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Only now, I get this squeeze of pain whenever I see the bullet scars on his chest. I think I’ll have this sense of guilt for the rest of my life.
Vladislav merely gives me a look that says, This is all because of your boss, then heads inside. I catch a glimpse of Kirill stepping out of the restaurant with Damien, who’s clearly not amused.
Jesus.
How is it possible that I’m only focused on Kirill as if the whole world around him doesn’t exist?
All I can see is his impressive physique and his long legs eating up the distance to where the cars are.
I follow the others but stop when I catch something in my peripheral vision.
Rai freezes for a moment in front of a kid with dark blond hair and green eyes.
“Auntie…?” he calls in a brittle voice, but she’s completely out of sorts. A look of subtle panic covers her features, but it soon disappears when a man carries the child and apologizes to her as he takes him back into the restaurant.
I walk backward for a moment, my eyes meeting Rai’s for a fraction of a second before I look ahead.
There’s a story between her and that kid, a story that I could use to protect Kirill if she attempts to tell the others that she caught him with a ‘man’ or that he’s gay.
I catch up with the others as Kirill and Damien get in the back of the car.
Vladislav insists that Damien’s driver substitutes for Yuri. Either that or he substitutes for me, so I go with the former, despite the discomfort at having to trust someone else other than Yuri with the driving.
Rai sprints in front of me and starts to shove herself into the back seat before I can close the door.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Kirill snaps at her.
“Take me back with you.”
“You have your own car.”
“It’s broken down. Ruslan is trying to fix it.”
“Do I look like a taxi to you?”
“Well, you could be.”
“Leave, Rai.” Damien takes a sip from the bottle of vodka he brought along. “Kirill and I have a meeting.”
“Then do it after you drop me off,” she says.
Kirill shrugs. “Or I can just throw you out.”
“You just wasted a minute. We would’ve arrived faster if we’d taken off already. Besides…Abe told me something after you left.”
“Who cares what that delusional old man says?” Damien swallows another gulp.
Kirill pauses before motioning at the driver to go. I look back at Rai, then immediately stare ahead. It’s better not to get her suspicious.
The car rolls down the street as we sit in relative silence. I’m still uncomfortable about this unexpected change of events. Like Vladislav, I’m wary about anything that doesn’t go according to plan. It started after that army mission in which we lost most of our men.
“What did Abe say?” Kirill asks.
“It’s about Damien.” She peeks at him. “Don’t you want to know?”
“I do want to know why you said I’ll think about it. You want to marry me off, Rai?”
“If it benefits the brotherhood, why not settle down?”
“Settle down? What are you, my mother?”
“First of all, eww. Second of all, just go with it.”
“Just like you went with your own marriage? It’s so boring if we’re all so sacrificial like you, Rayenka.”
“Does that mean you won’t do it?”
“I don’t see why I should.”
“You can’t disrespect Abe that way, Damien. He’s one of the strongest allies we can have.”
Kirill adjusts his glasses. “And he will become our worst enemy if this bull kills his daughter in one of his violent episodes.”
“You hurt women?” she all but snaps at Damien.
He continues drinking from his vodka before he whispers something in her ear.
She pushes him away. “You will control that side of you and treat Abe’s daughter well, and if I find out you hurt any woman, you’ll have me to answer to.”
A grin curls his lips. “Will it be kinky?”
So Damien is getting married. Good luck to the unlucky lady.
Maybe one of us should do her a favor and tell her to run away from home or something. That’s better than sealing her fate with a crazy man like Damien.
He's in an awfully bad mood and that’s been the case ever since Kirill cornered him in the Pakhan’s house earlier and told him something that made him agree to accompany us now.
That’s probably also why Vladislav has been glaring at me—because I was tasked with keeping him preoccupied while Kirill did his thing.
Rai, however, was never part of the plan, which is why Kirill is annoyed. He doesn’t show much, but I can sense it with the frequent amount he’s adjusting his glasses.
I stare at him through the rearview mirror and our eyes meet for a fraction of a second.
It’s brief, nearly unnoticeable, but my whole world catches fire and I can feel the heat creeping up my cheek.
