Page 87 of Cruel Russian Pakhan
Vera, Kira, and I burst out laughing.
“Katya, I swear, you’ve got these men wrapped around your finger. They’ve changed,” Vera mused.
“Maybe at home,” I said, pulling the chocolates from the bag and handing some to Vera, then Kira. “But out there? Not so much. If anything, I think they’re even more badass now, like they have something to prove. They don’t want anyone thinking Lev’s gone soft.”
“I think it’s amazing,” Kira said, her eyes dreamy. “How they just switch. Like, boom, stone-cold killers in the streets, doting husbands at home.”
“I wouldn’t call it a clean switch,” I said, smirking. “Lev’s still controlling and possessive as hell. He’s just…gentler about it. At least outside the bedroom.” I winked.
Vera and Kira exchanged a look, then burst out laughing again.
When Kira composed herself, she dug into her handbag. “Before I forget, I need to give you something.” She pulled out an envelope and handed it to me.
I looked at it confused. “What is it?”
“A letter from Zahkar.”
I gasped, but before I could reply, Vera cut in. “Wait, Zahkar gave you a letter?” She dug into her handbag and pulled out an envelope. Her eyes lit up excitedly. “Yegor gave me one to give to you as well.”
“Open them!” Kira said frantically.
She shifted from the armchair to the armrest of the sofa next to me.
I quickly opened both envelopes and unfolded both letters, reading Zahkar's first, then Yegor's. By the time I had finished both letters, tears were streaming down my face.
“Oh God, Katya,” Vera cried. “We’re sorry, we should've read them before we gave them to you. I didn't…”
I shook my head. “They want to meet me and get to know me more. But Artyom is watching their every move and tracking their phones. So they wrote me letters.”
Kira sank beside me, halfway off the sofa, but she didn't seem to care. She held me as I cried.
“Gosh, I'm sorry, I feel like such a wuss. If I'm not always hungry, I'm always crying.”
“It's okay,” she whispered. “I've got you.”
I was still in Kira's arms when I heard Lev's voice behind me. “What's wrong?”
Kira stepped away and Lev gently shifted me and put me to sit on his lap.
“It's nothing.” I snuggled into him.
“Don't tell me it's nothing, baby, you're crying.” He wiped away my remaining tears.
“Yegor and Zahkar wrote me letters. They both want to get to know me better. But they're being heavily monitored by Artyom.”
Lev kissed the side of my neck. “And how did you get these letters?”
Vera and Kira both raised their hands and Kira smiled. “Guilty as charged.”
“Then you write to them, and they write to you, until we can figure out how to have a physical meeting.” He spoke to Vera then: “But, please, tell them to destroy Katya’s letters as soon as they've read them. We don't know what Artyom will do if he finds out that any of you are communicating with Katya. You guys mean a lot to her, and there's only so much I can do to protect you. We have to be extra cautious. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Hey guys!” Mariya’s voice came from the doorway. I looked up from Lev’s shoulder. She had shopping bags in her hand, and so did Ninel.
They quickly made their way over to us and kissed me on the cheek before greeting Vera and Kira.
“The guys are bringing in the rest,” Ninel said over her shoulder as she took Mariya’s bag along with hers to the table across the room.
