Page 6 of The Bratva's Sold Bride

Chapter 3 - Dimitry

It had been a while since I had a sleepless night, and never over any woman before, but I tossed and turned, worrying about Olivia. By the time the dawn rolled around, I was determined to talk to her and get more specifics out of her, certain I could help if I knew more.

Rurik Kuzmin wasn’t anyone I would have wanted to owe money to, but even that bastard could be dealt with if only she’d fill me in on how bad it was. The pain and futility in her eyes at the coffee shop yesterday were a big part of why I hadn’t been able to get a single bit of rest.

I had been lucky to have a strong father, who raised all of us to have honor and take responsibility for our own mistakes. And to never let a family member take the fall for something we did. Olivia’s father’s actions disgusted me, and I had a bad feeling he was going to coerce her to pay off his bad loans with the ample salary she worked so hard for.

There was no talking myself out of it; I was in too deep once tears had glistened in her chocolate brown eyes, and pink circles of embarrassment had emblazoned themselves on her pretty cheeks. It was all I could do to keep from running after her when she fled from the coffee shop, clearly regretting opening up to me even a little bit.

Ever since she started as Max’s assistant, I had recognized that there was something special about Olivia, but working with her for the last few months had made me see just how perfect she was in every way.

It didn’t take long until I was thinking about her way too much, to the point that I was comparing her to other womenand eventually gave up casual hookups because no other woman could compare.

It had to be Olivia.

The idea of not seeing her nearly every day if she went back to LA because of some bullshit her father got her into was hitting me hard. Not to mention what it must be doing to her, having to give up a job she loved and excelled at.

Yeah, I had it bad for her, but I’d been pushing those feelings down since she was Max’s employee. There were just too many hurdles to overcome to consider pursuing her.

Until now.

Now, she was fair game and I wasn’t going to give up. Certainly wasn’t going to let her take the fall for something her father did. Family loyalty could be a double-edged sword if it was wielded improperly and I knew her well enough to know she was as loyal as any of my siblings when it came to family. It was just a shame her father didn’t deserve it.

Since there was no use rushing to the morning meeting at Max’s office, I forced myself to have a big room service breakfast to keep up my energy. It felt like I was about to face something big and needed to be ready for it, even if that something was just a cute and curvy little assistant with a stubborn streak. I could be just as stubborn and wouldn’t quit until she told me every last detail of what was bothering her.

When it was finally time to head into the city, Max was already there, deep in some paperwork that normally would have been Olivia’s domain, and it was clear he was hating every second of it. Olivia herself was nowhere to be seen, but she might have just been on her coffee run, so I kept quiet. No reason to let Max know how far gone I was.

When she still hadn’t arrived by the time we had to leave for a meeting, I finally spoke up. “What about Olivia? Who’s going to take notes?”

He handed me a tablet with a grimace. “I was hoping you could cover it. Brooke has a class this morning but she said she could fill in for the afternoon meeting.”

“But what about Olivia?” I repeated. “She was supposed to finish out the week, right?”

He shrugged. “I haven’t been able to get a hold of her.”

“What the hell? Shouldn’t you be a little more concerned when your assistant of two years doesn’t show up and you can’t reach her?”

“There might be more to it,” Max said with a long sigh. “I’m waiting to hear from Aleks. When I told him she had resigned, he admitted he was growing suspicious of her father.”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all, but still didn’t want to tip my hand with what Olivia had shared with me in confidence. We were currently in a stable place with the Kuzmins, who had been trying to destroy us for at least eight years. Rurik was a loose cannon, ready to pop off and start a new war at the least bit of provocation. I liked things to be peaceful, but I didn’t have enough information to drag our arch-enemies into this yet to risk shaking things up.

We headed down to wait for the car and once we were outside, I stepped aside to scroll through my phone for Olivia’s number. I had it since we worked so closely together on some of the new projects Max and I were involved with, but I’d never called her outside of work reasons before. Thought about it plenty of times, but this was the first.

No answer. Not on the second or third try, either.

Now I was regretting my decision not to follow her home last night, because I didn’t know her exact apartment. I hadn’t yet gone that far off the deep end. Now, I was right there at the edge and ready to jump. Deciding not to waste time, I told Max I was going to have to duck out of the morning meeting, and then jumped in my car and made a beeline for LA.

I wanted answers and wasn’t messing around trying to get them when Olivia might be in real trouble. It was time to go straight to the source.

Chapter 4 - Olivia

As soon as I was done packing the few belongings I couldn’t live without, I grabbed a few hours of restless sleep, not sure what the next day might have in store for me. Facing my father in the best of times required me to have as clear a head as possible.

Waking up with a start well before dawn, I got in my car and headed north, keeping my mind as blank as possible as I raced along the freeway toward my impending doom.

It was five AM when I arrived at the house I grew up in. It was a nice enough house in a safe, homey neighborhood, but it was mortgaged to the hilt, so no help this time in paying off Papa’s current debts.

I parked on the curb and sat in the driver’s seat, staring at the bougainvillea bush outside my old bedroom window, overgrown like the lawn that was badly in need of watering. I hadn’t always dreaded coming here so much, but that was a long time ago, so long it seemed like I might have imagined it altogether. A ragged sigh dragged out of me as I finally pulled myself from the car and trudged over the weeds, popping through the gravel path.

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