Page 32 of The Tsar’s Obsession (Bratva Sinners #1)

M

Kirill

Mia’s feeble attempts at staying angry were adorable. I would never dismiss her frustrations, but we both knew that if it weren’t for my diligent stalking, none of this— us —would have happened.

“Who was the boy whose heart I stole ten years ago?”

I had to tell her the truth, and I ignored that voice inside my head. The voice that told me that luring her into my world was the most dangerous and careless thing I could ever do. She asked me to tell her, and I would always do what she asked.

“At the time when I saw you…I was…” Fuck, it was better to just shut this down now, better to keep my mouth shut.

Just change the subject. I bit my lip, knowing that the little details I provided last week would never have sufficed.

“I was rising to the top of an extensive drug distribution chain throughout Russia. I also did a lot of drugs at that time, which is why I looked like death.” Mia soaked in the information like a sponge.

“So you were high when I saw you?” she asked incredulously.

“No,” I chuckled. “I had a business meeting that night. I was just drinking alcohol. But not as much as you, it seemed,” I added with a smirk. Her cheeks flushed.

“Keep going.”

“After I saw you, things picked up, and I pushed out the top Pakhan and took over what he did. Dmitry was with me the entire time; we’d been together since we were kids.

We started in a gang together.” Mia blinked at me, not daring to interrupt.

“He and I took over. He was, and is, my right-hand man, so to speak.”

“Mm-hmm.” She nodded and sipped her wine, encouraging me to divulge more details I never wanted to admit.

“Russia is a federation, so each region has its own governor, and some are autonomous republics. That really works in my favor. I have my contacts in all the right places, and I basically pay them a salary to let me do what I need to do. And it’s been like that for years.

There are many government officials…on my payroll.

” There really was no better way to phrase that.

“And if they don’t?” Mia asked rather urgently. “Let you do what you need to do?”

I’d never had a conversation like this before. I never had to explain the intricacies of what I did—everyone I’d ever come across knew my status before they saw my face. Mia understood everything too, but she wanted to hear me say it.

“If they don’t, then we find someone who will,” I breathed out and took a sip of my wine, finally meeting her eyes.

“Okay,” she spoke with uncertainty. “So, you’re running a drug empire in the largest country in the world,” she spelled it out for herself.

“And the post-Soviet republics too…we work in some of them as well,” I tagged on that tidbit.

After a pause where she digested my words, she asked with more confidence, “What else do you do?”

I waited for a few seconds before diving into it. “Corruption schemes, money laundering, financial crimes against the government, illegal gambling, and I collect from others, of course.” This kind of began to sound like a grocery list.

“What else?” She pressed, her voice firmer now, and I knew what she was getting at.

“What’s with the KGB interrogation, Miss Tanner?” I chuckled darkly and broke the tense atmosphere. Mia smiled too but didn’t let it go.

“Tell me. Tell me what else.” Her gentle voice and pure eyes coaxed the information out of me easily.

“That’s it. I don’t sell people or women, if that’s what you’re asking.” I knew she wanted me to assuage her fears.

My thirst for money and power was one of my motivating factors, but I never wanted to be engaged in slavery. Yet, it was all a dark and diabolical world. I didn’t collect from prostitution and human trafficking, but I knew those who were involved. I knew them well.

There was no mercy, no guilt, no conscience in my world. I’d descended into a dark pit of hell many times in my life. Getting what I wanted and needed not by negotiations, but by brutal force.

Dark images floated to the front of my memory while Mia hung her head, still sitting on the kitchen island and processing the information. I’d locked all those memories away, banished them from my mind, choosing to chase my light instead.

But then, Mia quietly asked the question. The question I knew was coming and the one that kept me up at night.

“If we, um…” Her pure hazel eyes locked onto mine, stirring fear inside me. “If we’re together, does that make me a target?”

The truth and gravity of the situation smacked me in the face. Yes. The answer was, of course, yes; it would always be yes.

No matter how much I wanted a normal life with her, there was no way to simply quit. No one retired from my world. There was only one exit—death. And you’d be lucky to have a coffin and a grave.

