17. Ivan

17

IVAN

W hen Becca confided in me about Dominic being Emily’s father, I felt threatened. That my enemy, a dangerous man from the Italian Mob, could have a bigger impact on Emily than I could. It didn’t calm me to know that Dominic wasn’t aware of Emily’s birth or that he’d impregnated Becca.

What really got to me was the fact that he’d raped her. That he’d taken her against her will, with contempt, and kicked her out of his life.

I fucked her too, and I bet some would claim I’d done the same thing, that I’d raped her. But she’d wanted it. And still did. I didn’t miss the longing in her eyes. Like when she gazed at me after I stepped out of the shower.

Now, I had to add Dominic fucking Rossini to my already long kill list. That asshole would never have a moment of peace or safety as long as he lived. To hurt Becca, to harm her, to violate her with only the intention of malice and pain…

It was an unforgivable crime.

He would pay. I would make sure of it, but I had to figure out how and where. When, too. Alek ordered me to handle Murphy. We had to get that corrupt officer out of the way before he tried to attack the Bratva or bring our organization down. He was a direct threat to us.

The Rossinis weren’t as big of a danger at the present. With their record for infighting and skewed business interests, they didn’t pose an immediate danger to us.

But Dominic Rossini had earned a death sentence. Knowing that he’d raped Becca and manipulated her…

It was personal now. As soon as I took care of Murphy, Dominic was next.

Unless I can kill two birds with one stone.

I still didn’t know what Murphy and the Rossinis were plotting together, or if they even were after all this time since Becca heard that call between her father and Dominic, but I had to assume something was up.

Despite the desire to reach for Becca and pull her into my arms, I took the easier way out and left her in Emily’s room. I yearned to hug that woman and tell her that I would see justice for how she’d become a mother. I wanted to be a hero for her and explain that she didn’t have to worry about Dom being in her life at all anymore.

Looking at the mother and daughter together was just too hard. It pained me to see them, strong yet alone. Abandoned but having each other. Becca and Emily looked so good and pure together, full of love that would never cease or fade under any condition.

They resembled the perfect picture of a future I’d never considered. A wife and a child to hold and protect. A woman to love and cherish with a daughter to raise and enjoy.

Once more, as I woke up the next morning, still bothered by how tempting that woman was, I wondered if my brothers were getting to me.

I’d left her last night because of how badly I wanted to comfort her. It seemed like such a vulnerability, to express sorrow and regret on her behalf that she’d ever suffered.

This morning, I felt prickly at the possibility that I was threatened by what she seemed to offer, something I never thought I could have or find.

Alek started it all, marrying Mila. Then Nik and Amy. One by one, the Valkov brothers were falling for women. I didn’t think any less of Alek or Nik. They weren’t weaker men for finding their other halves.

But I’d given up the hope that I would find love too. That I would want to find love.

Once I got up and started my day, I let the simmering anger about Becca being raped guide me to action.

I didn’t see her in the house. She and Margie preoccupied Emily while the women cooked and talked in the kitchen. With Becca busy, I slipped out of the house and did my best to stay focused on my job.

Checking in with Yusef and the others yielded nothing promising. Then a meeting with my brothers, where we discussed this call that Becca recorded, took several hours of my day.

“She really must not give a shit what happens to him, then,” Alek mused once we’d talked about the call at the mansion.

Just like I had last night, I felt on edge about being in the city and away from Becca. This distance gnawed at me. It wasn’t helping. It wasn’t making me give up on wanting her. It only goaded me to miss her harder.

How the hell did she get under my skin so fast, so deep?

“She says there is no lost love,” I told them.

“I can see that.” Nik nodded, peering at me. “But is she finding it with you ?”

I knew they’d make a big deal out of Murphy taunting Becca in that call.

“He was just trying to get a rise out of her,” I argued, shaking my head.

“So, nothing’s… happening?” Dmitri asked with a knowing smirk.

I glowered at him.

“Wait. Ivan ?” Maxim snorted. “He’s next to get a woman?”

“No.” I sat up straighter, hating this teasing. “I’m not. She’s a hostage. Not my woman.”

“You seem possessive,” Dmitri added.

“That’s just the kind of person Ivan is,” Alek said, almost flippantly, as though he wanted to move past all this awkward talk.

“And it doesn’t fucking matter anyway.” I rubbed my face, aggravated. “I do want to put more men on Dominic Rossini. He’s signed his death warrant for raping her.”

Maxim laughed once. “Sure, you don’t have any feelings for your ‘hostage’ now.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I warned our youngest brother.

“But first, Murphy,” Alek reminded.

He wouldn’t care if I wanted to seek revenge with Dom for raping Becca. It was one more enemy we wouldn’t have to deal with.

“First, Murphy,” I agreed.

“No luck on tracing it,” Dmitri said. “But I’m going to have someone install a program to record her calls. It’s… uh, nice that she wanted to go that extra step and record it. I modified her phone to track it, but since it’s an older model, it’s not as easy to record calls.”

“She wants to help us,” I said, confident that I wasn’t lying about it. Becca hadn’t given any impression that she cared about Murphy, and after the man admitted to setting Emily up to be taken, I doubted she’d ever care about her father again.

Instead of going back to the house, I sought another distraction. Seeing Becca with Emily was too much of a temptation to resist. Being at the vacation villa made it too easy for me to approach her, and after last night, I had no clue how I would do that.

Sticking to my responsibilities as a Valkov brother, I headed to another club. LeVant’s would be fine. Kenneth was supervising there, but that didn’t necessarily mean all the sex clubs could run smoothly without my efforts.

