Page 8 of Bratva Daddies for the Single Mom

“Wow.” Tina yanked the pillow away from me. “You must really like them. I’ve not heard you talk like that since before the twins.”

Right. My one-night stand in college that led to my precious baby girls. I had no idea who their father was. I’d met him at a frat party, fallen into bed for a good time, and found out I was pregnant two months later. Like last night, we’d not exchanged names, numbers, or any kind of personal information. Though… in my nervousness, I’d given them my first name. A completely common, unoriginal first name that belonged to a few thousand other women in Chicago.

Even if they wanted to, they’d never be able to find me. The driver who’d dropped me off had no clue where I lived. If they asked him, he’d lead them to the coffee shop. And Annie wasn’t my legal name. My lease, my job, all my government documents listed me as Ann McIntosh. I’d picked up the nickname Annie in grade school and it stuck.

“Fuck.” I punched my face back into the pillow. “Tell me I didn’t fall head over heels for three guys after one night in bed.”

Tina snorted. “Girl, you fell.”

Damn it. “You’re supposed to lie to me and make me feel better.”

“I’m not that friend. Truth or nothing.” She patted my shoulder. “At least they were hot and you had an amazing time.”

Yeah. Too bad I’d never see them again. They were the first men I’d been interested in seeing again since that night in college. Of course, they were off limits, unavailable, and completely out of my league. That was what made them safe and desirable.

5

FYODOR

Watching Viktor and Ilya pace back and forth from the window to the glass-top table and back again caused pressure to build in the base of my skull. I rubbed the tension and cracked my neck from side to side. “What do you want to do with Miles Kent?” I spat his name.

Ilya followed it up with a string of Russian curses that thickened his accent and dropped the temperature in the room ten degrees.

We’d been locked away in Viktor’s office for hours. The wood-paneled walls closed in with every breath, though there were only us three in the room. Windows along two walls gave us a view of the city, while no one had the ability to look in on us from the surrounding buildings. I took security seriously, and no one was going to find us through something as simplistic as forgetting to black out the office windows. They were also bulletproof.

Viktor grunted and paced back to the window. He stopped there and crossed his arms, pulling his suit jacket taut over his shoulders. “Forget Kent. For now,” he added with a glare in my direction. “What about Annie?”

I met his glare with a steady look. “Kent has fallen behind on his loan payments. It is a darkness we cannot allow.” I hoped to steer him back to the purpose of the meeting.

“Do not tell me what we can and cannot allow.” He jammed a thumb into his chest. “It ismymoney.Mycompany. Kent will be dealt with in time.” He leaned toward me, a move that most found threatening but I merely scoffed at. “I want Annie.”

The contract we put together for the auction guaranteed anonymity. “We have no way of finding her,” I reminded him for the twelfth time today. Probably the hundredth time in the three weeks since our night with the golden goddess. “We have no legal way of finding her.”

Viktor arched one dark brow and smirked at me. “Since when do we bother ourselves with legal recourse?”

Ilya dropped into a leather chair at the executive table and spun it around and around. He’d been worse than a caged tiger for these last weeks, the loss of Annie putting him in a depressive spiral that lingered on the cusp of violence. “They are your rules.” He slammed both feet onto the floor, stopping the chair and throwing himself back to his feet.

“You pace like animals.” I maintained my controlled belligerence, fronted by a cold demeanor that allowed me to direct both men who tended to give in to their fiery tempers. I’d seen Viktor destroy entire companies because of a supposed slight. His father had been ruthless but also somehow honorable, and he’d passed both traits to his son. “We have always been straightforward in our dealings when contracts such as this are involved.”

“Bah.” Viktor slashed a hand through the air. “What good is power if it is not wielded from time to time, eh?”

“Power, yes.” I tapped my palm on my bicep in a steady rhythm that mimicked my heartbeat. “We implemented theanonymity clauses to protect ourselves and the businessmen who pay for the pleasure and freedom of anonymous sex.”

“Ilya could find her.” Viktor bypassed all my objections with the single statement. He sat on the edge of the table, his hands in his lap and one foot dangling. He swung his foot back and forth. “Rules that protect us are important. Finding Annie is more important. The way she was with us…”

He needed to say no more to bring back the rush of memories. I’d never experienced a night like that. Not ever in my forty-one years. I ran a hand through my graying hair, grateful that the discoloration peppered my temples and gave me a distinguished look instead of one of true aging. My father had done the same, yet another thing I’d taken after the man who worked alongside Viktor’s father as his right-hand man. As I was Viktor’s right hand. We were not so different. In temperament, yes, but not in the ways that truly mattered. We wanted the things we wanted, and no amount of consolation or talking would change our minds.

The broad expanse of Ilya’s back hunched as he placed his elbows on his knees and locked his hands together, resting his chin on his massive knuckles. “I can find her. You have sent me on harder tasks than this.”

Victory shone in Viktor’s eyes. He was the Pakhan. His decisions were final, but I still had a chance to convince him to see reason, despite my own deep longing to bring Annie back to us. “What if she does not want to be found? The contract is meant to protect her as well.” Our life was not for everyone. We all had blood on our hands. Perhaps Ilya more than most, but I had taken my fair share with little to no regret. “She might have chosen to go through with itbecauseit was a one-time thing.” I spoke slowly, carefully, watching Viktor for any change. “We could continue visiting the auctions. See if she returns.”

Ilya flipped me off, his scowl saying more than the ‘fuck you’ of his fingers. “You’re a self-serving bastard like the both of us.” He stood and crossed the room, stopping directly in front of me. The big bastard blocked out the entire room when he did that, a fact he knew and used to his advantage. “Look me in the eye and tell me you do not wish to see her again.”

I pressed my lips tight. One rule among the three of us—we never lied. Silence was my best response, though it incriminated me as much as an agreement. “We should not break the rules just because we can.”

“We are rich.” Viktor pounded a fist to his chest. “We are rich because the rules do not apply to us. Not to Russian Bratva.”

“Viktor.” I shook my head in a slow wag. Not a one of us regretted this life. We knew nothing else. “What if she does not wish to be found? She signed the contract.”

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