Page 60 of Endless Obsession

“Looks like virginal little Sabrina had an angry boyfriend,” I say dryly as I turn around. Lev glowers at me like he wants to punch me. And he might—-once we’re not in public.

I wish I had an excuse to not leave with him.

Quickly, my gaze flicks back to the table where Charlotte was sitting. She must have seen all of this, too, and I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to explain it away tomorrow when I see her. I also really, really don’t want her to see me standing here with Lev. I doubt she would know who he is, or be able to easily find it out, but it’s a chance I don’t want to take.

But when I look over quickly at the table, she’s gone. Not just her, but the small clutch purse that had been sitting on the table, too. Her friend is nibbling at her dessert and looking at her phone, and her demeanor doesn’t suggest that she’s waiting for Charlotte to come back.

I think Charlotte went home. And while I should be relieved that not only is she not seeing this, she might have missed all of it, all I feel is a sharp stab of disappointment that she’s gone.

Lev snaps his fingers in my face. “Pay attention, brother,” he growls. “We’re going to go talk to otets right now. And you’re going to explain to him why, instead of coming home with the good news that Sabrina Petrov is headed to the auction block, she got dragged off by some nobody boyfriend that she shouldn’t even have. You’re going to explain why you didn’t stop that. Why you failed.”

I don’t say anything, which I know pisses him off even more. He wants me to argue, so he can hold his authority over my head, the fact that he can order me home to face our father. But instead, I save everything I want to say for the moment when I do.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” he snaps, and I shrug.

“No point in repeating myself twice, is there?” I smirk at him, enjoying the cold fury that washes over his face, and then I pivot, striding towards the entrance to the museum. I’ll end up in Lev’s car on the way back. He’ll want to keep an eye on me. But there’s no reason I can’t get to it first.

—-

Less than an hour later, I’m marched into my father’s mansion and to his large, opulent office, led by Lev. The men who were supposed to help kidnap Sabrina have slunk off, unsurprisingly having no desire to face my father. I’m sure their punishment will come later, when he’s done with me.

My father’s office is dominated by a massive mahogany desk, surrounded by bookshelves filled with books written in Russian. He takes pride in the fact that most of what he reads is in the mother tongue, and derides his sons—except for Lev—for not knowing the language very well. I speak it passably, as do my other brothers, but only Lev is fluent enough that it’s hard to tell that he’s second-generation, born and raised in the States. It is, like everything else in his miserable life, his way of sucking up to our father.

Dima is standing in front of the fireplace, still wearing a crisp suit despite the hour and being at home, sipping on what looks like a glass of straight vodka. He doesn’t turn as we walk in, and I feel a cold tendril of fear lick down my spine as Lev locks the door behind him. I don’t know what comes next, but I can’t imagine it’s going to be pleasant.

“Tell me what happened, Ivan.” Dima’s voice is cold and hard, and it’s clear from his tone that he already knows. He just wants to hear it relayed from me, in my own voice.

I step forward, taking a deep breath. I can feel Lev’s heavy presence at my back, a foreboding reminder that I have no friends in this room. That my family is that only by blood, and not affection. That even in this room, I only have a part of the former. Lev is my father’s true son, his heir, and I’m a bastard. Half his, half a woman who he didn’t care about enough to ever even say her name to me growing up.

“Everything was going according to plan,” I say calmly. “I was dancing with Sabrina when I saw your men come in. She was very—receptive to me, as we were dancing.” She wasn’t, but there’s no way for him or Lev to know that. “I thought I wouldn’t have any trouble convincing her to slip away with me. Your men would have followed, as planned, and joined the ones waiting in the back room. But before I could suggest that she and I go somewhere more private, a man showed up and accosted me. A boyfriend, apparently.”

Lev makes a scoffing sound behind me, and I turn slightly, arching an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry,” I say coldly. “Do you think he was someone else?”

“We haven’t gotten any intelligence that Sabrina had a boyfriend, or any male contacts outside of her father. There shouldn’t have been anyone to worry about.” Lev’s voice is flat, rote.

“Because I’m sure that if the virginal daughter of Yuri Petrov had a boyfriend, she would have let that get out in a way that someone else could find out about it,” I snap back sarcastically.

“There.” Dima turns around, his hand tight around his vodka glass. “That’s the first problem. If the Petrov girl had a boyfriend, we should have known about it.” His eyes are fixed on Lev as he says it, and for the first time since everything went down, I feel the tiniest bit of tension ease from my shoulders. At least I’m not the only one bearing the weight of Dima’s wrath tonight. It seems that he’s angry with Lev as well. “If she’s not a virgin, that severely decreases her value.”

“But not enough not to kidnap her.” Lev’s tone is cool, entirely unaffected. “Ivan, you were aware of your part in this. Did you look into her at all? Did you find any signs of a boyfriend?”

“That wasn’t my job. I have nothing to do with the trafficking.” I shrug. “You told me to show up as her date, made it clear that I had no other choice. So I did it. I wasn’t told I was supposed to do homework beforehand.”

Lev moves so quickly that I don’t see the blow coming. One instant, I’m smarting off to him, and the next, I’m doubled over, coughing as his fist to my side drives the air out of me for a second.

“Answer with respect,” he snarls, grabbing my shoulder and jerking me upright as I cough again.

“The answer is the same,” I mutter. “I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to do more than show up and play Sabrina’s date.”

“That job was Lev’s,” Dima says flatly. “If there was a boyfriend, we should have known about it. But my question now is, why the fuck did you allow her to leave with him?”

His voice is icy. I’m not surprised that he knows the details. I already assumed that someone had filled him in before we got here. “What would you have liked me to do?” I ask archly. “Cause a scene in the middle of the gala? Isn’t that why your men backed down, because that’s exactly what we needed to not do?”

Another blow from Lev, his fist driving into my ribs. This one I anticipate, but it doesn’t change the pain, or the way it drives the air from my lungs.

“Speak to your pakhan with respect!” Lev snarls, and I straighten with effort, ignoring the throbbing pain in my ribs.

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