Page 3 of Cruel Russian King
She finished college a year ago. She and her sister Mariya ran a foundation, the Hearth: a soup kitchen and clothing drive. I had it blown to hell during the war I waged on them.
Sadly, neither of them died.
After the war ended, they rebuilt it. That’s where Ninel spent most of her time. The rest she split between painting, shopping and the clubs.
I’d watched her from the shadows, night after night. The way her slender hips moved with the music. The sound of her laughter cutting through the noise like a drug.
Any man who had touched her in the club? Didn’t walk the face of this earth again.
Unlike me, the Safin men spoiled their sisters rotten. Sure, we shared the same protectiveness, but for very different reasons.
I saw my sisters as assets…property. That’s what women in the Bratva were good for. The Safin brothers, on the other hand, let Mariya and Ninel sit in on meetings, taught them the business, even treated their opinions like they mattered.
I wasn’t built for this new-age bullshit.
Did I send my sisters to college? Yes. It kept them out of trouble and gave them something to do. But if a man came along with the right offer, half the deal would've already been sealed. Their husbands could’ve pulled them out mid-semester and I wouldn’t have batted an eye. That’s just how things were done.
I’m old school. In Bratva, a woman knew her place. She served her husband, stayed quiet, gave him sons, and kept his house. End of story.
My phone pinged with a notification, and when I opened it, an image of Ninel popped up. She was stepping off the subway all the way on the other side of town. Today, she wore a black coat that stopped mid-thigh and a soft pink beret perched on her head. My cock twitched at the sight, and then I frowned.
What the hell was she doing way out there?
Grabbing my keys, I made my way to the garage and slid into one of the Jaguars parked inside. I might not have been at war with the Safin anymore, but that didn’t mean they, or she, didn’t have enemies. And then, being in a peace treaty with them, made my enemies theirs as well. I needed to get to her before anyone else did.
Because if they did my entire plan would go to shit.
As I backed out of the garage, another message came through, letting me know she was supposed to meet up with some guy named Scott, someone she’d met in college.
I sent back a quick reply:Send a classy escort his way, to keep him thoroughly distracted. Make sure he takes the bait and get footage.
Once I got confirmation that it was done, I tossed my phone into the console between the seats and hit the gas.
After months of shadowing her, I was more than ready to advance to the next stage of my plan.
I’d laughed at their jokes at family gatherings, played with Alexi, and even with Vera and Jaroslav’s three month old daughter, Evie. I showed up at their club to hang out with the other siblings, Avit, Marten, and Pyotr, pretending I cared.
I even smiled through Kira’s birthday at the mansion, the youngest of the Rykov siblings, surrounded by all of them.
My siblings had bought into the idea of peace, since their sisters were married to the Safin men. And according to them, they were “good” husbands.
To my siblings who I took care of when our parents were fucking assassinated, when I had turned twenty-five, bygones were fucking bygones. Their loyalties had shifted. But as a leader, and their brother, I couldn’t let it go.
I knew the price I had to fucking pay for the Safin betrayals.
My siblings humiliated me one too many times, made me look weak in front of Bratva and underworld bosses alike. And no one does business with a man who can’t control his own house.
Now that the plan was unfolding without a hitch, it was time to make them suffer, to make them crumble from the inside out. It was time to tie her to me; to show them what it looked like to be married to a real Bratva leader. I was ready to take what was rightfully mine.
But before all hell broke loose, I needed time with her, alone, away from prying eyes.
To gaze over her perfect body, to smell that soft floral perfume that she used, to watch her lips as she spoke.
And if I could get her number?
That meant she trusted me. And once she trusted me, it was time to move in.
Chapter 2 - Ninel
