Page 106 of Dirty Grovel

“What does that mean?”

I sigh and rake a hand through my hair. “It means I have a team in Las Vegas that forced his hand last night. We had a strategy in place. Scare the shit out of him so that he makes the smart decision and defects to me, informs against the Martineks, and turns over Drew Anton.”

She flinches when she hears her ex’s name but otherwise, she doesn’t comment on the casual name drop. “That’s clearly not what he did, Oleg.”

“I was counting on him to be smart and do the right thing. Clearly, I overestimated his intellect.”

“Icould have told you that if you’d only asked!” she cries, beads of sweat forming on her brow. “I’ve known Paul for years. I know how he operates, how he thinks. Didn’t you think for one moment that I might have something to add to the conversation?”

“I didn’t want to involve you in Bratva business.”

“Why not? I’m going to be a Bratva wife, aren’t I?” she reminds me. “Shouldn’t I know the ropes?”

“Trust me, princess—and I don’t mean this in a bad way—but you don’t have the stomach for it.”

“He has mysister, Oleg!” she seethes. “He didn’t even wait for their blood to dry before he grabbed Sydney and got the hell out of there.”

“Fucking dumbass,” I say. “He’s going to go down with a sinking ship rather than deal with me.”

“I don’t know what he’s going to do. But I don’t see why my sister should pay the price for it. She has nothing to do with any of this.”

“Unfortunately, if you’re involved with a Bratva man, then this kind of thing comes with the territory.”

“Meaning what?” she asks. “I can expect my family to be abducted on a whim? I can expect to be abducted myself if some sick bastard decides he wants to get back at you?”

“That is the way of my world,” I growl. “But I’d rather suffer a thousand more scars like these ones—” I point to my face. “—before I let anything or anyone hurt you.”

“If anything happens to Sydney, thatwillhurt me, Oleg. It’ll destroy me.” She grabs my arm, her nails digging into my flesh through the sleeve. “I’m willing to forgive all the Bratva machinations if you can save my sister.”

“Did she mention where he took her?”

“No. But she did send a location pin,” Sutton says. “I’ll forward it to you now.”

“Good. I will personally go with a secondary team to Vegas. I’ll bring her back to you safely.”

“Oleg, she didn’t want me to tell you. She thought it would be messy, that it would make everything worse if I involved you. She asked me to come alone.”

I’m already shaking my head. “That’s obviously not going to happen.”

“I realize that. All I’m saying is, please be careful. Whatever you do, make sure Sydney gets out of there safely.”

I cup her jaw, forcing her face to mine. “You have my word.”

Then I kiss her. Hard and deep and passionately enough that she stops fighting it.

When I finally break the kiss, her eyes have gone filmy and her lips are rubbed raw.

“Go to Artem and Faye’s place,” I tell her. “Spend the night with them. I don’t want you to be alone while you wait.”

She nods, her expression still laced with worry.

“That’s my girl.” I kiss the top of her head and coax her towards the door. “The team will be waiting at the entrance of the building to take you there.”

I’m dialing the number when she stops at the threshold and spins around. “Oleg?”

“Yes?”

“I keep saying that I need to get my sister back safely.” She swallows, her bottom lip trembling. “But I need to getyouback safely, too.”

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