Page 49 of Claimed Bratva Virgin

Urvan wasn’t done talking, and that was the only reason I hadn’t sprang into action yet. Red clouded my vision, and rage simmered beneath my skin. When Urvan mentioned Rossi, I frowned, and beside me, Tikhon noticed. He looked away from the match, keeping his eyes on me.

“Send me her location now.”

The call dropped, and Tikhon stayed glued to my side. “Problem with Rocky?”

Fuck Rocky. I couldn’t answer Tikhon, mainly because my mind was screwed, and the English words in my brain were fried. When I spoke, my anger flowed in Russian, and it was directed at the two lunatics in the ring who were still going at each other.

Vasili was roaring and gesticulating wildly with his arms. “Maybe if you took good care of her and provided for her needs, she wouldn’t have to be sucking cocks for a living. Did ya ever think about that?”

“Son of a—”

Maxim dived in for a kill, and I chose that moment to show myself.

“Enough!”

There was some bitching from the other men when the fighters paused and turned to me, breathing fast and heavy.

The muscles in my body burned with a rage I was not accustomed to. I was not only attracted to Leo, but I felt protective of her, too. And needed to get to her immediately with the help of these clowns. If they didn’t get the fuck out of there, I was going to pummel the shit out of both of them.

“You.” I glared at Maxim, ignoring his swollen face shining with blood and sweat. “I don’t fucking care if he screwedyour sister ten different ways up to Mars. Get the fuck out here, and have the men moving to the location I’ll send you. Vasili, you’re with Tikhon. Stick with him and do whatever shit he tells you to.”

“Yes, Boss.”

They glared at each other before dragging their bruised bodies out of the ring. Between them, Maxim had it worse. There were swollen red and purple patches everywhere on his body. He winced and limped while flexing his jaw as he cleared the floor.

And before we legged it toward the door with the rest of the men, Tikhon leaned in with a smugness I wanted to wipe off his face. “It’s the girl, isn’t it?”

Glaring at him, I didn’t answer.

But Tikhon was feeling awfully excited because he wasn’t deterred. Leaning in again, he stretched his hand out and flexed it. “You owe me six hundred bucks,Zver.”

Chapter 14 – Leonora

Rapid and urgent knocking on the glass startled the shit out of me, and when I raised my head, I didn’t expect to see Rafayel and Tikhon, and a bunch of other men, breathing heated fogs down my window.

Rafayel pulled back, only to say something to Tikhon that I couldn’t catch on to, before leaning back in and motioning that I wind the glass down. I unclamped my palms and touched my head, chest, and shoulders before rolling the glass down.

The look in his eyes was unbelievable. “Were you...were youpraying?”

“No. It was the Shadow Clone Jutsu.”

He couldn’t be more baffled. “What?”

I shook my head. “Never mind.” I was going to pretend that my heart wasn’t racing a thousand miles per hour at the sight of him, with his head lowered through my window. “The question should be, what areyoudoing here?”

“Saving you, that’s what. And you’re welcome.”

Once in a while, there were times I had visions, more like flashbacks, of a woman talking to me, smiling down on me, and putting my palms together, then drawing signs of the cross. I’d hear her whisper in my ears that whenever I got scared or felt alone, I should do what she’d shown me, and I’d feel better. Her voice was calm and soothing, like birds chirping over the rush of a waterfall.

I never saw her face clearly. A blinding light always shone behind her, like the harsh rays of the golden sun, leaving nothing but her laughter and smile for me to hold onto.

Sometimes, I’d thought she was a figment of my imagination, a dream, or a reflash from a movie I’d seen, until a few days after I’d turned thirteen and saw an old photograph of the exact same woman in Papa’s room. She was beautiful andlooked happy, flung over Papa’s shoulder, clad in a red polka-dotted bikini. She had jet-black hair resembling silk cascading down her back and piercing green eyes that reached the depths of my soul, with fair skin holding an unearthly glow like an angel.

I’d shown Papa, and he almost scorched me with deathly glares. He never talked about her. But our oldest maid knew who she was and how she was murdered in her sleep, the night of her and Papa’s marriage anniversary by a rival syndicate, four years after she gave birth to me.

So, yes, I’d been praying because—I’ll admit—I got scared and felt alone, and it made me feel closer to my mother. Because I wasn’t prepared to face the reality of being pregnant or an encounter with Luca fricken’ Rossi. Because today had been the shittiest day, and I wasn’t sure how much longer my strength could hold on.

But shit, I didn’t expect an answer that fast. And I certainly didn’t expect my mother to send Rafayel as comfort.

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