Page 168 of Twilight Sins

“Luna is pregnant with my baby.”

She tried to tell me. That night in the kitchen when I told her I wanted to get rid of her. When she called me while I was drunk at the bar.

“Mariya tried to—” I clench my teeth.

Mariya told me Luna was throwing up. She knew about the baby, but didn’t tell me. I can’t even control my baby sister—what in the hell am I going to do with an actual baby?

It makes sense that Luna told her before she told me. I’ve been pushing her away. She tried to tell me herself, but I shut her out.

I’m going to be a father.

The Rouge Lounge comes into view a few blocks down. People are lined up around the corner, bathed in the red neon glow of the new sign. Akim is right there for the fucking taking.

And I have no earthly idea what I’m going to do about Luna.

Which is why I shove the thought away. No distractions. I can’t think about her now. Not when the future of my family depends on me pulling off this plan tonight.

Is Luna part of that family now?

“What are you going to do?” Nik asks.

I grip the wheel and clear my mind. “I’m going to kill Akim Gustev.”

68

LUNA

“I am trying to make things better with your brother,” I hiss as Mariya unlocks his office door. “Breaking into his office and snooping isn’t the way. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

Mariya pushes the door open and waves me inside. “I’ll tell him I acted alone.”

“And when he finds out that I was with you?”

“Play the pregnancy card. He can’t be mad at you when you’re carrying his baby.”

I think Mariya severely underestimates her brother’s ability to hold a grudge. But I’m curious enough about the world I might be bringing a child into that I step into the cool dark of Yakov’s office.

Mariya slams the door closed and flips on the lights. “So I usually find new and interesting things in the bottom right drawer of the desk or the top drawer of the filing cabinet.”

“‘Usually’?” I echo, eyebrows raised. “You do this often?”

“Only when there’s something I want to know.” She grins. “Which is, admittedly, kinda often.”

“How?”

She holds up the little silver key she used to unlock the door. The smirk on her face looks so much like Yakov’s that a pang of loneliness thrums through my chest. “My mom kept a spare office key hidden between the pages of The Feminine Mystique in the library. The men in my family aren’t super into second wave feminism, I guess.”

“That’s actually pretty smart.”

“Yeah, apparently, she was cool at some point. Fuck knows what happened.”

I can guess what happened. Her husband died.

Yakov’s mom was married to the leader of a Bratva and he was assassinated in front of her and her children. That could mess anyone up.

The realization that I’m dangerously close to being in that same position is not lost on me. But I push the thought aside. I have more than enough to worry about without adding future hypotheticals to the list.

Mariya starts digging through drawers, stopping only to glance up at me. “Are you planning to help?”

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