Page 123 of Immaculate Corruption (Romanoff Bratva)

I grab my keys and run for the car.

Arya is probably still in the house. Maybe she even heard me leave. But she didn’t come out to ask where I was going and even if she did, I don’t owe her any explanations. Not anymore.

It’s clear everything in my life is in flux right now. The only thing I can control is whether I’m the don of the Romanoff Bratva or not. After today, I intend to be.

* * *

As I wait to see if the intel I’m using is accurate, I have time to wonder if I’m making the right move. She had to have known what her husband planned to do with Lukas. She isn’t innocent. None of us are.

But the moment arrives before I can decide to abort the mission. The door to a boutique shop opens… and Vera steps out.

After she showed up in the kitchen and talked to Arya, I had one of my moles in the NYPD run a search on the plates of the car she arrived in. A little bit of recon later and my soldiers tracked the car here.

And then I followed.

Part of me wonders if this is all a mistake. It seems unlike Ilyasov to be so careless as to let his wife use the same car again and again. She ought to be changing cars, switching bodyguards, throwing any hunters off her scent.

But she didn’t. And their mistake is my gain.

Her belly is huge, but she’s still dressed in a sleek pair of black jeans with a long-sleeved maternity top and some knee-high boots. High heels.

She isn’t paying attention. Her face is buried in her phone, and she’s alone. No guards. No Ilyasov. Just Vera.

A sitting fucking duck.

“Need a ride?”

Vera’s head snaps up. Her face is a surprised, friendly mask for a second before she realizes it’s me.

Then I see her fear.

It’s all in her eyes. A slight widening, a dilation of the pupils, a darting around to see which direction her help will come from.

Nowhere,I want to tell her.There will be no help.

I pull my gun from the holster on my hip and press it against her hip, keeping it hidden from onlookers’ sight. “Come with me.”

“You wouldn’t shoot a pregnant woman, Dima. You’re above that.”

I shrug. “I thought you and my brother were above kidnapping an infant from his parents. We all make costly mistakes. Are you willing to lose your life for yours?”

Vera looks around again. “You…”

I prod the gun into her side again. “No one is going to help you. If you scream, I’ll kill them.”

She turns away from me, nose wrinkled. “Are you drunk?”

“Get in the car,” I order, voice low. “Or I’ll shoot you and anyone who gets in my way.Now.”

She must decide I’m deadly serious because she walks with me to the car. I help her into the passenger seat.

An older woman walking by comments on us to her husband. “Look at her. She’s about to pop. How sweet.”

If only they knew.

When I get in, my gun stays trained on Vera. “Move? I’ll shoot. Talk? I’ll shoot. Try anything and I shoot.”

She stays quiet. I’m glad.

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