Page 53 of Prey of the Bratva

“Of course you were, Kliment. I already know that, or at least I guessed it,” she said quietly.

I continued anyway. “I thought killing you and removing you from the Chernykh family structure would destabilize your family. It would create a fracture I could use.” My voice stayed even and controlled. “It was not because you were the weakest point of your family, but after weeks of following everyone, I concluded that you were the most unpredictable. That made you dangerous and the easiest to kill. A part of me did underestimate you and considered you to be the most vulnerable.”

“That’s not new. Everyone does tend to underestimate me,” she smiled, a hint of sadness hidden behind it.

“I know. That is the reason you haven’t told your brothers anything about the mission.”

She nodded and tilted her head slightly, studying me in a way that felt far too perceptive.

“And now?”

“What now?”

“What do you feel about me now? After all this time? After knowing me fully inside and out. What do you think?” I stared at her, her question throwing me off balance. I did not remember the last time I had talked openly about my feelings for anyone, and Misha Chernykh was asking me to exactly that.

“I feel a lot of things now, Misha.”

“I want to know every single one of them,” she replied, leaning towards me. A mischievous smile curved her lips as if she knew exactly what her questions were doing to me. I sighed deeply and stood up from my chair, dragging it until I was sitting directly in front of her, the table no longer between us. Whenever she was around, all I wished to do was eliminate all distance and have her in my arms at once. If that wasn’t proof enough of my feelings for her, I didn’t know what was.

“What do you think?” I asked, taking her hand in mine.

“Don’t try to act smart and direct the question towards me, mister. I have asked you something, and I want to hear it from you. That is, if you have the courage to say it out loud,” she shrugged, her face turning into a smirk.

“Is that a challenge?” I chuckled, rolling my eyes at her.

“It is.”

I paused, staring into her eyes.

“When you first came here out of your own will and refused to tell me anything about your mission, I was naturally annoyed. My annoyance grew with the number of problems that grew in my life because of your presence, but eventually all of it stopped mattering.”

“Why?” she asked, her voice a whisper now.

“Because I came to realize how much I admired you and cared for you. I came to realize that you could be at the furthest end of the world, and I would run to you to have you in my arms. I realized that nothing else mattered to me except your presence, your wishes, your needs, and your wants. Nothing else mattered but you.”

The smirk faded from her lips as she continued to look at me, struck speechless. I continued.

“Now, I do not wish to be parted from you for a single second, Misha. I do not wish for you to go anywhere or stay away from me. I do not wish for you to get hurt, and I have the urge to make sure I am always there to protect you. It started out with my obsession for you as a hunter hunting its prey, and now I am obsessed with you as a man who has the most precious thing in the world in his possession, and he is refusing to let it go.”

“Kliment, oh god,” she whispered, finally finding her voice again. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I already know how you feel.”

“You do?”

“I see it in your eyes, Misha.”

I watched her carefully, every small movement, every shift in her expression. There was something different about her tonight, or perhaps it was just my gaze that made her appear different.

“You don’t regret it?” she asked. “You don’t regret not killing me that night and settling your scores with the Chernykhs?”

“Do I look like a man who regrets anything?”

“No,” she answered. “You look like a man who has got everything he has ever wanted.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”