Page 129 of His Darkest Obsession

My thoughts are interrupted by shouting and shuffling outside my door. Moments later, the door bursts open and in come both my brothers.

Roma looks like he'd rather be anywhere else, and Vassily has a shit-eating triumphant grin that tells me that I'm not going to like whatever the fuck is about to come out of his mouth.

Sure enough, he struts over to my desk and tosses a manila folder down with a theatrical flourish. Several sheets of paper slide out. Each one seems to be an official-looking document.

"What the fuck is this?" I ask, even though I have a suspicion that I know exactly what I'm looking at.

"This," Vassily says, practically bouncing on his heels, "is the NDA that Romochka couldn't get his hands on. The one you've been so desperate to see."

My blood freezes in my veins. I look from the folder to Roma, who's staring at the floor, then back to Vassily's triumphant face.

"I gave you a direct order to keep this quiet."

"Don't blame him, Tolya." Vassily waves his hand, grinning, and then grabs the bottle off my desk. "Romochka didn't fuck up. He was a good little boy who does as he's told."

"How the fuck did you find out, then?" I demand.

"After that stunt you and your wife pulled at the gala, Bennett suddenly refused all Volkov money. Naturally, Taras got curious, so he put Grisha on it."

Vassily plops himself down in the chair across my desk, kicks his feet up on the surface uninvited, and takes a swig before he keeps talking.

"And Grisha, that fucking idiot," he says. "Just couldn't keep his big mouth shut. Once he started talking, Mother found out. And she turned to me."

He taps the folder with one finger.

My fists clench at my sides. "You had no right?—"

"You should thank me," Vassily interrupts. "Count your lucky stars it was me who uncovered the truth and not one of our enemies."

He leans back, a smug grin on his face. "You know, I've got to hand it to you, Tolya. I thought you just married her to stick it to Lola. When I first saw your little blue-haired bride, I figured she was just a sweet piece of ass you wanted to fuck to humiliate the Volkovs."

"That's my wife you're talking about." My jaw tightens. "Watch your fucking mouth or I'll give you another beating."

"Fucking relax." Vassily laughs, unfazed by my warning and the fact that I beat the shit out of him last time. "I'm actually giving you a compliment. Because after reading this?" He taps the folder again. "You're a fucking genius. Seriously."

I want to grab his fingers and break them one by one for the way he's talking about my fucking wife. But more importantly, I want to break his fingers for knowing something about Indigo that she hasn't chosen to share with me.

"I've already read through the whole thing," Vassily continues, his eyes bright with excitement. "And holy shit, does it have some good stuff in it. With this information in our hands, Bennet will dance to every fucking tune we play."

He starts counting on his fingers.

"Police commissioner? Done. District attorney? All yours. You want a judge in every borough? Just fucking ask. Fuck, you could probably shoot someone on 5th Avenue in broad daylight with a thousand witnesses, and Bennet would tell the whole city that it wasn't fucking you."

He whistles low.

"I can understand why Bennet wanted this shit quiet. And the best part of it all? This is the only fucking copy!"

What?

That last bit of information is surprising as hell.

Theonlycopy? What the hell kind of an NDA is this that there's only a single copy? The only explanation I can think of is that Bennet was scared as shit about the information leaking out.

But that also means…

I remember Indigo telling me that Bennet had her parents murdered to cover something up. But what exactly was he trying to hide? The contents of the NDA or the NDA's very existence?

"Well?" Vassily leans forward, practically vibrating with excitement as he drums the desk. "Are you going to read it or what?"