Lev I  step out of the car, the cold air raising the hairs on the back of my neck. I have a feeling that getting money from Asher isn’t going to be as easy as the first time. He’ll wantto wait on writing another check until the one Eliza lost expires, but that would be a whole ninety days.I’m not allowing that to happen. If this Bratva is going to function properly, there needs to be a basic level of trust, especially when it comes to money.Most of the lights are off when I step into Asher’s gallery, but I spot him on the far side of the common area, adjusting a lopsided painting while standing on an old wooden stepladder.There’s this little part of me, the impishly impulsive one, that wants to shout at him and cause him to fall from the ladder. I don’t like him, and the idea of him breaking his knees on the marble floor is oddly appealing to me.Perhaps I’m the one with the Dark Triad of traits, and I’m

Lev The look in Eliza’s shimmering hazel eyes tells me everything, but I still get a rush when her lips part and she tells me that she’s pregnant.I drop to my knees in front of her, my body trembling in a way that’s never happened. The fiercest enemy wouldn’t be able to humble me in this way, but a little speck of life growing in Eliza’s belly can put me on my knees.I can’t find the words to tell Eliza how much this means to me, but I suspect she already knows. My mouth is dry, and my throat is closed up. I can barely breathe. I have to force myself to speak to make sure I won’t pass out from lack of oxygen.“That’s incredible,” I gasp as my lungs find air again.She nods, pulling her lips into her mouth as fresh tears come to her eyes.I place my hands on her stomach, feeling the warmth there and imagining the child we created inside. The fiercest protection is required for such a delicate creatu

Lev The drama has mostly faded into the background, but it’s not a good feeling. I can’t really rest when I have a pregnant woman pacing around my house, raiding thecabinets at all hours while I try to figure out where the hell Vanya has disappeared to.Nobody can find him. Not Valentin, not any of my guards, and not anyone else of my illusive Family members who would rather hide around the city peddling artwork at various galleries then get off their asses and look for him.I’ve sunk probably half a million dollars into finding this guy, and we’ve come up with nothing. I just don’t get where he could be hiding.If he’s been arrested, I would’ve found out by now. There’s a slim chance he killed himself or was murdered in an unrelated incident, but I doubt it. Vanya knows how to keep himself alive. That’s why he’s still running around causing trouble while Felix got himself killed almost instantly when he cr

LevDead silence is rarely a good thing, but that’s what I get from my guard when he calls me on the phone and I ask what’s wrong. It’s this overwhelmingly guilty pausethat I’m receiving, something that scares even a man as hardened as I am.Because there’s only one thing this could be about. Only one person. Nothing else would leave my guard lost for words when I ask what’s going on.“Speak, goddammit!” I hold the phone like it’s a snake trying to bite me, yelling at the screen like that will cure the awful feeling that’s growing in the pit of my stomach. It burns like a whole bottle of vodka for breakfast.“Eliza made a run for it. We don’t know why, and we don’t know where,” he finally says. “Boss, I’m sorry, but she got away from us. We ran after her, but she was so fast. It almost seemed impossible the way she was moving.”“She ran away?” I ask, hardly believing what he’s telling me. There must be a

VeraBefore I left for college, I thought I had a pretty decent understanding of what it would be like to grow up as a rich kid.I imagined getting tons of new clothes for the school year, spending an entire week picking out pieces from the most exclusive, elite brands. I thought it would involve a lot of horseback riding, winter getaways, and a sense of deep, impenetrable stability.It turns out I was right, but there’s a hell of a lot I missed that went along with that.“Vera never told us what she did over the summer!” Angelique shouts from the front of the crowd as she attempts to snap a photo of the Ferris wheel.My stomach twists itself into a series of knots that I know I’ll be working at untangling long after I get home.Too many questions. Too much information about me that I’d hate for other people to know.Well, not just other people. These people, specifically.“Yeah, well, I feel like I’d be doing you a favor by sparing you the details,” I say with a nervous laugh. “It’s