Page 40 of Brutal Bratva Boss

I drop down into the large chair across from him. “What is it that I can help you with today?”

“Oh, I don’t need help with anything,” he says. “I just came to check up on you and see how you’re doing. You’ve been rather quiet lately, and to be honest, we’re worried about you.”

My irritation is already high, and I pin him with a look. “We?”

“Yes, Fyodor, we. Paval especially, but even Maxim and Darya have been asking if you’re okay.”

“You were all at the wedding. Why did no one say anything then?”

Kiril rubs a hand over the scruff on his jaw. “Same reason we haven’t said anything up ‘til now. Because we know you. And we know what you’re like.”

“What I’m like? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You immediately go on the defense. Even when it’s obvious you’re not fine.”

“I do not go on the defense,” I argue as I jump up, flinging my arms out to the sides. “I am fine. Do I not look fine?”

Kiril gives me a pointed look, tipping his head to the side and cocking a brow.

Realizing that I have not done a good job of proving my point, I shake my head. I run a hand through my hair before sighing and finally relenting.

“Kat feels like she doesn’t have any freedom,” I say as I focus my attention on the ceiling.

“Freedom from what? From you?” Kiril asks.

“Yes. No. I don’t know. Just freedom in general, I guess. She’s not happy about the extra cameras I had installed. She also feels like there are too many men accompanying her when she goes out.”

Kiril frowns. “Even after everything her father has tried?”

I nod. “Exactly.”

“I’m surprised you’re letting her go out at all after everything that’s happened if I’m being honest. I would have thought for sure that you would have her locked up where no one could get to her but you.”

I look at him out of the corner of my eye. “The thought crossed my mind, more than once.”

Kiril taps a finger on the arm of the couch. “I have a question.”

“Shoot.” I drop down into the chair again.

Kiril looks unsure as he contemplates his next words. “How sure are you that she’s not playing the long game?”

The truth is, I am not sure at all. The thought crosses my mind on a daily basis. Most of the time, everything between Kat and I is great. We have good conversations, and the sex is amazing. There is also the fact that she is carrying my child. And as she had said, she married me, the second time without any coercion on my part. But then there are some rogue thoughts niggling at the back of my mind. Her being here to eventually betray me is one of those thoughts. However, if she is playing the long game, she and Igor are putting up quite the ruse.

Nodding, Kiril tsks. “The fact that you’re thinking about it this long tells me all I need to know.”

“I’m not sure what I think, Kiril.”

“I have another question.”

“Shoot,” I say again.

“Do you love her?”

Kiril’s question catches me off guard. In our family, we do not tend to talk about things like love. Not that it is a taboo topic; it is just not something we discuss with each other.

Kiril holds up a hand. “I’m not asking because I think it will make you unfit for duty in any way, or so that I can go back and tell Paval. I’m asking as your brother who cares about you and doesn’t want to see you get hurt.”

Kiril and I have never had these kinds of conversations before. Sure, we are closer than I am with any other of my other siblings. But we have never talked about love.

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