Page 121 of The Bratva Sinner

“For a little while.”

She goes for the coffee, and I watch her move around the kitchen. She belongs here. This is her home. Where she’ll hopefully raise our children one day.

Shit. I’m thinking about children. Where the hell did that come from?

“How’d you sleep?” I ask.

“Good.” She glances at me over her shoulder. “Thank you. For last night.”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

She brings her cup to the island and sits across from me. There are dark circles under her eyes that the sleep didn’t fully fix. She needs more than one good night. I look at her and see a version of her that I think few people have. A vulnerable young woman who has been knocked down by life too many times. A woman who has never known what “safe” is. No security. Even when she thought she was safe in Texas, she was dealing with a mother who was a disaster.

“What’s going on?” she asks quietly. “You’ve got bad news.”

I smile, because she can read me well.

“We can’t find Briar.”

She snorts. “If she’s smart, she left town. You know for sure she started the fire, right?”

“I don’t have video of her lighting the match, but we are confident it was her.”

She’s quiet. Not scared, just processing.

“Is she dangerous if she’s out there?” Lila asks.

“She knows things about my operation. She’s a liability.”

“But you won’t hurt her.”

“No,” I say. “I want to find her and make sure she’s not being used against me. Beyond that, she can go wherever she wants.”

“Okay.”

“I need you to stay close today. Don’t go past the paddock without telling someone. I know you know that.”

“I know.”

“I mean it more than usual today.”

She meets my eyes. “Maksim, I understand. I’ll stay close.”

She lifts her cup and takes a slow drink, watching me over the rim with eyes that see too much. I’m waiting for her to ask why.

She doesn’t.

I don’t have much longer to make a move. Either I leave Miami, or I end it. Leaving doesn’t solve the problem. It simply allows it to fester.

She deserves to enroll in that program. She deserves a life that isn’t lived inside a perimeter.

“I have to go,” I finally say.

“I know.”

I come around the island. She tips her face up when I lean down, and I kiss her forehead, then her temple, then the corner of her mouth. She reaches up and catches my jaw with one hand, holding me there for an extra second.

“Be careful,” she says.