The Bratva’s Bounty (Volkov Bratva #3)

15. Lev

Chapter 15

Lev

"Sir, Mr. Volkov is busy! And you do not have permission to be back here!" The faint voice of the assistant grew louder and louder, along with sets of footsteps.

"Do you know who I am?" Hearing Mark Le's familiar voice made me groan internally. "I always have permission whenever and wherever."

Great, this is where shit is gonna go? Fuck me.

"Mr. Le!" My assistant's voice was right outside the door now, and I was still bundled on the couch with a stirring Nicole in my arms.

"What's go—"

Nicole didn't get a chance to finish waking before the door was thrown open rather rudely. "Mis—" Nicole's father paused for a few seconds of shock before flying into a rage.

If Nicole wasn't awake, she surely was now, with how she shot up from the couch and shouted back at her father. Now, I had no idea what they were arguing about because it was all in Vietnamese, but given Nicole's situation and what she told me, I could take a few good guesses.

Also, it was a good thing I'd put my shirt on her and my pants back on earlier before we conked out. Otherwise, we'd both be stark ass naked.

As the shouting match dragged on, I slowly got up from the couch, standing beside a fuming Nicole. My movement caused Mark's stark eyes to lock onto me. "What is the meaning of this? I hired you to find my daughter and safely return her to me," he seethed, taking a cautious step toward me. "And I come in to see you taking advantage of her."

My jaw ticked with an irritated click of my tongue. "Do not make me out to be some predator, Mark. I do not take kindly to such accusations." Glowering at him, I slipped an arm around Nicole's waist and pulled her close. "What Nicole and I chose to do is none of your business, and per my last communication with you, the contract between us is null and void because you broke some of the clauses." Okay, that last part was a big stretch, but her parents failed to argue and immediately went on the offensive.

I already made the overdue phone call days—no, nearly over a week ago to terminate the contract with the Le's. Needless to say, that call was not pleasant, but it took a huge weight off my shoulders. Then, when I pulled the bit about them breaking one of the terms and conditions, they instantly attacked me, saying their family business was none of mine, that I needed to remain professional and indifferent, and that I should be understanding of them because I was in the same business and lifestyle.

Honestly, after a few shots of hard liquor after that call, I hardly remembered it, let alone give a shit about it.

Clearing my throat, I gathered myself back together. "When I agreed to your contract, it was to bring Nicole back to you because you wanted to care for her again, provide her a safe home and shit." Gritting my teeth, I tightened my hold on Nicole protectively. "I did not agree to return her to you so that you could use her for your own gain." Again, lies, and I might be digging my own grave with each word, but I was in too deep now.

"What I do with my daughter is none of your business," Mark scowled deeply, his eyes darting over to Nicole briefly.

"It is fully my business what you do with Nicole because she is under Volkov Bratva protection. My protection." Now, that wasn't a lie because I made it my personal assignment when I realized Nicole's life was in jeopardy somehow.

I was determined to protect her until I ceased to exist.

Sputtering in disbelief, Mark's body did a double take before tensing up again. "What lies did she feed you to turn you against me? Do you know the consequences of such decisions? Do you think that you can just cancel on me ?" Whatever lies I'd thrown out earlier had to have more truth to them than I anticipated, given how flustered Mark became.

Clicking my tongue in annoyance, I scowled angrily at him and took a threatening step toward him, making him flinch. "Watch your tone with me, old man," I warned him with a grave voice and glare. "You broke the terms and conditions, so I have more than every right to terminate our contract." Not like that mattered anyhow; they may have proposed the job, and I may have taken it, but I damn well had the right to change my mind and pull out. "Even if you hadn't, I still retain the rights to null the contract, per its terms and conditions."

As my brothers would tell me, 'Cover your ass.' This was why all my contracts had a clear condition stating that I held full rights to terminate the assignment no matter what. I seldom canceled assignments, though, only when they went against my rules and morals or if there was some kind of other shitty conflict.

