Empire of Sin (Empire #2) by Rina Kent

The information should reel me off my axis, but it doesn’t. If anything, the pieces of the puzzle slowly come together.

Whether it’s the way she ran away from her past and avoided it or how she didn’t want to talk about her family. There’s also the makeover and the way she seemed innocent yet dangerous that first day.

All of it.

She was a woman with baggage from the beginning and I knew it. I think I actually fell for it at some point.

So finding out that she has ties to the mafia makes complete sense. The guard who followed her makes sense, too. The fact that Daniel couldn’t find anything on her when he did a background check is plausible, too. He must’ve done a paperwork, superficial one, but even if he dug deeper, she had the skills to hide her skeletons.

That woman had a double life, after all.

“What do you mean, I was in danger?” I ask Daniel.

“You were snooping around in Bratva business and hurting their associate, so the higher-ups threatened her with your life. They even told her to betray you, but she chose the third option.”

“To go back to them.” I don’t phrase it as a question, because I know that’s what she did.

She hurt me on purpose with the whole Daniel thing so I would forget her and not search for her.

Well, the fucking joke’s on her because I’m never letting her go. Not even if I have to barge headfirst into her world.

Daniel lifts his shoulder. “She didn’t tell me that, but I assume so.”

“What else did she tell you? Don’t leave anything out.”

“That I should keep an eye on you, that I shouldn’t get mad when you become an arsehole, and that you mean well.” He snorts. “She believed in you more than you believe in yourself, and didn’t seem to care about her own wellbeing as long as you were alright. I have to say, you’re a lucky son of a bitch to have found someone like her.”

I am.

I fucking am.

And now, I have to get her back to where she belongs.

By my fucking side.





37





ANASTASIA





Papa is telling me to prepare for my engagement, saying that it will happen soon.

He’s even taking me with him to parties organized by the Bratva and its allies.

Like today. He threw a party out of nowhere to celebrate the rekindling of our relationship with the Italians. Something that Adrian, the cunning wolf, made happen.

Needless to say, our house is overflowing with guests from all different factions and even businessmen that the Bratva considers friends. Most of them are Russian, but there are all types of nationalities here. The brotherhood believes in making global allies since that gets them what they want faster.

The overflowing of people makes my head hurt, especially since they only see me as stock. A bride to be married to the best man.

A prize.

I was with Rai a while ago, but she has shareholders to greet and rounds to make, and I’ll just be a hindrance. Even though her stomach is growing noticeably, she doesn’t let that stop her from being a kickass businesswoman. Kyle is by her side every step of the way, though.

As I stand in the corner, clutching a drink, I can’t help watching how he gently yet firmly places a hand at the small of her back. How he strokes her over her clothes and gives her water to drink.

A shiver goes through me at the scene, and a pit of loneliness stabs me in the stomach. My heart aches and splinters at the memory of Knox holding me to him and stroking my skin as if he got pleasure from it.

And the thought that I might never get that again clogs my throat until I can no longer breathe.

Papa meant what he said that day a week ago in his office and he kept his part of the deal.

He left Knox alone and now, I have to do the same or Papa’s answer will be written in blood.

I know what he’s doing with these parties and by making sure to introduce me alongside Damien. He’s getting everyone to see me with my “future husband,” as he calls him.

Something that Abe, the father of Damien’s supposed bride-to-be, took extreme offense to. And there might be a fight behind the scenes between him and Papa as we speak. I could tell when Vlad, Kirill, and Adrian followed Papa, Abe, and the higher-ups of the Yakuza upstairs.

“Shouldn’t you be up there, too?” I ask Aleksander, who’s standing not far from me, beside the balcony window.

He has one hand over the other, and despite his generally calm demeanor, his forefinger is twitching, which might be the only sign of distress he’s ever shown.

“Boss told me to stay here,” he says without looking at me.

“I’m not going to run away with so many guards in here. If you’re so worried about him, just go up there.”

He presses his lips in a line. “I won’t defy his order.”

“Good luck with the guilt when he gets hurt then.”

Aleksander flashes me a deadly stare, as if I murdered his children and ate them for breakfast. “He’s not going to get hurt. He can take care of himself.”

“You don’t sound so convincing. You’re thinking it, aren’t you? That something will go south and there will be no one to protect your precious boss.”

“Miss…” There’s a warning in his tone.

“What?”

“Are you enjoying this?”