Page 45

FORTY-FOUR

Vlad

T here’s a warm, unmoving body half laid on top of me. Opening my eyes slowly as lights try to blind me, my wife stares up at me. All the lights in the room are on, but it’s still dark outside. It’s fucked that this is the first time I’ve woken up with her when she’s so fucking beautiful, and my gaze goes to her neck automatically. There’s no bruising or red marks, and the brat pokes my abs.

“Don’t stare at someone’s tits this early on a morning, it’s rude.”

I lift her up and place her on my chest fully,then cross my arms over her back, caging her in. It’s too fucking early when I don’t need to be up. Closing my eyes, the probing finger comes back, hitting me in my cheek, but I don’t move. If she keeps her mouth shut, I’ll be able to get some more rest.Her ugly-ass orange pants are against my legs and I’m sure I threw them out.

How many pairs of them does she own? More importantly why does she own even one? They’re hideous despite how soft they feel against my thighs as she wriggles, getting comfortable.

Inessa does the opposite of what I require for peace, and she opens her mouth, unsurprisingly.

“Who knew Vlad wasn’t a morning person?”

She’s speaking to herself, and I interrupt her conversation without opening my eyes.

“I’m not a person person.”

Crossing her hands on my chest, she’s staring at me, and I give her the attention she’s craving.

“You’re using me as a blanket, maybe I’m not a blanket person,” she argues childishly.

Letting her go, I put my hands under my head and raise an eyebrow when she doesn’t move.

Those horrible fucking pants are on her legs, and I can see them over the top of her head. She just smiles sweetly at me and she’s wearing one of my t-shirts.

“Take them off.”

Her smile slips at my order and a faint blush stains her cheeks as she avoids my eyes. Her mumble is adorable.

“I’m sore.”

I cup her nape and massage the sides as I pull her up to meet my lips and kiss her crown. My voice is weaker against the strands as I put her at ease.

“I won’t fuck you.”

She’s agreeable and hooks her thumbs in the waistband peeling the abhorrent fabric down her pretty legs. Once she’s kicked them off, I relax and cover them with the sheets.

“Good girl, don’t wear them again.”

She huffs and peels my hand away to reach for them. My tone hardens, saying her name and she freezes.

“Inessa. Don’t even fucking think about it.”

She’s cute pouting up at me thinking it will make me change my mind. It wavers slightly on the next words out of her mouth.

“I like them.”

I go back to my original argument when she speaks again.

“I’ll buy you a pair too.”

“Fuck no. You look like a fucking tabby-human half breed.” She doesn’t soften at my explanation and glares at me. But she doesn’t move away and rests her cheek on my shoulder. With the light of day and some of my anger being chased away, I try to get my answers now that she is clearly in a talkative mood.

“Why did you go on birth control?”

If it was her way of ensuring we stayed married, she could have just spoken. She has words for literally everything else. Sensing her retreat, I stroke down her back, keeping her on top of me.

She’s not in a position to subdue me but it’s enough to give her the illusion. Reaching her ass, my hand moves automatically, massaging away any residual soreness. It works to get the truth.

“I watched you beat the shit out of that woman, she had a bald spot and was spitting up blood. Honestly? It scared the shit out of me.”

My jaw clenches with the memory of everything Galya has fucking ruined, and I don’t say anything. I can’t tell Inessa about Vanya. She’ll ask more questions and probably fucking pity me.

There’s more that she’s keeping to herself, but she gives me what I asked for.

“I don’t want my child to be raised with violent hands, children shouldn’t be scared of their parents.”

Agreeing isn’t difficult and my tongue moves, giving her something I’ve never given anyone.

“Len would set me up to fight grown men, so I wasn’t weak. The story of when I was nine is true. Then the others were born, and it was my job to train them.”

I don’t tell her it wasn’t my first kill. Sadness is still coating my queen’s features, and she relaxes, tracing shapes on my shoulder.Her voice is lower, hesitant, as she stares at the Madonna on my chest.

“Did you train them?”

I have three regrets in life. One of them is regarding my brothers, and it’s the easiest.

“Yes. Valentin and Vitali are only a year apart so them fighting each other wasn’t an issue. If you’re asking did I lay a hand on them, then it’s yes too.”

I’ve never done it since getting away from Len. I rationalized it, either I would give their punishments and I’d control the force or that suka would and he enjoyed beating on his kids too much. My brothers wouldn’t have been able to stand if he was let loose on them.