"I gave you an assignment, and I expect you to complete it as we had agreed." Mark stood his shaky ground with a determined look. "Hand over Nicole right now, and I'll forgive and forget about all this."

Scoffing in disbelief, I waited for a second to see if Mark was being serious. When he showed no signs of changing the hard look on his face, I laughed. "Listen here, you may have come to me with the request, but I do not work for you at the end of the day. You and your family are under Volkov control. You work for us, not the other way around." Pushing Nicole behind me, I crossed my arms and stood protectively before her. "Unless you want trouble, I suggest you turn your ass around and leave. Then, you forget about Nicole and never bother her again, or else."

Baring his teeth at me, he glared at me harshly, muttering something foreign under his breath. "You Volkovs think you're all in charge now because of what happened with Lady Qing, but you're all na?ve to think that was the end of it all." He switched his tongue again, shouting at me in Vietnamese.

My body jarred with a shove from Nicole. Rounding around me, Nicole seethed at her father. "You fucking try." With one hand gripping my arm, she lashed out at Mark. "You've done more than enough damage and got more than you ever need in this stupid life. Your greed will get you killed if you dare try and carry out a fraction of your stupid plans."

Nicole spat something at Mark in Vietnamese before suddenly grabbing my gun from the coffee table. "Leave and never look in my direction ever again, or I'll show you what I'm really capable of." Placing her finger over the trigger, she steadied her aim. "I'm not your daughter anymore. That girl died the day you ripped the life I had built up from me and handed it to my brother on a golden platter and tried to ship me off to a different country to be married off to some old fart and his useless son for money!"

Was it wrong for me to root for Nicole to pull the trigger on her father? I mean, I could easily disarm her and prevent the 'unnecessary' violence in the office, but Mark deserved to be shot in the face—in my humble opinion. Also, if she wasn't gonna do it, then I might take the gun from her and do it myself.

Would his untimely death cause a lot more trouble than it'd be worth? Yes, very much. But! But the satisfaction of getting rid of this arrogant bastard would be so amazing!

"You made it clear where Bao and I stand to you, mother, and the whole family. You decided to cut us out the way you did. So, whatever happens from here on out is all on you." Nicole's chilling voice sent shivers down my spine as I watched her take an angry step toward Mark, who instantly held his hands up. "You have until the count of three."

Nicole barely finished counting to one before her father spun around and ran out with his tail tucked between his legs, making me bellow an amused laugh that shook the office.

"Empress, as hot as you look all riled up with a gun, you're lucky your father didn't call you out on the fact you wouldn't shoot him." I teased her with a snicker, watching her body spin around.

Huffing, Nicole scowled and pointed the gun at me. "I would have! You don't think I'm serious!?" I couldn't help but laugh at her for her tough-guy act. "Lev! I'm being serious!" She growled, stomping her foot.

Slapping a lid on myself, I stifled my laughter. "My empress, you're not going to be shooting anyone with the safety on." I pointed out the little switch with an arrogant little smile.

Now, I probably shouldn't shove it in her face, but I was too much of a jerk to resist. So, to add the cherry on top of everything, I pulled a loaded magazine out of the pocket of my pants. "Nor will you hurt anyone with an empty gun." For extra effect, I waved the magazine in front of her face. "It was cute that you tried, though."

Pouting at me with a glare, Nicole muttered something under her breath before tossing the gun onto the coffee table with a huff. "Well, why the fuck do you have an empty gun for? Mister bratva boss," she snarked.

"I needed to reload it because I spent all the bullets on some idiot who didn't listen to me when I told him not to run," I answered with a nonchalant shrug of my shoulders.

"Did you really call off the contract with my parents?" she asked sheepishly while hiding a smile.

Smiling softly to myself, I trap her in my arms before pulling us back down to the couch. "I had no intentions of keeping to it after you reacted how you did when I told you about your parents sending me after you," I assured her with a kiss on the cheek. "I didn't feel good about it from the start, but my gut really punched me when I saw the anger and fear in your eyes that day."

