Page 3 of Cruel Russian Monster
Pretending Vera and I didn’t have a past.
Pretending I didn't hate her.
Pretending I didn't want to put a bullet between her eyes for the shit she caused.
Because you see, despite everything that was happening between both factions, Lev allowed Vera and Kira to visit Katya at their home, unknown to Artyom. And they brought her letters from Yegor and Zahkar.
Ever since Lev decided to let Katya’s sisters visit her, I'd been keeping an eye on Vera. Timur thought it was just to keep Katya safe, but it was to make sure I knew where Vera was and who she was with.
Fifteen minutes later, I sat in my truck, eyes locked on the souvenir boutique Vera had just walked into. My grip on the steering wheel was tight enough to split the leather. She wore a red wig, a baseball cap, and sunglasses.
Why was it that every time I saw her, she looked more beautiful than the last?
I clenched my jaw.
She shouldn't still have this effect on me. Not after what she did. Not after the way she ripped through me like I was nothing.
I tracked her through the wide boutique windows as a sales clerk approached her. They exchanged a few words, and the clerk led her toward a showcase.
Then she laughed.
I couldn’t hear it from here, but I didn’t need to. I knew that laugh. The same one she used when she was in my arms, tangled in the sheets under me, whispering promises she never meant to keep.
My fingers curled tighter around the wheel.
After our parents' deaths, Lev stopped believing in love. He said it was a weakness, but Katya had gotten under his skin from the very first day they met. Just as Vera had gotten under mine.
It was three years ago in Delaware. I was out for a drink. I needed to get out of Philadelphia to recharge. It was theanniversary of my parents’ deaths, and I just needed to clear my head.
She was sitting alone at the bar, legs crossed, lips red, blonde curls brushing her shoulders. The black dress clung to her like a second skin.
My eyes ravished her, and my cock responded instantly. But I didn’t move. I preferred watching as her lips wrapped around the straw. How the drink slowly glided down her throat.
Then some prick decided to put his hands on her.
He came over and started talking to her. From the way her body tensed, I knew she was uncomfortable. She got up to leave, and he grabbed her arm. My glass barely hit the table before I was on him. I snapped his wrist clean and walked her out without a word.
She was shaking as she thanked me. I asked her to let me walk her to her car, and she did. She got in and drove off. I followed to make sure she was safe. Once she was inside her hotel, I made my way home.
I found myself at that bar every weekend after that.
It took three weeks before she showed up again. When she spotted me, she came straight over and asked if she could sit. I nodded, and that was it.
Vera was charm-laced with poison. She laughed easily and smiled sweetly. But it was all a fucking trap. One I didn’t see coming until it was too late, because she already had me under her spell.
By our third meeting, I kissed her by her car and claimed her as mine. She readily accepted the title.
We kept our relationship quiet. Being in a powerful Bratva faction meant having enemies. I couldn’t afford for any of them to know she existed, least of all what she meant to me.
I fell for her. Hard. And the six months we spent together, she destroyed me in the best way, just as I did to her.
Then one day, she sent me a goddamn text that she was breaking up with me. That she was just using me to make her ex jealous. Now that they were back together, she didn't need me anymore.
We had never even exchanged last names while dating, but then? Then I had to know who she was, so I dug. And what I found out made my blood boil.
She was a fucking Rykov. I was sleeping with the enemy.
Coincidence? I thought not!
