Page 20 of Toxic Salvation (Krayev Bratva #2)

KOVAN

“Hey!” Pavel double-takes as we pass the planned stop. “You just missed it. Now, we’ll have to drive all the way down to make the U-turn and?—”

“Will you shut the fuck up? I didn’t miss the house; I drove past it on purpose.”

“Care to explain why?”

“Because we’re being followed. Have been for the last ten miles, at least.”

Pavel twists in his seat to peer over his shoulder, squinting through the rear windshield. “Are you sure?”

I shoot him a look. “I’m so glad I brought you along as my lookout. You’re really knocking it out of the park here, brother.”

“Always do. Are you talking about that little yellow Mini Cooper?”

“That’s the one.”

Pavel snorts so hard I’m worried he might paint my backseat with snot. “Come on, Kovan. No Mini Cooper driver in the history of the world has ever been involved in espionage. Of any kind.”

I take the U-turn and watch in my rearview mirror as the Mini Cooper slows down and continues straight. Pavel notices, too, and immediately gets that smug expression that makes me want to punch him.

“See?” he chuckles. “I told you. You’re losing it, man.”

“Did the driver seem familiar to you?”

“I dunno,” Pavel says, already fumbling around in the glove compartment for the box of pretzels he brought along for the ride. The man has the attention span of a goldfish. “The car was too far back to make out anything useful.”

“I could have sworn…”

“Listen, brother.” Pavel tears open his pretzel bag.

“You’ve been overworking yourself lately.

Late nights, barely any sleep, tracking Ihor’s every move twenty-four-seven.

Not to mention keeping tabs on Nico and obsessing over Vesper’s security detail.

You’re getting paranoid. Starting to see danger where there isn’t any.

” He crunches loudly on a pretzel and continues yapping with his mouth full.

“You know how I can tell? You thought we were being followed by a fucking Mini Cooper. A yellow one, for Christ’s sake.

What’s next, a clown car? Is the Mystery Machine hot on our tail?

Are Veronica Mars and the Hardy Boys hunting us down? ”

I stopped listening to Pavel about thirty seconds ago. That’s because I can see the Mini Cooper again through my side mirror.

“Um, bro?” Pavel waves a hand in front of my face. “Are we doing this surveillance thing or what? We want to catch Damien while he’s still half-asleep and stupid. Dude’s a complete moron when he first wakes up. He’ll sing like a nightingale if we time this right.”

“That can wait.” My jaw clenches as I spot the yellow flash again. “We’re definitely being followed.”

Pavel throws his hands up, scattering pretzel crumbs across my leather interior. “How many times do I have to tell you?—”

I see it. So does Pav.

A flash of yellow.

My brother’s pretzel-munching stops abruptly. “… Shit.”

“Run the license plate number for me.”

Pavel fumbles with his phone, suddenly all business. “Let me see…” His fingers fly across the screen. “Hm.”

“What?”

“License plate is registered to a rental car company called Drive Line. Based pretty close to our house, actually. That’s weird.”

Every alarm bell in my head starts going off at once. A rental car. Close to home. Following us with just enough skill to be dangerous but not quite enough to stay invisible.

“I think I know who’s following us.” My grip tightens on the steering wheel. “Get Oley on the phone.”

“Vesper’s guard?”

“Do it now. Put it on speaker.”

“Okay, okay.” Pavel dials quickly, and Oley’s gruff voice fills the car.

“Hey, boss. What’s up?”

“Where’s Vesper?” I don’t bother with pleasantries.

The pause that follows is about three seconds too long. “Uh…”

Pavel’s face goes white. “Oh, shit.”

“Where the fuck is she, Oley?” I growl. “You were supposed to be her shadow. Her fucking guardian angel.”

“She tricked us, boss.” Oley sounds like he wants to crawl through the phone and disappear.

“Made this big show of telling us she was going to spend the morning in the gardens, you know? Reading and relaxing. But when we went to check on her, she was gone. Security cameras show her slipping out through one of the side gates around 10:32 this morning.”

“The woman is four months pregnant!” My voice echoes through the car. “She’s highly visible, moving slower than usual, and you still managed to lose her?”

