Page 63 of Sinful Blaze

“Right.” Sofi casts a glance to my swollen womb, but her smile never wavers. “Does he know that?”

I stammer for a good answer. How can I answer on his behalf? Especially after the shower?

“Anyway, I’m his second-in-command. Mak does a lot of the same work as me, but—” She winks at him. “—he’s more expendable.”

He rolls his eyes. “She means I’m marriage material. I can step down to focus on having my own family if I need to.”

“Do you want to?”

The siblings exchange looks once again, and I feel like there’s more to this than they’re sharing. But Mak shrugs and tosses back a few more fries doused in sauce. “Fair question. Now that I have the option, I might actually want to. We’ll see.”

“Things changed when you came along,” Sofi tries to offer as explanation. “Some things Pash tried to pass off to us, and mainly Mak, are now his responsibility.”

“Oh.” I look down at my half-eaten cheeseburger. “Sorry.”

“It’s a good thing! Really. And we’re so happy to have you in our family now.” Her gaze lingers longingly at my baby bump. “You and this precious little one. Fair warning, though: she is going to be severely overprotected.”

That makes me laugh. “No shit. I don’t know how I’m gonna explain her guards to the preschool.”

“Ah. So you’re aware you’re being followed.”

I sag. “Boris and Dem are over at the window. They’ll change shifts with Anton and Ilya in a few hours, and then return for the midnight shift outside the penthouse. Although I’m pretty sure all four of them have access to an apartment somewhere inside my building. Safe to say I’m very aware.”

Mak returns his sister’s wink with one of his own. “I like her. What do you think?”

Sofi grins. “I like her, too.”

“Think Mom’ll like her?”

My jaw drops. Mother Chekhov. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Your mom?” I say in slow-dawning horror. “Is she… tough?”

When I look back up, they’re both snickering. “Oh, just wait. You’ll be meeting her soon enough.”

22

PASHA

“Meeting went well?”

“The meeting went perfectly. We approve.”

I squint as the gun range pulleys bring the target papers close, each dotted with bullet marks. I need to know who’s the best shot and who needs more training before putting them anywhere near my family.

“Approve wholeheartedly, really. I definitely see the appeal.” She nudges me as we walk over to one of our top vors who chose today for his firearms testing. “And I can totally see why you’ve become such a bear since she started living with you. Mak said you’re still on the couch? You should be?—”

“Valerii, my man!” I cut my nosy sister off with a less-than-formal greeting to one of my inherited vors. He served my father, but shed no tears when the man died. Now, he’s someone I trust with my life, which is pretty fucking rare for me. “How’s the new model treating you?”

Valerii hefts the automatic in his hands. “Call me old-fashioned, but I like a little more weight than this. Too light, too easy to whip up at the worst moment. But in practice, not too bad.”

“This is one of the 3D printed versions we’ve been testing out.” I take the gun from his outstretched hands and run a few checks of my own. “How’s the kickback?”

“Nonexistent.” Valerii points at the scope. “Sight’s good, but I wonder if it’s too good. If it’s made with that plastic shit those printers use, that piece will break off easily. Have you seen the aim on these novichki?” He shakes his head. “Pitiful.”

“Good to know. Mak! Make sure we check in on our first few shipments of these once they’re delivered,” I call to my brother over my shoulder. “We don’t want disgruntled customers coming at us over plastic shit.”

“You got it.” Mak salutes from where he’s finagling some wiring in the control booth. I don’t know what he found in disarray, but it’s enough to get him cursing under his breath.

Pulya, this gun range, is one of Makari’s personally-owned businesses. He wanted something more original than a nightclub or restaurant.

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