Page 44 of Brooklyn Bratva

I looked up at her from where I was crouching, seeing in her eyes that she was prepared for the worst.

I let out a slow breath. “Don’t ask, unless you’re sure you want to know, because if you don’t like it, there’s no walking away.”

If it came down to it – if she was on the point of turning me in, and taking out the Brooklyn Bratva along with me – I was duty bound to end her. To make sure her body never saw the light of day. I never wanted her to look at another man apart from me again, but I didn’t want it to be because of that.

She walked over to me and slid her hands over my shoulders, her perfect fingers finding the knotted stress in my muscles that all the rounds against a punching bag in the world couldn’t work out. I hadn’t known I wanted a life like the one I could have with her, but now I did, and the thought of having it snatched away was intolerable.

“I’m not going to walk away, Ivan. Whatever you’ve done, whatever you’re part of, it’s part of you. And I want to help you sort it out.”

Relief burned in me and I let my neck soften as her fingers worked over me, melting away the tension like the sun turning butter to a puddle of molten gold. Her lips dusted against the back of my neck, and my cock stiffened at the brush of them against my skin. It took her hardly anything at all to get me rock solid and I doubted that was ever going to change.

I stood up, turning to face her, because I needed to look her in the eye when I shattered her illusion of me forever.

“I was sent here by the Bratva to control Brooklyn in return for passage over here for me and Mama. She gets the treatment she needs, and they pay me to manage their business interests.”

Becca nodded. Her eyes were wide but she didn’t look scared. “What do you do for them?”

“Whatever needs to be done.”

“Have you – killed people?”

I gritted my teeth. “You don’t need to know the details, Becca.”

“Yes. I do. I don’t want to spend my life with a man who’s pretending to be one thing and living a whole other life I know nothing about. I know you. You wouldn’t hurt anyone without a good reason.”

“Becca, I do what needs to be done to keep us on top of our business interests here. My loyalty is to Moscow. The Bratva has done more for me than any country, any government, ever could. I owe them Mama’s life, and mine as well. So yes, I have killed for them. I have murdered scumbags who think they can treat Brighton Beach like their personal ashtray. I have protected the associations I’ve built up here, in the community, and I’ve kept the right people on the right side of the cops. I’m not the hero you think I am.”

Becca reached up, stretching on her tiptoes so she could pull my face down towards hers. “I never liked you because you were a hero, Ivan. I liked you because you’ve always been so real. I know you’re no saint. But everything you’ve said – that all sounds like a good reason to me. If you’re in this, then I’m in this, Ivan. Don’t you dare try to do this on your own. You need me. I know you do. And I’m right by your side.”

I kissed her harder than I’ve kissed anyone in my life, driving my mouth against hers with a ferocity I didn’t know I had in me. She could have turned away and run scared, but instead she’d opened her arms to me without hesitation.

In one swift motion I lifted her up. Her legs wrapped around my sides and she clung to me as I turned her bodily towards the desk. With one swipe of my arm, I cleared the surface, dropping her down onto it.

After this there was no going back, and I never wanted to.

CHAPTER 24

Becca

As Ivan bore down on me, his mouth closing over mine, I knew that whatever he was involved in, I’d willingly stand by his side for the rest of my life. I meant everything I’d said to him. Whatever he’d done, I trusted his reasons were sound.

The show of strength as he picked me up, clear from the ground, made my stomach flip. My nipples were painfully tense, rubbing at the inside of my bra. I clung to him, loving the way he slammed me down against the surface of the desk, like he had to have me, right then and there. He wasn’t holding back any longer, and I loved this side of him even more.

---