Page 17 of King of Malice

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It’s the thick, blonde hair and the big blue eyes, the perfection of her features, the generous lines of her curves.

I love her confidence and the way she squares her shoulders and tackles problems. Smart and sassy, she’s this perfect combination of sweet and competent that drives me wild.

But even more than that, I love the way she touched my daughter, the way every line in her body softened when her eyes met Anna’s.

I told milaya I was a quick decision-maker, and that is the absolute truth. In that moment, I made a decision. She’s going to be mine.

My wife and mother to my daughter.

I’m going to wrap her in a protective bubble so tight, she’ll stop being afraid.

Before I was forced into my father’s business, I studied the brain and the effects of trauma. I know exactly how to help my little milaya.

There are a few problems, however, I’m going to need to address first. Well, really, there is only one. And it’s not her past. That will just take patience and care. I’ve got both.

But my father. The head of the Ivanov Bratva. He’s an issue that cannot be set aside.

I look down at my hands, covered in Bratva tattoos, permanent evidence of where my loyalties are supposed to lie. I received them on the day I was supposed to receive my post graduate degree from Stanford University. They are meant to be a constant reminder of his power over me.

I don’t say this lightly…I’d kill him if I could. A sadistic fuck who is a true and diagnosable narcissist, he has no heart or soul, he’s tortured his own children for years.

I’ve spent years rewiring my own mind to undo his cruelty and malice. There is nothing in that man worth saving.

And I’m fairly certain he’d kill me too. I think he’s been trying. Stirring trouble in Las Vegas with powerful men who might very well do the job for him. Is that his plan? I’m guessing, yes.

Originally, I was sent here to do his bidding in Las Vegas. Buy the casinos that he uses to wash his money, oversee the drug trade that makes him a hefty profit.

I agreed on one condition. I got to take over the sex trade completely. Reluctantly, my father agreed. If he likes to mistreat his children, with women, he’s a filthy animal.

So, I wash his money, run his drugs, and in exchange, in one corner of the world, I keep the women who work for us safe. And a few of them, I can help.

No woman participates in an act she doesn’t choose. Activities remain on site so guards can intervene if necessary.

It’s not much when it comes to my father, but it’s something. Some part I can control.

Like I said, I’d kill him if I could, but I haven’t seen him in five years or more, he guards himself against me.

And he lords the safety of my two sisters over me to keep me in check. But that’s going to end soon enough. I’m about to make the first major move in my end game, checkmate on my father.

I push up, stretching. What Ava doesn’t understand is I need time too. Time to eliminate my father as a threat to her happiness and mine.

Time to save my sistersfrom his tyranny.

Which means we can have as much phone sex as she likes, slowly build to a physical relationship.

No one knows how badly abuse can affect a woman like I do. My father broke my mother until she was nothing but a shell of a person.

I’ll guard my daughter, save my sisters, and I’ll fix my little milaya’s broken wings. I don’t bother putting my shirt back on as I stride into the hall. I hear Anna fussing and I head into her room, reaching down on her toddler bed to rub her back while she sleeps.

She was pulling her ear this afternoon and I’m worried she might have an infection setting in.

I comfort her with soft words in Russian before I rise again, heading to my room. Relaxed as I am, I may as well get some sleep in case Anna is up in the night.

Just as I’ve stepped into my room, my phone buzzes in my pocket. It’s not uncommon for me to receive calls at night, but one of my men wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t an emergency.

But as I pull the phone from my pocket, Ava’s name appears on the screen.

Answering the call, I’m smiling before I’ve even brought the phone to my ear. “Miss me already, milaya?”