Page 84 of The Bratva King

I watch her for a moment. I don’t know what to do with this feeling in my chest. It’s not uncomfortable, just unfamiliar.

Last night was different. I’ve had a lot of sex. Good sex. Great sex, even. But last night felt like something else. It was the first time I felt… connected. And not just in the physical sense.

I slip out of bed without waking her and head to the shower. The hot water doesn’t help me sort through whatever is happening in my head. I fuck women. I don’t think about them after. I don’t wake up analyzing the experience.

But this meant something. I just don’t know what.

I dress in my usual black and head downstairs. Luke is already in the kitchen with Irina. He’s got his cereal bowl in front of him, and he’s eating Froot Loops.

Gabby’s going to be worried. Her son got up before her. She wasn’t there when he woke up. But the kid looks just fine.

“Morning,” I say.

He looks up. “Morning.”

Irina pours my coffee without being asked. She knows my routine better than I do.

“Did my mom go to work?” Luke asks.

“No. She’ll be down soon.”

He nods and returns to his cereal. He doesn’t ask where she slept. Good. I sit down across from him with my coffee. We’re quiet together. I like that about him. He doesn’t feel the need to fill silence with noise. Neither do I.

Gabby appears in the doorway, panic in her eyes. Her hair is pulled back into a messy knot. She’s wearing the same clothes from last night. She looks at me, then at Luke, then back at me. I see her relief. Her son is fine.

She moves to the counter, where Irina has already poured her coffee. She takes it with both hands like it’s a lifeline.

“Did you sleep okay?” I ask.

“Yeah.” Her cheeks go pink. She doesn’t look at me when she says it.

Luke finishes his cereal and carries his bowl to the sink. He comes back and climbs back into the chair. A plastic dinosaur sits on the table.

I smile.

“I’ve been thinking,” I say. “You should have your own room, Luke.”

He looks at me with those calm blue eyes.

“We’ll set it up however you like.”

“Nikolai.” There’s a warning in Gabby’s voice. “That’s very generous, but he’s fine.”

“I want my own room,” Luke says.

She looks at him with genuine surprise.

“We can look at them after breakfast,” I tell him. “We’ll pick a room.”

“That isn’t necessary,” Gabby says again.

“You can pick the colors,” I tell Luke.

“Dinosaurs,” he says immediately.

“Obviously.”

Gabby is staring at me like I’ve just announced I’m moving us all to the moon.