Page 3 of The Brat: Prequel

From her speed, I sense that outpouring of emotion was her downplaying her fear.

I wish there were something else I could do for her. Wish that I could offer her more than just security. Wish I had the clout to get rid of her bastard father but…

A soft sob draws my attention, and I notice her shoulders heaving as she rushes through her packing.

My hands ball into fists.

One day, I’ll get rid of her boogeyman.

One day…

TWO

DON’T LIE TO ME. EVER.

“Cammie said that Svetlana was having an affair.”

“As a greeting, kotik, I’ve had better.”

She ignores my pointed look and, like the princess she is, doesn’t offer to help me with the suitcases in my hands.

As I’m in the middle of seizing control of the Bratva now that her father’s dead and she’s moving in with her sister, it’s not as if I have all the time in the world to bring her things over to Inessa’s apartment, but she sees nothing wrong with it.

I have to smile.

God, I hope she never changes.

When she taps her foot, looking all prissy in a dress that’d suit a politician’s middle-aged wife, some pearls, and kitten heels, I relent: “What do you want to know, Victoria?”

“Who was the boyevik? You?”

I gape at her. “Me? And Svetlana? Fuck no.” I’m not the one who got that skank pregnant.

The tension in her shoulders lessens. “Really?”

“Of course not. As you’d say, ew,” I tease, nudging her with my elbow as I drag her stuff into the apartment’s hall.

“She deserved some happiness,” Victoria mumbles.

“No, she didn’t actually. She was a bitch.”

“Maxim!”

Smirking, I drawl, “You going to show me where you want this stuff or what?”

Her nose scrunches. “You shouldn’t talk about women like that.”

“You know what I thought about when I heard the news?”

“What?” she questions warily.

“She could have had custody of you.”

“What?!”

“She was your stepmother. Your father was a traditionalist. He’d want his other daughters focusing on their marriages and own children. Not his.” When her throat bobs, my voice softens. “I’d never have left you with her.”

Not when that two-bit cunt would have thrown her to the dogs.