Page 17 of Bratva Daddies for the Single Mom

“Wait.” Annie held up both hands. “I know all of your names now, and I know you’re Ilya.” She pointed at him. “But which of you is Viktor and which is Fyodor?”

Ah, so Ilya had given her names but nothing else? Interesting.

I rested a palm over my heart. “I am Viktor.”

“That makes you Fyodor.” Annie tapped her finger to her temple. “It’s nice to officially meet you and put names to the faces. When Ilya kept telling Mr. Kent about Viktor not being pleased, I thought he meant you.” A slim finger pointed in my direction. “Oh, Ilya, you forgot to tell him about Mr. Kent disrespecting his name.”

“I did not forget,” Ilya growled.

“No?” The silent tilt of her head came with a sudden dawning, causing that O shape to appear on her lips. “You were waiting to tell him. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” I would get the whole story from Ilya later. For now, knowing Annie was safe and sound within my building brought enough closure. “Go.” I waved them off, knowing damned well that I was not going to be able to stay away for long.

Ilya led Annie from the room, the two of them leaving much more calmly than they’d entered. The deafening silence of her absence worked through me. I crossed to the desk with a curse and tunneled my hands through my hair. “I want to know everything about Kent and that bastard cousin of his. If the man so much as snores, I want to know. If he even breaths wrong in public, it’s to be handled.”

“Of course.” Fyodor remained on the other side of my desk. He didn’t bother moving or even looking at me when I turned and paced to the windows. Where would Ilya take Annie? I should have asked, should have demanded to know where she was at all times.

“He’ll take her to the sixth floor.” Fyodor picked up the glass paperweight on my desk and tossed it from hand to hand. “The room is quiet and secluded. It also has only one security camera.”

I knew the room he mentioned. The camera fed straight into my personal files. The room in question was one Ilya used for more sensitive subject matter. The thought of Annie in that place where violence often occurred raised an alarm within my mind. What if Ilya frightened her? It was not a legitimate concern. If his snapping a man’s arm did not have her running for the hills, then she would be fine giving the man a massage. She had accomplished far more risqué acts the night of the auction. “We should be there.”

I fisted my hands and rested them on the windowsill. The sight of the city usually calmed me. Today it infuriated. This wasmycity. My world. I had enough power to take over anything. Any business. Any person. They all caved eventually. Not Annie.I’d offered her a year’s salary for a single night, and she’d all but spat in my face.

“She’s not a woman to be used and discarded.” Back and forth. Back and forth. Fyodor tossed the glass ball. He concentrated on the movement.

“You think I would discard her?”

Silence.

I growled out a curse. “Answer me.”

“I worry.” He set the orb down and ran his palms down his thighs before standing.

He was one of my two best friends. One of two men who knew me from the inside out. They had been there for every moment of my life, from the highest to the lowest. He and Ilya knew me better than anyone. To hear his doubt gave me pause.

“I worry that she will discover who we are. What we do. I worry she will leave.” Fyodor spoke my own fears into existence.

I clasped his shoulder, having moved from the window as soon as he started talking. “Then we should make sure she knows the real us before discovering the rest.” I had a restlessness, a protectiveness, that rose within me when I thought of Annie. I’d not be able to rest or concentrate as long as this primal need to be near her persisted. Now that we’d found her, I hesitated to let even a sliver of space come between us.

10

FYODOR

Watching Viktor eye the door like he wanted to obliterate it the way Ilya destroyed punching bags brought out a rare but genuine smile. I covered it before he turned my way, ducking my head and retrieving the paperweight from his desk for no reason other than it gave my hands busy work. He’d not appreciate my mirth, and I had no intentions of letting him discover I found him amusing. He lacked his father’s volatile temper, but that would not save me if he took offense.

The look on his face bore a resemblance to his father. It was a rare enough sight that I figured Annie must be the cause behind his sudden shift in demeanor. The room stilled with her absence. A single truth welled up as Viktor shoved both hands through his hair and marched back and forth from the window to the door.

He glared at the door Ilya and Annie had left through. “We can convince her.” The assurance in his voice wavered.

I’d seen that look only once before. The possessiveness in it reminded me of the day Viktor took over his father’s business, the day he became Pakhan and all that came with the title.

“Then what?” I allowed a sliver of a question to leave my lips. Since it did not question his actions but asked for clarification, there was no offense.

Viktor’s jaw worked in a series of grinding motions. He sank onto the arm of the nearest couch and laced his fingers together between his knees. “We convince her to stay. I want her, Fyodor.” Theforeverremained unsaid, but I heard it echo in my heart, nonetheless.

Surprise twitched across my face. I smoothed it before he noticed, but his attention locked onto the door with such intensity that nothing else mattered. Viktor had sworn off marriage decades ago. Things changed. We all knew and understood that. But not with Viktor. He’d declared the business would pass down to his nephew, his sister’s son, when the time came. My Pakhan had no interest in anything other than one-night stands. We were not meant for love and forever. We were too cold, too hard, too broken for such frivolous emotions.

“She is spectacular.” I had no trouble agreeing with his wants. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to keep her. “I am surprised you would risk bringing her into this.” I returned the glass paperweight to its rightful place once more and spread my arms wide toward the edges of the room. “It is not for the faint of heart.”

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