Page 98 of Bratva Knight

Nikolai chuckled softly at my rambling, a playful smirk dancing on his lips as he looked at his phone.

“—great,” I finished on an exhale.

“It is.” That smirk was still on his face. “The information about the games was surprising.” His fingers tapped quickly on the screen for a few more minutes before he tucked it back away. “Out of all the possible scenarios I envisioned, that definitely wasn’t one of them.”

“Same. I’ve never even heard of something like it before. I mean, Mikhail has the fight pits. But that’s not to the death. And every fighter in there is there by choice.”

“Me either. But I guess rich people need something exciting to get their blood pumping. When you have the ability to buy anything you want, you get bored pretty quickly.”

“You're rich,” I pointed out. Did that mean he was bored?

“I have you and I kill people for a living. That’s enough to keep me entertained for a lifetime. And more.”

When I opened my mouth to respond, he gave me a pointed stare that made me snap it closed. He knew what I was going to say and he didn’t want to hear it.

“When will you leave?” I asked, changing the subject again. It was quickly becoming a specialty of mine.

“According to Mikhail, the games are always held in the first week of May.” He started taking out cooking items and laying them out on the bench. Plates, pans, cutting boards, knives. For what, I had no idea. It’s not like he could cook anything with what was in my pantry. “Depending on how early they want their workers there to set up, it could be any time between now and a few weeks.”

A tight pressure squeezed my chest and I rubbed my sternum. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it one fucking bit. The odds of something going wrong were too high. All it would take was for someone to recognise him, or someone to dig more into his alias, and he was done for.

Fuck, he and his family where googleable. Did no one fucking think about that? Who came up with this stupid plan? It wasn’t going to work. This plan was going to fail. He was going to get caught. They were going to catch him and kill him—

“You’re spiralling.”

“Of course I’m fucking spiralling,” I hissed, glaring at him. “Nikolai, you and your family are too recognisable for this plan to work. Have you forgotten there are pictures of you guys all over the internet? ‘The rich Russian family who owns Las Vegas’? There was a damn news article done on you guys three fucking days ago. I read it. How-I don’t-this isn’t-”

He spun me around and wedged himself between my legs, grabbing my face with both hands and forcing me to look at him. “Tati,breathe. Relax and breathe.”

My body tingled at his touch but I ignored it. “I’m breathing, you idiot,” I said, slapping his hands away. He chuckled deeply, not the least bit deterred. He stayed exactly where he was, unbearably close, and clutched the island bench behind me on either side of my body. Caging me in and giving me absolutely nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. He was so close, I could feel his breath fan out over my face. Smell that intoxicating scent that was all man. All Nikolai.

“YA tsenyu, chto ty bespokoish'sya za menya, lyubimaya. No tebe ne sleduyet etogo delat'.” I appreciate that you’re worried for me, love. But you shouldn’t be,he whispered softly.

I swallowed thickly, staring at his lips. I couldn’t take my eyes off them.“YA ne dolzhen?” I shouldn’t?

“Nyet.” No.He tilted his head to the side, watching me with every shred of his focus. “Because there’s nothing in this world that could keep me from you. There’s no obstacle I wouldn’t climb. No task I wouldn’t complete. No person I wouldn’t kill to get back to you. You, my beautiful Tatiana, are the centre of my universe.” He placed the softest kiss on my lips.“Moye vse.” My everything.

Well…shit. My heart fuckingswooned. This man had rendered me completely and utterly speechless (a feat not easily accomplished). It wasn’t just his words. It was also the sincerity in which he spoke them. There was no doubt in my mind that he meant every single word, and a little bit more of my heart healed, another crack from our past just fading away.

There was a knock at the door and I breathed out a small sigh of relief. I had no idea what to say back to that. I mean, what did you say to someone who just poured out their entire fucking soul to you?

Nothing I could think of seemed good enough, so I used the person knocking on my front door as the perfect excuse to deflect.

“I should probably get that,” I breathed out, licking my lips. Was it hot in there? It felt hot in there.

He grinned and I swear my heart fucking stopped. “Yes. You should.” But he didn’t move. He just continued to give me that wide, cheshire grin, all sexy and shit.

I was going to kill him if he didn’t stop looking at me like that. It made it impossible for me to think. When the knocking persisted, I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him back. He let me, the grin still plastered firmly on his face.

When I opened the front door, there were four men standing there, all with several big bags in their hands.

“Nikolai Volkov?” the guy in the middle asked.

“Uh, he’s in there,” I pointed over my shoulder.

The guy nodded. “This way fellas.” He walked straight past me and into the apartment, the other men following suit.

“Hey!” I was about to go all Xena on their asses, but Nikolai spoke, his words making me pause.

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