Page 56 of Born into Sin

I give my dad a big smile. “Because I translated for him.” His jaw hardens and I can feel the anger start to radiate off him, so I quickly add, “I wanted to help, and we made sure that the man never saw or heard me. He has no idea I’m here, Dad.”

“And how the hell did you manage that?” he asks.

My eyes dart to Dominic. He’s standing near his desk, arms crossed over his chest and wearing a very obvious Let’s see how you get your sweet ass out of this one look on his gorgeous face. I force my attention back to my dad.

“He was blindfolded, and I whispered what he was saying. Then I told him how to ask certain questions in Russian. It’s not a big deal, Dad. It didn’t last long, and the guy had no idea I was there.”

My dad turns to Dominic. “I can’t believe you let her do this.”

Dominic sighs and perches on the edge of his desk, resting his hand on the exact spot where he’d eaten me out. His fingers drum on the hard wood, and I feel my face start to flush.

“I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think she was safe, Lev.”

I can’t take my eyes off the way he’s still softly tapping his fingers, and when I finally look up, his dark eyes bore into mine, letting me know that he knows exactly what he’s doing and how it’s affecting me. Uncle Matvey starts talking to my dad in Russian, telling him that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea, but I can barely focus on that. All I can do is watch Dominic, and when he smacks the top of the desk with his open palm, I give a small jump and my heart races. Yeah, he’s pissed I disobeyed him and came down here. He gives me a very pointed look and smacks the desk again, letting me know it’ll soon be my ass.

My dad and uncles look over at the noise, but Dominic’s perfect mask is back in place and he’s no longer looking like he wants to bend me over and spank my ass red.

“Do you want to know what we found out?” he asks them.

“I want to punch you so fucking hard right now,” my dad says, “but, yes, obviously we want to know what the hell you found out.”

Dominic ignores the punch comment and says, “He works for the Zolotov Bratva. Apparently you recently beat the shit out of Alexei Zolotov. His dad runs the Bratva. He wasn’t pleased about you humiliating his son, so he thought going after Natalya would even things out.”

My dad thinks for a minute. “The only fight I’ve done recently was with some stupid fuck who talked a lot of shit but couldn’t back it up.”

“I’m guessing that stupid fuck was Alexei?” Vitaly asks.

“I had no idea,” my dad says. “He kept his shirt on, so I didn’t see any tattoos. He’d spoken Russian, but it’s not unusual to find Russian speakers in a city this big. I never would’ve guessed he was in a Bratva. He was such a?—”

He stops, searching for the right word until my Uncle Vitaly laughs and says, “Pussy?”

My dad shrugs. “I mean, yeah. I fought him, won, and didn’t think anything else of it.” He looks back at Dominic. “So because I beat this little shit up, his daddy is getting revenge by attacking my family?”

“It looks that way, yes,” Dominic answers.

My dad looks back down at me, and I can see the determination and the my mind is made up look in his eyes. “You’re coming back with me. I’m going to assign extra bodyguards to watch the building, and you’re not leaving the apartment until this is taken care of.”

“I think I’m safer here,” I quickly say, looking to Dominic for help.

“She’s right, Lev.”

I try to hide how much it means to me that Dominic immediately stepped in to help. I don’t want to leave. I’m not ready to walk away from whatever the hell is going on between us, and I can tell he doesn’t want me to either. If he didn’t want me here, I wouldn’t be here. A man like Dominic doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do. He’s always in control, and I’m drawn to his dominance in ways I can’t explain.

“How the hell is she safer here?”

Dominic watches my dad and then looks to my uncles. “They don’t know she’s here. They have no idea where Natalya is right now, and we need to keep it that way. They’re looking for her, but this is the last place they’ll ever think to look.”

“He’s right,” my Uncle Danil says. “She’s safer here, Lev, for now at least.”

“We need to question him.” My Uncle Roman motions towards the hall. “Where is he? Downstairs?”

Dominic pushes off from his desk and starts walking out the door. “I’ll bring you to him.”

My dad and uncles follow, and since no one stops me, I tag along. Once we’re back downstairs, I see Dominic’s cousins sitting on the couch. The door where we’d questioned the man is closed, and I’m guessing he’s still in there tied to the chair.

Dominic points to the couch. “These are my cousins, Dario and Alessandro.” He then points to my dad and uncles. “These men run the Melnikov Bratva.” Starting from the left, he goes down the line. “Roman, Danil, Matvey, Vitaly, and Lev.” His brown eyes meet mine, and I hear the soft sigh he gives, clearly not pleased that I haven’t run my ass back to the guest room. “Natalya, you already know, of course.”

Sandro gives me a quick smile, no doubt remembering how I’d been wrapped around his boss not too long ago, whispering into his ear, but Dario keeps his attention on my dad and uncles. Eventually, he gives them a slow nod to acknowledge their presence.

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