Page 22 of Bratva Prince

“Where exactly were you hiding that cute little gun?”

Sofia stopped walking.Cute little gun?How dare he!Her jaw dropped.

“You are not calling it cute.”His expression remained perfectly serious.

“I might.”

“It saved your life,” she said.

“It did.”

“You were literally being strangled,” Sofia pointed out.

“I remember.”

“You’d be dead without it.”

“My gratitude remains unchanged.”

Sofia stared at him, then pointed at the gun.

“My cute little gun saved your sorry ass,” she reminded him once more for emphasis.

For one second, Dimitri simply looked at her.Then something remarkable happened.He laughed, and it wasn’t the polite chuckle he occasionally used during business meetings.

A real laugh, warm and unrestrained. The sound filled the room.Sofia froze, for she had never heard it before.The transformation was startling.His entire face changed.The hard edges softened.

The perpetual weight he carried seemed to lift, if only for a moment, and he looked younger and less dangerous.Less like a Bratva prince and more like an ordinary man.The realization hit her unexpectedly hard, and somehow made him even more attractive.

Which was an entirely separate problem.Dimitri eventually noticed her staring.His laughter faded.Their eyes met.The room seemed quieter and smaller suddenly.The space between them charged with something neither of them acknowledged or understood completely.

The air felt different.It was as if Sofia was standing too close to a storm.Then voices echoed from outside, and reality returned.The moment shattered.Dimitri looked away first and opened the bedroom door.

Chaos waited beyond it.Armed soldiers rushed through the corridor, and blood stained the marble floors.Orders echoed through the estate, and questions demanded answers.

Someone had breached Volkov security, and that person was no doubt going to pay for it.Dimitri stepped into the hallway, then paused briefly.He looked back over his shoulder.

Was he making sure she was still there and safe?Maybe Sofia was overthinking things.It was a traumatic night after all, and yet warmth spread through Sofia’s chest anyway.A foolish feeling, one she would absolutely deny if anyone asked.