Page 14 of Trapped by the Bratva (The Valkov Bratva #5)

DMITRI

I woke up stiff. My muscles were pulled too tight. The tension in my shoulder felt the worst. That was what woke me up, the stabbing ache of discomfort there.

I opened my eyes, giving up on this pull to sleep in. I wasn’t stiff because I’d been in bed with Hannah. It was due to skipping my evening session of therapy last night.

And maybe this morning too. I glanced at the time and saw that I’d be seeing her soon.

I needed to work my body. I wouldn’t deny it. But I had been doing that with the raven-haired beauty of an almost-nurse. And she wasn’t in sight.

Last night, I worked her body too. We both exerted ourselves yesterday, and I’d never forget the glorious memory of her going down and sucking me like she did.

I respected that it was her first time and she’d needed guidance.

She got the hang of it quickly, she was so eager to please me.

As I lay in bed waking up, I reveled in the fact that I was the one to teach her how to give head.

She must have taken off sometime in the night. Because she wasn’t here in my bed, sleeping on top of me.

Are you going to try to hide from this happening too? I had to wonder.

If she wanted to dismiss it all and act like it hadn’t occurred…

“Fuck that,” I muttered to myself as I got up.

Now that I knew how good she felt, I wanted her again. And again. I missed her tight pussy wrapped around my dick. Her breathy moans and sexiest mewls. I yearned to make her gasp in surprise and claw at my back for more.

It was wrong, so wrong on many levels. If I couldn’t tolerate her without arguing, I had no business fucking her.

And that was the premise of my mistake. I wasn’t left wondering and fantasizing about how good it could feel.

I possessed that knowledge. I could think back and revisit the memories of that perfect bliss of making her come apart.

She was supposed to be here to help me get stronger, all for the sole purpose of hunting down my tormentor. It was a mistake to change my focus.

“What else am I supposed to do?” I mumbled as I got up and headed to the bathroom to shower.

I doubted Hannah would show for the morning therapy session.

I had time to move at my leisure, and after the strenuous exercise of fucking her—a vigorous activity that I doubted any doctor would have cleared me for yet—I was feeling the burn of actually moving my body and using it in a way I hadn’t for a long time.

I couldn’t turn off the switch of wanting her. The close proximity of her during the physical therapy exercises was nothing but a constant tease. She was always right there, so close, within reach.

As I showered, I thought of her. Under the pounding hot water, I dreamed of her being here with me. Her mouth, her hands, her pussy. It was like I’d opened the valve to the pipeline of all my desires and urges for her, and it was flooding my mind.

One night wasn’t enough. It’d taken a toll on me to resist her and hold her at arm’s length after she rode my face and I got her off that first day. After sampling her virgin pussy…

My good girl. I’d called her my good girl, but at that time, in the heat of the moment, I’d said it loosely. That she was pleasing me, that she was obeying this pull of desire.

I didn’t want her to be someone else’s. The very idea of it pissed me off, that another man could have her and enjoy that perfection.

But she can’t be mine.

It was a fact I wouldn’t change. All I could claim, all I had any right to demand, was revenge. Finding and killing Erik Avilov had to be my number-one priority. Nothing else could matter.

She isn’t mine.

Although Hannah was an ideal woman to lose myself in, I refused to be that vulnerable. Following up with this desire and wanting her again would be a severe break on my concentration.

So, after I dressed and checked the time to see that Hannah was either late for therapy or skipping it altogether, I left my suite.

Using a cane was humbling, but I needed the support.

The walk down the hall and the ride in the elevator were difficult without my walker, but I preferred the dignity of the cane.

When I reached the dining room downstairs, where my brothers were gathering for a meeting, I nearly collapsed into my chair.

“Whoa.” Maxim hurried to my side to prevent me from missing the chair.

Nik joined him, standing on my other side to help me adjust. “Easy there. No rush.”

“I didn’t realize you would be here at this meeting,” Alek said as he sat across from me. “You’re always welcome, of course, but I thought we’d record this meeting.” He furrowed his brow, glancing at his watch. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing therapy right now?”

I shook my head. “I can skip a session.” Or two, since I didn’t do it last night…

“Oh.” Alek nodded, but he seemed surprised that I’d be so lenient with my rehab efforts.

Maxim remained at my side, though, not moving aside like Nik had when he saw that I was seated. “Don’t overdo it.”

That was the fucking problem. I had. I overdid it last night pulling Hannah onto the bed. My shoulder twinged at that maneuver. Fucking her hurt my leg and my hand. I hated that I was so damaged and weak to be able to fuck her like I wanted to.

“You walked here with just that cane?” Nik asked, frowning.

“Enough.” I held up my hand and shot them all a dirty look.

“I don’t want any more nagging.” I bet I would’ve sounded more convincing if I weren’t so out of breath, but I was relaxing with every passing minute.

I came here, instead of waiting for Hannah to show up at my room and likely be embarrassed or whatnot.

I wanted a breather from thinking about her, and coming to this meeting would steer me back on track.

On the track I belonged—that of learning about Erik Avilov and how I could be most prepared to get him.

“All right.” Alek looked at me, serious and seeming to understand that I didn’t want any more attention like this. “Then let’s get to business. In fact, it’s just as well that you’re here.”

“How so?” I asked.

Alek nodded at Maxim, who cleared his throat. “Well,” my younger brother said, “I’ve heard from someone in Tom Buttane’s office.”

