9. Lev
LEV
“I’m not sure there’s anything she can’t do,” Roman admitted gruffly after he led several recruits on a minor infiltration scenario. His gaze was on Mila as she exited the van she’d been riding in.
Like all the other tests and trials I’d had her put through since I ‘bought’ her, she excelled once again. Aloof and walking apart from the others, she wore that same mask of indifference, that same blank expression so as not to give away a hint of what she was thinking or feeling.
I was used to someone with layers like that. My brother was like her in that regard, not letting anyone in or close and walling off people with ease. Mila had an instinct to shut others out.
“Yeah?” I asked him, watching as he did, while the five members who’d gone on that infiltration run returned.
“She pulled one of the men back from being spotted by the Konstantins. And she managed to get a recording of the conversation their deliverers had.” He raised his brows as he glanced at me.
“She’s good at sneaking into and out of any fucking scenario.
And she doesn’t hesitate to take risks to get a job done. ”
Just so long as she doesn’t take too many risks…
Viktor had gone with the crew on this mission to get some intel from the Konstantins, a smaller faction of another Bratva in the Las Vegas area.
Rumor was that they could have links to Gregori, and we wanted to start investigating the matter.
Viktor was free to lead this task, a minor exercise of obtaining some recordings from the men most likely to know something, if they did at all.
I waited for him to approach and report on how Mila did.
Well, he’d report on how the crew handled the task. Not only her. I was selectively interested in his review of her performance, though.
Because I was obsessed.
Despite her lack of talking to me and opening up at all, she hogged my mind. She popped into my thoughts when I was idle, I was distracted and dragged away from concentrating to think about her, and at night, my dreams incorporated more fantasies of her.
“I don’t get why any Cartel used her for smuggling runs,” he said as he joined me and Roman while the recruits entered the training facility. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder as if it wasn’t obvious who he was talking about. Mila was the only woman being trained for anything out here.
“She excels at everything,” he said, shaking his head with the start of a smile, like he couldn’t believe it. “She can think quickly under pressure, and I swear it’s like she’s hardwired not to panic. At all.”
Those were good qualities to want in any member of our organization.
But I couldn’t be so clinical, to only view her as an employee, as a runner, spy, guard, assassin.
Anything she could do for our Bratva wouldn’t ease this persistent need for her.
All that she could prove herself through wouldn’t erase how badly I wanted her to submit to me.
To even hint that she could open up to me.
I’d been drawn to her from the first second because she had appeared so defiant and stubborn, so unafraid, no matter the threats and unknowns she faced so acutely.
And I still coveted that. I still wanted to know that I had control and power, something that would be evident in taming her, a woman who was seemingly untamable.
Both my cousin and Roman looked at me, waiting for my reaction.
“Good,” I said at last.
“Good?” Viktor said, giving me a funny look.
“That’s all you can say?” He huffed. “She’s a diamond in the rough, man.
” Patting my back, he urged me to walk with him.
We were both due for a meeting with Adrik and the others, but I wasn’t sure that I should bring Mila.
Since I took her out of that standoff, she’d become my unofficial accessory, going with me everywhere while I tried to get her to open up to me and while I sought a purpose and job for her.
A possessive pride once again filled me as I received yet another report about how skilled she was. It aggravated me, making me remember how I’d told my brother that there was nothing to worry about in regard to my acquiring Mila as a slave. That I had everything under control.
I was committed to integrating her into my life, but I couldn’t fully understand why. Why her, why now? If I’d succeeded in fucking her that first day and conquering her with that little test of seducing her, it wouldn’t have been enough.
I needed to have all of her. Her story, her secrets, her wishes and fears.
“What’s your plan with her?” Viktor asked. “Because we could use her for different assignments. It’s a waste not to have her involved in more than a smuggling run.” He arched a brow at me. “Unless you’re thinking of having her be something, uh, else.”
I texted Roman to have one of the guards take her back to the safehouse after her training was complete for the day. Some distance might be in order. Viktor putting me on the spot so directly and asking me what I wanted from Mila was unnerving.
Because I wanted her.
All of her.
