Page 24 of Born into Sin

I lean closer, filling the space with my body. I can tell he’s rethinking his decision to come to me for help. When I’m sure I have his full attention, I say, “And I will fucking kill you if you ever put your hands on her again. Now get the fuck out of my club and don’t come back.”

As soon as he runs off, I grab Natalya’s wrist and point a finger at Svetlana. “Follow me, right fucking now.”

She nods, looking just as scared as Natalya, and follows me as I lead them back to my office. I squeeze her wrist a little tighter, feeling the rapid beat of her pulse against my skin, and it does something to me. I know she’s not going to run off, but I don’t let go of her. My long fingers wrap so easily around her slender wrist, and the last thing I want to do is separate myself from her, so I don’t, not even after we’re in my office and I’ve slammed the door shut behind us.

I position my body in front of Natalya’s and lift the wrist I’m holding, inspecting her hand to make sure it’s okay. The pad of my thumb drags along her knuckles, and she lets out a soft gasp, but it’s not from pain. Her hand looks fine.

When our eyes meet, she says, “Just because I like girly things doesn’t mean I don’t know how to throw a punch. I might not love it as much as Mia, but there was no way in hell my dad wasn’t going to teach me how to defend myself.”

“Yes, he’ll be thrilled to know you punched a guy on my dance floor tonight.”

“You can’t tell him,” she quickly says, reaching up with her other hand to grab my forearm like she had when she’d begged me to sneak her into my club.

“They’ll kill us,” Svetlana adds.

I look at the two of them, running my eyes over the tiny dresses they’re wearing, nearly groaning when I think about Natalya out there dancing in those pink heels and this nonexistent scrap of fabric.

“Do you have any idea how badly tonight could’ve gone?” I let out a frustrated groan. “How the fuck did you even get in here?”

When her light blue eyes meet mine, she licks that top, full lip of hers and then clamps her mouth shut. I lean down, invading her space while she keeps a death grip on my arm and I feel her pulse speed up even more beneath my fingers.

“You better start talking, principessa, or I’m going to start dialing.”

I watch as emotions run across her beautiful face—fear, uncertainty, a quick flash of anger, and then a good bit of desire when I bring my face even closer. My thumb lightly grazes over her inner wrist.

“Silence is not an option. If you make me waste my time by going through all the security footage, I’m going to be even more pissed off than I am right now. How did you get into my club?”

“We paid a guy to let us in the back door.”

Her whispered confession isn’t at all what I’m expecting. I thought for sure she was going to say they used fake IDs, not that they snuck into a dark and deserted alley and paid off one of my men.

“Who was it?” My words are low and rough, and she winces at the barely concealed rage behind them.

“I don’t know his name. He was smoking.”

Fuck, it has to be Angelo. He’s the only one who uses the back alley for smoke breaks and who’s stupid enough to take a fucking bribe. All the other guys have been with me long enough to know what I’d do to them, but Angelo has only been working for my family for a few months.

“Don’t move,” I tell Natalya before leaving my office. I walk back out to the main area of the club, scanning the crowd until I find Dario leaning against the wall in one of the back corners. He appears relaxed, but I know he’s taking in every detail around him. My cousins are already fitting in nicely in America, and bringing them here full-time is a decision I won’t be regretting anytime soon.

“What’s wrong?” he immediately asks me when I walk over to him.

“Grab Angelo and hold him for me.”

Dario sighs, knowing this isn’t going to end well for our newest member. “What’d he do?”

I usually wouldn’t tolerate questions, but Dario’s family and that affords him certain privileges. “He let Natalya and Svetlana Melnikov bribe their way in through the back door.”

“What a fucking idiot,” he mutters before nodding his head, already walking past me to go and grab him.

“Not a word to anyone,” I tell him.

“Of course.”

Pushing Angelo from my mind, I walk back into my office to face the problem that I hadn’t planned on or wanted. Scrubbing a hand over the two-day old stubble that covers my face, I sit on the edge of my desk, resting my hands on the dark wood on either side of me while I try to figure out what the fuck to do.

When the silence is too much for them, Svetlana says, “We promise we’ll never try anything like this again. Just let us go, and no one will ever have to know about tonight.”

I look over at her and let out a harsh laugh. “One of my men took a bribe and snuck you in. Do you really think I’m going to just let that slide?”

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