Because that was the cold, hard truth. This wasn’t a job or a profession; this was a life, and at this moment, it dawned on me that I should have waited longer to get her. At least until my status in New York was indisputable, at least until it was all settled with the cartel .

But I couldn’t. I couldn’t wait anymore . The years were rolling, and I didn’t want our lives to pass us by, apart.

“Yes,” I told her the truth. Outside, darkness had settled, but in front of me, Mia glowed.

She really was my light, wasn’t she? I’d spent too many years in the dark, and I wasn’t going back, nor would I let anything dim my light.

“But baby, nothing will ever happen to you. I’ll kill anyone who dares lay a hand on you, Sunshine, you know that.

” My words pushed out her tears, and for the first time in years, I felt the sting of my own.

“In fact, no one will ever touch you. Not now. Not ever. You’re mine.

Moy svet, my light.” My voice was barely a breath against her cheek as she sniffled.

With the lightest touch, I wiped away her tears, my fingers tracing her plump cheeks as if handling something sacred. She was my woman now, my most precious treasure, and I would tear apart anyone who even thought of threatening her.

“Fuck.” Her small laugh was bitter. “I never thought I’d fall in love with a Russian maf-” but she cut herself off in an instant, eyes widening at what she’d just said.

My heart stopped. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe.

I never thought I’d fall in love with–

She loved me.

She pressed her lips together, her face turning tomato red, but it was already too late. She’d said the word. I waited to catch my own heartbeat, to breathe in enough air to understand.

“You love me?” I exhaled, the words barely leaving my lips as my heart battered my insides.

My fingers tilted her chin, forcing her tear-filled eyes to meet mine.

She tried to look away, but I held her there, locking her in a gaze so intense, so consuming, there was nowhere for her to escape.

The silence stretched until finally, finally, s he whispered,

“Yes.”

Her voice was quiet but sure, and all the world disappeared. Now I had everything I’d ever wanted; she made me complete.

If I lived to be an old man, this would be the moment I’d cling to, the one memory I’d keep polished in my mind, untouched by time. Because nothing could ever top this. Nothing could ever match the way all of me burned for her, for her love.

“I love you.”

The confession left me effortlessly, though I had never pronounced those words before.

But there was a reason for that—those words belonged only to her.

“You must know that, Sunshine. You must have already guessed how obsessed and consumed I am by you. How I’ve spent nine years dreaming of you, waiting for the day I’d see you. ”

I pulled her closer, my lips brushing her ear as my voice shook, the sweet moment giving me the biggest high I’d ever experienced. “You must know that all of me—my heart, my soul, my fucking life…is yours. That I would do anything for you. Anything, Mia. Just point your finger, baby.”

I kissed away her tears. I held her cheeks in my hands, my diamond, my treasure, and I knew that I would always take away her fears and doubt and absorb them all.

“I spent every waking moment thinking about you, my love. You were in my dreams…every night. I only saw you; I only wanted you, Mia. Your kiss helped me survive through pain and suffering and near death.”

“This– this seems crazy.” Mia’s tears intensified, and I pressed her to me, making sure she heard every word.

“It’s not crazy, Sunshine. It’s exactly what was meant to be.” I cupped her cheeks and lowered my voice. “There’s not a world that exists where you aren’t the love of my life, baby. Where you don’t reign over my heart. Even dead, I will love you on the other side too.”

Had I ever been this vulnerable? Never.

Had I ever been this obsessed? No.

Had I ever been this blissfully happy? Yes, that one time I tasted her lips a decade ago. And now, the bliss was mine, right in front of me.

But I had also never been this frightened. The risk of her being hurt or taken away from me sent real waves of panic through me. “I’m so sorry my love puts you in danger, but–”

The soft touch of her fingertips on my lips halted my thoughts. She shook her head. “You don’t need to apologize.” She sniffled and asked so timidly, “Why did you wait nine years? If you– if you wanted this so much?”

Her legs wrapped around my waist, and my hands pressed against the warm curve of her back.

