Page 1 of Bratva's Vow
CHAPTER ONE
MAXIM
The skyline outside my office windows glinted silver blue in the afternoon sun, casting sharp-edged shadows that danced across the piles of paperwork strewn upon my desk. Too beautiful a day to be cooped up in my office. Something I wouldn’t have paid attention to before.
Until Wren.
“Sam, we’ve had this conversation already.” I pinched the bridge of my nose while I paced the width of the floor. “The hold on the Portside project is artificial. I know it. You know it. And I’m not paying a consulting fee to grease hands that were already shaking mine a week ago.”
Sam’s sigh crackled through the speaker. “Maxim, I’m trying to help you here. These zoning delays, they’re coming from somewhere above. Someone’s pushing harder than expected.”
“Then push back harder,” I said, voice flat. “Or get out of the way and let someone else do it.”
“You’re talking about a logistics hub that spans three waterfront blocks. If this doesn’t clear soon, your investors are going to start asking questions.”
“My investors already have answers. They know I don’t lose. Do you?”
A beat of silence.
I knew Sam. Knew his rhythm. He’d always been useful, clever, even. But lately, his hesitation had started to itch. A man who waited to see how the wind shifted wasn’t a man I wanted at my back.
“I’ll lean on the council again,” he muttered. “But I can’t promise they’ll move without a little incentive.”
“Then incentivize them.”
A soft knock sounded at the door.
I turned, and every bit of tension coiling in my shoulders melted.
Wren slipped inside, cheeks flushed, a cup of coffee balanced effortlessly in his hand. He didn’t interrupt. Just padded across the office floor like he belonged here and placed the mug carefully on the corner of my desk.
He met my eyes briefly. Smiled.
I barely resisted the urge to smile back.
Each time I thought about how close I’d come to losing him last week after theincident, my heart clenched. Because he was a better man, he’d forgiven me. Way easier than I’d expected. Would he be as understanding if—when—he found out how much I was keeping from him?
My relationship with Archie remained strained because he thought I coddled Wren too much. That if Wren couldn’t handle me being the Bratva Pakhan, he shouldn’t be with me. But I couldn’t let him go. Not now. Not ever. He was sweet and thoughtful and everything that was good in my extremely dark world.
I’d watched more TV over the past couple of weeks thanI’d had in years. All because of him, something so ordinary became the highlight of my day. When we were at my place, we curled up on the couch while the outside world plotted how to destroy the empire I’d built.
“No, Sam,” I said smoothly into the phone, walking back to my desk and easing into the chair. I placed my hand on Wren’s waist and squeezed him there. Big mistake. Now I wanted my hands all over him. “I don’t want excuses. I want a revised permit timeline by Friday. And if the Department of Urban Development still needs clarification, they can get it from my attorney.”
Wren leaned into me and pressed a kiss to my cheek, then turned away.
I caught his wrist.
Sam kept talking, but the words didn’t register the second I had Wren where I wanted him: his wrist warm in my hand, his eyes curious.
I tugged him down onto my lap.
He settled easily, nestling into the curve of my body, and for a moment, I let myself breathe. He grounded me. Made tough situations seem trivial, even without a solution.
Sam’s voice pulled me back. “…and I assume you’re still planning the ground-breaking announcement in Q3?”
“Of course,” I said smoothly, voice steady, even as Wren tilted his head and kissed the side of my neck. My cock stirred uncomfortably, boring through my trousers, wanting to find Wren’s tight hole. “Unless you plan to give me a reason to delay it.”
Wren laughed quietly under his breath, mischief in his eyes as he ground his ass deliberately over my cock, then rose to his feet.
