Page 1 of Bratva, Baby
Prologue
Andrei
Isee her. She doesn’t see me, but I see her.
She’s standing just inside her new cubicle and she’s utterly ravishing in her midnight blue blouse that clings to her figure with her black pencil skirt. Today is her first day here at LevCorp, the tech company I own. Everything inside this building belongs to me, including her, whether she realizes it or not.
Now all I need to do is show her she is mine, but I’m not ready for her to see me for who I truly am just yet, so I head to my office and call my second-in-command, Alek, and we begin to plot. If things are going to work, I need to set things in motion quickly.
Working remotely gives me the benefit of none of the average employees knowing my face; this aids my plan to get close to Ava, since I plan on becoming Andy, the unassuming coworker who just started on her floor. She cannot know myreal identity, Andrei Sokolov, CEO of LevCorp and Pakhan of Bratva. Not until I’m ready for her to know.
I need to know everything about her, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get the information.
I first saw her when I was rewatching interview recordings. She stumbled into the office 10 minutes late, sweaty and disheveled, yet even then, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was beautiful despite the bad day her late bus had caused. Her black hair was styled into a wild bob, and she wore black pants with a black blazer over a teal blouse. I knew then that she was mine. That I would do anything to make it so. Human Resources nearly passed her over, but the final say doesn’t rest with them.
Anger simmers under my skin at the thought that I nearly missed such beauty. Who would she have ended up with? Some nobody neighbor who could never make her heart race? No. That’s why I must become Andy Pabliski, just another coworker. I need to know more about her, and I can’t learn it all from a private investigator. Besides, this way I can prevent any of the tools on the floor from trying to take what’s mine.
I don’t fucking share, and I will kill any motherfucker who thinks they can take her from me.
Chapter 1
Ava
Today is my first day at my new job, and I am eager to make a good impression, especially after nearly ruining my interview by being 10 minutes late due to the city bus running behind schedule. Regardless, I am here now, and I need to make the best impression because it’s this job or homelessness, and I can’t sleep in my car.Yes, I have a car and took the bus, because have you seen New York City traffic?
As I stand by my desk thinking of where to start the day, I feel eyes on me, but when I turn around, no one is paying special attention to me. Maybe I am just anxious on my first day at a new job, and I am imagining things.
As I settle into my desk and log into my work account, I notice an email from the HR department letting us all know that the CEO will be out of the office for the foreseeable future. Great. That eases some of my anxiety since I won’t have to makethatimpression just yet, but that also means I will have to prolong meeting the CEO for another time.
“Hey.”
Looking up from my work emails, I see a man, if he can be called anything less than a God, standing in front of my desk, waiting expectantly. Of course, I realize I have been staring instead of responding to his greeting.Great way to make a fool of yourself on the first day, Ava.
“Hey, there,” I finally reply.
Dark eyes meet mine.“Hello, my name is Andy, it’s nice to meet you. I am new on the floor as well,” Andy says.
Shock causes my brain-to-mouth filter to malfunction, and I ramble. “Nice to meet you, Andy. I am Ava. I guess it is pretty obvious that I am new, huh? No one else in the office has such an empty desk.”
Don’t imagine him shirtless. I repeat, don’t…imagine him…shirtless. Get your shit together, Ava. It isn’t like you’ve never seen a God before. Granted, they were in magazines or on television, but still.
Said God isn’t just any God, though and he knows it with that shit eating grin.God/Andy stands roughly six feet five with black hair and brown eyes. Even better, he has facial hairswoon.This man, if he weren’t a coworker, woulddefinitelybe my type.
Dammit. I need to focus on work, and not on the man in front of me. I’m so caught up in my internal monologue that it takes me a moment to realize he’s speaking again.
“With you being new here, I can show you around the office and introduce you to a few people, if you’d like?” He offers.
“No, thank you. I really appreciate it, but I am more of a ’stick-to-myself’ kind of woman. Besides, aren’t you new too?” If he is disappointed that I politely turned his offer down, he doesn’t show it.
“You caught me. I just wanted an excuse to spend some time with you, but I’ll find a way,” he says with a wink before walking off, seemingly unbothered by my cool indifference.
As I finish up my tasks for the day, a shadow falls over my desk. Looking up, I’m met with startling blue eyes set in a beautiful face framed by blonde hair.
“May I help you?” I ask politely.
“I’m Meredith. I saw you talking to Andy earlier. You both may be new to the office, but I call dibs. Stay away.” She says cattily.
Wow. Okay. I didn’t know we were back in high school again.