“Because I had to get to where I am now to come for you,” I murmured.

“I wasn’t going to kidnap you and drag you to Russia,” I chuckled, and through her tears, she laughed too.

“I had two choices. Die in the streets or rule it all. And if I wanted you, there was only ever one real option.”

The weight of my words settled between us, and in that tender moment, a thought popped into my head. “Did you ever think about me?”

A small smile appeared on her face. “Yes,” she admitted with a confident nod. “But…probably not as much as it seems you’ve thought about me.”

Her smile . It was the same as the first time I saw her—joy, real, genuine happiness poured out of her.

“After that night, I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” she continued, her voice soothing.

“I wanted that kiss so badly. And when you approached me, I…I couldn’t stop myself.

” Her soft lips said the words that filled all of me up with joy.

“You looked so…rough.” She hesitated, searching for the right words.

“Such a bad boy. But your eyes… u tebya ochen krasivie glaza ,” she whispered in Russian.

The exact words she had said that night. She hadn’t forgotten.

“But then time passed.” She shrugged, as if trying to justify herself. “And I guess I began to forget. It felt like this fun and flirty thing I did, not something that would change my life forever.” Her smile faded. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I responded easily. There was nothing to apologize for.

Grasping her hand, I placed it on my chest and dragged her finger to a tattoo on my solar plexus.

“You didn’t ask about this tattoo.” Her touch lingered over the letter M, a date right beneath it.

“That’s the day I met you. The day my life changed.

I never wanted to forget,” I teased, my voice low.

“Maybe we can get you one too, with my name? Like on your butt or boob or something.” I shrugged and tilted my head as if considering this idea.

Her burst of laughter was a heavenly sound. Bright, effortless, mine.

With a dangerous grin, she lifted the hem of my shirt that she was wearing and revealed her naked butt cheek. “Which side do you like better?” she joked confidently. We picked a side, and I sealed the choice with a hot kiss right on the spot we thought would work best.

Jesus. Every second with her was a gift, pure, filled with love and light. I wanted to bottle it all up, trap this moment. The night continued to the sound of her soft laughter, her sweet kisses, and whispered words. It was the kind of love I thought I’d never have.

I postponed the visit to Manuel, opting to live in careless bliss for one more week.

Mia and I simply lived together. I cooked, and she read me the recipe.

She joined me for early morning swims—her yawns and grumbling turning into joyous laughter at the end.

Late at night, we danced in the living room, our bodies pressed against each other.

We talked. We talked about everything . Our pasts, our favorite books and movies, our friends, that fateful night, and our principles and views on life.

And we made love, something that had never happened to me before. Slow, sensual, and passionate, her body sizzled against mine, her whispers and gasps healing all the broken parts inside me.

Mia was a drug, and I needed her to survive. Without her, I would succumb to darkness that would eventually extinguish me.

But no matter how much power or money or influence I possessed, I couldn’t stop time.

The meeting with Manuel was imminent, and it was time to put an end to that relationship.

Like every morning, I woke up hours before Mia, my eyes lingering on her perfect naked body, tangled up in the white sheets .

Begrudgingly, I abandoned her there and left Yuri strict instructions: never let her out of his sight.

Mid-morning, my car headed to our regular meeting spot, and I watched the landscape slide by, envisioning how I was going to blow Manuel’s brains out.

His sudden stab in the back placed me in a position where I had to make the first move.

It was either eat or be eaten, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to be his next meal.

At our exchange spot, I switched cars, sliding into the backseat as usual. But something felt off. The change was subtle. It was too quiet, it was too fast, and none of my men were in sight.

But it was too late to react.

Before I could even turn toward the car door, two armed meatheads climbed in on either side of me, boxing me in.

This was a fucking setup.

I knew then that getting out of Manuel’s villa alive would take a goddamn miracle. I was about to lose everything.

And that everything was Mia; nothing else mattered.

I whipped my phone out, only to have it snatched out of my hand, but not before I read one last word in Russian sent from Polina's number— RUN.