Page 98 of Bought By Sin

I glanced at him, holding Mila’s hand and stroking my thumb over her knuckles. “And I’ll personally be paying them a little bonus soon.”

He nodded, expressionless but somber somehow. “Worth it.”

I raised my brows at him. “What is?” Mila?

“It’s worth it to have that hospital in our pocket and more or less ready to act at our beck and call.” He leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. “It’s a shame that Uncle Dmitri didn’t go to St. Anne’s back when he first had his suspicions that something was wrong with him.”

I smirked, upset that it was turning out like that. “I bet Uncle Dmitri deliberately didn’t go to St. Anne’s because they might have told us about the cancer and we would’ve insisted that he not be so stubborn about not treating it.”

Since we’d learned of his tumors, we understood now that by the time he’d had it checked out, it was too late to treat it well.

“Anyway.” My brother sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “I didn’t come here to talk about him.” He pointed his steepled fingers at her. “An update about her work.”

“Yeah?”

“I bet you’ll disagree that it was a good thing that she wanted to linger and hunt for any files in that office for as long as she did.”

I narrowed my eyes. “It’s not a good thing that I let her linger long enough that she got shot before we could fully escape.” I’d never, ever forgive myself for not protecting her better. One man—or one gun—against seven were terrible odds no man could beat.

He nodded. “But, it was a good thing she grabbed what she did.”

“Is there anything useful on those drives?” I hadn’t bothered to ask yet. It was too soon. She was my priority and I would be right by her side while she recovered.

“Oh, fuck, yes,” he replied with a scoff. “A lot to work with.” He stood, patting my shoulder. “It’ll take a while to pick through it all, but she’s mighty resourceful, getting the files like that and risking it all to obtain them.”

“Hey.” Nikolai appeared at the door and entered. “There you are,” he said of Alexei standing near the bed. “Are you still riding with me and Adrik for that meeting with Rico Johnson on the Strip?”

My brother sighed. “I guess.”

Nikolai came into the room. “How’s she doing?”

“Resting.” I lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “As she should be.”

He gave me a lopsided smile. “Look at you…”

I furrowed my brow. “What?”

“You and Mila.” He crossed his arms and laughed lightly. “I never could have imagined all of you being in such a rush to settle with a woman like this.”

Alexei rolled his eyes. “Not all of us are.”

I wouldn’t fight with him on that point. He was the least likely to settle with a woman, let alone even find one. I was sure that even the most aloof loners could warm up to the idea of love, but my brother wouldn’t be rushing toward it.

They left to head to that meeting with Las Vegas’s up-and-coming—and annoying—politician who was courting our favor. He wanted to get in our good graces, but Adrik was slow to warm up to him. He wasn’t enthusiastic about having to play a part in politics at all, but he understood that he had to as part of his being the next Pakhan. Uncle Dmitri had never liked that branch of responsibilities, either.

I watched Mila rest for a while more, memorizing all the features of her gorgeous face. The smooth curves of her cheeks that I wanted to see rising in smiles again. The delicate arches of her brows that I bet would raise when I pushed her buttons. The plump pink lips that stayed so still now, but if I played my cards right, they would curl up with a sexy grin as I pounded into her.

“Oh.”

I turned at Adrik’s voice as he entered the room.

“I thought I’d find Alexei and Nikolai around here.”

“They stopped in for a second but were heading out for this meeting with Rico Johnson.”

He nodded, strolling in as he smoothed his hand over his cuff. “Good. They can get there before me and maybe they can make excuses for why I’m late to show.” He rolled his eyes. “Or why I don’t show up at all.”

I smirked. “Funny.” We both knew that he’d never shirk his duties, no matter how loathsome they could be.