she doesn’t know, and before you bite my head off, think for a minute. The casino is above board, and your future businesses will be too, right? You’re planning on running them legit. She knows legit business, Anton. She’s a clean slate for you.”

I scowl down at her neat folder of work. “She’s a target. She doesn’t even know she needs to be worried about this shit. She’s so damn innocent.”

“Calm down, Man. She’s not just perfect for the job because of her credentials. She’s got no close family, no boyfriend, no best friends. She moved here for her last job, so she’s basically an unknown and like I said, all her work has been legal.”

“And what if she finds out about what we actually do?” More like when she finds out. The casino might be a legal business, but if she spends enough time around me, and I’m hoping she will, it’ll get pretty difficult to hide the underbelly of the Milov family.

“Like I said,” Luka says patiently. “She doesn’t have anyone to run to. Who is she going to tell? I doubt she’ll get involved with the police and complicate her life, and she doesn’t have close family or friends to blab to. She’s a good fit, Man. You just need to stop looking for excuses and get to work.”

That’s a slap in the face, and he knows it. I’m more than happy to do the work; I just don't want to put Ella at risk by hiring her. It sounds like it's a done deal, though, and if everything Luka says is true, maybe this isn’t as bad an idea as it originally seemed. Plus, it keeps Ella close, which is what I want anyway, and it ensures I can be certain she’s making enough money to afford a decent life for herself.

“Fine,” I say, relenting. “But if it gets too messy for her, I get to decide it's time to cut her loose.” And I’ll make sure she continues to receive money, somehow, but Luka doesn’t need to know that. It’s all about the bottom line for him.

“Sure,” Luka says, and it sounds like he’s eager to wrap up this call. So am I. Ella should be back at any minute with the coffee, and all of my attention will be on her. “Anything else?”

“I’m good,” I say my goodbyes and push my fingers through my hair, letting out a long exhale.

There’s a knock on the door, and Ella lets herself in, balancing two cups of coffee and opening the door with one hand. She’s twisted her hair into a bun and secured it with a pen, sexy secretary style. It’s all I can do to keep my hands off of her as I get up to help, taking the coffees from her hands and setting them down on my desk.

“Done with whatever secret conversation you had to have about me?” she teases, taking the seat across from me again.

Yup, she’s clever. Knew immediately why I was sending her on a coffee errand. Hiding the true Milov family business from her is going to be difficult, if not impossible, but I wouldn’t change anything about her, even to make my life easier. Ella Matthews is my new assistant, but I hope it won’t be long before she’s a whole lot more than that.

Chapter 4 - Ella

I can’t even think until I’m in my own office right next to his. Of all the men in this city, I had a one-night stand with my boss? When I walked into the office and saw him, I wanted to turn around and run away, but I forced myself to act like a professional. I thought he’d be upset that I didn’t want to discuss last night, but he seemed almost amused by my attempts to avoid it. The best way forward, maybe the only way forward, is to just pretend that never happened and that today is actually the very first time I’m meeting him. Otherwise, I don’t think I can handle working with my boss every day knowing that he’s seen me naked.

Oh my god. My boss has seen me naked! I put my head in my hands and force in a few slow, deep breaths until the threat of hyperventilation passes, but the deep embarrassment remains. I wonder if he was calling someone to see if he could legally fire me already, and that’s why he had me leave the room. Either way, I know he was talking about me.

“Okay,” I mutter to myself, lifting my head up out of my hands. “I’m not fired yet. Get it together, and we might just keep it that way.”

I don’t like the sound of a trial period at all. I need this job. I took a big risk by quitting my last job and moving out here for this one. It meant leaving behind a decent, rent-controlled apartment for whatever I could find here, and honestly, my living situation is far from ideal, but I’m making it work. If I lose my job, I’m completely screwed. I don’t have enough savings to last more than a few weeks. That means I need to do whatever it takes to keep this job.

It’s not like I have family to fall back on. My parents died in a car accident when I was just fifteen. The only aunt I had took me in until I was able to get into college at seventeen, but the moment I left her house, she basically washed her hands of me, running off to live with her latest boyfriend in Spain. Sometimes, I wish I had been more social in college and made the kind of lasting friendships that everyone else seemed to be making. Instead, I focused on school and barely spoke to anyone unless it was about assignments.

And all of that just to be left struggling to pay my bills. I might be moving up in the world with this job, but when I add up the rest of my life, the total is just pathetic. Somehow, Mr. Milov didn’t pick up on that last night, but it will become obvious if he gets even the briefest glimpse into my personal life, and the last thing I want is his pity. So, walls up. I want to climb the man like a tree, but this job is important to me. It has to be.

I open my laptop and start working on the task he assigned me, focusing until all my worries fade into the background. This is what I’m good at. The casino mostly runs itself at this point, so I dive deep into the ins and outs to familiarize myself with the day-to-day operations. Getting a new business started is one thing, and I know Mr. Milov intends to open multiple operations, but keeping them running is what truly matters, so that’s what I’m focusing on for now.

The morning passes by in a blur. My door is wide open so I can intercept anyone trying to talk to Mr. Milov without an appointment, but that means when Mr. Milov appears in the doorway, I don’t have a second to compose myself. He looks so good in a suit. Like it was made for him. The slightly tousled blond hair capping it off is like the icing on a cake, the only indication that he’s not as buttoned up as his suit makes him seem. But I already know that because I’ve seen what it lookslike when he really lets loose. When he’s completely naked and—focus, please.

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