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She needs to learn this lesson if she’s going to survive. She won’t get a second chance if she tries to leave again.
Valentina purses her lips like she doesn’t believe me. Or, more likely, she’s too stubborn to accept the truth.
“My mother didn’t betray anyone.”
“So you say.”
“She didn’t.”
“How do you know?” I fix Valentina with a pointed stare. “She disappeared, Valentina. The only reasons people disappear within the Bratva are bad ones.”
I don't actually know the details surrounding Maeve Baranova’s disappearance. Rumors from outside Bratva lines say that she ran away, but anyone within our ranks knows that she’d never escape her husband’s wrath if she so much as tried such a thing. His fury had no bounds. No matter which corner of the earth she ran to, he’d find her, and he’d make her pay for the insult.
No, Maeve Baranova didn’t run away. She’s dead. Named a traitor, most likely, and paid the ultimate price for it.
Just like my father.
Just like all the men who came before him and proved their disloyalty.
If Maeve had an affair, said the wrong thing in public, or tried to leave, Tolkotsky would have enough reason to kill her.
That doesn’t mean I agree with it, but we don’t have to agree with all the rules of the Bratva. We just have to follow them.
Valentina huffs defiantly and walks away from me, toward the boardwalk. I have to jog to keep up with her. “Valentina—” I grab her wrist as she takes her first step on the wooden walkway, and she snaps her head around to glare at me.
“Don’t touch me,” she hisses, wrenching her arm free from my grasp. “You think this little walk was fun? You just told me that my dad probably killed my mom in cold blood. That’s not fun, Mikhail. That’s the opposite of fun.”
“The truth isn’t always sunshine and rainbows, malyshka.”
“I don’t need sunshine!” She shoves my chest and pushes me back a step. “I just need my world not to crumble in one fucking day! Jesus. It’s like you guys get off on giving me bad news!” She throws her hands up. “First, my father’s dead. Then, my ex is the new leader of the fucking Bratva. And now, my mother’s not only unmemorialized, but my dad might have killed her. How could this day get any worse?”
I part my lips to tell her what’s next on the agenda, but she clamps her hand over my mouth. “Please, no more. Just take me back already.”
She glances over my shoulder at the darkened beach, a hollow look in her eyes. “This day couldn’t get any worse.”
I curl my fingers around hers and press a kiss to her palm. It’s not her lips, but she still manages to blush for me. A flash of heat burns deep in my loins, and I’m smiling as I pull her hand away and give it a squeeze.
“Okay, malyshka. No more from me tonight.”
She nods, relief clear on her face.
I could warn her about what’s waiting for her back home . . . but that would be more bad news, and, well, I’m nothing if not a man of my word.
Besides, the look on her face when she realizes Andrei expects her to join him for dinner tonight will be priceless.
Chapter 9
Valentina
Mikhail and I walk in silence as we return to the estate, through the secret gate and across the lawn. The warm glow of porch lights guides me home. I never thought I’d say it, but I’m grateful to return to Baranova grounds and, hopefully, to a warm bed.
Anything to erase the past three hours of my life would be great.
Does Mikhail get off on delivering bad news, or is he that out of touch with humanity?
I ignore him as best I can the entire walk back. I can feel his eyes on me the whole way, digging into the back of my skull. If he wants to know what I’m thinking, tough shit. I’m not talking.
To think I was actually grateful that he took me to my father’s grave at first. Ha! How things have changed!
