Page 80 of Bratva and Betrayal: Kirill

It brushes past my shoulders, but in the photos that Lourdes showed me from our childhood, I wore it much longer in my teens.

Someone shaved my head after the accident for all the surgeries I needed. I just kept it at this length, thinking that was who I was. More lies.

“Wow,” Violet coos. “You’re so pretty. Daddy missed you so much.”

My stomach heaves, but she says it so matter-of-fact. No sadness or bitterness.

“I, I missed you both.” I hold out my arms, and she falls into me again.

“Oh good. But you’re better now. Not sick anymore.” She looks up at me. “Right?”

“Right. I’m definitely better now.” A soft laugh escapes me because it’s the truth.

“Now you need bracelets. I like the way they sound.” She squirms away and reaches into the box again, pulling out a set of thin gold bangles. “Here. These.”

I slide on three and then hold out the other two.

“Why don’t you wear these so we match?” I say, my heart in a free fall.

“Can I?” She holds out her wrist eagerly.

“Of course.” I slide the bangles over her small hand.

“They jingle. Like bells.” She shakes her arm, and they clang together.

She giggles again like when we played our game. It bubbles up out of her almost uncontrollably, and the cheerful sound fills the small space of the closet.

I giggle with her. An adult version of giggling. For a moment, this feels…easy. Is it this easy to be a mom? Living in a mansion with a nanny and endless money should make it easy. But Violet seems like such an easy child.

“Come on. Daddy is waiting for you.” She pulls me.

“He is?” I say, letting her drag me away.

“He went downstairs hours ago.”

I laugh, doubting it’s been hours.

But she’s right. Kirill is downstairs, standing just off a hallway near the kitchen. He’s talking to Drago while a tall and bulky guard hovers behind the enforcer.

Kirill is dressed in a dark suit that looks molded to his body. The suit makes him look just as broad, and when I’m with him, everything else feels smaller.

The sight of him knocks the breath from my lungs, my body reacting before I can control it. A sharp awareness of arousal sends my pulse racing.

I steady myself, taking slow footsteps.

Hearing me approach, he turns around, and his gaze flicks over me in a way that feels both claiming and possessive. Even a little carnal.

“Daddy!” Violet chirps and runs to him, her bangles clinking with every step. She holds up her arm, shaking it so the bracelets chime together, her face bright with pride. “Look!”

He glances down at her and wears a proud smile that’s now etched in my brain. His usual hardness fades away as he crouches slightly to meet her at eye level.

“You both look beautiful,” he says, his voice warm and loving.

My breath catches because I don’t know if he really thinks that I look beautiful. Or if this is all an act to make Violet think we’re living some fairy tale. But Kirill’s gaze dragging up and down my frame twists heat low in my stomach.

Violet twirls again, the bangles jingling, not noticing the heat simmering between her parents.

“Your macaroni and cheese is ready,” her father tells her gently with a kiss on the forehead. “You can eat in the upstairs media room. Aunt Ksenia will do your bath and put you to bed.”