“She’s smart, boss. Smarter than we gave her credit for.”

“No, you’re just fucking incompetent.” I take a deep breath, trying to keep from completely losing my shit. “You’re off Vesper’s detail, effective immediately. Don’t let me see your face again today.”

Pavel ends the call without being asked. “So that’s definitely Vesper in the Mini Cooper behind us?”

“I’m sure of it.”

“Why would she want to follow you around all day? What does she think she’s going to discover?”

“Because she doesn’t trust me,” I murmur. “She thinks I’m lying to her about the Keres.”

I pretend not to notice Vesper trailing us as I drive to the Krayev offices, park, and go inside. I take my time in the lobby, chatting with employees, shaking hands with executives, making sure I’m visible and predictable.

Sure enough, about five minutes after I arrive, Vesper appears.

She’s dressed head-to-toe in black like she googled “how to dress like a spy” and followed the first WikiHow article she found. Her blonde hair is tucked under a dark knit hat and oversized sunglasses cover half her face.

Pavel sidles up to me, trying not to laugh. “What’s the plan here?”

“Nothing complicated. She’s going to do all the work herself.” I raise my voice slightly and start walking toward the elevators. “See you on the ninth floor for the meeting, Pavel.”

“Five minutes! Ninth floor! Copy that, boss!” he crows back so loudly and stupidly that I can only shake my head and try not to laugh.

Precisely five minutes later, Vesper steps off the elevator looking awkward as hell but undeniably sexy in her all-black ensemble.

I can barely tell she’s pregnant—the loose sweater hides her growing bump perfectly.

I stay tucked in the empty office with a sight line to the elevator area as I pull out my phone and call her number.

As predicted, she hasn’t bothered to silence her phone.

And also as predicted, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” starts blasting through the quiet hallway at full volume. Vesper panics and drops her phone like it’s on fire, the device clattering across the floor.

I walk over calmly, pick it up, and offer it back to her with a straight face. “Your phone, ma’am.”

“Oh, erm, thanks.” She tries to hide behind her hat brim, lowering her voice to what she probably thinks is a convincing disguise. It’s not.

“Are you looking for someone in particular?”

She seems determined to keep up the charade. “Uh, no, no one special. I’m just… I was just leaving, actually.” The fake deep voice she’s attempting makes her sound like she’s been chain-smoking for forty years.

“Or you could stay until I’m done with work, and then we could head to your doctor’s appointment together.”

She freezes mid-step. Her head snaps up so fast I’m worried she might give herself whiplash. Those bright blue eyes meet mine through her ridiculous sunglasses. “You know it’s me.”

I reach over and pull the hat off her head in one smooth motion. Blonde hair tumbles out of its messy bun, cascading over her shoulders. “For the last hour. What the hell do you think you’re doing, Vesper?”

“Nothing…”

I toss her hat aside and step closer, backing her against the wall.

Not aggressively—she’s carrying my child, after all—but with enough intent to make my point.

“You ditched your security detail, escaped from the house, rented a car under God knows whose name, and spent your morning following me around the city. That’s not ‘nothing.’”

“I was bored.”

“Bullshit.” I plant my hands on either side of her head, caging her in. “What exactly do you want to know?”

“The stuff you’re not telling me. Obviously.”

I study her face. “Has it ever occurred to you that you could simply ask me directly?”

“Right.” She lets out a bitter laugh. “Like you would tell me the truth.”

“How is this co-parenting arrangement going to work if you don’t trust me?”

Her cheeks turn pink. “I… I don’t know, to be honest.”

“Come on.” I grab her arm, not roughly but with clear purpose. “You want to know what I’m up to? Fine. You can sit in my office and observe exactly what I do all day.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“We have two hours before your doctor’s appointment. You asked for transparency, right? You’re about to get more than you bargained for.”

I march her into my office and guide her toward one of the leather chairs facing my desk. When she tries to stand back up, I place a firm hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place. Pregnant or not, she needs to understand that her little spy games are unacceptable.

“Let me go!”

“No can do. You wanted to observe me today—that’s exactly what you’re going to do.”

“But—”

Her protests die in her throat as I start unbuckling my belt.

