Page 28 of Claimed By the Bratva Brothers

My heart grows upon hearing those words.

Carefully, the guys take me out of the master bedroom and down the back staircase. Our goal is to slip past the thinning crowd in the hallway, dart through the kitchen, and out the back door.

“Come with us, Yuri, I need you,” Max tells the bouncer who let Artur and I upstairs in the first place.

A big man with eyes of steel and a humongous jaw, Yuri gives his boss a nod and follows along. But as we make our way through the enormous kitchen—currently occupied with buzzing waiters and a rather loud chef with a thick, French accent—a woman’s voice causes Max, Ivan, and Artur to freeze in their tracks.

“You invited me here and now you’re avoiding me?”

I’m still and quiet as a mouse, partially hidden behind the mountain that is Yuri. Instinctively, Artur’s hand comes up and discreetly pushes me closer to him without even looking at me.

I glance around the big guy’s arm and see a tall, gorgeous blonde with sapphires for eyes, her slender figure wrapped in a shimmering silver dress, her pretty sights set on the Sokolov men.

I recognize that look. I have it as well where Max, Ivan, and Artur are concerned. I feel it somewhere deep within my bones, and it causes a tightness to thicken in the pit of my stomach as the guys slowly turn around to face her.

She hasn’t seen me yet. I doubt she can spot me behind Yuri, so all I can do is stand still and listen. Watch. And hold my breath in fear of discovery.

“Polina,” Max says, offering a polite smile. “We were just about to come back to the party. Why don’t you wait for us by the bar?”

“Oh, no, darling, I was looking for you three away from the party,” Polina replies with a charming grin as she steps closer, hips swaying in a seductive manner. She’s itching for them, I can tell. It pisses me off. “I’m not interested in talking about the weather with Elena Ratkoff, for heaven’s sake. I came to see you three.”

“We just need a minute,” Artur says.

She reaches out and gently caresses his face. “You look handsome as ever. I’ve missed you. I can’t wait a minute longer.”

“You forget yourself,” Artur shoots back, his demeanor quickly shifting into something akin to muted hostility. “You forget where we left off, Polina.”

“It’s why I insist on talking to you away from the others,” Polina tells Artur. “We didn’t end things the right way, and I understand you’ve found yourselves in need of my father’s support. I think we all know you’re not going to get that until we can arrive at some kind of agreement, first.” She moves closer to Max and rests both hands on his chest. That sends my blood boiling to the point where I can barely breathe. “Come on, Max. Let’s see if we can find a better ending to our story.”

“Polina, things are a little complicated right now,” Max politely replies. “There’s a reason why we organized tonight’s party, why we wanted you all here.”

“Yes, yes, and all of that can wait. The master bedroom is still upstairs, right?” she asks and gives Ivan a curious glance.

Among the three, Ivan appears to be the most unsettled and affected by her presence, which comes as a surprise to me. He is usually the coldest, the hardest to rattle. Yet this Polina chick seems to have quite the effect on him. The longer it goes on, the uglier it feels. The harder it becomes for me to breathe and remain upright.

“Alright, Polina,” Max ultimately concedes. “Let’s go talk in my private study.”

He gives Yuri a slight nod. I suppose Yuri has just been tasked with getting me out of here on his own, and he knows it. Polina hooks her arm around Max’s waist, and I have a mind of tearing the hair off her head, one strand at a time.

“Why don’t we go straight to the bedroom. We know where this is going anyway,” she giggles.

Hearing that, I want to stick around and see what Max says, but Yuri starts backing away from them and toward the door, automatically forcing me to back away, too. I curse under my breath as we slip past the service staff and out the back door, having left the men and Polina behind.

Outside, it’s dark and quiet. Security cameras are mounted everywhere, the automatic motion sensors on the garden lights flicking on as we rush along the stone path leading toward the back gate.

“Who the hell is Polina?” I snap.

“Polina Larionov. She’s an important figure in the Bratva,” Yuri says without even looking at me.

There’s a story there. A past I know nothing about. A degree of intimacy that Polina is clearly trying to rekindle while I was kept hidden behind Yuri. I know they did it for my safety, yet I can’t help but feel like I’ve just been thrown aside after a good romp upstairs. I can’t help but feel used and tossed away. It’s an irrational emotion, and somewhere deep down I’m aware of that. It doesn’t stop the tears from pricking at my eyes, though.

“Keep moving,” Yuri says as we walk down the street. I keep hesitating and looking back at the Sokolov villa. “No one can see you.”

“How do you even know who I am?” I ask, slightly irritated.

“I’m Max’s chief of security,” Yuri replies. “I know everything. I’m the one who allowed you access into the house, and I’m also the one who told Max you were coming. Which, by the way, you really shouldn’t have.”

“Yeah, I get it. I’m the enemy.”

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