Or does it just seem like more because of the heat of the moment? Does she seem more alluring and tempting because she’s new to me? Something different that I hadn’t counted on finding?
“I don’t know what I should plan to do with her yet.
” I glanced at him, masking how unsettled that short woman made me feel.
“Because I agree with you. She’s too smart and skilled to do something as autopilot as a run.
She’s not some entry-level grunt worker to do menial shit like what the Cartels had her do. ”
“Then maybe she should be trained more. As a spy, like you’ve been hinting. Or even an assassin.”
I nodded, glad he wasn’t going to push on my personal addiction to keeping her close and shaping her into whatever job she could have with us. He offered to drive me to the mansion, and I was glad to have the downtime to zone out on the short ride to think, ponder, and dwell.
My thoughts shot right back to Mila. And the more I obsessed over how guarded she was, I debated how much I could invest in her and treat her like my own personal project.
It was crystal clear so far that she wasn’t inclined to crack or open up to me.
She’d been too trained, too conditioned to be this fierce and defiant.
But what if she didn’t have to be this hard like a fighter?
I furrowed my brow at that softer possibility.
What would she do if I showed her that she could lean on me, depend on the stability of being a part of the Volkov Bratva?
I shook my head. This was crazy talk.
No. That’s so fucking stupid.
Right after I was reminded of how much of an asset she could be for us, so skilled and stealthy, and I wanted to what, reduce her to being my whore or something like that? That would be a waste. It would be irresponsible of me not to give her a job where she could excel.
She would excel for me. In my bed. Under me. On me and riding me—
Viktor patted the back of his hand at my chest once, sharply, jarring me back to the present.
I turned from the window, hating that I’d zoned out, again, to the thought of that woman. We were here. He’d stopped. I hadn’t even noticed.
He was kind enough not to tease me about it, laughing once and getting out of the driver’s seat.
I grimaced as I followed him. I hadn’t been able to resist bringing Mila into my world because she’d been such an enigma, a promise of something to pull me out of how I was spiraling with Uncle Dmitri dying and Gregori being an issue.
I didn’t realize she’d consume me like this, though.
Viktor and I joined everyone else in Adrik’s office.
It had taken time for this large space to seem like my oldest cousin’s office instead of Uncle Dmitri’s.
With time, though, little clues popped up to represent the transition.
Elena often left her coffee cups in here.
Adrik had hung up different artwork. The chairs were moved around.
Small things that shooed away how this room had always held another man’s presence.
I heaved out a sigh, still not ready to see him go.
We got right to the meeting, and while it was about Gregori, I didn’t fall into the pit of frustration that I usually did when he was mentioned.
“It’s only rumors so far,” Viktor said, “but our informants suggest that Gregori’s explaining his influence through enforcement channels.”
Elena nodded, looking like she intended to speak up next. She’d more than earned her place in meetings like this. Carina too.
Could Mila?
I internally groaned at how she’d pop into my thoughts so invasively.
She’s a slave. Someone I bought.
Yet, that didn’t stand up to how Elena and Carina had come to be the Mafia wives—with power—that they had. Elena had been given to Adrik as a payment for a wrongdoing. Carina had been offered in an arranged marriage to Maksim. Neither had been bought like slaves.
I rubbed the back of my neck as I leaned forward, anxious to have fewer unknowns about Mila. Eager to have less indecision about her, too.
“The money trails Igor and I have been following suggest that too,” Elena reported.
“Like what, specifically?” Maksim asked.
“Probably paying off the local police,” Carina said.
Elena nodded again. “Bribing Feds, too. Maybe a couple of politicians. We’re tracking it all, but you know how it’s all hidden and layered.”
We did, but as I took a moment to consider what they were all sharing, about how Gregori wasn’t only trying to mess with the businesses that ran our empire, or meddling with trade agreements with the Cartels and gangs, I had to admit that this hadn’t even been on my radar lately.
Ever since I saw Mila, I’d been committed to thinking about her. I hadn’t been dwelling on Uncle Dmitri being gone and Gregori threatening my family.
I ran my hand over my jaw, debating whether how much she was consuming my mind was a blessing or a curse.