Page 69 of Stolen By the Bratva

He grinned. “Good girl.”

I caught the robe, smiling as I shoved my arms through the sleeves and followed him out of the bedroom. He tucked a towel around his waist then grabbed my hand. He held it as he led me to the living room, calling his brother on his cell for him to bring a computer over.

After all the trials and hardships of finding each other, the moment had come to truly work together for our future.

29

ALEK

Morning came quickly, and I woke with a fierce excitement for how the day would likely end. With Mila’s help, there was no doubt in my mind that we’d altered the details of the shipment due this afternoon.

I hadn’t planned to ask her about any details because I assumed she wouldn’t be privy to knowing any. And she hadn’t. Her father expected her to mess around with busywork, but with the codes and secrecy, she’d never been able to follow any of it. She hadn’t tried to, either, smart enough to know better.

With Nik and Maxim staying over late and picking at all the emails she’d fielded at that office, we could piece together enough of what was expected to happen at the Colver dock that we could change up the details of the sting. The DEA was expected to arrive too late, but changing the arrival documentation meant they’d be early, just in time to see the Kastavas get caught, not the Valkovs.

Mila agreed with me that she shouldn’t sneak near her father’s prized dock area. She trusted me to keep her safe, but she understood that Ivan would be a reliable bodyguard in the interim.

I wouldn’t have missed this opportunity for the world. I wanted to be there, hiding in the distance and watching in real time as the Kastavas were fucked with this arms shipment coming in.

Sergei Kastava wouldn’t have a clue what hit him, and I waited with giddy anticipation as the time crept closer to when the trap would spring.

Instead of accompanying me, Mila went to the shops to begin building a wardrobe fit for a woman in her position. At the top of the Valkov Bratva, she had to dress the part. She’d look good in anything. I already knew she had an eye for fashion and was practiced in accentuating her looks. All I cared to find out was what she purchased for me. Her lingerie would still be hers, but really, it was a treat for me, too. I couldn’t wait to uncover and unwrap her and see her in naughty, teasing lingerie in bed.

Ivan would keep her safe. I trusted my brother without a doubt. In fact, I counted on all the men who’d heeded my orders under Pavel’s leadership. I’d instructed every Valkov man to make himself scarce as the hour drew near. I wanted no one but the die-hard loyalists to my uncle to be here and caught.

The moment came, and with a swarm of activity, detectives, agents, and officers filled the dockyard. Kastava soldiers tried to run or open fire. The thugs on the ship fired as well, and a small war had broken out as the law enforcement agencies came down hard on the bratva men who hadn’t learned of Mila’s and my plan to thwart them.

I remained back in the shadows with Nikolai. We watched it all come crashing down, and at the end, we shared a knowing look and smile.

“You did it,” he congratulated me.

“We did it.” All my suspicions had paid off. From the beginning, I knew this shipment and supposed alliance with the Kastava Family would end in ruin. And it had. I’d helped to bring it all down, and I was walking away from the mess with a wife and a clear drive to lead instead of my uncle.

“You sure you don’t want help this afternoon?” he asked as we strolled away, heading for our cars.

I shook my head. “I already have my help lined up. Thanks.”

“Sure thing, Boss.” He smirked, clearly excited for this new path we were forging for the future.

I smiled, confident but not cocky.

As we’d planned, I drove to Pavel’s mansion. It had once been the home that my grandparents had lived in, and soon enough, it would be filled with a family unit again. Whores and gamblers wouldn’t hang out in the parlor and overstay their welcome anymore. Drunk soldiers wouldn’t break dishes in the kitchen. Pavel wouldn’t stain the furniture and waste away the fine heirlooms that had been in the house for generations.

Change was coming, and it would start here, in my uncle’s office. Mila and Ivan arrived just after I did.

“How much?”

“Damage?” Ivan asked with a smirk.

Mila rolled her eyes at him. “Hush.”

Ivan smiled and nodded at me on his way out.

“How much?” I asked again, curious whether Mila even knew.

She listed a number, and I was impressed.

“What?” she asked as I sat in my uncle’s chair behind the antique desk that should have been my father’s. I rubbed my hand over the smooth, polished wood.

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