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“Yes, they did.Youwere their happy ending, Arsen.” I wince and she smiles. “Sorry. Too sappy?”
I kiss her cheek. “Not from you.”
“Do you think your life would have been very different if they’d—if they hadn’t…?”
I shake my head. “I would’ve gone to work for my grandfather regardless. In fact, my grandfather started laying the groundwork for me to take over while my dad was still alive.”
“But why you? Why didn’t he hand things off to your father?”
“He thought my dad was too soft. As far as he was concerned, I was his chance to correct all the mistakes he made with my father.”
Her forehead is tucked into the crook of my neck, but I can still feel her frown. “Did your dad want that life for you?”
“It didn’t matter what he wanted. He tried to stand up to my grandfather, but there was no winning with Yeremy. He had the power to hurt my parents, and I realized early on that it was easier for me to toe the line so he’d leave my parents out of it.”
Her sigh fans out over my skin, soft and warm and fragrant. “You sacrificed yourself for them?”
“I wasn’t nearly as selfless as you’re making me out to be. I was young and determined to prove what I could do. It’s not like I didn’t want to be part of the Bratva. Part of me always knew I’d inherit it, and I wanted to make something of myself before I did.”
She cups my face. “You’re an extraordinary man, Arsen Adamov.”
“Loyalty isn’t extraordinary. It’s tablestakes. Bare minimum.” The bubbles are almost completely gone now and the water is starting to turn cold. “If a man doesn’t have loyalty, what does he have?”
She doesn’t answer. Truth be told, I don’t need her to.
I know what matters.
I know what counts.
Eventually, I lift her out of the water and dry her off. I help her dress her in pajamas. When she’s tucked into bed, her eyes getting heavier and heavier with each passing second, I hear a sharp knock at the door.
I check to make sure it didn’t wake her, and then storm across the room and yank it open. “What do you want?” I snarl at Dominik. “Laila’s sleeping.”
Tension is evident in the crease of his forehead. “We have a problem.”
My hands clench into ready fists. “Is it Charles?”
“No.” Dom shakes his head. “It’s Jasper.”
I close Laila’s door behind me as I step into the hallway. “What did he do now?”
I just put out one fire, so it’s obviously time for another. Knowing Jasper, he could be back in jail for anything from drug charges to assaulting an elderly man he thought looked at him wrong. I hoped better for him when he first knocked on my door, but if Dominik is worried, there’s probably a good reason.
Dominik is tense, shifting from side to side like enemies are going to jump out of the walls at any moment. “Nothing.”
“Am I losing my mind, or did you not just tell me we have a problem?”
“Nothingyet.” I open my mouth, but he waves me off. “I know what you’re going to say—‘you’re being paranoid, Dom’; ‘give him a chance, Dom’—but I have a bad feeling about this guy.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I visited him today like you asked, and he’s boarded up in this shady-ass hole in the wall in the middle of Drug Central.”
“He just got out of jail. You can’t expect him to be at the Ritz,” I say. “The man needs direction.”
“What he needs is an attitude adjustment,” Dominik fires back. “He lacks respect. He doesn’t know how to follow orders.”
“That was a long time ago. He was young. He needed to rebel.”
Dominik grits his teeth. “We were all young. Less so now, though. I can’t believe you’re making excuses for the man.”
“He’s a brother.”