“Wh-what are you doing?!” Her face goes white, then red, then white again. “If you think for one second that I’m going to… that we’re going to… then you’ve lost your mind!”

My cock definitely has opinions about being mentioned in connection with her mouth, but unfortunately, this isn’t the time or place for that particular fantasy.

“There will be no sexual favors today. That’s a privilege you’d have to earn.”

Her eyes narrow dangerously. “Then what are you?—”

She flinches as I slide the belt out of its loops with a sharp snap that echoes through my office. The sound is more dramatic than necessary, but I’m going for effect here.

Now, she looks scared. Red blotches are spreading across her neck, and I can practically see her calculating the distance to the door.

“If you think you can use that thing on me like I’m some kind of animal, then you’re about to learn exactly how wrong you are!”

She bolts to her feet, but I guide her back down easily, looping the belt around the chair’s armrests and securing her wrists. Not tight enough to hurt her, but secure enough that she can’t go anywhere.

“There.” I step back to admire my handiwork. “Perfect.”

“You bastard!” She struggles against the makeshift restraints, her chair rocking side-to-side. “This is completely barbaric! Let me go right now!”

“You wanted to observe me; I’m just giving you what you asked for. You can sit there until I’m done with work and watch me to your heart’s content.”

She’s fighting the belt so hard that the chair starts sliding across the floor. Any more force and she might tip the whole thing over.

“I’d be careful. Remember your condition.”

“You seem to be the one who’s forgotten!” Her voice cracks with outrage. “This is… this is completely unacceptable!”

“I’d call being stalked by the mother of my child unacceptable, too. So I guess we’re even.”

“Give me my hands back!”

I perch on the edge of my desk, settling in to enjoy the show. “You’re just observing, remember? You don’t need your hands for that.”

“Oh, yes, I do. There’s something very important I need to do while I observe you.”

I nod sagely. “I understand that you can’t control yourself when you’re around me, Vesper, but masturbating while I work seems inappropriate for the office environment.”

“That’s not—” She stops mid-denial, her face turning an even deeper shade of red. “When I get my hands free, I’m going to murder you.”

“Then who’s going to protect you and the baby?”

“Waylen.”

“Waylen’s about as useful as a sack of potatoes. No, worse—at least potatoes have nutritional value.”

“You’re an ass.”

“And you, my little spy, are in over your head.” I cross my arms, studying her. “Stop stalking me, stop trying to conduct surveillance on me, stop compromising your health by playing private investigator. Just stay home with your sick mother and let me handle the dangerous stuff.”

“You want me to stop?”

“That would be great.”

“Then how about you return the favor?” She tugs at her restraints again. “You want me to stop following you around? Tell your men to back off. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice all the extra security you’ve assigned to me?”

“I should have known those idiots couldn’t be subtle to save their lives.”

“You keep saying you want to protect me, but sometimes, it feels like I’m your prisoner.”

“That’s not my intention.” I scrub my palm across my face, suddenly feeling exhausted. “Things are just precarious right now.”

“What does that even mean?” Her frustration boils over. “You speak in riddles and half-truths without actually explaining anything useful!” She yanks at the belt again, but Italian leather doesn’t give easily.

“I’d just relax if I were you.” I spin around and walk back to my desk. “Otherwise, it’s going to be a very long couple of hours.”

The door opens and Osip and Pavel walk in, matching grins on their faces. “Is there a party in here we weren’t invited to?” Osip’s eyes dance with amusement. “Vesper! What a pleasant surprise running into you here.”

“Osip! Pavel!” She cranes her neck toward them desperately. “Get this thing off me.”

Pavel winces, obviously feeling guilty about having to refuse her. But Osip just chuckles harder. “V, I love you like a sister, but do I look stupid to you?”

She glares at me, then at both of them. “So you’re just going to stand there and do nothing? What kind of men are you?”

“Men who know their place,” I answer calmly, settling into my chair. “It’s time you learned yours.”

Vesper’s eyes flash with pure fury, but she’s trapped and she knows it. Good. Maybe now she’ll think twice before trying to play spy games in my world.

“This isn’t over,” she mutters.

“No,” I agree, turning on my computer. “It’s just getting started.”