Page 86 of Toxic Temptation (Krayev Bratva #1)

VESPER

They’re late.

Every single one of them is fucking late, and I’m about to lose what’s left of my mind.

When I sent the summons from Jeremy’s laptop, I called this board meeting for six o’clock. It’s now eight, and I’ve been wearing a hole in the hospital corridor floor for two hours.

Mandy sits at her desk, pretending to work while shooting me nervous glances every thirty seconds. Her sickly pink lipstick makes her look like roadkill. I’m inclined to help her achieve that look permanently.

“Where the hell is everyone?” I finally snap, stalking over to her desk.

She flinches, her fingers freezing over her keyboard. “I... well...”

“You told me they were coming.”

She refuses to look at me. “I do what I’m told.”

“You lied to me,” I say as the truth processes.

She shrugs, still not meeting my gaze. “Don’t take it personally.”

The last vestige of humanity inside me snaps clean in half.

I lunge across her desk and slam her laptop shut, nearly taking her fingers off with it. “Just how deep are you in on it? Do you have any idea what kind of sick, twisted operation you’re helping cover up? You could go to prison for this. You’re complicit in?—”

“Get out of my face, you crazy bitch.”

The files on her desk go flying before I even realize I’ve grabbed them. Papers scatter everywhere, and Mandy scrambles backward in her chair like I’m rabid.

Hell, maybe I am.

“I’m going to kick your ass,” I warn, rounding her desk with my fist already raised. “I’m going to?—”

“Vesper.”

Kovan’s voice nips my rage in the bud. I freeze, my arm still cocked back, as the reality of just what I was about to do comes crashing over me in humiliating waves.

Mandy bolts from her chair and runs for the elevators, jabbing the call button repeatedly. “She’s insane!” she shouts over her shoulder. “The crazy bitch tried to hit me!”

The elevator doors close on her terrified face, and I’m left standing there with my fist still raised, feeling like the worst version of myself.

I turn slowly to face Kovan.

“Were you really going to punch her?” he asks.

“I honestly don’t know.” I clear my throat. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you.”

“I called a board meeting,” I hurry to explain, though he didn’t ask. “I used Jeremy’s computer to send an emergency meeting request to everyone. They should be here by now?—”

“No one’s coming, Vesper.”

I pause. “You knew.”

His silence is answer enough.

“Fine. Fuck it. I don’t care,” I insist. “I’ll find another way. Not every board member knows what’s happening. They deserve the truth. I’ll go find them one by one and make them listen?—”

“You can’t tell them anything.”

I stare at him, certain I misheard. “What?”

“I can’t let you tell them, Vesper.”

The betrayal is so complete, so devastating, that for a moment I can’t breathe. Then the fury returns, doubled.

“You bastard!” I fly at him, my fists connecting with his chest, his shoulders, anywhere I can reach. “You knew this whole time! You were part of it!”

He lets me lash out at him for several seconds before catching my wrists and spinning me around, pinning my back against his chest.

“Let me go!” I thrash against his hold, but he’s too strong. “Let me fucking go !”

He carries me into the empty boardroom and kicks the door shut behind us. When he releases me, I stumble away from him, putting the conference table between us.

“You’re right,” he says quietly. “I am a monster. I turned a blind eye to this business for too long.”

I laugh. “That’s one way to describe active participation in the most sickening shit I’ve ever heard.”

“I didn’t participate.” He looks exhausted as he speaks. “The moment I became pakhan , I shut down the organ trade. My brother was considering doing the same when he—” He stops abruptly, his face going pale. “Fuck.”

Despite everything, I find myself asking, “What?”

“Vitalii. He was planning to shut down the operation when he died.” Kovan’s eyes lose focus, staring through me. “It wasn’t an accident. They killed him because he was going to end it. I just realized— I just— I just— Fuck. ”

It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. The truth hits him so hard and yet he doesn’t bend, doesn’t crumple like I would. He just takes it, though his face is wracked with so much pain.

A small part of me wants to comfort him.

The rest of me is too hurt, too angry, too broken to care.

“What’s your point?”

“My point is that Ihor was never going to let us stop this,” he says, sobering up. “Not Vitalii, and not me.”

“So you’re giving up. You’re letting him win.”

He reaches for me, but I jerk away. His hand falls to his side. “I’m sorry.”

Two words that mean nothing and everything. My heart actually breaks—not metaphorically, but physically, a sharp crack in my chest that steals my breath.

“If you really want this to end, then why are you surrendering now?”

“Because of Luka.”

I just shake my head. “You have custody of him.”

“For now. Yana can contest it.”

“You’ll beat her again.”

“Not when Ihor frames me as the mastermind behind everything.” He sounds hollow, defeated. “He’ll pin their crimes on me, and I’ll lose Luka. The boy will go back to being their pawn.”

I dig my fingers into my hair, pulling until my scalp burns. “He’s bluffing.”

“He’s not. I know Ihor. He’ll destroy me if I don’t back down.”

“If he has evidence against you, then maybe you’re not as innocent as you claim.”

Kovan’s shoulders go taut. “I never said I was innocent. I’ve made mistakes—so many fucking mistakes that I could drown in them.

I should have shut this down definitively the day I took over.

The very fucking second the crown hit my head.

And even before then… I should have killed Ihor before he had the chance to murder my brother.

” He takes a step toward me but doesn’t try to touch me. “But it’s too late now.”

“So what?” I say, my throat dry and aching. “You’re going to let him continue butchering children because he’s got leverage over you?”

“This isn’t just about me. It’s about Luka. His future. His life.”

“I love Luka, too!” I cry out. “I love that boy more than I thought possible. But I can’t pretend this isn’t happening. I can’t stand by while children die.”

As I watch, Kovan’s face changes. The defeat hardens into a mask. Into cold, hard armor.

“I don’t expect you to understand. You’re not Bratva. You’re not blood.” His voice roughens to a growl. “And you’re not family.”

I wait for him to take that back, to soften it somehow.

He doesn’t.

“What are you saying?” I squeak out.

He doesn’t hesitate. “I’m saying this—you and me—this was a mistake. Maybe the biggest one I’ve ever made.”

“Yeah?” I spit in his face. “What makes you think you’re anything different to me? I was happy before I met you. I was fulfilled. I was?—”

“You were a ghost,” he interrupts in a deadened voice. “Walking around pretending to be alive. You didn’t have a life—all you had was a schedule. And even that wasn’t enough to save the kids who needed you most.”

My vision blurs, from tears or rage or both or neither, I don’t even know. “You… You’re… You’re a fucking bastard, Kovan.”

“I never lied about what I am.” He steps closer. “You’re the one who convinced yourself this was real. I have custody of Luka now. I don’t need you anymore.”

“Stop.” I force the plea out through numb lips. “We both know this stopped being about custody weeks ago. If you want to end this, then end it. But don’t you dare pretend you don’t feel anything.”

“I don’t have to pretend.” His jaw hardens. “We’re done, Vesper. It’s over. Pavel will come by to return your things.”

“Wait—I have to see Luka. I have to explain?—”

“No.”

I freeze.

“Y-you can’t.” Panic crawls up my throat. “Luka and I, we have a relationship. He’ll want to know why I disappeared.”

“He’ll get over you. He’ll forget you.” Kovan moves toward the exit, not looking back. “I already have.”

The door slams behind him.

And I’m left alone with the wreckage of everything I thought I knew about love.