Page 135 of For a Price

“You have to answer,”Katerina says with a giggle that’s so pure I crack a grin. “Zver, you’re cheating!”

“Kitty cat, how am I cheating? I did answer. An answer you don’t like is still an answer.”

She gives an exasperated shake of her head and rolls onto her back. “Only Roman Volkova would consider ‘I don’t know’ an answer. Minus two points!”

“Who made you the judge, hmmm?” I growl, running my fingers along her sides.

She squirms as if tempted to giggle again but resists the urge.

We’re lying in bed in the late hours of the morning enjoying some much needed time together. My men have already started buzzing my phone with requests that I head to the war room for more briefings. As the hours wind down for what will likely be our final mission against the pakhan and sovietnik, it’s imperative that everything is planned out.

For my men to know the tactical ins and outs of what we’ll do.

But I’ve chosen Katerina above all else.

I’ve decided that I needed the extra hour or two with her, which could be a foolish mistake. The man I was before I met herwould consider it stupid. He would call me weak for choosing to spend time with a woman rather than use these hours to plan for what will be the toughest battle of my life.

I’m no longer that man, closed off to any human side of himself. The violent, almost feral beast who saw only the bratva as his life.

I’ve grown into a man who has fallen in love with a woman and who treasures moments like these. Simple, small moments between the two of us when no one else is around. They’ve become integral to what fuels me, cementing how crucial it is that I destroy the pakhan.

If I fail…

The burden weighs so heavily that I block out any thoughts about what could happen. I’ll surely die—which I would be fine with if it were an honorable death in the throes of battle—but it’s what would happen to Kat that makes my muscles clench with unease.

She would suffer in unimaginable ways.

The pakhan would see to that.

He wouldn’t have enough decency to end it quick and kill her.

It would be worse than that—he would make sure she was kept alive just so he could use her as a trophy.

Losing this war is not an option. It’s not something I can let happen. Even if I weren’t around for the true devastating effects.

Katerina seems to sense what I do as she’s so playful in bed, like she’s aware this might be the last time we’re afforded this opportunity.

This is the last memory we might be making together.

“Roman,” she whines. Her dark, imploring eyes meet mine. “Please just answer the question.”

I cup her soft cheek and place a kiss on her lips. “I’ve told you. I have never imagined myself as those things. So I’ve never thought about it.”

“You mean you’ve never wanted childrenever?”

“Would you want a miniature me running around?”

A little smile forms at the corner of her lips. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“I’m more than enough for the world. It couldn’t handle a second one of me.”

“You’re soft on the inside, Zver. A mini me would have you melting all over.”

“Devochka.”

“Ya shuchu?*,” she murmurs in her best attempt at Russian.

My arms slip around her waist to roll her onto her side and closer to me. “So you have been learning.”

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