Page 3 of Bound By Longing

“What?” she asks. “It’s true.”

Aleksander chuckles as he pats his wife’s hand. “You’re not exactly known for your baking skills, Viktoriya.”

She huffs. “Well, I helped make it, ok?”

“I believe you,” I tell her before taking a bite. “Mmm. This is really good.” The housekeeper, Nika, winks at me. Chances are she made it, and Vik only helped by putting the candles on the cake. I smile as I take another bite.

This is all I need in life—family. It’s ok that all I have is a view from my room to the outside garden. It’s ok that I’m not even allowed outside into the back garden. It’s almost winter anyway. The flowers are starting to die. I’m not missing anything.

“We should discuss the topic of marriage,” Mikhail, Sofiya’s husband, says.

Vik gives him a withering stare. “I don’t think we need to do that. Mila doesn’t need a husband.”

“If she wants safety and protection, she does.”

“Mila has us,” Sofiya reminds him. “We’ll keep her safe.”

There’s a moment of silence for the unspoken fact—I’ve been kidnapped more times since coming to Moscow than I ever was back in New York. I’m not exactly safe being so close to the head of the Bratva. Mikhail and Aleksander have enemies, and those enemies could easily come after me.

A knock at the front door makes me jump.

“You ok?” Sofiya asks.

I nod and smile, but I’m not. I’ve become much more jumpy since being kidnapped. Growing up, I used to dance around my house for fun, and now, the thought of dancing is foreign to me—like some other girl has my past. I’m both stuck in my new home and stuck in my mind despite being desperate to escape both.

Nika answers the door and returns to inform us about a visitor. “His name is Damien Petrov.”

The air in the room chills.

I’ve heard of Damien Petrov. His father killed Mikhail’s son twenty years ago. Damien was just a kid at the time, so he had nothing to do with it, but I can see the anger on Mikhail’s face. He hates Damien on principle.

I’ve never actually met him. Only seen him from a distance at a dinner party a few months ago when he showed up. I wonder why he’s here now.

“Tell him to leave,” is Mikhail’s gruff response.

Nika nods and heads back to the door. After a moment, she comes back into the dining room. “He’s refusing to leave. He says he wishes to say ‘happy birthday’ to Mila.”

My heart drops into my stomach. How does Damien know of me? We’ve never met.

“No,” Vik says curtly. “I hate him. Make him leave.”

Nika shrugs helplessly. “He won’t leave.”

“I’ll make him go,” Mikhail growls, standing up from the table. Out of curiosity, I follow him to the front door.

“Mila,” Vik hisses, scrambling after. Within minutes, all five of us are standing crowded around the front door, looking at Damien Petrov.

He’s scarily handsome in that he’s so handsome, it’s intimidating. Black hair, striking brown eyes, stubble. He’s in a suit that makes his figure even more imposing.

“Leave,” Mikhail tells him.

Damien’s gaze flit to mine. “I heard it was your birthday today.”

“Don’t talk to him,” Vik tells me. I bristle slightly at her telling me what to do. But I listen. Damien is obviously a dangerous man. All Bratva men are. I know better than to engage with them.

“Leave,” Aleksander says, standing shoulder to shoulder with Mikhail as a united front.

Damien nods at Vik. “I’m still mad from that time you slapped me.”

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