Page 48 of Brutal Reign (Bratva Kings #3)

CHAPTER

THIRTY-EIGHT

PAVEL

“Tell me you have good news,” I say, stepping over the cables snaking across the floor of Dinara’s digital lair. I’ve always teased her that this place looks like some Bond villain operation, with monitors everywhere and enough hardware to hack the Pentagon.

She sent me a cryptic text ten minutes ago, asking me to come down here ASAP. In my experience, that level of urgency from Dinara means one of two things: she’s cracked something big, or we’ve got a serious problem on our hands.

I’m really hoping it’s a breakthrough.

She spins around in her seat to face me. “Depends on how you look at it. Chen messaged Hope last night that his timeline has moved up. He needs to hand over the digital wallet in the next two weeks.”

“Why?” I ask, settling into the seat beside her and leaning forward.

“Chen says he’s being followed. Made it seem like Simon or another faction is after him for helping Hope. We know it’s bullshit, but Hope won’t. He claims he has to go into hiding but wants to hand off her money first.”

I scan Chen’s message, my jaw tightening as I note the calculated urgency, the way it’s designed to make Hope feel like if she doesn’t move now, she’ll lose it all. “Has she responded?”

“Not yet, but it only came in last night.”

When she was in my bed.

Dinara’s expression tightens. “I still can’t crack Chen’s communications with Simon, but get this.

I have a contact at the Mandarin Oriental in Macau.

A croupier. He told me about a recent game where a bunch of high-rollers were hitting the Macallan hard.

Started talking about the new leader of a Hong Kong triad that borrowed fifty million from Jean-Michel Duret, the French-Venezuelan arms dealer.

Word is, it’s time to pay back the loan, but the triad leader doesn’t have the money, and Duret’s getting real pissy. ”

I straighten in my chair, every muscle going tense. “And you think it’s Simon?”

“Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“It does.” Duret’s reputation is fierce.

When he wants his money back, he doesn’t negotiate; he collects in blood.

“So Simon borrows money from Duret, probably to fund the offensive against us and kidnap Sofiya. If he had married Hope, he’d have the money to pay back Duret by now, but no wedding, no cash.

And now Duret wants his pound of flesh, which means Simon’s running out of time. ”

“Look what else I found.” Dinara swivels to another monitor displaying what looks like legal documents.

“This is a memo from the Hong Kong Commercial Bank’s internal system, clearly stating their rules: to release a trust fund over 100 million, like Hope’s, they require biometric verification, like fingerprints or retinal scans.

And that can only be handled at the bank’s Hong Kong headquarters.

” She taps the screen. “Here’s your proof that Chen is a liar. There’s no way he accessed the trust.”

“Fuck,” I bite out under my breath, running a hand through my hair. The only reason they’d push for an in-person meeting so soon is to abduct Hope. They’d bring her to the bank, take her money, and then who knows what. Once she’s in Hong Kong, getting her back will be nearly impossible.

Dinara turns to face me fully, her expression serious. “Why not tell Hope the truth? With all of this, I think she’d believe you.”

My hands curl into fists at my sides. I want to believe we’re past keeping secrets, that the time we’ve spent together lately means she’s choosing me.

It’s evolved into something deeper than sex.

The way she melts into my touch, how she lets me hold her afterward.

The conversations over breakfast and the way she watches me with Kin.

Maybe I’m kidding myself and she’s still planning to leave if she can, but screw it. If I don’t take a chance on her, why would she take a chance on me?

She deserves honesty, even if this is going to be hard for her to hear.

But today isn’t the time for that conversation. In an hour, we have lunch with my brothers and their wives, and I know Hope is nervous about it.

She needs to meet them and see they aren’t the monsters she’s built them up to be in her head. Once she understands that the past is firmly behind us and we can be her family if she’ll let us, maybe she’ll see there’s a place for her here.

“Send me all of this and keep monitoring. I need to know the second anything changes, especially if Hope responds to Chen.” I nod and rise from my seat. “And good work.”

She smiles. “Oh, I know. By the way, have you seen Hope’s new wardrobe?”

My mind immediately goes to the silk garters and lace lingerie I’ve enjoyed peeling off her every night.

She winks. “You’re welcome.”

