He met up with someone, and I had Mikhail run a background check on the guy. My man mentioned he saw Artem pass something over to the stranger and slip something into his own pocket before returning to the mansion.
The result of Mikhail’s background check will determine whether Artem lives to see another day. And I hope to God that all of this is just my suspicion.
“Is there something bothering you?” Elena asks.
I drift back to the present and look at her, surprised she’s still acting normal around me. “Aren’t you afraid of me?”
Her brows knit with genuine concern. “Why would I be?”
“Because you know me now. You know what cruelty I’m capable of.”Monster.That’s the word people outside the mafia use to describe men like me. We’re nothing but bloody killers with cruelty carved deep in our bones.
I expect Elena to see me the same way.
“You’re also the same man who ran down here to save me.” She presses another kiss to the back of my hand. “You’re the same man who trusted me enough to tell me about your past. You’re my husband, Leo. Our relationship might not be a normal one, but this doesn’t change anything.”
Hearing her say that, especially in that soft, caring tone, makes my chest constrict in a way that feels foreign. Although my sister loves me to bits and I love her back, this feels different.
Elena’s awakening a side of me that I thought was killed and buried by the darkness of the world I exist in. Although it makes me uneasy, a part of me wants to drown completely in her. I’m not sure how to deal with this new development—this fluttering in my chest that fills me with even more warmth than the thought of bending her over and sliding my cock into her.
What I feel isn’t just lust.
It’s something deeper and stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.
My phone rings before I can clear my muddy thoughts, Mikhail’s name flashing across the screen.
I pick up the phone and spend the first couple of seconds listening to my cousin clear his throat, a habit he developed just to annoy me.
“Speak or I’m hanging up.”
“Are you sure you want to do that? I have something very juicy for you, brat.”
“Is it out?”
“Yes, and I’m standing outside your office.”
“Come inside.”
The door creaks open and Mikhail strides in, a brown folder in his right hand. His eyes light up when they meet Elena’s. He flashes his usual playboy smile at her. “Good evening, sister.”
Elena smiles back at him. I hate it when she smiles at any man who isn’t me. “Good evening, Mikhail. It’s nice to see you again.”
Mikhail flattens his palm on his chest and lowers his head, mimicking a pose he saw in a Victorian movie we watched together when we were kids. “Well, the pleasure’s all mine.I’d visit more often if your grump of a husband wasn’t so…insecure.”
Elena shoots me a surprised look. “Insecure?” she chuckles, her eyes glinting with amusement. “Interesting. I didn’t know my husband was so insecure. I’ll invite you to dinner one of these days, and you’re not allowed to say no.”
“I would love that.” Mikhail’s eyes dart to me, and he grins like he just won the lottery.
My attention is pinned on the folder he’s holding, and given the anxiety burning in my stomach, I don’t have the energy for his jokes, although I’ll have to teach him a lesson or two later for flirting with my wife in front of me.
“What do you have?”
“Information on the rat hiding in your walls.” His gaze bounces between Elena and me, signaling for me to dismiss her.
“There’ll be no need for that,” I tell him. “Elena’s a part of this family now.”
Mikhail looks hesitant for a moment before eventually giving in with a shrug of his shoulders. He sets the folder on the table. “Have a look yourself.”
My finger hovers over the folder for a couple of seconds before I find the courage to flip it open.
