Page 3 of The Bratva's Nanny

Her curiosity about this man surprised her. She must clearly not have a warning switch inside her head about the impending doom and danger he possessed. He could kill her easily.

Staring at him now, she couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. Of course, she didn’t ask him.

“Dmitry, you came to collect me. I have no idea what you want from me,” she said, being as honest as she could. Again, another rule her parents had instilled in her. Lying only served to make things worse … much, much worse.

She had never told a lie, other than to George’s parents, but her own had told her some lies were necessary. Yeah, there was a bit of a confusion with that one, but it made sense to her, at least it had a few seconds before she began thinking about rules and her parents. She did miss them, a lot. Most of the time, she tried not to think about their loss, or George’s.

Dmitry stared at her silently. He was thinking, she could tell, even if it was only the slightest twitch of his lips, he was still thinking. She wanted to ask him what he was thinking about, so she could understand what was going on inside his head.

Her life was on the line, thanks to George, and clearly thankful to this man who wanted her to take care of his child. She had no idea what happened to Sofia’s mother. Just the few whispers of the guards who didn’t know she was there. The guards did like to gossip. According to them, Sofia’s mother had hated Dmitry. She had tried to kill him and because Dmitry hated liars and rats, he killed her with his bare hands.

She had no idea how much of that story was true, if it was true. Either way, it did in fact, terrify her—the very thought of Dmitry killing anyone—at the same time she couldn’t help but agree. If his ex posed a threat to Dmitry and their daughter, then something had to happen.

No, this is why she was weird. She shouldn’t be agreeing with killing someone because they were a rat, or whatever the hell they were. Living here was messing with her head.

“After you put Sofia to bed tonight, come down and join me for dinner,” Dmitry said. “We’ll discuss it further then.”

“Why can’t we discuss it now?” Alix asked.

“I don’t talk business in front of my daughter.”

Alix glanced down at the sleeping Sofia. Was he going to kill her? Sell her on? Had she irritated him?

They hadn’t exactly spent a lot of time talking. Dmitry would randomly turn up like he did today, appearing on the lawn with a few choice words, and then he’d be gone. In the past three months, she had counted a handful of these meetings. Running fingers through her hair, she blew out a breath.

Sofia chose that moment to yawn and roll over. Her eyes were still closed and she snuggled back to sleep.

Sitting up with no tree and nothing for comfort, Alix lay back down on the lawn. The scent of the grass and earth surrounded her as she stared up at the sky.

Her parents had died not long after George’s, cancer taking them both. Staring up at the sky, she had to wonder if they were looking down on her now. Were they happy with her? Angry?

Her marriage to George had been a lie. He had tried many times to make it official, but she hadn’t wanted to have sex with him. She didn’t want to make their marriage real or risk having kids with a man who was selfish, cold, and cruel. George, her friend who would blow on her knee to take the burn away, or would read ratty old comics and blow gum bubbles, had gone long ago.

Dmitry was the first man in a long time to make her heart race. Even as she took care of his cut hand, she had felt this attraction toward him. He was a man of absolute power, someone to fear, and she felt these flutters within her chest, as well as the tightening in her gut.

She wanted him.

It was crazy. Completely and totally crazy, but she did. More than she liked to admit.

Before George, she had one other lover. He’d been an artist, and he’d seen her one day at the coffee shop when she was eighteen. It hadn’t been a romance. Alix had known from the beginning they weren’t a love match. It had been all about lust. Cold, hard fucking, exploring each other.

Alix never had that feeling again, not when Raoul had left to go to France, to make his art serious, or at least he called it that. They parted on good terms. She had never fallen in love with him.

There had been dates over the years, but none that had driven her to a wild night, or marriage.

Then she met Dmitry.

And those feelings, the ones she thought were only meant for one person, had been awakened, and she didn’t know how to turn them off.

Chapter Two

Dmitry sat at the dining room table, enjoying a small glass of wine. He had never been much of a wine drinker, but as he got older, he saw the appeal. He much preferred his cold, hard liquors, but wine would do for this evening.

He couldn’t help but glance at the door, waiting for Alix to arrive. One of his men had already told him Sofia was being a little … persistent in her storytelling. Alix had already read three stories and Sofia was demanding them all to be reread again. His little girl was a terror when she wanted to be. He wanted Alix down for dinner, but he also knew Sofia would look at him with those soft, childish eyes, that would make him a sucker to agree to anything.

Not tonight.

Tonight was not about appeasing his daughter.

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