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My spine stiffens, my heart galloping at a crazed pace.
It’s over.
Chapter30
Valentina
“Imust say, you’ve gone to great lengths to fly under the radar over the past few years. The hair, the makeup, the eyes, the clothes.” Stepanov circles me like a lion about to pounce on a raw steak. “But did you really think you were going to get away with that little show tonight? You think we haven’t been waiting for you to show up?”
Fury percolates deep in my gut.
How thefuck?
He steps closer to me, and with one thick finger, traces the outline of my tattoo. His fingertip is like a red-hot poker on my flesh.
I recoil. “Take your fucking hand off of me.”
His thin lips lift. “You might have fooled me, too, if not for that tattoo. But I’ve had eyes on you for a long time, just waiting for you to show up in the lion’s den. I was patient. We all were. We knew we’d get our chance to have our way with Viktor Malikov’s youngest daughter, the ultimate revenge for him shutting us out of the Brotherhood 7.”
“He shut you out because of the filth you were investing in. He never wanted to be part of that. It was never the goal of the Brotherhood,” I sneer. “Branko opened Strathmore Enterprises to funnel money into his sex trafficking operation, and then you directed those funds from him to Strathmore Enterprises… to Branko.You, Denis.”
“Viktor was too shortsighted. We made billions.”
“You betrayed him and set him up to take the fall for those investments.” I step closer, seething. “You climbed into bed with Branko and killed Charly and Molly. You fucking cocksucker!”
“Grow up, little girl. Your father made his bed a long time ago. Did he really think that he’d be able to go rogue and stop his entire consortium from doing the very thing that he brought us together for?” Denis shakes his head.
“The Brotherhood was created to protect the organization from outside threats, an objective you agreed to when you joined.” Heat rises in my cheeks. Time ticks past, and if I don’t stop this bastard in his tracks, I won’t be able to help anyone, including myself.
“I only joined so I could sink my dick into your sweet pussy. It was only a matter of time before my idiot son Dmitri was killed. I knew I’d eventually get my chance. And here it is.”
I swing a fist against Denis’s jaw, smiling when he stumbles backward. He wipes away a thin trickle of blood from his mouth.
A low, condescending chuckle rings in my ears. Denis’s beady eyes narrow to slits. “Your father should have stopped his witch hunt for Branko after Charly was taken. But he didn’t learn his lesson. He fucked Branko, so Branko fucked him right back and has been ass-ramming him ever since. Too bad he’s six feet under and can’t see what I’m about to do to his precious angel, the one he gave up to my family in exchange for silence.”
I almost choke on my next breath.
“Silence?”
Denis grabs hold of a bra strap and yanks me toward him. “That’s right, sweetheart. You didn’t know? You thought it was a business deal to solidify a union?” He grins, an ominous scumbag grin that I want to cut right off his face. “No. It was to save his own ass. He gave yours up to protect his own.”
“He gave me up so I could keep you close and track Branko.” My voice wavers the tiniest bit and I hate myself for it.
“Try again. You were just an insurance policy, Valentina, and I knew it. That wedding was never going to happen. Viktor knew where to find Branko. But he also knew that a move against Branko would have the rest of the Brotherhood 7 leak his involvement with the sex trafficking ring. Nobody else would have been implicated. All of the transfers went directly from your father’s accounts. And by the time he pulled his head out of his ass and found out the truth, it was too late. He had no choice but to stand down, or else his empire would have crumbled and he’d have gone to prison for the rest of his pathetic life.”
“No,” I scream. “You’re a liar.”
“Am I?” He closes the space between us and his cologne locks around my neck like a noose, suffocating me slowly and torturously.
“Branko knows we had intel on him. That’s why he’s been targeting the rest of my family, why the other members of the Brotherhood have been acting on his behalf.”
“Is that what your friend Alek Severinov is telling you?” Denis shakes his head. “Tsk-tsk. I thought you were smarter than that.” He fists my bra strap. His cigar-tinged breath makes my stomach roil. “They’re both guilty as sin as far as that intel goes. Both funded the illicit activities. Both vulnerable to exposure. Only difference is we already got your dad. Alek won’t be too far behind him, though. Same with Mulligan. We’ve always been a patient group, and their time is almost up.”
“What group do you even have left?” I struggle against his grip, elbowing him to the gut. I want to cut his throat so badly, but Branko is still out there, and the information I was just pelted with is making my head spin like a top. “My brothers have completely destroyed your sick little club.”
“Those are the members you know about, Val. There are so many more of us. Some hide in shadows, some in plain sight. We’re all around you and we will get everything we want, everything we deserve, everything your father cut us off from when he decided he didn’t like our choices.” With one hard shove, he pushes me backward. My back hits the mattress hard. “And I’m starting withyou.”
My chest heaves, my eyes wide as he climbs on top of me. He leans into me with one knee, pressing it against my sternum.