“Look, I’m dressed fancy!”

Kin is standing in his bedroom doorway like he’s about to walk a red carpet, decked out in dark-blue pants and a white button-down that Hope somehow managed to pair with a dinosaur bowtie. He looks fucking adorable.

“Very sharp,” I say, tucking my phone into my back pocket and giving him my full attention. “You clean up well, buddy.”

My mornings with Kin have become the highlight of my day, second to my nights with his mother.

Even when I’m swamped with Syndicate business, I make sure I’m available for breakfast, for his excited chatter about whatever he got up to the day before.

He’s wormed his way under my skin in a way I never expected.

“Are there gonna be other kids at lunch?” he asks, trusting blue eyes staring up at me.

“Absolutely,” I say, dropping to his level. “My business partner, Maxim, has three kids. Damien is six. Alexei is four years old, just like you. And Anna is a toddler.”

“Do they like dinosaurs?” His expression is super serious as if this were the crucial factor in potential friendship.

“I’m not sure,” I admit. “But you can ask. And behind their house is a small pond with dozens of koi fish.”

“Real ones?”

“Of course. You can even feed them. Yarik is in the kitchen. Why don’t you ask him for bread to bring the fish?” I glance at my watch, noting we have about twenty minutes before we need to leave. “I’ll check on your mother, and we’ll be down soon.”

With that, he races out of the room, down the hallway, his small dress shoes clicking against the hardwood. I watch him go, an unfamiliar ache pressing behind my ribs.

I turn toward the adjoining dressing room, where Hope has been holed up for the last hour sorting through her new wardrobe, handpicked by Dinara.

When Hope mentioned that she let my techno-goth hacker shop for her, I nearly broke out in hives, but we’ve both been pleasantly surprised. Dinara is a woman of many talents.

When I enter, the room looks like the aftermath of a high-end boutique explosion, with garment bags and tissue paper everywhere, and clothes draped over every available surface. In the center of the chaos stands Hope. The sight of her stops me in my tracks.

A deep-emerald satin slip dress molds to her curves, the neckline dipping low enough to hint at the swell of her breasts without being overtly sexy.

Except on her, everything is sexy. The hemline stops just above her knees, reminding me how much I enjoy those smooth legs wrapped around my waist. Her dark hair is worn down and splayed over her shoulders, a slight curl at the ends.

She looks fucking incredible. And completely flustered.

“I don’t know if this is right,” she says, turning back and forth in front of the mirror. “I mean, it’s beautiful, but I feel overdressed for a Sunday lunch.”

Hope turns back to the mirror, tugging at the neckline self-consciously. Judging by the state of the room, she’s been at this for a while, trying on every single item in here before rejecting it.

“You look perfect,” I assure her.

She sighs but won’t meet my eyes. I know she’s been nervous about this lunch, but now I see how much she’s been holding back. How close she is to breaking apart completely.

I come up behind her and drag her back, so she’s flush against me and can feel every inch of my body pressed to hers. “Talk to me.”

She meets my eyes in the mirror, vulnerability written all over her face. Her hands shake as she grips the edge of the vanity. “I can’t do this, Pavel. I can’t sit at a table with the people responsible for my father’s death and pretend everything’s fine.”

I knew this moment would come, been waiting for it since I told her about this lunch. But seeing the raw pain in her reflection still hits like a punch to the gut.

“Your father’s enemies don’t have to be yours,” I start, but she cuts me off.

“Don’t.” She turns to face me directly, her eyes blazing with a mix of fury and heartbreak that makes my chest tight. “Don’t make this sound simple when it’s not. These aren’t just enemies; they’re the people who wanted me dead. You said so yourself.”

I clench my teeth, watching her retreat across the room. “That was before I told them the truth. That you were trapped with Simon, that being with him wasn’t your choice. That you weren’t involved in the abduction of Roman’s sister-in-law, Sofiya.”

Something shutters in her expression, but not before I see the flash of guilt in her eyes.

I go very still. “You knew?”

“I didn’t know who it was,” she admits. “But I knew he took someone important to the Syndicate to secure leverage. He told me right before the wedding. I didn’t want any details; I thought it was a bad idea.

We ended up fighting about it, and that’s the night…

” She stops abruptly, like she caught herself before she could say too much.

