Page 59 of Unbreakable Vow

“I do want it.” I pause. “I want it destroyed and my grandmother’s family name to disappear in the ashes.”

She pulls back and blinks a few times. “Why would you do that?”

“Because that family abandoned my mother, turned their backs on her. When she was sick and dying, her mother still would not speak to her and didn’t even send a flower to her funeral.” Rage heats my skin.

“What about all of the people that work for the company? They’ll just lose their jobs?”

“Companies are bought and sold all the time, Cora. This won’t be any different.”

She frowns. “You hate them so much, huh?”

Sadness touches the question.

“My mother deserved better from her family.”

Silence builds between us.

“And what about your children?” she asks softly. “I mean later, when you have them. Wouldn’t having this enormous company be something you can leave to them, for them to grow and work in?”

“I have several family businesses; I don’t need this one.”

“Yes, but Kustov Metals wouldn’t be so violent.” She touches the scar on my chest from a knife fight years ago. I won, but the fucker managed to cut pretty deep before I plunged mine into his throat.

“And you think my other businesses are?” I tilt my head. How much has my girl been investigating while she’s been on her own these past few nights?

“Maybe not the restaurants and the dance clubs, but the other stuff.” She pokes another scar on my shoulder. A bullet wound from ten years ago.

“What other stuff?”

She rakes her teeth over her bottom lip. “I don’t know exactly what you and your cousins do, and I don’t think I want to know, but I do know that dance club and restaurant owners don’t usually get shot at, and have knives dragged across their chests.” Her smile tilts.

“Should I be worried that you’re able to identify my scars?” I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

She laughs. “Before I decided to go to school for a teaching degree, I wanted to be a writer. I liked to write scary stories. Some of my research was a little gruesome.”

“Is that what you’ve been working on when I see you tapping away at your computer? Describing some twisted murder scene?”

She sighs. “No. I haven’t played with writing in a long time. I’ve been mostly scouring the job market and working on scholarship essays.”

“I told you; you don’t need a job. And why would you need a scholarship? I’m your scholarship.”

“I know, but at some point, I will, and?—”

I cover my hand over her mouth. Her eyes go wide.

“I don’t want to talk about that. If we talk about it, it’s going to ruin my mood.” When she nods her agreement, I let her go.

“You mean this is a good mood?” she teases.

I huff a laugh.

“Oh, my god. I think you just smiled!” She bursts into a wide grin and cups my cheek. “Yes. I think so, your muscles are strained from the new movement.”

I pinch her hip through the nightshirt. “You’re being a brat.”

A pretty pink blush rushes up her neck and covers her face.

“How do you treat brats, Sergei?” Her voice lowers into a silky soft tone. My cock aches to be inside her, and I’m done denying myself.

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