As I walked into another club, letting the darkness of the place calm me, the familiar sounds and smells welcoming me into the familiar atmosphere of sex and thrills, I hoped that being here could help me shake off some of this funkiness, to let go of some steam.

No other woman tempted me. I found nothing alluring here, but I wasn’t trying. My main role was to keep an eye on things, and as I tried my damnedest not to obsess and think about Becca, I strained to focus here.

None of my brothers wanted the responsibilities of these clubs, and it wasn’t a fickle task. I’d employed competent staff to run things, but someone had to be in charge, and that was me.

Before I made a complete circuit and checked everything in the club, I spotted a familiar face.

We were just talking about her. My conversation with Kenneth at LeVant’s seemed like days ago, but it was only last night that he’d mentioned Veronica. I hadn’t forgotten how he’d warned me that she was on the lookout for me at LeVant’s.

And here she was in the flesh—mostly bare flesh with only a thong on. Her dyed black hair was thinning but intricately braided, all the better to be pulled on, she’d insisted in the past.

The second I entered this corner of the club, she spotted me. Kenneth hadn’t been lying about her interest in seeing me. She’d asked around about me already, and now that we were both here, she lit up with a smile and beelined for me.

No. Not tonight. Not… ever. I didn’t want a quick, gritty fuck with her. I wanted Becca no matter how hard I tried to tell myself otherwise.

“Ivan,” she purred in a greeting, coming close but not to hug me. Some people used stupid nicknames and aliases here, but I was only ever myself—available and ready to fuck hard. Or I used to be. She hadn’t forgotten that I disliked hugs and preferred to keep my distance, and I appreciated that she didn’t try to pull a stunt like hugging me or kissing my cheek as she was wont to do with others.

“Veronica.” I nodded at her in greeting. “Having a good night?” My role wasn’t one of providing customer service, but I had nothing to gain from avoiding manners with her.

“Now I am.” She eyed me seriously.

I shook my head. “No.”

I wasn’t interested. At all. Not with her. Not only was she too wild to trust, but she also wasn’t Becca.

“Oh, don’t be a prude.” She smiled saucily, almost too quickly that it didn’t reach her eyes. “My new husband is such a bore. He suggested that I pay triple for getting a room with the man of my choice tonight.”

I shook my head again. Money was nice, but not tonight.

“And I want you.”

“Too bad.” Others could fit her bill.

The only woman I wanted was hours away, safe with her daughter under the Bratva’s care.

“I won’t take no for an answer.” Veronica smiled again, but this one was even weaker. Like she was forcing it.

“I can find you someone else to?—”

“I want you , Ivan.” Now she broke protocol, gripping my shirt sleeve.

I was a dominant motherfucker, sexually and otherwise. No one told me what to do. No one tried to get their way with me. Veronica knew that. She was no green girl or newcomer to this scene.

For her to touch me anyway, something was up.

I looked at her closer, noticing the tells that she wasn’t behaving like she usually did. I picked up on the hint of impatience and urgency in her eyes. The fear in the tense lines on her brow and the tension of her jaw as she forced that smile not to fall from her face.

“Veronica, I don’t think so.”

“No. I need to see you. I have to.”

I narrowed my eyes, unable to shake the suspicion that she sounded desperate and almost afraid.

“Please,” she added, dragging her finger down her bare chest. Her tits didn’t move much as she stepped closer, pressing herself against my side. Mostly plastic and all fake, Veronica looked like a woman half my age. Surgery and cosmetic assistance went a long way.

“Please. Let’s get a room. Huh?” She reached up, stroking her hand over my shirt and stopping at my waistband. Tugging me to face her, she held on close.

I kept my hands to the side, not touching her or encouraging her at all. While I stared down at her, my irritation faded.

She put on a good act, but I was sharp. I caught the fear in her eyes at the chance I’d say no. I noticed how she glanced around the room nervously, as though she feared being caught.

It wasn’t about me . She didn’t seem hellbent on getting me in a room for something filthy, rotten, and sexual.

But she had something to say.

If she was fucking with me, I would be angry. But the terror and nervousness in her eyes didn’t lie. This woman was good at trying to get her way sexually and topping from the bottom, but I felt like she was trying to tell me something that she didn’t want anyone else to know about.

Her lithe form pressed against me, her breasts rubbing over my arm.

All I could think about was how badly I wished Becca could approach me like this. Confident in her desire for me. Determined to have her wicked way with me in a place of sex and excitement like this.

I thought back to how I’d met her, how I’d found her so bewildered and alarmed, yet intrigued at the club when I’d arranged for her to fall into my hands with that delivery.

Becca was too good to ever want to come to a club like this. She was too innocent and wary to ever approach me with seduction as her intention.

I wanted that redheaded beauty to be here, eager for me to tie her up again and take her sweet pussy hard.

But it wouldn’t happen. We were too different, and that alone should’ve been a reminder that we’d never work. That she’d never succumb to a hard life like mine and want me.

“Hmm?” Veronica asked, pawing at me.

Her touch and presence didn’t interest me. She did jar me from the wishes to have Becca here, and I was motivated to do whatever was necessary to get back on the road and see her. Even if I wouldn’t act on my desire for her, I was a glutton for punishment to want to be near her in that vacation villa, to feel peaceful with the fact that she was safe and close by.

“All right.” I narrowed my eyes at Veronica. I had no intention of playing with her or anyone else in this place, but the sooner I heard her out and asked her what the hell she wanted from me, the faster I could return to the woman I wanted and couldn’t have.