Page 9 of Innocent Prey of the Bratva

Maxim is staring at me like he wants to say something that’ll piss me the fuck off, but thankfully, he keeps silent.

“What’s the next step, Boss?” Milo asks.

“I’m bringing her to the manor first,” I say, adjusting the cuffs of my shirt like I’m talking about a dinner guest and not someone I’m planning to abduct. “Then I’ll figure out what to do.”

Maxim lifts a brow. “So…kidnapping?”

Arina raises a hand like they’re about to scold me. “Yeah, that’s literally kidnapping, Kaz.”

I scoff. “Arrest me, then.”

Maxim chuckles under his breath, and Arina mutters something in Russian that sounds like a curse, but they don’t push back again.

They know once my mind’s made up, there’s no going back.

Maxim leans against the edge of the table and folds his arms. “So what—you planning to kill her?” His tone is casual, but his eyes are watching me too closely.

The question hits harder than it should.

My jaw clenches.

Kill her?

The thought shouldn’t make my chest tighten. It shouldn’t jolt through me like a live wire snapping at my ribs. But it does. I glare at Maxim, sharper than I intend.

“Uh oh,” Arina says, raising both brows as they grin slowly. “I know that look.”

I shoot them a warning glance. “Don’t.”

They raise a hand in mock surrender. “Just saying…are you kidnapping her because she’s a loose end—or because your dick’s hard for her?”

“Arina,” I say tightly, “do your job. Don’t try to play shrink.”

But the words ring hollow, even to me.

Because they’re right.

And I hate that they’re right.

There’s a reason I keep watching that security footage. A reason I know every goddamn detail of her face. She’s not the threat. I am.

I turn to Arina. “Scrub her online footprint. Wipe anything that leads back to her being in that alley. Her freelance profiles. Her posts. I want it gone.”

Arina salutes lazily as they head for the door. “Yes, Boss.”

But then they pause by the door, their head tilting slightly, like they’re debating whether or not to say the next thing. Of course they do.

“Is it really a good idea to bring her here?” they ask. “To your actual manor? I mean—this is home base. Your name, your operation, your everything.”

I don’t blink. “Yes.”

They blink for me. “Seriously?”

“She stays here,” I say. “Where I can see her. Where she’s not running around the city with my name in her mouth. Once I figure out what to do with her, she’ll be gone.”

Chapter 3 – Violet

It’s three a.m. and I’m wide awake, staring at the ceiling like it holds all the answers I don’t want to find.