Page 93 of British Bratva: A Russian Mafia Romance

I shook my head. “I don’t think so, Valentin. Elizabeth wants to be by my side. She wants a proper home.”

“Where will you go?”

“I want to go to Russia.”

Valentin nodded slowly and he took another sip of his drink. “It’s a good place to be, for men like us. But it is always nice to travel. To see the world. You should go to Miami,” he said again, and this time there was a different quality in his voice. Over the years I’d learned to pick out the slightly arrogant tone that seeped into his orders when he had a plan brewing. “For the baby. They have good healthcare. We will pay. It will be… a farewell from Timoshenko. A golden handshake – is this how you say?”

I nodded, but I wasn’t sure whether it was a good thing to be offered all of this. “What are you planning?”

Valentin pulled an entirely unconvincing look of innocence. “I have no plan. I don’t know what you think of me Maxim. I am just a very good boss.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

His smile twinkled. “I do, however, have some property in St Petersburg you may find yourself interested in. For when you want to settle with your new family, after Yelizaveta is ready to travel.”

I cocked my head to one side. “St Petersburg in Stanislav Pavlenko’s territory.”

Valentin shrugged, lips flickering into the slimmest of smiles. “What does this matter to you? You will be retired.”

I leaned in, resting my weight on my folded arms as I looked into the camera at the top of the laptop.

“We’d need protection.”

“Of course. I have a man in mind. He… comes with the house. You will not be inconvenienced.”

“It’s a large problem to solve, for one man, Valentin. Getting rid of Pavlenko. It could get very messy.”

He let out a laugh. “I am not Timoshenko, Maxim. I would simply benefit from some… information while you are making your home in St Petersburg. No wet work. It might benefit from… a woman’s touch.”

I stared at him. Was this the coup I’d been waiting for? Valentin starting to make his move. It was a lot to offer for nothing in return, and I knew him well enough to know he wasn’t doing that.

But I also knew I didn’t need to take him up on it, unless I wanted to. I had enough to relocate and get us settled comfortably. Enough to tide us over while I found work. Elizabeth was a different matter. She’d be limited until she could learn Russian well enough to get by.

It would be very convenient to have a line of work to fall into. I knew Elizabeth would jump at the chance, and as long as I could be there to ensure her safety, everything would be fine. But I had my doubts, it was potentially a pressure-cooker waiting to explode.

Valentin kept his cards close to his chest, who knew whether he had the right people in the right places to execute a smooth, business takeover.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Valentin?”

The man laughed again and knocked back the rest of his glass. “I am offering my friend a beautiful house and a bodyguard to protect his beautiful family, while he relocates to a country he has not set foot in since he was a boy. What is there for me to know? I think that you are seeing things that are not there, Maxim.”

I shook my head, grin rising. “You forget, Valentin. It’s my job to do that.”

He nodded shortly. “And you will not lose that talent, I hope.”

CHAPTER 39

Elizabeth

I woke up as we started our descent, a little bleary but nowhere near as awful as I would have felt if I’d been back in coach, crammed in with everybody else. I yawned, unravelling myself from the blanket and turning the bed back into a seat as the pretty flight attendant asked me to. I looked over to see Maxim smiling at me and he reached out and took my hand.

“I love you, Elizabeth. Both of you.”

My sapphire and diamond ring glinted in the cabin lights and he smoothed my palm over the slight swell of my belly that was only going to grow over the coming months. Out of the window the sun was coming up over the Florida Keys. I never wanted to let go of his hand.

There was something in his voice that struck me deeply and I felt the certainty that everything was going to work out just fine wash over me. It must have been my swirling hormones, because I felt tears welling in my eyes.

“We both love you too.”

The wheels touched down on the runway and I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t realised I’d been holding in. This was everything I ever wanted and London was a place I never had to see again. The future held only brightness and love, and I had with me the only things that really mattered: my husband, my future child and all the pictures of my mother that I’d held onto for so long.

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