Page 37 of Wicked Proposal

It’s why I’ve been bringing a different woman to every event, showing up with a different date on my arm every night. It’s why Nikita was the perfect choice for last night.

Because she’s a woman I have no feelings for, who can handle herself as well as any of my men. A true Bratva lieutenant.

But somehow, they got to her, too.

Funny enough, it’s not Nikita that my thoughts go to. It’s not that I don’t want to find her—she’s given me her loyalty foryears, and I’ll spend my last breath hunting for her if that’s what it takes.

But I know that, wherever she is, she’s giving her captors hell.

So it’s another woman who draws my attention.

Mia.

Mia, who came there with me.

Mia, who was so shaken she almost forgot how to speak.

Mia, who didn’t doubt for a second the attackers had been after Brad.

I didn’t correct her. Didn’t bother. Didn’t tell her the truth about last night, not even when she gave me the perfect chance to explain things at the diner.

Those attackers—they were never after Brad.

They were afterme.

Whoever shot up Brad’s wedding venue… They were the same people who shot up my estate. The same people who killed my family. Who killed Kira.

Prizrak.

Them.

“Why now?” My fists ball up at my sides, knuckles going white. “Why there?”

“Haven’t the faintest.” Maksim shrugs. “You?”

You know why.My skin has been crawling all night with suspicion.

Mia.

You can’t have her. She’smine.

I replay those words in my head. I was pissed off, angry that some entitled daddy’s boy thought he could just take the woman on my arm.

As if I’d ever let that happen.

ButPrizrakmust have thought differently. They must have thought Mia meant something to me.

That I intend to marry her.

The same thing they thought I intended for Kira.

“Blyat’!” I slam my fist on my desk, the sharp crack of wood bouncing off the glass walls. “These fuckingmudaki.”

“We’ll get them,” Maksim vows. “They’ve shown their cards now.”

I shake my head, because if I keep dwelling on the rage, it’ll consume me. I need to do what I’ve always done: focus. Plan. Prepare.

“Update me on Nikita,” I order.