I searched for her everywhere. I stalked her flat and even hired a PI to look for her.
Not only that, but I was on Chris’s and Gwen’s case since they were close to her, but even they had no idea where she went. However, she left them notes, ones where she apologized and wished them well.
I got no such note.
And I might have been extra hard on Chris for no apparent reason that day.
So after her complete desertion, this is the first time I might have a lead, even if it’s coming from the little bastard, Daniel.
“Spill it,” I say.
“Repeat that again and add a please.”
“Fuck you, Dan. Now, talk.”
“You’re a bloody idiot and a sorry cunt. I just want to put that out there.”
“Any day now.”
He raises a brow. “You also realize that there was something wrong with your win, don’t you?”
“How do you know that?”
“Anyone who watched the case closely would know that Matt is no longer the Bratva’s favorite boy and if you think that happened by coincidence, you’re way off the mark. In fact, the last person you’d expect helped you.”
“Who do you mean?”
“Anastasia.”
“What does she have to do with it?”
“She asked me not to tell you since you were in danger, but I don’t see why I should keep it from you now.”
“Keep what? And stop the suspense bollocks.”
“She’s a mafia princess. The daughter of the Russian mafia’s leader in New York, to be more specific.”
The information should reel me off my axis, but it doesn’t. If anything, the pieces of the puzzle slowly come together.
Whether it’s the way she ran away from her past and avoided it or how she didn’t want to talk about her family. There’s also the makeover and the way she seemed innocent yet dangerous that first day.
All of it.
She was a woman with baggage from the beginning and I knew it. I think I actually fell for it at some point.
So finding out that she has ties to the mafia makes complete sense. The guard who followed her makes sense, too. The fact that Daniel couldn’t find anything on her when he did a background check is plausible, too. He must’ve done a paperwork, superficial one, but even if he dug deeper, she had the skills to hide her skeletons.
That woman had a double life, after all.
“What do you mean, I was in danger?” I ask Daniel.
“You were snooping around in Bratva business and hurting their associate, so the higher-ups threatened her with your life. They even told her to betray you, but she chose the third option.”
“To go back to them.” I don’t phrase it as a question, because I know that’s what she did.
She hurt me on purpose with the whole Daniel thing so I would forget her and not search for her.
Well, the fucking joke’s on her because I’m never letting her go. Not even if I have to barge headfirst into her world.
Daniel lifts his shoulder. “She didn’t tell me that, but I assume so.”
“What else did she tell you? Don’t leave anything out.”
“That I should keep an eye on you, that I shouldn’t get mad when you become an arsehole, and that you mean well.” He snorts. “She believed in you more than you believe in yourself, and didn’t seem to care about her own wellbeing as long as you were alright. I have to say, you’re a lucky son of a bitch to have found someone like her.”
I am.
I fucking am.
And now, I have to get her back to where she belongs.
By my fucking side.
37
ANASTASIA
Papa is telling me to prepare for my engagement, saying that it will happen soon.
He’s even taking me with him to parties organized by the Bratva and its allies.
Like today. He threw a party out of nowhere to celebrate the rekindling of our relationship with the Italians. Something that Adrian, the cunning wolf, made happen.
Needless to say, our house is overflowing with guests from all different factions and even businessmen that the Bratva considers friends. Most of them are Russian, but there are all types of nationalities here. The brotherhood believes in making global allies since that gets them what they want faster.
The overflowing of people makes my head hurt, especially since they only see me as stock. A bride to be married to the best man.
A prize.
I was with Rai a while ago, but she has shareholders to greet and rounds to make, and I’ll just be a hindrance. Even though her stomach is growing noticeably, she doesn’t let that stop her from being a kickass businesswoman. Kyle is by her side every step of the way, though.
As I stand in the corner, clutching a drink, I can’t help watching how he gently yet firmly places a hand at the small of her back. How he strokes her over her clothes and gives her water to drink.
A shiver goes through me at the scene, and a pit of loneliness stabs me in the stomach. My heart aches and splinters at the memory of Knox holding me to him and stroking my skin as if he got pleasure from it.
And the thought that I might never get that again clogs my throat until I can no longer breathe.
Papa meant what he said that day a week ago in his office and he kept his part of the deal.
He left Knox alone and now, I have to do the same or Papa’s answer will be written in blood.
I know what he’s doing with these parties and by making sure to introduce me alongside Damien. He’s getting everyone to see me with my “future husband,” as he calls him.
Something that Abe, the father of Damien’s supposed bride-to-be, took extreme offense to. And there might be a fight behind the scenes between him and Papa as we speak. I could tell when Vlad, Kirill, and Adrian followed Papa, Abe, and the higher-ups of the Yakuza upstairs.
“Shouldn’t you be up there, too?” I ask Aleksander, who’s standing not far from me, beside the balcony window.
He has one hand over the other, and despite his generally calm demeanor, his forefinger is twitching, which might be the only sign of distress he’s ever shown.
“Boss told me to stay here,” he says without looking at me.
“I’m not going to run away with so many guards in here. If you’re so worried about him, just go up there.”
He presses his lips in a line. “I won’t defy his order.”
“Good luck with the guilt when he gets hurt then.”
Aleksander flashes me a deadly stare, as if I murdered his children and ate them for breakfast. “He’s not going to get hurt. He can take care of himself.”
“You don’t sound so convincing. You’re thinking it, aren’t you? That something will go south and there will be no one to protect your precious boss.”
“Miss…” There’s a warning in his tone.
“What?”
“Are you enjoying this?”
I take a sip of my drink and revel in the burn of the vodka. “Maybe. I’m bored because you guys decided it was a good idea to track me, so forgive me if I choose to enjoy your misery a little.”
“Your father is up there, too.”
“He’ll be fine. If anything happens, everyone will take the bullet for him, starting with Kirill.”
I can hear the grinding of Aleksander’s teeth, but before he can say anything, Damien waltzes in, carrying a glass of vodka and making a show of drinking it with leisurely calm.
“If it isn’t my future wife.” he speaks in an unusually cheerful tone. “And the pretty boy Sasha. And here I thought you were Kirill’s shadow.”
“He decided not to watch when he actually gets shot.” I mean it as a joke, but Aleksander goes rigid, then storms in the direction of the stairs without a word.
“What’s up with that crazy motherfucker?” Damien watches him for a while before he dismisses him and focuses on me. “Were you a naughty girl or a good girl with him?”
“I don’t see why that should concern you.”
A manic smirk lifts his lips. “Hmm…and here I thought you were a docile lamb, my Nastyusha. See, I prefer the fight, the running and clawing, it makes the chasing and breaking process thrilling.”