Page 55 of Prey of the Bratva

“Neither is this,” she said.

And then she kissed me. There was nothing hesitant about it. No testing. No restraint. It was immediate and intentional. I responded just as quickly, my hand moving to her waist, pulling her closer without thinking. She stepped into me without resistance, her other hand sliding up to my shoulder. The world narrowed to that single point of contact. There was nothing between us. There was her. Just her. The kiss deepened, slower this time, more deliberate. Her breath hitched slightly as I shifted, my hand tightening just enough at her waist to feel the response in the way she leaned into me.

Everything about this felt different from before. When we finally pulled back, it wasn’t abrupt. It wasn’t forced. It was measured. Her forehead rested briefly against mine, her breathing uneven but steadying.

“Aren’t things a little complication now,” she murmured.

“Yes.”

“Do you care?”

“No.”

That earned a quiet laugh.

“Good,” she said softly.

“You’re not alone in this,” I said finally.

Her eyes met mine again.

“I know,” she replied.

And this time, when she said it, there was no resistance behind it. No deflection. Just truth. That was the moment I understood something clearly. This was no longer aboutrevenge. No longer about power. No longer even about the war that was coming. It was about her. And I would burn everything before I let that war take her from me.

Chapter 15 - Misha

“Everyone, take positions.” My voice cut cleanly through the comms, low and controlled, carrying across every channel without needing repetition. I was stationed and ready, waiting for alignment from all ends to begin the attack. Every muscle in my body was tense, and my mind was focused solely on the mission ahead of me.

I needed to be careful, and I needed to get my hands on Sidorov.

“North entrance secured,” Sera replied immediately, her tone sharp and focused. I already knew there was no hesitation and no uncertainty in any of my girls. Everyone had been waiting for this day for months. The day we would finally be able to get access to one of the bigger players in the network and move forward in order to dismantle it once and for all.

And Sidorov was exactly that player.

“East perimeter clear,” Diane added, quieter but just as precise. Both Diane and Sera were my second-in-commands in the operation, both of them just as trained as me. Every single woman in our operation was a fighter, and if just us weren’t enough, Kliment had made sure his men were a part of the mission as well. He too was here, but he was not forcing his way to the front, allowing me to handle things my way.

Despite that, his being there was support enough. I had faith in myself, and he had faith in me, too. That was all I needed.

“Surveillance has been looped, girls. You have a nine-minute blind window to get in and begin things without your faces coming in the picture,” came Aria’s voice through the line, calm and steady from her remote setup. She was outsidethe location, sitting in a trailer with a few others, her eyes on everyone and everything. She was our eyes and ears for the mission.

“Copy that,” I replied, my gun clasped tightly in my hands.

Nine minutes.

That was more than what we needed. I adjusted the grip on my weapon, my gaze fixed on the warehouse ahead. It sat too still against the night, its exterior stripped of the usual chaos that clung to dock operations. There were no stray workers around, and all evening we had sensed no loose movement. There was no noise beyond the distant hum of water and steel. It was too clean, and that only meant two things. Either the players were too smart, too practiced, and too perfect to be seen, or this was nothing but a setup, and we had been fooled.

However, now that we were here, I was going to risk it all. If it were a setup, we would pay the price, get out of here, and adopt another strategy to go forward. And if it was not a setup, we would get exactly what we were here for. Kliment had asked me to stay ready for anything and everything, and I was. I exhaled slowly, steadying the instinct that told me something was off. It was not the time to let my gut take over my mind. It was time to focus.

“We move now,” I said.

No one questioned it. No one ever did. We moved forward at last, finding the metal gates barricaded shut from the inside. That was confirmation enough that someone was inside at least. I looked for an opening, but there was none, which only meant one thing. Explosives were unnecessary.

“Katya,” I whispered into the mic.

“Yes, boss,” she replied from the other end of the warehouse.

“We have barricaded metal doors. You know what to do.”