Empire of Sin (Empire #2) by Rina Kent

“Am I right?” Kirill repeats, raising a brow.

Since I have no clue what Papa, Rai, and Vladimir said, I choose to stay quiet. I’d rather pay with my life than betray my family.

A hand nudges me forward, rattling my whole body. Aleksander. “He asked you a question. Answer it.”

Kirill tsks. “No violence, Sasha.”

I hear what resembles a scoff from Aleksander, but he doesn’t touch me again.

“It’s fine if she doesn’t answer, because I am right. The whole situation reeks of lies and manipulation, and I’m not a fan of those.” Kirill smirks, sliding his glasses up his nose. “Unless I’m the one inflicting them, of course. So, to rectify things, I had a little chat with my number one source of intel, Adrian. Color me surprised when he revealed that you weren’t in Russia. In fact, no one—your father, Rai, and Vladimir included—knew where you were. So I teamed up with this one here to find you, even though I’m still wounded he kept information from me.”

Adrian doesn’t acknowledge Kirill or anyone in the room and continues to type away.

And for a moment, I can’t look away from him. Just what is he searching for? I never keep incriminating information on my laptops, ever.

I always delete everything before I go to bed and make sure to clean any traces. But this is Adrian.

What if he’s able to restore some data?

I’m distracted from him because Kirill keeps watching me with that slight tilt of his head. As if he’s waiting for a bomb to drop.

Just what else has he told Adrian?

Hell, how did he find out that Papa and the others covered for me?

Kirill taps his mouth in a contemplative move. “Now, the real question is, why were you running, Anastasia?”

My gaze strays to Adrian and for the first time, he raises his head. I always thought he was beautiful in a dangerous type of way. He has a rugged type of beauty with his dark hair, sharp cheekbones, and massive build. I swallow when his harsh yet seemingly calm gray eyes fixate on me.

Kirill doesn’t know the reason.

Adrian doesn’t have to say it for me to catch the memo. I’m sure he has his reasons behind not revealing it and he’ll probably use it against me at some point, but that doesn’t matter.

If I can at least have Kirill off my back, it’s worth it.

“I just wanted to get away from it all,” I whisper.

“You don’t get away from the Bratva, little princess. You’re cute to think there’s a way out other than death.”

My muscles lock together and my first thought is Babushka. If I’m gone, no one will be able to take care of her. Hell, if they found me, they might be able to track her down and make her join me and Mom.

“You’ll come back with us,” Kirill announces.

“No!”

“You don’t have a say in it. The Pakhan’s daughter won’t be roaming the streets as a nerdy tech at a law firm.”

“I don’t want to.”

“What you want doesn’t matter. Either you come willingly or Sasha will be given free rein to use force.”

“I’m not going back. I don’t care what you’ll do.”

Kirill stands, sliding his glasses up his nose with his middle finger. It’s crazy how he can make that single motion appear threatening. When I adjust my glasses, it looks anxious at best. “You don’t want me to act on my threats. I could, and would, put your father’s position in jeopardy. The choice of going back is the only courtesy I’ll offer you.”

My fist clenches and I can feel the bulging of the tendons in my neck. When I made this decision, I thought Papa wouldn’t care, as usual. I thought he’d definitely choose the brotherhood over me.

He always has.

He’s so loyal to the Bratva, and so is Vladimir and Rai.

At one point, I thought my great-cousin could probably help me. She always took care of me after Papa killed my stepfather and brought me to live with him. All after Mom was beaten to death by said stepfather.

But I didn’t want to put her in jeopardy after everything she’d worked for. She’s a leader in the brotherhood and an executive manager at V Corp, and it took her so much struggle to be the only powerful woman in the midst of wolves.

And now, if I say or do something wrong, I’ll hurt the only people who ever cared for me.

The only family I’ve ever had.

“Let her stay at Weaver & Shaw.”

Kirill’s and my attention snaps to Adrian, who finally looks up from the laptop, then slowly closes it and places it on the table.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Adrian? Let her stay? The Pakhan’s only daughter can’t be left alone at some law firm.”

“We need to win Matt’s lawsuits since we use his production company to launder money. Weaver & Shaw is representing his daughter and are digging their noses where they shouldn’t. As a member of the brotherhood, the Pakhan’s daughter will play her role and become our eyes and ears there. It shouldn’t be hard with the tech department access and your interesting set of skills. Right, Anastasia?”

A full-body shudder takes hold of me. Interesting set of skills. He knows. Even though my spare laptop doesn’t have anything incriminating on it, Adrian somehow figured out about the hacking.

Does that mean he knows about the stolen funds?