7. Misha
MISHA
I never claimed patience as a virtue, though I learned how to equip it and hone it into its own kind of weapon.
But waiting for Peyton to message us back was torturous.
I should know. I’ve handled my fair share of situations that broke many of my friends. Too many.
Pulling my thoughts back from that hellhole, I stalked down the stairs and across the lobby to the open lunchroom. Peyton had taken her lunch fifteen minutes ago. Without answering our message.
I’d thought my hint about the message would be clear enough that she’d have given us an answer hours ago.
The empty lunchroom stretched toward the east side of the building, curving around a corner where we housed the coffee machines, microwave, and other amenities.
Peyton stood on the other side of the counter, tucked into the corner with her back to me and the room.
My adrenaline spiked, my hunter’s instincts kicking into full hunt mode.
Did she have any idea how dangerous it was to stand like that? Of course, she had not been faced with many of the situations I had, but still. Common survival instinct said to keep your back to a wall and watch all entrances and exits.
Or that was just me. Perhaps I should teach her. She’d been a more than willing student last night.
I moved toward her with silent steps, walking all the way into her space before I stopped to look over her shoulder. She gave no indication of seeing or hearing me.
I lived with silence as my friend, but to have this level of unawareness meant she had never been pushed to learn as I had.
She blew out a soft breath, her fingers swiping over her phone screen. Words appeared, then disappeared as she tried to work out a response.
I grinned, recognizing our text thread on the app. She was trying to figure out how to respond.
Even as I watched, she typed out three different responses, ranging from flirty to controlled, only to delete each one with a muttered exhale that almost sounded like a curse. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed on it, her thumbs hovering over the keypad.
I took one more step and wrapped my arms around her. “You’d better be working out how to tell us you’ll see us again.” I nuzzled the side of her neck, unable to stop myself. “Because I’ve been thinking about you all morning, and you’ve made me wait far too long.”
Leo and Viktor would have my ass, but it was worth it. I’d never officially agreed to Leo’s orders.
Peyton spun in my arms, her gasp loud enough to echo around the room. “Misha!” Color exploded in her cheeks. “I mean, Mr.–”
“Misha.” I corrected her with a squeeze, my arms banding tight around her ribs.
Her pupils blew wide, her breaths coming in those short pants I’d learned how to interpret last night. Definitely attracted to me. To us.
Was it enough? I’d initially been hesitant about sharing her, but reading her responses in the app’s messages showed me it would be worth it.
Her hands spread across my chest, and for a single heartbeat, she seemed torn about whether to push me away or lean in.
She leaned in, her chin tipping upward. “I didn’t think it was acceptable behavior to send personal text messages during working hours.
” The color in her cheeks deepened. “Especially now that I know the men I’m talking to are my bosses. Now I’m really not willing to risk it.”
My laugh rang out dark and almost hollow. “Darling, the bigger mistake is making us wait.” I lowered my head a fraction. “But I know how you can make it up to us.”
Leo would tell me I was pushing too hard, too fast, that the power imbalance was skewed so far in my favor that she’d never be able to make an honest answer in this moment.
Fuck it. Leo wasn’t here. He wasn’t staring into her green eyes and seeing desire turn them glassy.
Her lips parted.
Footsteps on the far side of the room reached me. “Later.” I released her and took a step back as a thin, black-haired woman rounded the counter. Her eyebrows rose to her hairline when she saw us.
At least I’d moved far enough away that we no longer looked ready to kiss in the middle of the kitchen, but it had been close for a few seconds.
Too close.
And Peyton’s heightened color was such a dead giveaway that I might as well have kissed her, but then I would not have stopped at the approaching footsteps. I took a step back, hands resting casually by my sides. “Please send out that email as soon as possible.”
She nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry it hasn’t already been taken care of.”
The quick turn in conversation might save us. If the woman thought I’d been reprimanding Peyton for not working quickly enough, it would explain her blush and stammering.
I resisted the urge to smile all the way back up to my office.
Leo and Viktor stood waiting for me, Leo at the corner of my desk and Viktor by the windows.
It amused me that our employees here believed Viktor was the leader, the head of our operation.
Only those who knew our other identity, our Bratva connections, realized that Leo held that distinguished honor. Probably because he rarely showed this side of his personality but preferred to use charisma and charm to woo our clients.
This version of Leo glared at me, eyes gone cold. “You disobeyed.”
