Page 59 of Used By the Merciless Bratva
Marielle appeared at my side, a glass of something sparkling in her hand. “There you are! We thought you’d sleep all day. Rough night?” Her eyes twinkled, clearly referring to the tension at brunch, but my mind immediately went to another “rough night.”
“Something like that,” I said, offering a weak smile. My gaze didn’t leave Irene and Sava. “What’s with those two?”
Mariella followed my gaze, a slight frown creasing her brow. “Oh, Irene’s always trying to get a rise out of Sava. She thinks he’s too serious. She’s been trying to ‘loosen him up’ for years. It’s nothing new.”
“Really?” I questioned, my eyes narrowing. “She seems…particularly invested today. And he seems particularly uncomfortable.”
“Sava’s never uncomfortable when it comes to flirting,” Marielle dismissed with a wave of her hand. “Even though he’s also very old-fashioned. And fiercely loyal to Danil. He probably just wants her to back off.”
“Loyal, huh?” I mused, the word echoing my thoughts about him from last night. He was the one who’d given me the pistol. The one who watched over me. If anyone knew the secrets of this house, it was Sava. And if Irene was flirting with him, was it to extract information? Or simply to annoy him? “So, she’s trying to get under his skin?”
“That’s hermodus operandi, yes,” Mariella confirmed, taking a sip of her drink. “She loves to provoke. But honestly, it’s just Irene being Irene. Don’t let her bother you.”
Irene glanced over at us then, her smile unwavering, but her eyes held a sharp, knowing glint. I felt a chill run down my spine. This wasn’t just “Irene being Irene.” This was a chess game, and I was beginning to see the pieces.
I was still watching Irene and Sava, a hundred new questions forming in my mind, when a new stillness fell over the room. It was the kind of silence that only happens when a person of immense power enters a space. I didn’t need to look to know who it was. The shift in the atmosphere was palpable.
Danil.
I turned slowly, my heart thumping a quiet rhythm against my ribs. He was standing at the entrance to the living room, a commanding presence in his black polo shirt. His eyes swept over the crowd, a cold, indifferent gaze that made every person in the room feel like a minor footnote.
But then his eye found mine.
The coldness vanished. The indifference was gone. A warmth, open and shockingly vulnerable, flickered in his dark eyes. It was gone in a moment, replaced by a subtle, possessive intensity, but I had seen it. A silent acknowledgement of what we had been through, of the truce we had found. It was a private message, a quiet reassurance that only he and I could understand. I felt a blush creep up my neck, and I had no idea how to react.
The room, which had been silent, now erupted into a low murmur of whispers. I saw heads turn. I saw glances exchanged. The subtle change in his demeanor had been noticed. Our secret was no longer a secret.
Irene, however, didn’t look at Danil. Her eyes were fixed on me, a strange, calculating look on her face. She excusedherself from Sava, walking past Marielle without a word, and came straight to me. Her face was a mask of polite inference, but her eyes held a spark of something urgent.
“Rough day for you, Katria,” she said, her voice a low murmur that only I could hear. It was a statement, not a question.
“You have no idea,” I shot back, my voice laced with a subtle sarcasm.
She leaned in closer, a faint, sweet scent of perfume filling my space. Her voice dropped to a near whisper, her words crisp and clear. “Look for the email. He’s not the only one with eyes on you.”
I froze. An email? And what did she mean, he wasn’t the only one? Was she referring to her father? To Sava? My mind raced, but her demeanor had changed completely. She was no longer a rival. She was a co-conspirator. Or was she?
I was left standing there, her words echoing in my mind, a fresh wave of confusion crashing over me.
Irene, a lady I thought was going to be my enemy, my tormentor, had just given me a clue. And a warning. “Be cautious. He’s not the only one with eyes on you.” Was she referring to Danil? Or to someone else? My head was spinning with the new layers of intrigue. I had to get out of there.
“What…?” I started before she cut in.
“You’ve definitely seen the thumb drive with the footage. How did you think it got to where you found it?”
My eyes dilated for a second before I remembered we weren’t alone. “That was…you? You were willing to put your dad—”
“See you later,” she rushed, disappearing from my line of sight.
Irene was the last person I would have associated with the thumb drive. But my surprise wasn’t the foremost on my mind. I still had something to find—unless she was fucking with me.
I made a series of quick, polite excuses to Marielle and a few others, my mind already a hundred steps ahead of my feet. I walked quickly, my heart pounding, not with fear, but with a new, strange excitement. I was in the game now. I was a player.
I burst into the suite and locked the door behind me, the quiet of the room a welcome relief. My hand reached into my pocket, fingers closing around the soft linen of the handkerchief. It felt heavy with secrets. I pulled it out and placed it on the bed, its Voryv crest a stark reminder of the world I belonged to.
“Okay,” I said to myself, my voice a low, determined whisper. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
I held the handkerchief up to the light, turning it over and over, looking for a hidden message. I ran my fingers over the intricate embroidery of the crest, but felt nothing. Was it code? An anagram? I was about to give up when my eyes landed on it—a faint, almost invisible mark near the corner of the fabric. It wasn’t a thread. It was a pinprick, so small I could barely see it. I titled the handkerchief, and in the angle of the light, I saw a faint, shimmering light of almost transparent thread, so fine it was nearly invisible.
