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After the Gustev Bratva murdered my father, I didn’t sleep in the mansion for weeks. It didn’t help that my mother whisked off to Moscow with Mariya in tow. The house was dead quiet. I buried my anxiety in a string of women who were all too happy to let me sleep in their bed. They weren’t quite as happy when I was gone first thing in the morning.
“It’s not like Benjy was great company, either,” she shrugs. “But whatever he was shouting about was usually better than the thoughts running through my head. Until it wasn’t.”
Fuck what Nik thinks—I might have to track down Benjy and beat him again. The more I learn about him, the more I realize I should have killed him.
“You deserve better than some abusive asshole for company,” I grit out.
She gives me a tight smile. Thin. It’s nothing like the way her face lights up with a real smile. “If you know any nice guys up for the job, send them my way.”
24
LUNA
The front door opens, but I stay curled up in my favorite armchair in the library. I don’t read a single word on the page in front of me. I’m too busy listening to the familiar sound of Yakov’s heavy footsteps down the hall and into the kitchen.
If he wants to see me, he’ll come find me.
I am aloof. I am mysterious and elusive. I am not going to throw myself at a man who barely tolerates my presence in his house.
Then I smell pizza and I toss my book to the side and casually walk my aloof, mysterious, elusive ass straight to the kitchen.
Two pizza boxes sit on the counter next to a line of shopping bags. I stretch onto my toes to peek into the bags just as Yakov walks through the doorway.
“Hello. Hi. How’s it going?” I jerk away from the island like it’s on fire.
He flips open one of the pizza boxes as he passes. “Dinner is served.”
“Pizza?”
“I assume you’re familiar.”
“Obviously. Especially the off-brand frozen variety. I just didn’t know if you would be.” I pull out a slice and start to eat it over the counter.
Yakov slides me a plate. “Even pakhans eat pizza. It’s the great equalizer.”
There is nothing equalizing about the way he tips his head back to catch the strings of melted cheese hanging off the edges of his slice. It’s a peek at what it would be like if Zeus himself deigned to eat human food.
I look away before I can’t see pizza without thinking of Yakov. He’s already ruined sex for me. I refuse to give him pizza, too. “I thought death was the great equalizer.”
He nods. “Death and pizza. They come for us all.”
We eat in oddly comfortable silence for a few minutes. Then Yakov drags the shopping bags down the counter until they’re sitting in front of me.
I look from the bags to him. “Am I supposed to open these?”
“Don’t get shy now. I saw you trying to peek when I walked in.”
I flush. “I wasn’t peeking; I was just?—”
“Sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. I know. You’ve made it a habit.” He grabs one of the bags and drops it in my lap. “Luckily, everything here is for you.”
I would question why Yakov got me anything, but he wouldn’t give me a straight answer. Nothing beyond some grunt of acknowledgement and “because I wanted to.” So I take the path of least resistance and open the bag.
“A Kindle?” I blurt.
“My card is attached to the account. Buy whatever books you want.”
My eyes go wide. “The five most romantic words ever spoken. You have no idea the kind of damage I could do.”
