Page 32 of Pregnant Bratva Possession

“Hey, girl.” She paused. “Is everything okay? You sound like you just got your heartbroken.”

“I’m fine,” I croaked.

“No, you’re not. I know you very well, Mariana. I know when something’s up with you.” She guessed, “It’s him right? He did something to upset you, didn’t he?”

“You’re close, but not exactly.”

“Well, guess what? I have thirty minutes to spare and I’m going for lunch at the café down the street. I’m free to hear all of your problems for the next half an hour.”

Despite the bitterness bubbling in my stomach, my lips quirked. “And I’ll pay for lunch?”

“Girl, paying for my lunch is way cheaper than paying for a therapist. You have no choice.”

Christy never changed, she was still the same girl she was the first time we met. I was glad for that. A lot had changed about me recently, but it felt good having a best friend I could always share my troubles with. “I’ll meet you at the café.”

Grabbing a purse from my drawer, I stuffed it with my phone and credit card, then I strolled down to the café. Christy waved at me from a table near the glass wall, she loved that spot a little too much.

“Did you catch any sleep at all last night?” she asked when I walked to the table and settled on the seat across hers. “You have dark circles under your eyes.”

I skipped the park where I crawled to Vlad and how I’d come on his tongue. “I spent the night at Vlad’s place. He got a call from his brother last night and he hasn’t returned ever since.”

“Did you try to call him?”

“Do you think I’m stupid? Of course I tried to call him but he wouldn’t answer. I’m afraid he got hurt.”

She thought for a moment, then she gasped, startling me. I held my chest and sucked in a breath. “What is the problem?”

“Did you fuck him again?”

The café grew too hot for my cheeks to handle and I avoided eye contact with my best friend. “After I went to the casino to meet him, things happened and we ended up in his penthouse together.”

“Yeah. I’m pretty certain things happened,” she obliged with a slow and sarcastic nodding of her head, burning me with the heat of her scrutiny.

“See, that is not the point. The point is that he left and never came back and I am worried for his safety.”

“If you’re worried, we can go to the casino?”

I rolled my eyes. “How? The guards won’t let us in without a pass.”

“Have you forgotten how we snuck into a bar when we were in high school? Pretended to have a pass and when the bodyguards were distracted, we ran in and mixed with the crowd.

“Mix in with the strippers? The waitresses or the stone-faced men in black suit?” I rested back in my seat. “Definitely not happening.

The smile on Christy’s face was all the clue I needed to know it wasdefinitelyhappening.

Time flew by quickly. Christy and I drove down to the casino when we closed from work and I couldn’t believe I’d let her talk me into doing something so stupid and dangerous.

We could get hurt if they caught us.

When we got to the club and reached the narrow hallway, the door slid open on its own. Sophia walked out. She wore a very short, tight dress that barely covered her ass and showed off most of her breasts.

I didn’t like her very much. In fact, she was a brat and I only tolerated her because of my contract with her father—Vincent. But I had to admit she had a body that men would die for. Big, perky breasts and an ass many girls would pay thousands of dollars to get.

“We meet again, Mandarina.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I can’t say I’m thrilled to see you.”

“My name is Mariana, and I’m not thrilled to see you either.” Sophia looked like the kind of girl who would rather go shopping for fun or a vacation on a yacht. What was she doing here?

She placed a hand on her chest, her face scrunching with a fake apology. “Oh, my bad. You’re just so insignificant I forgot your name.”

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