I stiffened at this development. According to Maxim, I owed my life to the CIA agent Maxim had encountered when looking for Nadia. Nadia also owed his life to Buttane. If not for him, Maxim wouldn’t have known how to locate the warehouse where Avilov tortured me the most.

“It sounds like Tom’s colleague, Don Freeman, is interested in reaching out to me and speaking about how we could track down Erik Avilov.”

I gritted my teeth. Alek noticed. “Calm down, Dmitri.”

I breathed through my nose, waiting for this instant anger to cool. “Since when do we work with the motherfucking Feds?”

“Never,” Nik answered. “But maybe it’s time to reconsider that stance.”

Ivan smirked at him. “Don’t look at me to start trusting the law enforcement.”

He had an intense dislike for the authorities. I couldn’t blame him after Becca’s father—an NYPD cop—almost got her killed.

“I’m not saying we need to become friends,” Alek said. “It’s impossible to strike up an alliance with the Feds or any level of law enforcement.”

“Then why are we even talking about speaking with the CIA?” I demanded.

“Not the CIA.” Maxim shook his head. “Freeman is with the FBI.”

“I don’t give a fuck which alphabet agency you’re potentially talking with,” I said.

Maxim sighed and lowered his head for a moment. “It’s not ideal. But there’s no changing the fact that we sort of… owe them.”

I pounded my good hand on the table. “That’s how this bullshit always starts. Owing them? No.” I shook my head.

“Tom gave me the tips I needed to find Nadia and you,” Maxim argued. “Without him, it might have been too late to get you.”

“Say we consider teaming up on this,” Nik said. “When would it end? We can’t be thinking about letting the Feds in for anything else.”

“They are the enemy,” Ivan added. “They could end us. They could bring down the Valkov Bratva or make it very difficult to operate at all.”

“Just this,” Maxim said. “Before Buttane died, that was the deal I made with him.”

“Holding up a dead man’s promise?” Nik mocked. “That will last.”

“Freeman seems to understand how Buttane and I met.” Maxim glanced at Alek.

“It wasn’t ideal to work with the Feds. I know that.

I’m not suggesting anything else. But Buttane helped me find you.

All he wanted was to find Avilov and charge him.

He wasn’t interested in the Bratva or Nadia or anything else.

His objective was Avilov, only Avilov. And it sounds like Freeman is determined more than ever now to get him and arrest him in honor of Buttane’s sacrifice in looking for him. ”

Get in line, then.

Erik Avilov was a dead man. The more I thought about someone else getting a hold of him, the more pissed off I became.

I wanted to kill that fucker. It was supposed to be my job.

My honor. No one else’s, especially not someone I hadn’t met from a federal agency who wanted to bring the asshole in for a pat on the back from their boss.

This was a personal matter. Erik beat me, pushed me to wishing for death. Revenge fueled me to get stronger.

Yet, I was weak. I wasn’t ready to really be in the game of hunting down Avilov. If walking down a few hallways made me this fatigued and out of breath, I had no standing to chase down that fucker and hurt him.

“It’s not the norm to work with the Feds,” Ivan said, glancing between me and Alek, “but in this case, on a one-time basis, maybe this isn’t so stupid.”

Alek nodded. “We both have the same target.”

“And they’ve been making cases against the Avilov Family members for decades,” Maxim said. “They’ll have more resources to get to them.”

Whereas the Valkov Bratva was still learning about them.

“Don’t deprive me of the chance to kill him,” I warned.

“I understand the drive to want an eye for an eye,” Maxim said, “but?—”

“But nothing,” I growled. “If I don’t have the opportunity to search for him and return the favor of how he’d treated me, I will never have closure.

” It sounded so dumb, but it was true. I wanted revenge.

I lived and breathed to seek it, and if someone else interfered, I’d be stuck in that cycle of anger and facing unfinished business that would haunt me forever.

“Dmitri,” Alek said, “we need to consider all options for assistance. If we expend all we have in looking for Avilov, there are countless other things that we’re letting slide.”

I stood, too angry to listen to another word of this bullshit. No one stopped me as I grabbed my cane and turned to leave. My fury wafted behind me, a living wave of wrath that I doubted anyone would want to get embroiled with.

I hobbled from trying to walk too fast, but I managed to reach my room.

“Dmitri!” Hannah was there, gasping in surprise when I opened the door so forcefully and let it bang on the wall. “What—” She rushed closer when I staggered to continue striding in. “Careful.”

“Fuck that,” I growled. Careful? It sounded like that was what Alek wanted to do. Be careful and let someone else do my work for me. To let the Feds intervene in my mission for revenge.

“If you’re not careful, you can over?—”

“Shut up,” I warned. I shot her an angry glare, daring her to try to push my buttons this time. “Just shut up and leave.” Just seeing her again taunted me. Against my wishes, I lusted for her.

That was the very last damn thing I could do now. I had to focus on strengthening myself, on getting better to go after Erik and kill him. I didn’t want the fucking Feds’ help in locating him. If they found him first, they’d kill him, and that was my job. My mission.

I couldn’t deal with Hannah right now. I needed her therapy. She was skilled at assisting me with rehab. But after last night, it was difficult to face her. It was awkward between us now, and I could’ve kicked myself for letting it get to this point.

So much for not blurring the lines.

I glanced back at her, wondering if she’d be so stupid as to push her luck right now.

She blinked, stunned by the way I lashed out, but without a word, she lowered her head and turned to go.