Page 53 of Reclaimed By My Ex’s Bratva Brother

"Eat your breakfast." I glared at him. He glared back.

"This is breakfast?"

"One more word and you're getting the same thing for dinner."

He shut up fast and wrestled with his pasta.

I turned to wipe down the counter, catching my reflection in the clean surface. My face looked calm. Only my eyes gave me away—filled with nothing but loneliness.

Varlam really was busy. He had things to do. That's what I'd been telling myself for days.

He came to the office less and less. When he did show up, that woman was always beside him—Brinny Vasilieva. The joke was, Varlam never introduced her. I had to dig up what little information I could find online.

Either way, everything changed after Brinny appeared. Those after-hours kisses, his hand on my lower back, our breathing tangled together in the dark—gone. Just endless work waiting for me.

Rory's meals wouldn't magically appear on the table, and the reports piling up on my desk wouldn't sprout legs and walk back to the file room just because some asshole had trampled my heart. I could only stay late checking numbers, processing documents that had mysteriously doubled.

After rushing home, doing all the housework, I thought I could finally rest. But then I'd see it again—Varlam tilting his head to listen to Brinny, patient and gentle. Every morning I woke up with darker circles under my eyes than the day before.

I choked down a few bites of breakfast, put Rory on the school bus, and rushed to the office. I didn't have time to wallow.

I sat at my desk and dove into the mountain of work. Before long, the office door opened. Brinny walked in alone. No Varlam.

"A glass of water." She set her purse on top of my files. "Nothing in it."

"One moment." I stood to get a cup.

It was part of being an assistant.

As I passed her, I caught a faint scent of cedar. I knew it too well—that was Varlam's scent. I didn't want to think about how close he'd held her for his smell to rub off on her. Maybe they'd done more than hug this morning. Maybe they'd kissed. Maybe even... My jaw clenched.

I walked stiffly to the break room, watching the temperature display climb.

Varlam's coffee had to be a precise temperature. Too hot and the aroma turned bitter. Too cool and he'd frown. I'd only needed two tries to get it right. I knew his coffee temperature by heart, but I hadn't known he'd been saving a place for another woman all along.

When I returned to the office, Brinny was sitting in my chair, casually flipping through the files on my desk.

"Those are internal documents." I set the glass beside her and closed the folder. "You can't look at those."

"Five minutes for one glass of water." She slowly raised her head, not even embarrassed about being caught.

She didn't touch the glass, just stared at me like she hadn't just been caught snooping.

"Too many people in the break room."

"Quick with excuses." The vulnerability from our first meeting had vanished from her eyes. "Varlam pays you good money—not to hide in the break room slacking off. Can't even bring a glass of water properly. Think you're earning your salary?"

"Mr. Petrov pays me to handle his work." I met her gaze. "Including keeping people from going through his files."

She finally stood. She was about my height but painfully thin. Standing straight, her neck and shoulders formed a perfect line—probably corrected from childhood, every lift of her chin and placement of her feet drilled into ladylike standards.

"You think you're doing a good job?" She looked at me with pure arrogance.

Nothing like her delicate image.

"At least I know what confidentiality means."

Her smile faded.