Page 36 of Corruption

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Nadia

Alik is silent as he watches me while he sips on a glass of wine. We’re both waiting for Kiya to finish getting ready and come down. Me so we can both leave together. Alik so he can continue staring us both down in disapproval about this. Not the going to the club. But the entire idea of this.

I want to say he’s being dramatic, but he has reason to be apprehensive. We’ve been against Vaughn for a long time anyway. But we—mostly Alik—try not to stir the pot too much when it comes to him. Because as much as we hate him and he certainly hates us, the last thing we want is war between the families.

The Italians might have been able to survive it when Addy Bianchi took a stand against her supposed father, but it would devastate the Russian families. And while Vaughn might invite that, it’s the last thing that Alik wants. So if he has to tolerate his brother in the seat and with the inheritance that would have been his if not for me, he’ll do that. Because he cares about theBratvamore than he cares about the seat ofpakhan, even if it enrages him to see what’s rightfully his, what he sacrificed so much of his childhood for, being kept away from him.

But Kiya… he might fight his brother for her. Might find a way to expose Vaughn so that he has no allies for her. And that’s what he’s afraid of. That’s why he doesn’t approve of what I’m doing.

Too bad for him that he already did it. So there’s nothing he can do to stop me from doing the same.

“I didn’t make you wait too long, did I?”

Kiya’s standing in the doorway, somehow having managed to make her way down without making a sound until she decided she wanted us to hear her.

She’d asked me earlier today what she was supposed to wear at a club, and I told her the thing in her closet that leaves the least to the imagination without her being naked. Clearly, she took it to heart based on the skintight, ginger spaghetti strap dress she’s wearing. It matches her hair and neutral-colored suede boots and stops mid-thigh. And to finish the look, like she finishes every look, even a casual look for laying around the house all day, is shiny lip gloss. This one with an orange tint.

I’m not conscious that I’m gaping at her until she looks down and asks, “This is okay, right?”

I clear my throat and wet my lips because my mouth has gone dry, but my voice still comes out raspy when I try to talk.

“It’s—” Alik hands me his wine, and I gratefully take a sip to wet my mouth and throat before handing it back to him. “It’s perfect. You look stunning, Pretty Girl.”

“Thanks.” Then, “You look good too.”

I find familiar footing again and ask, “Only good?”

Kiya only smiles at me, already used to my teasing and messing with her as she approaches me.

“Ready to go?”

“That’s my line, Kiya,” I say, hooking my arm in hers. I peck Alik on the lips. “Don’t wait too late for us.”

“Nadezhda. Don’t cause any trouble.”

“I won’tcauseit. But if it finds me…”

Alik shakes his head but says nothing as he watches me leave with Kiya.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Kiya asks once we’re in the car. “Is Alik really fine with this?”

“Of course, he is. He wants us to hit it off. Because if we hit it off, that means he gets to kiss you again—maybe fuck you if you let him.”

Predictably, Kiya turns bright red and mutters, “I don’t know aboutthat.”

I could tease her about how I’m pretty sure she knows more than she wants to let on. That I didn’t miss how she kept her eyes trained on her breakfast this morning only to steal glances at Alik when she thought no one was looking. That even if she doesn’t know she wants it, it’s not hard to recognize that she, like my husband, isn’t very good at getting a taste of something, liking it, and leaving it alone.

But it’s better to let her come to that realization on her own.

So instead I change the topic. “You’ve really never been clubbing before?”

“I’m only nineteen.”

“Didn’t stop me at your age.”

“My mother… she was pretty strict. I didn’t get out much,” Kiya admits.

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