Page 40 of Auctioned to My Bratva Boss

Her face went even paler. I didn't want her to face this, but I didn't want to lie either.

"That's right." I pointed at the Russian bear standing aside. "This is Anton, my second. He looks scary, but he's saved my ass many times."

Riley's expression was complicated. I knew—she was just an ordinary girl. This had to be hard to process.

"The channel will be fine. We always pull through." I switched to English for Anton. "But I'm damn sure going to make Victor regret this."

Anton wisely went to clean up the mess with his men.

I pulled the dazed Riley to a nearby park and sat beside her on a bench by the path.

"You're scared." I kept a few inches between us.

"No."

Her hoarse tone left me momentarily speechless. She was obviously scared to death.

"I had a falling out with my business partner. So he wants me dead." I leaned back against the bench.

"Sorry for dragging you into this."

She shook her head.

"Don't you want to ask anything? About who I am."

What was I saying? I'd never said anything like this to anyone. I'd never been the type to answer questions.

She looked at me, like she was waiting for something.

"My father was the bratva's previous pakhan. I inherited his position." I looked away from her. "From the time I can remember, all he gave me were trials. Nothing else. Win, and it's expected. Lose, and you get punished."

"That's the bratva world. The weak don't deserve to live."

She moved closer, but her breathing grew more cautious.

"He wanted to train me into the perfect heir machine. A killing machine that wouldn't fear, wouldn't show mercy."

"My mother refused. She fought with him for years, trying to pull me out of that trial ground." As I spoke, my mother's gentle smile surfaced in my mind. "But she never succeeded. She ended her own life when I was twelve."

Only after saying it did I realize—the weight that once felt unbearable didn't hurt as much now. Maybe time healed everything. Or maybe it was the person beside me. Riley.

Riley stayed silent, eyes downcast, sitting quietly beside me. Her body pressed closer and closer until there was almost no space between us.

"I think she loved you very much. She wanted to save you." Riley suddenly placed her hand on mine. "Trust me, no mother would willingly abandon a child she loves. She was just too tired."

"Bratva or not, pakhan or not—you're still you." She looked up at me.

Those clear eyes seemed capable of washing away all the world's darkness and pain. My heart pounded harder than it ever had, almost out of control. Riley's warm gaze would definitely burn my heart to ashes.

My past—my family, my failed marriage—had long since hardened my heart.

Love? That never had anything to do with someone like me.

Chapter Eleven

Riley

Pakhan. Of course I knew that title—trust me, everyone in New York knew that title. But Matvey was that brutal, cold-blooded mob pakhan from the rumors? No joke, my heart jumped into my throat. Especially when gunfire erupted behind me.