If I were a heartless bastard, the outcomes would be different. Luckily for Nicole and everyone else in the world, I was raised better and actually had a functioning brain cell and heart.

Money was no issue for me; even if I needed money, I would never place it above someone else's livelihood. A person and their life are priceless—well, most are anyway. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I knew I sent someone to their doom when they didn't deserve it.

I did beat myself up a little with Nicole's case for jumping the gun and not listening to my gut initially. I should have done my research before agreeing. Instead, I let my stupid instant infatuation take the wheel.

Well, at least being impulsive this time resulted in something good.

Keeping my arms tightly around Nicole, I held her tenderly as she remained draped over me. "Do you need to nap some more, zhizn moya ?" She had barely been napping for an hour before her father barged in.

Humming softly, Nicole snuggled herself into me. "No, I think I'll be fine. I need to get home soon anyway." She sighed heavily, pouting softly. "I don't like driving back to my place in the dark."

Looking down at her, I stroked her hair while replying, "Stay then. I'll take you home later." Simple enough of a fix to her problem. "Or let me take you back to my place. You'll be safer there."

Given what had transpired with her father just now, I didn't like the thought of letting her go back to wherever she lived. Her parents could very well send someone else after her, ambush her, kidnap her in the middle of the night, and many other things as a means to get her. They hired me , of all people, to go after her, and I wasn't the first, from what I found out recently. So, them hiring some other unsavory person to track and retrieve Nicole wouldn't surprise me. Even if I did make it known that Nicole was under my protection, I highly doubt they would be deterred.

Shaking her head, Nicole gave me a confident smile. "My place is safe, so don't worry." Giggling softly, she reaches up to ruffle my hair. "Unless that's your way of asking me to move in." She cheekily teased me with a grin.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I stared at her for a good moment before cracking a devious grin. "Or I can just take you back to my place and chain you to my bed," I joked, laughing at the way Nicole's face dropped.

Growling softly, Nicole dug her fist into my side, causing my laughter to increase from the ticklish sensation. "I'm kidding," I assured her, pushing her hand away. "My brothers would kill me if you don't do it first."

No matter how ruthless my brothers and I were, we had our boundaries. If they ever found out that I held a girl captive in my home for the sake of keeping her, then I'd be lucky if they gave a quick death with a bullet to the brain.

It wasn't abnormal for us to keep prisoners, though. We actually had a whole compound in the desert with prisoners in it currently. The only difference between them and Nicole if I were to go through with the absurd plan was the intention. Locking Nicole away was more of a selfish reason to benefit me. As opposed to the other prisoners, who were all bad people the bratva had an issue with. Everyone locked away right now had a damn good reason to be in a cage.

My brothers and I weren't in the business of bartering around with human lives or trafficking them. The only thing that happened in our mafia business regarding humans was prostitution, but even that was more along the lines of regulation and protection. A lot of our clubs had sex workers in it, but they're all there of their own accord. We merely provided a place of employment and a roof over their heads to protect them from abusive pimps and other unsavory bastards out in the streets.

Sighing softly, I looked at Nicole pleadingly as I stroked her cheek with the back of my fingers. "Empress, please, come stay with me. I really just want to keep you safe, and I don't know anything about where you live and how the area is." Every time I've tried to follow her back home, I've failed. I don't know how she does it, but she had an uncanny ability to shake me off her tail.

Propping herself up onto her forearms, she looked at me pensively, frowning a little as her eyes slowly furrowed together. "I'm sorry, but I can't." She was genuinely apologetic, and I felt a small tug at my heart with how guarded and hurt she looked. "But, I promise, I swear, if anything happens, no matter how tiny, I'll show up at your door and claim your bed," she promised with a smile.

Well, call me a bastard for what I'm about to do then.