Page 10 of Brutal Loyalty

On the way home, Roman decided he would keep testing Elena, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the time spent with her, as well.

CHAPTER7

Elena

Elena was exhausted by the time she and Roman returned from picking up the shipment. She immediately went upstairs to her room to try to get some sleep, but she couldn’t quiet her thoughts. Initially, she had wanted to tell Roman off when he’d asked her to join him, but at the last minute, she’d realized that time spent with him would be time spent winning his trust. That couldn’t hurt. And she was reluctant to admit that she’d had a good time with him, even while performing heavy labor. Well, watching someone else do the heavy lifting, anyway. He was surprisingly comfortable to be around when he wasn’t snapping at her or interrogating her.

In the end, her time spent with Roman had seemed to pay off, especially when he’d asked her about loyalty. Based on his reaction, she was pretty sure she’d given him all the right answers.

What she hadn’t told him was that her ultimate loyalty was to her family—specifically, her father—because she had no choice. She’d learned at a young age that bad things happened if you went against Anatoly Popov. Boris Sokolov had learned that the hard way. While she had no idea what the pakhan could have done to piss her father off so much that he’d kill him, she knew better than to cross him when he was in one of his moods.

For the Svodnik, loyalty was everything; especially if you were family. Something her older sister, Maya, had eschewed when she’d decided to leave Boston to make a life for herself out of their father’s reach. Granted, Elena couldn’t think of any place on this planet that was truly outside his reach—she suspected that their father was merely biding his time until he wanted something from her sister. When that time came, he would make his demands and telling him “no” would not be an option. Elena shivered at the thought.

Alexandra wasn’t family, but they were closer than sisters—certainly closer than she was to Maya at this point. And if what her father had shared about the Sokolovs was as bad as it sounded, then she needed to save her friend and get her out from under Viktor’s control before it was too late.

Elena knew that Alexa had been saving herself for marriage. Since they were teens, her father had been filling her head with fairytale ideas about the future role she would play as someone’s wife. The very notion of it filled Elena with rage. She’d even gone so far as to try to get her friend to give up her virginity to make her less marketable for Sergei Volkin, but her BFF had been enamored at the idea of becoming some grand matriarch to the point where Elena couldn’t get her to see reason. But she was prepared to help her friend now. She’d surely had enough of a taste of the hardships of marriage to a dangerous, controlling man to realize that the life she’d spent so long anticipating wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Alexa deserved her own life—the chance to pursue what brought her joy without the constraints of misogynistic patriarchy. No matter how happy Alexandra appeared, or how kind it was of Viktor to offer Elena asylum from her father until he was brought to justice, Elena knew the truth. It was all a façade and she needed to save her friend even if she didn’t know she needed help.

The only problem was Alexandra. Elena had assumed that Alexandra would be suffering here, held captive because of the blame placed on her family after Boris Sokolov’s murder. When Elena had first heard that Alexandra was actuallyhappilywed, and even loved Viktor enough to have renewed their vows, she’d been nothing less than skeptical, assuming it was all for appearances. Now, she was becoming less sure, much as she told herself that what she was doing would also, in the end, be good for her friend.

Sighing, she rolled over, realizing that she wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep. She had a job to do, and thoughts of it had her mind buzzing, unable to rest. Her father’s instructions were clear. She was to sow discord in the Sokolov household, find Viktor when he was most vulnerable, and assassinate him. Then she would return to Moscow until her father had finished solidifying his base of power here in the US. Easy peasy.

Rising, she headed to the shower while mentally tamping down her fears and concerns. So long as she was careful, she could do this. Despite what her father had done, no one would suspect her of having any violent intent, and so long as she could do the deed and get out of the house fast enough, her father’s men would keep her safe and get her out of the country.

Alexandra might be upset at first, but she would forgive her. Eventually. And even if she didn’t, Elena knew that it was for the best—for Alexandra, who deserved better whether she’d admit it or not, and most especially for Elena. If she defied her father, she wouldn’t live to see the next day. She knew that with every fiber of her being.

Turning on the hot water, she stripped off her clothes and stepped under the rainforest shower with a groan. The water pelted her skin deliciously, massaging her sore and tense muscles. She stood under the hot water, and her thoughts turned to Roman.

The man was gorgeous in a broody sort of way and even when he was glaring at her, she wanted to wrap her legs around him and pull him into her wet heat. Elena tilted her head up to catch a mouthful of water to quench her sudden thirst for a man who was her father’s enemy, which meant he was hers, too. But that didn’t stop her from wishing things were different. She imagined what it might be like to fuck him, and her brain went in all different directions.

Roman lifting her skirt to fuck her against the wall in the warehouse with those other workers watching. Someone else flying the plane while they joined the mile-high club on the flight back to Boston. Him, here in the shower with her now. With each scenario, Elena’s arousal rose. She grabbed one of the showerheads and adjusted the intensity before aiming it between her thighs. Leaning up against the shower wall, she let her imagination run wild with all the different ways Roman might take her.

She was close.

Would he be gentle? She shook her head. She didn’t want gentle. She wanted hard. She wanted to feel every inch of him as he pounded into her.

With a cry, her orgasm rolled through her, and she shook as pleasure rocked her.

CHAPTER8

Roman

Roman bit back his yawn. It wouldn’t do to fall asleep during Viktor’s meeting, but he was sorely tempted all the same. After he’d gotten back from picking up the boxes, he’d taken a long shower and managed to nap for a few hours, but it wasn’t enough to cancel out his sleep debt. He hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in close to forty-eight hours now and with the almost plane crash, his eyes were blurring and he was exhausted.

He rolled the coffee cup in his hands, watching the liquid slosh before taking another sip. While most everyone else was drinking vodka, he’d been mainlining coffee in the hopes the caffeine would give him more of a boost. It wasn’t really working. He suspected the only thing that would help at this point was eight-to-ten hours of uninterrupted sleep.

“Have the boxes been inventoried?” Viktor asked the brothers, and Felix nodded his head.

“They have,” Filip answered for the both of them. “Everything was as agreed upon.” Filip and Felix looked like twins, but Filip was the older of the two by ten months. The brothers had met Viktor when he’d first started visiting Pathways Children’s Home several years ago. They’d been getting by on the streets after their stepfather had kicked them out, but they’d gotten into trouble and CPS had gotten involved. They were due to age out of the system and Viktor had taken a liking to them.

As soon as they were back out on their own, they’d tracked Viktor down, hoping to find work. While they’d originally sworn allegiance to Boris, their loyalty was really to Viktor and always would be. Thanks to his support, the brothers had moved up in the ranks and were now trusted soldiers. Roman could understand their loyalty because he shared it. Many of the people sitting around this table were thriving because of Viktor. While Boris had been a formidable leader, he hadn’t treated the younger soldiers with the same level of respect as the old guard.

Those differences were why Viktor was having to deal with the grumblings from the older members.

Before Viktor could reply, Iosif spoke up. “Perhaps someone with more experience should have checked the weapons. Do these…Gen Z kids even know what to look for?”

Really, had that man learned nothing the last time he’d mouthed off in front of Viktor? As one, both Felix and Filip turned to stare at him, but it was Viktor who answered.

“The brothers have vouched for the contents, and I trust them. If you’d like to be helpful, Iosif, instead of questioning me, perhaps your time could be spent better reining in your family. There is still the matter of those missing funds.” Viktor spoke calmly but the threat was there in his tone, and Roman watched Iosif’s shoulders creep up slightly in response before he nodded his head.

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