AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Plopping his elbow on the table, he said, “It’s your turn to tell me about your family.”
She raised her head, her eyes meeting his. They didn’t look fierce or annoyed. What he saw in them was sadness, as if hearing about her family and having to talk about them brought her an immense amount of pain.
His chest constricted. He shouldn’t have asked. “You don’t have to talk about them—”
“They’re dead,” she says sharply. “My father died when I was a baby. My mother died a few years ago. I don’t have a family.”
Lev could feel the sadness rolling off her. She suddenly wasn’t this feisty, fearless woman who talked back at him unprovoked. The change in her mood shifted something in him. It awakened an emotion he never knew he had—pity. He’d never felt that for anyone before. “Do you mind sharing what happened?”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I don’t know much about how my father died, but I heard he was murdered. Maybe you can—"
His phone bleeped with an incoming message. He picked it up from the table and swiped. It was a message from Mikhail.When were you going to tell me about your marriage?
Fuck.
Lev swiped a hand through his hair. He didn’t need a soothsayer to guess who told Mikhail.
Ivan, that little asshole.
He knew he would snitch, and the fucker did not disappoint. Heaving a sigh, he texted back,I was going to tell you when I’m ready.
“Everything okay?” Zia asked, her face surprisingly marred with concern.
“My brother found out we’re married,” he told her honestly. Knowing Mikhail, he could burst into the mansion at any time, and Lev didn’t want his brother to take her by surprise if he did.
“You mean the boss?” she asked quietly.
Lev nodded. “Here, we call himPakhan. He’s your brother-in-law now, though. You can drop the formality when you meet him.”
“You mean I can call him by his name?” For the first time, something that looked like fear flickered on her face. “Wouldn’t that get him upset?”
“Those rules do not include family,” he explained. “Contrary to whatever you must’ve heard about the Bratva, we do not participate in kin slaying.”
Finishing the last of his food, Lev pushed up from his chair.
“Where are you going?” Zia asked, tilting her face up to his.
“Going to see my brother before he loses his mind and comes here. I’ll be down in a bit.” He went to his room upstairs and changed into one of his favorite black Tom Ford suits. Grabbing the keys of his new black Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail, he picked up his black Amex card and returned downstairs.
Zia had already left the dining and was about to climb the stairs when he met her and held out the card to her. “Use this to buy whatever you need. Konstantin will drive you today, and I’ll sort out your bodyguards when I get back.”
She stared at the card in his hand in awe. She appeared not to have believed him when he said she could spend as much money as she wanted on shopping. “Is this a black Amex?”
“It is.” He took her hand and placed the card in it. “Don’t worry about price tags, it would be an insult to me if you do.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her head before she could. “Stay out of my trouble and call me if anything happens.”
“I don’t have your number.”
“Right.” He took out his phone. “Give me yours, and I’ll send you a message.”
She called out her number for him while he punched it into his phone and saved it asMalyshka.
He sent her a short text and made a call to Konstantin, ordering him to meet him in the parking lot. “I’ll see you tonight.” He felt Zia’s gaze burn his back as he strode to the parking lot.
The headlights of the La Rose Noire Droptail flickered as he pressed the open button on the remote. Just as he climbed inside, buckled the seatbelt, and turned on the engine, someone knocked on his tinted window.
He rolled the window down to find Konstantin standing outside and peeking into the car. “Where are you going so early?”
