Page 28 of Bred To Be Owned

I knew my father was a bastard, and my mother was just as ambitious. Did I really think that they would have abided by the rules? It had been four years since the Russian had barged into my life, and Iran through the memories, searching for any clue. There had been no prospect dinners. No parades of men. The Russian had saved me, and I’d been free to live my life.

All the guilty feelings and harbored jealousy slowly evaporated. I kissed him, parting his lips with my tongue. He melted against me, and I took more as his hand slid through my hair. “I lo—“ I tried to tell him as the kiss broke off.

“No. You need to admit to yourself first what you feel, and then you can tell me. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’re infuriating!” I scoffed at him.

He just smiled at me. “Eh, it could be worse.”

I kissed him with everything that I had, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted him naked, his skin on mine. Pushing his suit coat off his shoulders, I heard it hit the floor a minute before his tie followed. I desired him, and my fingers worked quickly on the buttons of his dress shirt, not bothering to pull it from his pants. When I felt the zipper on the back of my dress lower, it was obvious he called for me, too.

He broke the kiss and lowered his mouth to my neck. The dress fell to my waist. Bending to give him more room, I felt him whisper against my throat. “Do you know why I couldn’t go through with it that night?”

I knew what night he was talking about. The night in the hotel room when I had expected him to take my virginity. More like I had offered it to him, only to be denied. “It doesn’t matter,” I said.

“It does. I knew that if we would have gone further, I’d never be able to walk away. You’re my obsession. I might be many things, but with one word, you could destroy me.”

I could feel the light kisses against my upper chest and collarbones. As I opened my mouth to tell him to just take me, there was a knock on the door.

He groaned against my skin as he grumbled, “For the love of God.”

I reached down and flipped the lock as he shifted me to crack the door. There was nothing visible to whomever was outside.

“What?” He was still grumpy, like a lion denied his steak dinner. I held him closer to me and curled into his chest.

“The authorities have raided the Italians.”

We both went cold. This was trouble.

Chapter 16

Toula

“We need to go.” Adrik’s voice broke into our staring contest behind the door.

“We need to go,” my Russian told me. “Start raid protocols here, and then you’re coming with me.” He closed the door and dressed me. “This will have to be postponed until later,” he whispered against my neck, placing one last kiss before he broke away.

“You owe me,” I sighed, referring to our previous night together.

He gripped both of my cheeks in his hands before kissing me. “I always pay my debts. Especially to you.” The Russian guided me towards my desk with a pat on my ass. I shot him a look over my shoulder. “Later, you can get revenge,” he told me as he took out his phone.

I understood. I was the club’s owner on paper and the daily operations manager. My father’s interests had to be protected at all costs. This wasn’t the first time a raid had torn through a family. However, this was the first time I had been involved. I wouldn’t let myself be theweak link that brought my father’s empire down, even though there were no signs we were next.

Running through the checklist in my head, I could hear the Russian on the phone. He’d instantly gone from my Russian to the Bratva boss. There was something about the way he took command so effortlessly that made me stop and watch him. His shirt was still open. I caught glimpses of the tattoo above his heart, but I was too far away to see the details. The flaps billowed as he paced the length of the office, rapidly firing Russian, only to turn around and repeat. The hand that wasn’t holding the phone was waving around. He ended one call, pulled the phone away from his ear, and dialed another without breaking his stride.

I shook my head, clearing the image as I pulled the locked bag from the bottom of my desk. The Russian had insisted that I keep one in the office. I waited until my computer loaded and then made a copy of the security tapes. Throwing the thumb drive into the bag, I deleted everything. The tapes would still run, but there would be nothing from the past, in case there was something incriminating.

Pulling the hard drive to the computer, I grabbed my laptop and set them both in the bag, turning the lock. My purse was in a drawer near the bottom of the desk, and I placed it on top of everything else. I had one phone call to make, and then I’d be ready to leave.

“Patéras,” I said into the phone when he answered.

“Toula.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “Is everything alright?” I’d never heard worry seep into my father’s tone before, and it took me a minute to find my voice.

“Yes, everything is fine,” I responded, keeping it simple in case we were the next target.

“Did our family guest find you? He was looking earlier.” My father knew the Russian was here. My eyes instantly went back to the figurestill pacing. There would always be some sort of trouble around the corner, but this man was mine. He had always been mine, and I wasn’t about to let him go for a second time.

“He’s offered me a place to stay this week.” I didn’t want my father worried when I didn’t show at the compound later.

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