Page 11 of The Bratva's Auctioned Bride
“Ok, seriously, how can I help?” I ask, trying to recover and ease the tension so my brothers don’t lecture me later. I really need to learn the art of shutting-the-fuck-up sometimes.
“I don’t know. We need to trace her steps,” Jaroslav says, rubbing his hand over his jaw. I sit back, resigned to just listening instead of involving myself.
The conversation drones on. This and that. She’s such a good girl. She wouldn’t have run away. Something bad has happened. We need to rescue her. Blah blah blah. A couple of times, I have to stifle a yawn. That cute little angel kept me awake most of last night. I could do with a few more hours of sleep. Or at least another coffee.
“Diomid, you know the nightlife in this city?” Jaroslav asks, pulling me from my pleasant memories of the fun I had last night.
“I do,” I nod.
Evengil and Zakhar lean forward in their seats, their eyes on me. “You’re pretty connected. Maybe you can start asking around. Show her picture to your contacts,” Zakhar suggests.
“Can do,” I sigh. “It’ll require some footwork, but ye, no problem.”
“I think it’s the Popovs. Those fuckers are up to no good, and this is their way of messing with us,” Jaroslav says. He isn’t sitting, but rather pacing up and down, his agitation clear. At this point, I’ll agree to anything they ask because I want to get out of here. This whole meeting has gone on unnecessarily long.Find the girl. Cool. Got it.There’s really no reason to talk about it for an hour and a half.
Evengil opens a brown folder in front of him and pulls out a glossy photograph. He slides it toward me.
I catch it as it skids over the smooth table surface and almost slips right off the edge onto the floor.
“Take a photo of it using your phone and start spreading her face around amongst your contacts. See what you can find out,” Zakhar is talking to me, but his voice becomes a distant,incoherent drone. I’m staring in utter shock at the photograph of the beautiful girl in my hand.
It’s Angel.
The girl I woke up next to this morning.
The girl I did some very dirty things to last night.
I swallow hard.
“What was your sister’s name again?” I stammer.
“Angelika,” Zakhar replies.
“Right.” Of course. Angelika. Angel. What the fuck. This is bad.I slept with a Shev.And if that’s not bad enough, she’s missing now, and technically,I’mthe last person to see her safe and sound. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Take a photo,” Jaroslav insists. When I look up at him, he’s scowling at me. “Why are you staring at her picture?”
“Uh, just memorizing it. If I have to go out there and help look for her, I should know who I’m looking for,” I snap back, sounding a little too defensive.Rein it in, Diomid.
Pulling my phone out, I take a photo of the photo and slide it back to Zakhar, who returns it to the brown folder.
“Let me take the lead for now. I have enough people on the ground to spread this around quickly.” Standing up, I push my chair away from the table and lean forward, resting my hands on the table. “Is everyone ok with that?” I ask.
The guys nod, glancing at each other to make sure we’re all in agreement.
“Yes, that makes sense. We don’t have any leads anyway, so yes, take the lead,” Jaroslav nods, sounding relieved to have some direction to move in. He looks toward me. “Thanks, man.This means a lot to us. Your help will be invaluable. We really appreciate it,” he says.
My eyes dart to his, expecting sarcasm to be flickering across his face, but there isn’t any. That was a very genuine thanks. It catches me off guard, and for a moment, I’m confused.
But I don’t have time to focus on that. I’ve got other things to deal with now.
“Oh, yeah, sure, man. It’s no problem. I’m going to get out of here. I’ll be in touch,” I smile tightly, then back out of the room.
The Shevs don’t need to know what I know.
They certainly don’t need to know that I fucked their little sister last night. Neither does my family.
I’ll get hold of Arseni and speak to them and Mila, and I’m one hundred percent sure I’m going to find her nursing her hangover at one of their places. Hiding from her overbearing brothers, who want to start a search for her when she just went out dancing. Clearly, they don’t know about the club.
