Page 114 of Bratva and Betrayal: Kirill

Damn it. “He’s not mad,” I say to deflect. “He’s happy we’re home.”

“But he’s not smiling,” she counters.

Kirill’s daughter is brilliant and suspicious at the same time.

“The men who work for him need to think he’s serious all the time.”

“Oh,” she says and goes back to looking at her book.

The driver nods, making me think I caught on quick.

The car stops, and it’s Kirill who opens the door for us. On my side.

“Daddy! Me first,” Violet says, stretching her neck.

I raise an eyebrow at him. Before he can slam the door and then march to the other side, I hop out.

“She knows you’re mad,” I say to him, moving to open Violet’s door.

Kirill drops his hands. They even loosen from being tightly balled up. “I am mad.”

“So am I.”

“Why are you mad?” He makes it sound like it’s impossible for me to be annoyed because I’m not in a cell, handcuffed.

“Oh, I’ll tell you, husband.” I poke a finger in his chest. “I won’t be one of those silent, brooding wives. I worked to get this voice back, to get these legs to move. Something made me fall down a flight of stairs, and now I find out I was married to you at the same time.”

“Are you suggesting⁠—”

“I’m getting my daughter into the house and settled. Be in our bedroom in ten minutes,” I order him.

“Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?”

“I’m talking to my husband,” I say over my shoulder. “You’re a husband and a father first, Kirill.”

“Hi, Daddy!” Violet says, waving to him as I steer her inside.

“Hello, solnyshko.”

“Mommy says I need to change first,” Violet responds, marching ahead into the house, embracing her discipline.

“Then you should listen to your mother,” Kirill says, his face softer.

All of this was so Violet would have a mother. Kirill just got the wife he didn’t expect in the bargain.

Violet beams at what I think is the greatest wisdom ever spoken. “I know.”

Then she skips ahead toward the house. I catch up and take her hand as we step into the suspiciously empty kitchen. Nadia appears from the mudroom, looking like I’m headed to the gallows. I ask her to prepare a bigger snack since Violet didn’t eat at school.

She nods and starts going through the pantry.

Violet runs to the stairs to change out of her uniform. I follow her, but she tears down the hall to her bedroom, not looking back at me. It’s like she trusts that I’m not going anywhere.

But… I’m in big trouble. I didn’t mean to dress Kirill down in front of the entire fucking brotherhood, but I will not let the Bratva think he married a weak woman. He does plenty to prove he still has his balls. I don’t get the same opportunities.

I open the door to our bedroom suite and stop cold, seeing Kirill sitting on a chair near the window. His dark suit fits him perfectly, all sharp lines and quiet power. My stupid body reacts before my brain does.

We’ve been intimate nearly every night this week, but the look he gives me when we make eye contact cuts through me. “Shut the door.”