Page 55 of Escaping the Bratva

“Come for me, kitten,” he commands and I let go.

*****

The fireplace dances with flames in front of my eyes as I watch it. The snow has picked up outside, and there’s no way I’ll be driving back home on these roads. V’s warm body is pressed against my back. Neither of us bothered putting on clothes. After the first round of makeup sex, there’d been a second and a third.

“What are you thinking about?” he asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Nothing really. I’m just…happy.”

“So you’re really going to be okay with me leaving twice a year to train the Bratva’s new recruits?”

I turn in his arms to face him. I run my fingertips over the cluster of stars that now decorate his left pec. “Is that what this is?”

He nods.

It's permanent. He’s sworn himself to the mob with the belief that it would end our relationship. He decided that having me safe was more important than having me to himself.

“It’s going to take some adjustment,” I whisper. I know nothing about the Russian mafia. Would that mean I’d always be in danger? Would V always be in danger?

“You have questions,” he states. I look up, and his gray-blue eyes are locked on mine.

“I don’t know what all that means. What does your alliance to the Bratva really mean?”

“It means that the brotherhood…the Bratva,” he corrects, “comes before anything else. If there’s a war between brotherhoods and they need help, then I’m a soldier. If it’s five in the morning and Pakhan, the boss, calls my phone, I have to answer.”

“And if you don’t answer?”

His eyes darken. “Then I’ll be punished.”

I flinch at his words, but I remember the life V had lived before he came back to Seattle. He ran his own illegal business, which means I’m sure he’s given his own punishments to men. The thought should scare me, but the person behind me isn’t the man that did those things. It was like two totally different people. The room turns quiet. The only noise is the crackling of the fire behind us.

“If I’d had a choice, I would’ve never gone to the Bratva.”

“You did it to save me. I’d never hold that against you. I have everything I could want in my life, except for you. Come back with me, V,” I plead. I didn’t come all the way out here to go home empty-handed. I didn’t want to spend my Friday nights at the office or being dragged out to clubs with Alyssa. I wanted to spend them at home with V and Teddy.

A smile stretches across his face. A true genuine smile. “I’ll pack my shit.”

“I got an offer for someone to buy my company,” I blurt out. I hadn’t thought about the offer for a while, but now it was starting to tempt me.

“Do you want to sell?”

I shrug. “I hadn’t thought about it before. I love the industry, and if I sold, I’d still be an important part of the business. It’s not like I’d just leave.”

Thinking about selling everything I’ve worked for tugs at my heart nearly the same way as when I think about V. My business has been everything to me. It’s my identity.

“What are you thinking?”

“I just wouldn’t know who I’d be without it. I’ve spent so long being an entrepreneur…it kind of feels like giving up. Someone else would decide the budget and have the final say in clients…”

He places a kiss on my neck. “I struggled with the same thing when I decided to go to prison.”

I completely turn in his arms so I can look into his soft eyes. “Yeah? What made you decide to leave?”

“I realized the business was costing me too much. It was costing me a possible future with you. Whatever you decide, just make sure it doesn’t cost too much.”

---