Inessa doesn’t rage, and she’s perfect like this.

“That’s horrible. I’ve seen you with Viktor, I know you wouldn’t hurt a child for your enjoyment. I know how some men can be in the ranks, they think hurting their children makes them strong, but it just makes them hide their pain. There’s no strength in wearing a mask all the time.”

Kissing the top of her head, I try to ease her into the truth.

“To you. For some people, that mask is all that saves them.”

She should understand since she does it herself and projects different personas dependent on her audience.

She sighs, acting like I haven’t spoken.

“But it was just in that moment, and I thought you’d hurt me. I kept having these thoughts, like what if I got pregnant but it was a girl, would you beat me because you were unhappy? That’s happened to people before, I’ve heard the rumors, then I kept taking them.”

Kissing her crown accepting the non-apology, I try to breathe at where her thoughts are. I wouldn’t beat my wife, let alone my pregnant fucking wife.

I soften my voice to make it sound like less of an order, so I can keep her a little longer.

“Don’t keep things from me. If you have questions or feel uncomfortable, tell me. I told you on our wedding night that I won’t force you, if you’re not ready that’s fine.”

Her head moves up abruptly, a crease between her brows, and she opens her mouth to spew some shit that will most likely drive me crazy.

My phone blares, cutting her off and my entire body goes rigid at the sound of the window alert. Moving Inessa to the side, I grab my phone seeing it’s Valya’s window and I don’t even remember picking up my gun. My steps are silent taking the hidden stairway and the brat fucking follows me. I stop at the bottom of the steps, ready to tell her to get her ass back in bed when she launches herself at my back before I can turn around. I change my order as she wraps her legs around me and rests her chin on my crown.

“Don’t let go or make a noise.”

She nods and loosely threads her arms around my neck, being careful not to choke me as we go to the floor below.

There’s no one in any of the hallways and the place looks the same, even down to the toys he never fucking puts away. Viktor’s asleep with his leg hanging off the bed again and there’s no sound coming from Valya’s room. I crack the door with my gun raised, and a scream has me relaxing as it wakes the dickhead up. I tuck the gun in my waistband and smirk, seeing who caused the alert.

“I always thought you were sneaking into a different brother’s room,” I say to the woman stood at the window she was about to jump out of.

Dani flushes with embarrassment at my insinuation she was fucking Vitali and the dumb prick sits up in bed, not giving a fuck my wife is on my back.

I have to hold my hand over Inessa’s eyes so she can’t see Valentin’s dick and my voice hardens.

“Cover yourself, for fuck’s sake.”

He looks down, ready to have a tantrum, before he does the intelligent thing and pulls the sheets up. The brat on my back smiles, pushing her cheeks into my hand and being a little shit.

“I’d say it’s nice to see you again, but Vlad won’t take his hand off my eyes.”

Every person in this family is weird as fuck.My brother isn’t remotely bothered that his dick was nearly out, and my wife is smiling to herself like a fucking crazy person.

The whisper-hissed tantrum comes from the bed.

“Can you get the fuck out now or do you want to see my dick again?”

He should have been the youngest. The middle child bullshit isn’t an excuse for his childish fucking behavior, and I cross my arms over my chest, refusing to move.

“I thought I’d catch up with Dani, it’s been a few years since I caught her sneaking around.”

He’s a childish fucking prick and grips the sheet as Inessa screeches right in my fucking ear.

“Val, don’t you dare. I will kill you.”

He’s lucky his son is a heavy sleeper and doesn’t join whatever weird- as-fuck family gathering this is.

Using our dysfunction as her chance to escape, Dani has one leg out of the window when Inessa becomes lady of the house.

“We have a front door. I can show you where it is if Val didn’t bother to?”

She slides off my back like this is all normal and shows Dani out while Val pushes into the sheets in exasperation. I only ever gave my brothers one rule, don’t touch someone the other has declared as theirs. We will never be at war over each other because of something so fleeting. Keeping my voice low, he already knows what I’m going to ask, but makes me anyway.

“Does Vitali know?”

He huffs, pushing his head further back into the cushions and throws his arm over his face.

“I thought perverts only care about who their family fuck?” he fires back.

He sounds like a whiny teenager, exactly the same as when he’d complain that Dani was sleeping over in Vitali’s room. But he’s a dumb fuck and I step into the room, closing the door behind me before Viktor overhears my warning.