“No.” I sank into my chair, refusing to let him intimidate me. He’d known when he brought me in that I did not follow rules well unless they were my own. I would protect him and Viktor with my dying breath, but I’d been through too much to let the things I wanted be taken away from me.
“Misha.” The warning note in Viktor’s tone brought me to my feet.
I met each of them with a hard stare honed from decades of violence.
Leo once told me that I’d weaponized my intensity to survive.
He wasn’t wrong. “Do not push me on this, Leo.” I did not plead, would never let that softness into my life again.
“The Bratva gave me structure, purpose, and brotherhood. You allowed me to channel my rage in a controlled manner. But she is not getting away. I am not content to sit on my ass and play semantics with this power play bullshit. We want her. She wants us. It is that simple.”
Leo started to say something, then thought better of it. His lips parted, his head tipping to the side.
The three of us could be brothers. With our dark hair and eyes and similar builds, many took us as blood family. We were something closer than blood.
I did not have family. Not since my mother passed the year I turned seven. She’d been light and beautiful, what people here called a ‘breath of fresh air’.
“You cannot hem her in a corner where others might see you. You cannot make demands of her, especially while she’s at work.” Viktor remained by the windows. “It’s unethical.”
“It’s sexual harassment in the workplace.” Leo kept his body facing me. Smart man.
“Is it?” I fired the question at him. “She did not seem to mind. What does sexual harassment have to do with anything when she wants us? You must have been watching me on the cameras to already be up here ready to pounce. Which means you saw her reaction.”
I refused to let him be right.
“What happens if you push too fast? Or too far?” Leo’s voice dropped to a pained whisper. “She is more than some woman we are all interested in.”
“She’s our employee.” Viktor reiterates the obvious without looking away from the window.
I studied his expression in the glass. Tight lines around his eyes, hands in his pockets.
People did not tell us no. Those who did learned the error of their ways. Peyton had not told us no, but she was making us wait.
“Give her a chance, Misha.” Leo shifted his weight, giving me his shoulder and the slope of his back.
My body instantly relaxed. I hated that I still had that response to him and to Viktor when they squared up with me.
No good thing ever came from a man who met me toe-to-toe. It had always led to pain in some form. A decade with these two might have softened some of my rougher edges, but it had honed others.
“What does that mean? Am I meant to pretend none of this happened?” I pretended so often in my life that I’d hoped to be myself this one time with Peyton. Leo and Viktor knew me, but even they did not know the deepest parts of me.
Peyton reminded me of when life was good. She reminded me of hope and the softness that could come with a touch.
“You’re to maintain the distance we kept before we knew it was Peyton on the other side of the phone.” Leo slid his hands into his pockets.
Three matching buzzes silenced whatever Viktor had been about to say. That sound could only mean one thing. Peyton had messaged us on the app.
We all checked our phones. I read the message under my breath. “Would like to meet tomorrow night to discuss where things go from here.”
Silence stretched taut, all of our nerves going thin as pulled wire. An instant response flew from my fingers.
“Wait. Misha, please.” Leo held out a hand, but it was the please that stopped me.
Leo never said please.
Those who said it to me were usually begging for their lives. Even hearing it from Leo put a sour taste in the back of my throat. “Wait for what?”
“We need a plan to make sure she doesn’t run from us again.” Leo gave me a pointed look. “Any objections to changing the meeting location to our house?”
“None.” Controlled. Quiet. We had the advantage at home. Peyton would not be able to escape us as easily there.
I tamped down the hunt drive. Peyton was not prey. I did not want to hunt her to bring her pain. After how she reacted to us last night, I only ever wanted to bring her pleasure. So much pleasure, she would never dream of leaving.
Leo sent a message, and it popped onto the screen. We all waited for Peyton’s response.
I checked my watch. She had five minutes left of her lunch hour. Hopefully, she would reply and not leave us hanging for an answer for another agonizing half of the day.
Was this how the rest of the world felt? I hated it.
“Strategy.” I barked out the word. “We need to show her we’re interested. You brought her coffee this morning. That is allowed?”
“Yes. Anything that cannot be misconstrued as preferential treatment. Nothing that is sexual in nature.” He shrugged when I made a disgusted noise. “I’d rather not face a lawsuit. I’d much rather take things slow and win her over to the idea of us.”
Which was why I’d brought up strategy.
Being subtle ranked right up there with patience. I deployed them when necessary, even if they were not my favorite attributes. Hunting often required a shift in skills.
I simply needed to adjust to meet Peyton with a planned strategy that ensured she stopped worrying about our work situation and cared only about how she felt when we were together.