Page 63 of Viripotent

Her frozen mask thaws at the edges as she smiles in my periphery.

Looking away from the road, her devious smile is out in full force, and I hold her chin between my thumb and forefinger telling her what we both know.

“It’s my card in that pocket, anyway.”

Her smile dips and she looks away. It’s suspicious as fuck and there’s nothing she could do that would piss me off when it comes to spending money. But my brain works overtime trying to anticipate what she’s done with the insignificant card.

She shakes her head with my hold still on her chin and hesitates in speaking as I look for somewhere to pull over if nothing comes out.

“The bank have blocked it,” she quietly admits.

I haven’t had a call, and she’s all sad, making me want to fucking murder the bank manager. The promise is easy, and I relax knowing it’ll be a quick bloody fix.

“I’ll sort it, give me twenty-four hours.”

The fucker has been given strict instructions not to block any spending on the card or even call me to authorize a single payment. It was done with the intention of stopping her speaking to me, now it’s because of the way her eyes dim.

Keeping hold of her chin when my hand has the urge to go to hers, I focus on the road. I can’t get attached to Inessa like the rest of my family. They’ll have the opportunity to keep her after I’ve done everything I need to, and some fucked-up part of me relaxes at that. They’ll all have each other, and Valentin’s moody ass will break the clause allowing her in their lives.He’ll have someone to tell his tantrums to and the others will maintain their joy in her presence.

As though I’ve conjured him up with my thoughts, Valentin parks up outside the gallery at the same time as me. He’s pissed but not tantrum level, it’s deeper and his fists are balled as he turns spotting us. Nodding my head silently asking what’s happened, he shakes his head once and drops his anger.He doesn’t go inside and walks to Inessa’s door with his gaze fixed on the building. The trouble with raising my brothers means I know their every emotion. He’s hurt, and that’s enough information for me to be on alert. He can burn the place to the ground once Inessa has picked out whatever piece she wants to keep.

He doesn’t say anything to explain his presence as he opens the door and stays beside the ice princess. Neither of them knowthat they were supposed to marry each other, and I can’t see it now. They’d probably kill each other, between Inessa’s demand to be treated as an equal and Valentin’s need to be a cruel prick, they definitely would have murdered one another. It all clicks into place as we enter the gallery and I see a familiar head of hair. Daniela Carvalho hasn’t aged a day, and she’s still in fucking overalls like she’s been plucked from the past, chasing my brothers around.

She slowly turns, taking in the items on display as my brother doesn’t make any attempt to disguise his hate. He avoids her and guides Inessa to the opposite corner before she can spot him, and I keep my steps silent until I’m stood behind her. Her jaw goes slack when she sees me. There’s fear in her eyes, more than when she was a teenager sneaking into the house and her choked question has me on alert.

“How did you find me?”

If she was hiding, she’s doing a shit job staying in our territory, but I don’t voice her obvious fuck up and send Valentin a message to stay by Inessa’s side.

Gesturing for Dani to walk ahead, she twists her fingers together, being strange as fuck, and loses all composure when we reach the loading area at the back.

“I didn’t know what Carly did, I swear. It was her and Leno’s idea because they were in debt with some MC and she said you beat the shit out of her and you kind of did that at the party with Zoe and Chelsea.”

Holding my hands flat so she can see I don’t have a weapon and shuts the fuck up, doesn’t make her calm down and there are tears in her eyes as she starts hyperventilating.

I don’t give a fuck about her sister. Viktor will never know his mother and he’s a good kid. He’s happy and never asks after her. He has the childhood no other Vartanov could dream of.He’s safe, and no one gets to change that or bring shit into his life.

Dani folds in half, holding her knees, and manages to get her breathing back in order. She was a sweet kid, a bit wild with Vitali’s influence, but she hasn’t asked after her nephew which isn’t like the kid who basically lived in our house and became part of the family. She was the only one who would attempt to clean up after herself when I gave them their breakfast and she even managed to get my filthy brothers to do the same on a few occasions. Keeping all emotion or threat out of my voice takes work and her head snaps up at my question.

“What did Carly do?”

There’s nothing other than confusion covering her features and she speaks slowly like it’s a question.

“They stole from you?”

It’s laughable that she thinks her riddled sister and Leno’s drugged-out ass could take a cent from me. They wouldn’t be able to rob a vault if the doors were open and a helicopter was waiting for them. I put her at ease, and she straightens.

“I wasn’t looking for you, my fiancée wanted to buy some art shit for the house. You’re safe Dani.”

She looks like a kid again and I half expect Vitali to come running up behind her screaming he’s got his girl back. It’s unconventional how hard he latched onto her, but I don’t think he spent a night alone since Dani started sneaking through his window and staying in his bed.

It’s like looking at Viktor when he manages to convince Dima into whatever trick he wants him to perform that day. Shaking the thoughts away when he’s not her nephew anymore, I leave her to do whatever she needs and go back inside.

Inessa is stood at the end of the hallway sipping champagne with murder in her eyes directed towards me. If I checked into an inpatient facility, there would be more mental stability around me than there currently is. Valentin is like her anger coach, matching her expression over her shoulder, and whoeverhexed me at birth better be in hell when I get there, or I’ll fucking drag them down with me to pay for this shit.

He waits for me to be at her side before he goes to chase after Dani. The frost settles in immediately as Inessa gives me her back. She could make the arctic a summer vacation with her cold shoulder as she goes through the pieces displayed. There’s no conversation or stupid remark, but I’m not happy about it. I’ve been telling her to shut her mouth, and she chooses the worst moment to listen.Or she’s fucked with my head that I crave the sound of her voice because I’ve been forced to endure it so frequently.

She steps away from my palm as I go to put my hand on her lower back. I’ve barely fucking touched her, and she’s forgetting her ass is still red from her insolence. There are too many people around to grab her and the press would fucking love seeing the Maximoff Media heiress being manhandled. Her red ass is going to be fucking sore for weeks and she’ll struggle to sit at her own wedding with the way she’s behaving.

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