Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Wouldn’t have?” I ask, still confused.
I’m glad Yev has a hold of me when he answers, “Pretended she was pregnant with my child.” He locks his wide-with-shock eyes with me. “That’s not my baby growing in her belly, Polly. It’s Feo’s.”
21
YEV
As I exit Feodor’s room, I scrub at the back of my neck while struggling to work out which way is up. Annika has given me no reason not to believe her, and I had an inkling Feo was sneaking around in the weeks leading to his death, but I was so caught up chasing Polina, I didn’t give it a second thought.
Feo and I were close. We never kept secrets from each other, but I also understand our conversation might not have gone down well if he chose to pursue it. While I was in Sicily with Ana, Feo made numerous connections with Maksim Ivanov’s crew. Although the Bobrovs and Ivanovs trade together in the Bratva, the Bobrovs are notorious for not letting anyone piss on their turf.
This is fucked to admit, especially in this day and age, but Annika is Bobrov turf. She couldn’t be touched or traded without permission, and the order had to be given from someone high up the chain.
Feo wouldn’t have gotten within sniffing distance of Annika if the guards at the Bobrov mansion had caught wind that he was associated with the Ivanovs.
He had no choice but to pretend he was me.
To start with, I was pissed. But as our day went on and I listened to the stories Annika shared with Polina while we ate the food Polina ordered, relief slowly settled on my face.
I’m glad Feo didn’t spend his last weeks miserable and alone.
His relationship with Annika was fast but explosive.
Much like mine with Polina.
A squeak pops from Polina’s kissable lips when I pluck her from the couch, plonk my ass in her spot, then pull her to sit on my lap. I won’t lie. My eyes have strayed to my bedroom door a handful of times this afternoon, but Polina’s nearness does wonders for my cravings.
I’d much rather feast on her body than get high on a synthetic drug, but it isn’t just that. It is her support as well. Emotions I’m not used to handling are harder to rein in without drugs flowing through my blood, and today has been one clusterfuck after another, yet Polina is still here. She hasn’t run.
How the fuck did I ever get so lucky?
The groove between Polina’s blonde brows grows when I ask, “Are you sure you don’t mind Annika staying here, Polly? I can book her a hotel room.”
Glossy locks fall away from her face when she angles her head to glare at me. “She’s carrying your nephew. It is understandable that you’d want to help her, and what better place to do that than here?”
After a big exhale, I expose the real reason for my worry. “People will think—”
“I don’t care what people think.” When I attempt to interrupt as she did me, she speaks faster. “And Alek will just have to get over himself. I couldn’t stay a virgin forever.” She balks a second after her last sentence leaves her mouth before she shifts the focus back to me. “I’m more worried about you.”
“I’m fine.”
I’m a shit liar.
When I spot the downward turn of Polina’s lips, I murmur, “It’s just hard to wrap my head around. I’m glad a part of Feo will live on in his son, but I also hate that he’s missing out on his life.” I scrub a hand down my tired face. I’m fucking exhausted. It is what I get for staying up all night, struggling not to puke. “Who will he look up to?”
“You,” Polina answers without pause for consideration as if it was the simplest question in the world. “Just like Feo did.” She moves my hand before spinning on my lap so she faces me, inconspicuously grinning when I moan about her ass rubbing against my crotch. “I know this isn’t the right time to bombard you with more information, but what I said days ago was true. Feodor positioned himself in an area he thought he could help. But now I’m wondering if that was solely for you.” As my heart thuds in my ears, she strays her eyes to Feo’s bedroom door. “Maybe part of it was for Annika as well. She found out the day before the raid that she was pregnant. She could have gotten word to Feo before all hell broke loose.”
I contemplate for a minute before muttering, “He would have told me if he had known.”
“When?” Polina’s laugh is fake, but it lowers the tension hanging densely in the air. “Between you tying me to your bed and ordering for me to be placed on lockdown?” Now is not the time for my dick to harden, but it has a mind of its own when it comes to this woman. She truly makes me believe my life didn’t end with Feo’s. That I still have many empty pages left to fill with unbelievable stories and mind-blowing sex. “I’m still mad about that. Those men were pigs.”