Page 17 of The Bratva's Knocked-Up Bride

While I didn’t like feeling scrutinized or having to answer to them, I didn’t want to wound my pride further by not living up to my promise. I agreed to take the job due to my experience, but if I couldn’t find the rat, then I knew my abilities would be put into question by the Levovs.

As much as I didn’t want their opinions to matter, they did. And beyond that, there were too many lives invested in the success of our families. I wouldn’t just be letting the Levovs down by failing…I’d be letting down my whole family.

Even if Sky had been nothing but a distraction for me, I didn’t want to be perceived as incompetent. I was good at what I did, I just needed to correct my course.

Glancing between the two of them, I couldn’t ignore the subtle hesitation that moved through them. I had no doubt they were questioning my qualifications, and if I could deliver on my promise, but after a moment, Luk sighed again.

“Alright…there’s still time for you to close in on whoever’s leaking this information. But you have to report to us more often, and make sure you’re checking every camera, every employee, every possible outcome.”

I nodded my understanding, biting back the urge to bristle against his reminder as if I didn’t already know all of that.

Luk cocked a brow all the while his gaze rested on me expectantly. “We’re counting on you, Novikov. Don’t make us regret trusting you with this.”

“You won’t regret it,” I reassured him, sure in my words even if I hadn’t been fully living up to that expectation before. “I’ll find the rat, and once I do, they’ll lead us to whoever’s really behind this.”

While it seemed like Luk didn’t want to fully trust me yet, he eventually relented and nodded. “I hope so. Keep searching, and let us know when you have something more concrete.”

As irritated as I was by the whole thing, a part of me was grateful I was only dealing with Luk and Kir…at least for now. I couldn’t imagine having to take on the heat of their eldest brother.

“Seems it’s settled then,” Kir hummed with a lazy grin as he looked towards the dancers once again, evidently pleased by what he saw. He snickered and glanced back at Luk, mumbling, “This definitely could’ve been a phone call.”

“Just shut up, will you?”

Kir chuckled and stood from his place, dusting his hands off. “If you don’t mind, I have a plaything waiting for me. Gentlemen…”

Visibly irritated with his brother, Lukyan shook his head with his brows pinched together. “Once an idiot, always an idiot…”

I would’ve laughed if I didn’t have the weight of this undercover job on my shoulders, waiting to pull me under at any given point.

Chapter 8 - Sky

Most people would’ve cleared out of work by five on a Friday night…and they did. Except me.

I should’ve been annoyed by the fact that I was staying back late while everyone else had cleared out for the night, but in all honesty, I didn’t mind.

In a way, it was more relaxing when it was just me there in the office, able to focus on my work without being interrupted by help requests. Instead, I kept my head down and continued what I was working on, making sure everything was ready for the next publishing cycle.

The building was almost eerily silent, with some lights off except for a few rows surrounding my office, but I filled that silence with music through my earbuds all the while I worked as hard as I could, considering I had already put an entire work day in.

At the very least, I wasn’t needed for anything else, so I could go at my own pace and do what needed to be done on my own time.

After a few hours of working, a text lit up my phone screen, and I glanced over to see it was from Gemma.

Don’t work too hard tonight…I need my brunch pal tomorrow.

Even if there was concern in her words, I found myself smiling anyway. I almost forgot about our plans, but the reminder made me look forward to it more.

I sent back a text reassuring her that I wouldn’t stay too late or do anything too far beyond my means before I got back to it, double-checking a document before hitting print.

Overall, I was in a good mood as I stood and headed for the printers. I moved through the otherwise silent floor, hearing only the click of my heels against the floor. There were likely others still working elsewhere in the building, but as far as I knew, my entire section had been cleared out, and there wasn’t a soul to be seen.

Eventually, I reached the printer and pulled out the warm stack of papers, doing a quick check of them before I shuffled the stack together and exited the small room.

I hummed quietly to myself as my music played, intending to return to my office, but the moment I saw him there, my breath caught in my throat and I came to a sudden halt.

On the other side of the room, sat at one of the tables meant for collaborating, Damien was there hunched over his laptop and whatever else he had for surveillance purposes. Despite the rows of cubicles in front of him, it was hard to miss him because of how tall he was.

My brows furrowed as I watched him for a moment, seeing how concentrated he looked before I huffed out a breath and continued walking. With more purpose in my steps then, not wanting to be caught watching him, I slipped back into the privacy of my office and placed the stack of papers down on the desk.

---