Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“You’re right. You're definitely not sweet as a personality trait. But this is adorable."
He scowls at me. “Call me cute or sweet or adorable again and see what happens."
"You’d punish a pregnant woman?”
He holds my gaze for a heated beat. "Absolutely."
My heart flips.
When I stare at him with that sexy rush of panic I get when he threatens me, he finally laughs.
He has the nerve to laugh.
“What?” I ask.
“Time for pizza, little hacker.”
I release a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I needed to hear him call me little hacker again. I probably need him to take me over his knee, too, because I need some normalcy in my life when everything else is a swirl of confusion and fear.
But with the smell of pizza in the room, I can think of nothing else.
We eat crispy pizza on paper plates and talk about the party. “How did it go? Did they auction everything off?”
“Absolutely. My mother doesn’t let anything ruffle her. She made sure the auction still happened and they earned five point two million for the children’s hospital.”
I whistle. “Wow, that’s amazing. The Romanov Philanthropists it is, then.”
He winks at me and takes the crust I tossed into the pizza box. He eats it in one bite. “Exactly.”
“And did Volkov pull any more asshole tricks?”
“Of course, but nothing my brothers couldn’t handle.”
I take another slice of pizza. “I don’t know if I’ve ever hated anyone, but he’s definitely on the list.”
“He’s a man worthy of your hate, Aria.”
“Do you think he’ll leave us alone now that you’ve threatened him?”
He shakes his head. “No. You’re in the worst danger of all now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Mikhail
I hold her until she falls asleep. Aria is in greater danger than she's ever been. Not only have we outed her to our enemies just by showing up at the gala last night, but she's pregnant. And unlike our original plan of finding out about her pregnancy in private, I took her to a hospital.
Volkov will have his revenge.
When she brings our child into this world, Volkov’s world is effectively over.
I lie beside her. Part of me wants to get out of bed and go to my piano. Being alone in my sanctuary, creating music under my hands, is sometimes the only way to soothe my nerves. Sometimes, it's the only way to feel emotion.
At least, until Aria.
But I will not leave her side. She will be glued to me whether she likes it or not for the next nine months. Yes, I'll have a security team on her. I'll have several. Yes, I'll have safety protocols put in place. But I told her that I would be her armor, and I meant that.
I mutter to myself for trying to remember what she said about crushing candy on an app. Turns out there are lots of apps where you can crush candy. It's not as relaxing to me as playing the piano, but I play the game until my eyelids grow heavy.
I'm dragged out of a sound sleep the next morning with the sound of my phone ringing.
I have it on "Do Not Disturb" when sleeping, but three phone calls in succession removes that. My brothers know to do that only in an emergency situation.
Aria is still sleeping beside me. I move as quietly as I can, take my phone, and go to the bathroom, where I can take the call in private without waking her.
"What is it?"
"We intercepted an attack on our family home last night," Nikko says.
"Who did? Tell me everything."
"Viktor and I did. We were with Mother, cleaning up. Staff was dismissed, security still in place. Polina was with you at the hospital. Everything seemed fine, but Viktor had a suspicion something was wrong."
Volkov. He will stop at nothing.
"What happened?”
"We swept the entire house. We found nothing, but Viktor didn't trust it. So he slept in the room adjacent to Mom’s. We heard a scream and were in her room instantly. They were trying to abduct her, Mikhail.”
“Who?”
"We haven't gotten them to tell us their identity yet." I'm already pulling on a pair of jeans. No. Fuck. I can't leave Aria's side, I won't.
"Where are you?"
"We have them in The Chamber."
"Any identifying marks?"
"Of course. They're marked Bratva.”
When I threatened Volkov, he decided another insidious assault against my family was in order. If only I had the manpower, I would murder the man with my bare hands. He has too many allies and too many on his force. My brotherhood wouldn't stand the blowback. They would annihilate us.
But that doesn't mean we put up with this.
"I would come to you myself," I say, while peeking through the doorway at my sleeping wife. "But I will not leave Aria's side."
Loyalty to my wife and our future child means I may have tough choices to make.
"Tell me what's next?"