Page 40 of Immaculate Corruption (Romanoff Bratva)

Tonight did not go at all how I expected. Nothing about today did.

But I fucking took charge.

After feeling powerless for so long, I have to admit… It feels damn good to be in control.

14

Dima

After I text Arya the address, I press my forehead against the steering wheel for a moment and take a deep breath.

Ennio was right: sentiment is a weakness.

It’s also a pain in the ass.

If I was smart, I’d still be driving. I’d ditch my car, steal a new one, and be out of the state so fucking fast.

Instead, I’m parked in the back of a twenty-four-hour strip club parking lot, waiting for the mother of my son to come meet me.

I can hear my father’s voice snarling in my mind.

Coward. Pathetic. Weak.

You’ve let this girl and her runt get you all twisted around her finger, eating out of the palm of your hand. No wonder your Bratva has been snatched from you.

You don’t deserve to be called a don.

“Fuck you, Father,” I say softly into the silence of the car. “You deserved everything that happened to you.”

Lights flash across my face. I look up, momentarily blinded, and then see a van just ahead of me.

I’m about to get out of the car, but then the van reverses and pulls out of the lot. I shift my car into drive and follow.

We stop at a deserted park a few blocks away. The streetlight nearest is burnt out, so the park is pitch black. I kill my headlights at the same time the lights on the van go out. When Arya gets out and walks towards my car, I can only make her out because of the glint of moonlight against her dyed blond hair.

She climbs into the passenger seat and releases a long sigh. “Fancy seeing you here. How’s it going?”

“I’ve been better.”

Arya laughs. “Have you? This isn’t the best night of your life?”

It feels strange to laugh, considering… well, everything.

“No,” I rasp. “The best night of my life remains the night I walked into your clinic.”

Arya’s smile slips away. But her eyes are still bright, still sparkling.

Then the van’s headlights come back on and the moment is broken.

To my surprise, the van starts to move. I go to wrench my own car into drive, but Arya lays a hand over mine on top of the gear shifter.

“It’s okay, Dima.”

“Like fuck it is! My son is in there, in case you forgot.”

Arya turns my face with her other hand so I have to look at her. “Lukas is going to stay with Ernestine and June for a bit.”

“No,” I say flatly. “Hell no.”

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