I study her face, taking in the way her jaw trembles with suppressed emotion.

“Before he what?” My voice drops to a cold and furious whisper.

“It doesn’t matter.” She swallows hard. “I fought him off.”

The crystal vase full of fresh flowers on the dresser explodes against the wall before I even realize I’ve thrown it. Shards rain down like deadly confetti, and Hope jumps back with a gasp.

“That piece of shit is already dead. He just doesn’t know it yet.” I’m moving before I can think, pacing like a predator planning a hunt. “I’m going to find him, and when I do, I’m going to show him what happens when someone touches what belongs to me.”

“Pavel, stop. Please.” Hope’s voice cuts through the red haze. She reaches for me, her hand trembling as she wraps it around my arm. “Tell me about Sofiya. What did he do to her?”

I force myself to go still under her touch, to let her steady me when everything in me wants to hunt and destroy. That time is coming very soon.

“Sofiya was kidnapped by a Russian politician who was working with Simon,” I explain.

“Sofiya is valuable. She’s Roman’s sister-in-law, but she’s also married to the head of the Zhukov Bratva, Nikolai Zhukov, so taking her was leverage over all of us.

She was held for less than a day before we rescued her.

It was fucking terrible, but it’s how we learned the Black Company had reformed with Simon at the helm, alive and preparing to marry you.

” The memory makes my veins run cold. I lock eyes with her so she understands the weight of what I’m telling her.

“Do you get it now? There are victims on both sides when we go to war. Want to know why Maxim went after your father so hard? Because he sent assassins after his wife, Kira, at a wine auction in New York. The only reason she’s alive is luck and good security. ”

Her face is a mask of devastation, but for her to accept me and my world completely, she needs to hear the truth, no matter how painful.

“Your father was playing the same game we all play, Hope. He just lost.” The words come out harsher than I intended, but she needs to hear this. I cross to her, holding her face in my hands. “But it can end here. With you and me, with all of us. The past doesn’t have to define the future.”

She looks up at me, tears threatening to spill. “How? How do I just pretend none of this happened?”

I don’t have a good answer for that, so I give her the only truth I have left.

I reach into my pocket and pull out a small black velvet box.

When I open it, the rare pink diamond catches the light.

The massive center stone is surrounded by what looks like a constellation of smaller glinting white diamonds.

I had it designed for Hope; the pink is the same shade of her lips when I’ve kissed them raw.

Her mouth forms a small O as she stares at it. “A ring?”

“The ribbon wasn’t quite right,” I tease, lifting her left hand gently. “This makes it clear to everyone exactly what you mean to me.”

“And what’s that?” she asks, searching my eyes.

“You’re my family. You and Kin belong to me.”

Her expression softens. I can still see devastation shining in her eyes, but I also see so much more: trust, acceptance, emotion I don’t know how to interpret. She lets me slide the ring onto her finger, claiming her in the most permanent way possible.

I never thought I’d risk my heart again. After Kamilla disappeared, I swore I’d never put another person in danger by loving them. But Hope has shattered every wall I built, every promise I made to myself.

“Not in a million fucking years did I imagine I’d slip a ring onto anyone’s finger.

After I lost my family, my loyalty was to the Syndicate and the Syndicate only.

They became the family I chose. The first time I went against bratva orders was for you.

But I’d make the same choice today. I’d choose you every time. ”

Tears spill down her cheeks as she looks up at me, her voice breaking.

“Pavel…” She reaches for me, pressing her face against my throat as if trying to draw strength from me.

“You need to stop saying things like that, or I’m going to fall apart completely, and I need to get it together before this lunch. ”

“I don’t fucking care,” I say, pulling her toward me for a kiss that’s desperate, soft, and full of everything we’re afraid to say out loud.

“Pavel! I got bread! Can we see the fish now?” Kin’s voice echoes up from downstairs.

Hope steps away from me, wiping beneath her eyes with a quiet chuckle. “We should go,” she says.

“Promise me you’ll go with an open mind, at least toward the women. They had nothing to do with any of this. For Kin too. I know he’ll like being with the other kids.”

She melts into me for just a moment, letting me support her weight. “I’ll try. For you, I’ll try.”