Page 73 of Wicked Vows (Suvorov Bratva 2)

He’s going to be so proud of me. I watch the numbers indicate the passing floors, each one making my heart twitch harder.Willow is right. He’s definitely going to want to fuck later. I just know it.

The car isn’t moving fast enough, and my muscles are aching to flee. This time, though, I’m not running away from something.

I’m runningtowardsomething.

A future that has only ever existed in my imagination.

If Jonas was here, he might be proud, too.

Guilt swirls in my gut, sending tears to my eyes immediately. I try to convince myself that it’s just the pregnancy making me extra sensitive, but I can’t deny my shame.

I killed my brother.

And now I’m celebrating my success without him.

I take a deep breath and steel my mind, meeting my gaze once more. The smile is gone, but the strength remains.

He never wanted to see me succeed. What I wanted didn’t matter to him.

The elevator beeps. As soon as the doors slide open, I leap into the lobby and dart for the exit, weaving between brigadiers on my way to the sidewalk. I push on the double doors and run face-first into a uniform, squealing when he catches me by my arms.

“Wow, little lady. Careful!” he booms. He catches my waist when I recoil. “Don’t want you to take a spill in traffic. What an awful waste that would be.”

He steps back and crosses his arms over his chest. The guy is almost as big as Kostya, with hair graying just over his ears and a bristling mustache to match. He’s bulky and round, but I can tell he can take down just about anyone with those bulking arms. Maybe even Kostya.

I give him my customer service smile. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t even mention it.” He doesn’t move, taking up the pathway leading toward the florist. I just need to head to the right and around the corner, not get cornered by some pig.

His grin makes my skin crawl. “Say, you look familiar.”

My eyes float over his uniform. He’s not just a typical cop—he’s got his name and badge in full view. Like hewantsyou to know who he is. I focus my gaze on the name, and ice trickles down my ribs.

Captain Howard Sharp.

His explosive laughter drags me right back into my current dilemma.

“All right, little lady,” he teases while backing up. “You be careful out there. Lots of bad people just lurking around the corner.”

As he heads toward the left, he makes finger guns at me and winks before casually turning around. And then, the sea of people on the sidewalk swallows him up. I watch his hat bob through the crowd until it disappears around the left side of the building.

My heart races as I hold my hand over my chest. Did that just happen? Is being pregnant making me see things?

Or did I just run into the guy who might be the secret heart of the criminal underworld fighting my husband?

Chapter Nineteen

Pavel

What Liya reports to me feels like a jab.

Not from her. From the NYPD. From Sharp.

From Cardona himself.

I grit my teeth while listening to every word she recounts, her face a stony echo of how I might look if I had run into the captain unexpectedly. She hugs her shoulders. She stares at the ground. Anxiety is written all over her face.

Impatience ebbs over my body. “Tell me what he said.”

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