Page 62 of Cruel Russian Monster
Katya said she'd love to go on a trip with Lev, but with everything happening with the war, it would be impossible. And then she said she didn't know if she'd be able to spend more than a day away from Alexi. She'd be way too worried about him while she and Lev were away.
I was noticing the subtle changes in Zahkar and Yegor as Katya spoke. Yegor might have given Jaroslav that speech, but based on the way they jumped out of their chair to greet her, they were protective of Katya as well. They may not be able toprotect her how they’d want to, but they'd protect her any way they could.
I had no doubt that Katya knew exactly what she'd said to drive home the fact that everyone wanted the war to end. And to top it off, she whipped out her phone and showed us tons of pictures and shared cute stories about Alexi.
Over the next hour and a half, everyone was laughing and chatting with each other, and I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
When my brothers left, they hugged me and Katya before shaking hands with Jaroslav. When it was Katya's time to leave, I hugged her, then Jaroslav walked her out to meet the driver.
Five minutes later, I was still waiting by the door when Jaroslav walked back in.
He wrapped his arms around me, then held my hand and took me back to the lounge. He sat on the sofa and pulled me to straddle him. He gripped my hips, and I held on to his shoulders.
“Vera, why did you defend my decision to your brothers?” His eyes searched mine.
“Would you have preferred me to tell them that you kidnapped me and forced me to marry you?”
“I'm not saying that,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I'm just wondering what would make you want to defend me after everything I’ve done to you.”
“I told my brothers what they needed to hear. With them on our side, and I'm sure Kira will be, too, we'll only have to worry about Lev and Artyom.”
“And that's the only reason?” he asked softly.
No.
“Yes.”
Girl, tell this man how you really feel.
But I couldn't. If we kept things casual, which he agreed to readily, when this lust phase passed, I wouldn't be upset when he went and found someone he really wanted to be with.
Even as he gently pulled me in to kiss me, I knew I could never tell Jaroslav how I felt about him. Losing him the first time wrecked me. Losing him the second time? That would be instant death.
Chapter 17 - Jaroslav
Things were still tense between Lev and me, but that didn’t matter. We had work to do for the faction. The morning had been a rare win, a silver lining in the storm of the past few months.
Despite Artyom’s attempts to isolate us, Lev secured an alliance, another Bratva faction on U.S. soil, willing to hear us out. All they wanted was the truth.
Lev gave it to them. The parts that mattered.
The pakhan listened in silence. When Lev finished, the man said he had a half-sibling too, and he’d burn the world to protect her.Bratva means family,he said. Then he equated Artyom’s behavior to that of a five-year-old throwing a tantrum instead of leading like a pakhan.
He said he’d speak to a few of his allies and set up a few meetings for Lev if he was interested. Lev thanked him, and we left.
By the time we got back to the compound, I got word that someone had tried to break into one of our ammunition warehouses. The man had enough fucking explosives to take down the damn Statue of Liberty.
When I got to the interrogation room, the man's lip was already busted, his left eye swollen. Before I even spoke, I checked his shoulder. Same damn star. The motherfucker was Bratva. He refused to talk, but at least I was able to retrieve a phone from him.
After an hour of interrogation, he still refused to speak. So, I carved the star from his shoulder, cut out his tongue, slit his throat, and let the boys handle what was left.
I’d just walked into my office and tossed the retrieved phone into my safe when my phone buzzed in my pocket.
An unknown number.
“Speak,” I answered.
“Jaroslav, it's Yegor.”
