Page 22 of Forced Bratva Wife

Naughty, terrible ideas.

Clearly, I was a glutton for punishment. As much as I knew that I should probably just keep my distance from her, I’d set myself up for failure with the wardrobe I’d chosen. Still, as she walked up to stand next to me, I was finding it difficult to care.

“I’ve arranged for a visitor. I thought you’d like to ask him a few questions,” I finally replied, keeping my voice level.

Parker’s brow knitted together, and I could see the blooming suspicion behind her eyes. When her father was shoved down the hall in front of us to meet in this central foyer, she snapped her attention toward him with a tiny gasp.

“You can’t just keep dragging me around wherever you want. I—”

“Dad.” Parker's voice held an unmistakable edge, and she closed in as my men escorted him into the room. “Why didn’t you answer my call? What have you done?”

Tension roared through the room, and you’d have to be an idiot not to hear the combination of rage and sorrow barely contained in Parker’s voice.

I watched carefully. Pavel had been brought here expressly to give me clues as to his motives and pressure points. I literally had nothing better to do than stand by and let these two go at it. What’s more, I needed him gone from his office, and this little show could keep him distracted for a while.

“Parker,” I didn’t bother hiding the roll of my eyes as her father used that defensive tone I’d heard for myself. “You don’t understand. I did try to talk to you, but you hung up on me. Excuse me if I didn’t feel like answering your phone call in the middle of the night.”

Reminder, I need to deal with Parker’s cell.

“Your daughter calling in the middle of the night is the exact time to answer!” She scoffed, and I could hear that tremble in her voice that signaled she was fighting against a swell of emotion. “But what did I expect?! You’ve never cared about me. You—”

At that, she stopped herself.

Pavel’s eyes widened, a hair of frenzy touching them to make the whites fill with a growing bloodshot look. He stepped forward on his own this time, raising his hand in the air and jabbing a pointer finger in Parker’s direction.

“Don’t talk back to me!” The man continued to point at her, and Parker broke eye contact, shaking her head. “You have one job to do here, and you’ll damn well be doing it.”

In every interaction I’d had with the asshole screaming at his daughter, Pavel had given the air of a sniveling pissant who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. With Parker, Pavel was aggressive, consistently on edge, and offered the stability of a land mine.

The only one he can pick on, huh? Well, that stops now.

Stepping toward the center of the room, I moved myself slightly in front of Parker, eyeing Pavel hard. “This isn’t why I brought you here. There are still some very hazy details to your little business, and I expect you to come clean about what you’ve been doing over there.”

He barely broke his glare at Parker to transfer it to me, and for once, I didn’t see that fear behind his eyes. I didn’t like that. He had something in his back pocket he was keeping to himself. Something new that he’d acquired after I’d left. What is that about?

“You got your trade, Vadim. I’m looking at her. If you don’t want the deal anymore, that’s not my problem. Drop her off at school. I don’t care. Do whatever you want with her.”

Pavel never did care all that much. I could sense that about him from the beginning. But the lack of information he was holding back about whatever was going on had only made his statement more sincere.

“You son of a bitch.” Parker’s voice was low, an angry growl. “You did this. You fucking did this to me, and you don’t even care.”

She shook her head, a rogue tear slipping free and sliding down her cheek before she could wipe it away with the back of her hand.

“I swear to God, I don’t know why I’m surprised anymore. After Mom, you’ve never been the same person. Who knows if you ever were who I thought you were? And now I find out you’re in with the fucking mob! Are you kidding? You’re nothing but a crook!”

Disappointment smoothed over the rage taking over her face, and I thought for a moment she might want an apology from him. “And I should have known. I can’t believe I didn’t know. I never want to see you again.”

My muscles were corded with tension as I watched the two exchange words. It’s what I’d wanted to learn, to see for myself, but actually witnessing it was strangely affecting.

“You little bitch.” Pavel practically spit the word, and my attention snapped directly on him as my entire chest clamped down. “I gave you a roof over your head. A chance to go to that fucking college! I gave everything to your damn mother, too. But the ungrateful apple doesn’t fall far from the ungrateful tree, apparently.”

“Bullshit!” Parker stepped forward, not letting herself be held back or made small in the face of her father. “You didn’t give me shit, except for the regular black eye and a reason to get good at lying.”

I’d known it. I’d suspected it right away, but hearing the words…And it looked like Pavel was equally shocked by Parker’s blunt admission.

“What did I say about talking back to me? You wanna end up like your mother, huh? Getting up the gall to scream at me and then getting too much of her chemo pills, huh?!”

“What?” Parker’s entire body froze, and I put the truth together along with her. Oh, you’re a real piece of shit, Pavel.

---