Twisted Throne (Bratva Born #2)

Epilogue

Alexis

Adriana is racing around the garden, and Cade is chasing after her, laughing in delight as Monty barks up a storm, following them both.

I’m sitting out here in the sun because Nataliya is, and I’m no longer her twenty-four-seven shadow; except today because her usual security is down two men, so Dimitri asked me to step in.

A sleek car pulls up the drive, and Dimitri steps out. “Hello, husband,” Adriana waves at him, giggling as Cade lines up the water gun and fires.

She squeals as he gets her good and proper.

Dimitri is wearing a suit, which probably costs thousands of dollars, but he goes up to her, pulls her to his chest and kisses her deeply. “Wife,” he rumbles.

They got married a month ago, and it was super small. Adriana insisted. Said she couldn’t bear a fuss, and Dimitri told me he was secretly relieved she didn’t want a massive fuss because he hates shit like that.

I think his mamma was disappointed, though.

Nataliya sighs. “I still can’t believe they called that pathetic little event their wedding.”

“Nataliya,” I snap. “That’s not nice.”

“Oh, I’m sorry; are you my tutor now? I thought you were my bodyguard.”

“I’ll call your crap out if I think you’re out of order,” I say, “and that was out of order.”

She pulls her sunglasses down low and stares at me over the rim. “You’re not scared of me, are you? Of any of us?”

Her face is serious, as if this is some revelation that’s totally new to her.

“No, I’m not. I respect you all. That’s not fear, though. You’re better than that comment, Nataliya, and that’s why I called you out on it.”

She sighs. “You’re right. I’m just gutted we didn’t get a big, grand wedding. I suppose I’ll have to be the one to deliver that.”

“You want to get married?” I ask.

She nods. “I doubt I’ll meet a man who will, though.”

“Why?” I ask.

The fact she wants to get married fills me with dread because the man she walks down the aisle with will never be me, and it will kill me to see her with someone else. My obsession has gone into overdrive recently.

“Because I don’t want kids,” she says. “And most men want a woman who does.”

I’d take her with kids, without kids, hell, I’d take her if she wanted pet salamanders even though those things freak me out.

It’s been a year since we first crashed onto that yacht, and Dimitri laid eyes on Adriana. In that time, Nataliya has matured so much in some ways, but she’s oddly aimless still. She has no job. She’s studying an online fashion course, but the word studying is very loosely applied to what she does.

She’s not into partying either. I turn to her. “How come you don’t party like other girls your age?”

She laughs. “Imagine it. Hey, guys, I’m here. Ignore the three massive men with guns with me, and just carry on having a good time.”

Her face grows serious, and for a moment I see real sadness and loneliness lurking in her depths. Then she pushes the glasses up her nose, and the moment is broken.

“How about you?”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You live on this compound now. You work all the damn time, and I never see you date.”

I swallow. “I don’t date because women wouldn’t understand my life.”

Dimitri waves over at me. “I’m getting changed, then we need to go over plans for the new shipping route.”

I mock salute him, and he gives me the finger before disappearing inside the house with Adriana, Cade, and Monty.

“So we’re in the same boat, you and I,” Nataliya says, grabbing my attention once more. “Maybe we should date each other?”

I wait for the laugh to follow but it doesn’t come.

“We’ll never date each other; be serious.” I say the words even though they ring hollow.

“Why not? Am I that ugly?” she seethes.

“What? No. You’re too young. You’re my boss and best friend’s sister.”

“Firstly, I’m not that young. My best friend is engaged. Secondly, so what about Dimitri? He’d have to get over it.”

I’m not sure if she’s just shitting me, or if she’s actually suggesting we date. It’s an insane suggestion and one that could get me killed. My cock loves the idea, but my mind knows it is fucking madness. “Nataliya, we are never dating,” I growl.

She sits up and turns to face me, her legs off the side of the sun lounger. She’s wearing a bikini, and her skin glows with tanning lotion. She has freckles on her nose, and her tits look bigger in her bikini than I’ve noticed before. Did she get surgery? But no, I’d know, and Jacob wouldn’t allow it. She’s just become a woman, and despite my best efforts for the past year to ignore that fact, it’s now, quite literally, in my face.

She reaches up with perfectly manicured fingers and daintily pushes her Chanel glasses down again. “Is that a challenge, Alexis?”

I don’t speak because what the fuck?

“There’s one thing you should know about me. I love a challenge.” She leans forward, and her voice is lowered to a husky whisper. “They make me wet.”

My mind can’t compute what she said, but my cock already has because it’s hard before I realize how inappropriate she’s being.

Her hand snakes out and rests on my inner thigh. She’s staring right at the bulge in my pants. “Like a damn horse, Alexis.”

“Nataliya,” I warn, hardly breathing I’m so freaked out by this moment. “Don’t. This isn’t appropriate.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. Is it workplace harassment? Going to report me to HR?”

“It is fucking harassment, now move. Your. Hand.”

“I didn’t know the Mafia had a sexual harassment section in the handbook.”

I stand abruptly, knocking her hand off me and stalk toward the house. “Where are you going? You can’t leave me alone out here. It’s not safe.”

I stop and turn, blowing out a frustrated breath. “Fine. I’ll watch from here.”

She stands. “It’s alright. I’ve had enough sun. I think I need a long, cool shower. Get all wet.” She walks up to me, licks her lips, and smiles. “I heard my daddy say my guard is going to be sick for a week or more.”

“That’s fine,” I say. “You have more.”

“Yes, but I had to tell Daddy what they did. The way they looked at me sometimes, so he’s rotated them off duty.”

She sashays by me, but I grab her wrist and halt her strut. “Tell me you did not tell your father that men stared at you when they didn’t? You realize that could be their death sentence?”

“Relax,” she says. “They’re alive and well, just on shitty security camera duty.”

I blow out a frustrated breath. “Nataliya, that’s a dangerous game; why would you do that?”

She takes her glasses off and balances them on her head. “Because I want you back, Alexis.” She shakes her head. “You think I don’t know? The way you feel about me?”

My heart is pounding. Shit just got seriously real and possibly deadly.

“Nataliya, if this is a game, I’m begging you to stop because you are going to get my fucking head cut off.”

She winces, but her cheeks flush. “It’s not a game, Alexis. I think you feel the same way about me as I do about you.”

Don’t ask. Don’t ask. Don’t ask.

I ask. “How’s that?”

She licks her lips and swallows hard. “I can’t stop thinking about you. When I see you in the house, my heart leaps out of my chest. I think about you in bed at night.” She lowers her gaze and her voice. “I think about you when I touch myself. I’m sick, and my sickness is you, Alexis.”

Then she turns on her heel and stalks to the house, leaving me standing there. Achingly hard. Heart pounding. Fucking elated and yet deadly scared.

That girl has just thrown a hand grenade into my life, and God only knows what will happen when the dust settles.

The End