5. Lev
LEV
She took the water bottle.
It shouldn’t have meant much, but as I drove her toward my house, a low, sprawling ranch near my cousins’ homes, I mused over all that it did represent.
She wasn’t self-destructive, so bent out of shape about my owning her and taking her that she’d refuse a basic necessity.
I didn’t have to try to watch her closely to notice how thirsty and dehydrated she had to be back there.
If she was being defiant and uncommunicative out of spite alone, then that would be a damn waste.
We both knew she needed water, and she had the wisdom to accept it.
It signified that she wasn’t stupid. That she wasn’t being difficult for the fun of it. I doubted this woman was the sort to play games.
And for that, I was grateful.
It also extrapolated my intrigue by tenfold.
Offering her that water was one gesture I could do, but I knew better than to push my luck.
I didn’t say anything, letting her brood in the backseat. I hadn’t told that Hernandez that I’d buy her just for the sake of company and having a fucking conversation, after all.
The more I drove through the desert, though, I couldn’t be sure of why I had jumped on the impulsive idea of taking her out of that standoff.
I’d need to explain it somehow, and I began to do that once I was stuck at a light as we neared civilization again. I picked up my phone and texted the group thread that included my brother and all of my cousins. A heads up was a common courtesy.
Lev: I’m on my way back from assisting Dean with that handoff.
Reporting like this wasn’t necessary. It wasn’t with Adrik running the Bratva. It hadn’t been required when Uncle Dmitri was the Pakhan, either. It was the simplest introduction, though.
Lev: I purchased a drug runner while I was there. I’m bringing her to my safehouse now.
I set my phone back down in the cup holder, curious how long it would take for them to comment.
This didn’t need to be huge news, but it would matter that I’d brought someone into our circle.
We recruited soldiers. We hired contractors.
Many people and companies and service providers worked for us.
But this was different somehow. It wouldn’t be the same as acquiring someone else because I intended to own Mila. To make her…
Mine, somehow.
Viewing her as only a slave seemed like I was taking this situation for granted. There was potential to pursue with her. Someone as strong as she was had to matter as more than just a slave runner.
I glanced in the mirror to find Mila staring out the window, her face unchanged from the almost-scowl she’d worn the whole ride.
My phone buzzed and I picked it up. Unsurprisingly, Adrik was the first to reply.
Adrik: What?
Adrik: Why? A runner? What the hell for?
The last question was the most valid. We had runners. Maksim—and now Carina—supervised the crews that smuggled product and arms and managed the shipping. Buying contracted slaves wasn’t something we ever had to do much because we had such a low turnover of loyal employees.
Maksim: You bought a runner from the handoff that the Garcias had arranged with the Hernandezes? I thought they were just there to get money owed to them.
Adrik: You bought a runner from the Garcias?
Maksim: That makes no sense.
Maksim: The Garcias are our partners again. If we needed any additional runners to report to the Bratva for anything, we wouldn’t need to source them from them.
Our relationship with the Garcia Cartel had shifted a lot over the last few months.
Carina came to us, almost like an ambassador, and in the end, she’d stood by us as her brother was taken out after his alliance with Gregori was revealed.
The Garcia Cartel and any employment with or from them should have been a thing in the past. We were both comfortable with Jorge as their boss, and as evident from Dean and I showing up as backup today, we were on friendly terms.
Worrying about the Cartel wasn’t something any of us had time for. Not when we had to focus on preparing for who else Gregori could try to use against us.
Lev: No need to worry about this. She’s a contracted slave the Hernandezes were forcing to do runs for the Cartel. I bought her.
Viktor chimed in next with his text.
You bought her as a spy on the Hernandezes?
I thought back to how Mila hadn’t said a damn word about where the other Hernandez runners had taken off to.
She hadn’t needed to. We’d found them and they were killed anyway.
But even with a gun pressed to her head, she didn’t crack and reveal anything.
I highly doubted she’d tell me a single thing about the Hernandezes if I wanted to ask.
Sure, she could be a source of intel. That wasn’t why I’d bought her, though. This heads up didn’t seem like such a wise idea now. Not when they were putting me on the spot to explain why I had brought her home.
Lev: She could be a spy.
I hoped that would be true and open-ended to the point that they wouldn’t press me for more answers. As a contracted worker, she could do a variety of jobs for us.
My phone buzzed again and I realized that Adrik had more questions. He was putting them in a direct and private thread with only me now.
Adrik: You need to give me more details than that.
I glanced up to check if the light had changed yet. It hadn’t, so I replied.
Lev: I know her name. I have the contract but I didn’t look at it yet.
Adrik: And you just bought her? On a whim?
Calling it a whim didn’t sound right. It wasn’t a whim, per se, but it wasn’t my most thought-out decision. He’d think I was nuts if I told him that it just felt right to bring her with me.
Adrik: For how much? Not that this even matters.
Lev: He asked for ten thousand, but I killed him anyway.
Adrik: You stole her???
I sighed, annoyed, and checked the light again. Still red.
Lev: No. I offered the money, he signed her over to me, and then I shot him because he was dead anyway for not showing up with the expected payout owed to the Garcias.
Adrik: Like I said. I need more details. It seems like you’re asking for more trouble than what the family needs right now.
I cringed, setting my phone down as the light finally turned green.
Buying a slave wasn’t unheard of. We’d done it in the past, even though it was mostly for needing specialized skills from men on the run. One of our IT employees was technically a slave transfer, and he was just a normal member of the Bratva now.
Regardless, a little bit of guilt snuck into my mind.
The last thing I wanted to invite to the family was more trouble.
On top of Uncle Dmitri dying. And Gregori forming his network to fight us.
Plus, the newness of both Elena and Carina coming into the family as Volkov Mafia wives—both of them already expecting.
A lot was going on. I couldn’t deny that.
All these changes added to this spiraling feeling of being out of control.
With Mila, though, I wanted to launch at the concept of taming her. Of taking her and owning her and getting her to submit to me. Restoring my balance and my power would be the surest method of clearing my mind and getting my head on straight again.
At another light, I grabbed my phone again.
Lev: Relax, all right? This won’t be anything to worry about.
Adrik trusted all of us. He was closest to Maksim, with how they almost acted like twins rather than brothers, but we all relied on mutual trust and faith in each other. That was how well we worked as a real team.
And it had to be true. Buying and taking Mila out of that standoff wouldn’t be a worry. It didn’t have to end up being a problem.
Once more, I checked the mirror and saw that she was still staring off to the side, mute and sullen but fully alert.
Now that I had her in this car with me, and I was bringing her to my residence, I couldn’t imagine letting her go. Not tonight. Not anytime soon. Not before I could dig a little deeper and really see what I had on my hands with her.
For how defiant and tough she acted, I was desperate to rise to the challenge. To peel back her layers and see how truly strong she was. How unbreakable she could be.
Lev: I’ve got this under control.
After I sent that text to him, I set my phone down and admitted to myself that it was nothing but a fucking lie.
I felt out of control. I was unprepared for what I wanted from this woman.
This air of mystery around her wasn’t something I could deny, though.
It was an enigma I wasn’t ready to let go of yet.
Without checking my phone again and without bothering to speak to her so quiet and watchful in the back seat, I continued to drive until I reached the outskirts of where I lived.
Shadows cast over the sharp edges of my ranch, but I didn’t slow the car down in the long drive to the side of it.
Instead, I passed it and headed toward the first safehouse on my property.
Another building further back was where I’d be taking Mila if she was a dangerous captive.
That short structure led to a basement of dungeons.
But I’m not sure what you’ll be.
I parked in front of the simple safehouse and turned off the car. Guards were present on the property, patrolling, but I wasn’t so intimidated to need backup with her.
I got out, opened the back door, and gestured with my hand for her to get out.
She did, not reaching for the handle to lever herself up. Uncoiling herself athletically, she climbed out and stood to glare at me expectantly.
This silent treatment shit won’t last. You know that, right?
I’d wear her down. But what I wanted to mold her into remained to be seen. She’d be useful, for sure, as a runner to join the crews under Dean and Maksim’s management or something else.
Maybe as my submissive lover.
I raked my gaze over her, from head to toe. That lazy once-over painted the picture of a fit, filthy, and exhausted woman, but that didn’t stem the flow of lust that ran hotter through my veins.
I spun my finger, indicating for her to turn and face the car. She had to have experienced this before, because no confusion came from her. In a swift twist, she gave me her back, spread her legs apart, and placed her hands on the car.
She’d been patted down before and knew what to expect.
I supposed that didn’t have to be significant.
What was extremely newsworthy was how fast my dick started to harden.
With her leaning over slightly, her tight ass in front of me, her face directed away from me to project the illusion of her letting me do whatever I wanted to her without her seeing or knowing.
Goddammit.
What the fuck am I going to do with you?
It’d been a long, long time since I experienced a potent rush of lust like this.
But I shoved it aside, quickly patting her down and checking her for a weapon.
Need coursed through me, but I clenched my jaw and ignored it.
Not finding a gun or knife, only discovering toned muscles and soft curves, I nudged her to turn and face me.
“Wires?” I asked, not counting on a reply.
She arched one brow and tugged the collar of her shirt forward, a silent and somehow sassy implication that I should look for myself.
The quick peek I took of her chest threatened to tent my pants completely. No wires were there. Only the smooth, tight skin of her generous swells heaving under her bra as she breathed harshly.
Fuck. Me. Now. I breathed through the increase of desire, masking it all.
I tilted my head toward the safehouse, the nonverbal order to get her to start walking.
Besides, if she had anything on her, the tech in the safehouse would detect it and file it on my security system.
Silent but obedient, she walked up the path toward the building. I didn’t let her get too far ahead, following her and watching her tight ass in those rugged jeans.
Rehearsing what I’d say as I laid out the rules of her new reality, I privately considered what it might take for me to get her to break.