Page 10 of The Bratva's Bounty

Yes, I still found Nikolai's marriage highly amusing because he's the tough bratva boss who feared no one until this tiny little Asian nurse came along and struck fear into him. It's funny because it could have been me instead of him. When we met Angel, it was through an arranged marriage to solidify a truce between our bratva and the Qing Triad before Angel disbanded it after she overthrew her stepmother and took over. I'd initially offered myself to be the one to marry Angel after seeing her kick ass in nothing but her underwear. I mean, who wouldn't want a tough, badass woman as theirs?

Unfortunately, Nikolai had a huge crush on the hot nurse and staked his claim with his little second chance at her. I wasn't complaining about the loss, though, not when Nikolai and Angel were so happy together. Nikolai deserved to be happy after all he's been through. Hell, all of us deserve our happy pieces for our shitty lives.

I got shit, but not as much as my two older brothers, Nikolai and Stepan. Nikolai got the brunt of it, though, being the oldest and all. Our bastard father groomed him since birthbasically to take over, and our sperm donor's methods were not kind.

"Enough about me." Nikolai playfully snapped before locking his eyes with me. "What happened with you?" The pinned look and stern tone of his meant I wasn't getting out of this.

"Just a girl I was assigned to locate and retrieve. Underestimated her and got a plank to the face, that's all," I replied begrudgingly with a string of grumbling curses under my breath. "But it doesn't matter. I'll have her taken care of by the end of tomorrow. So, don't mind me any attention."

Yeah, that still didn't stop the snickering from Nikolai. "Your face got broken by a girl? Was she your size, at least?"

Embarrassed, I kept my lips sealed as I pouted in my seat. "No point in talking about it anymore if she's not gonna be a problem no more, and not like anyone else is going to find out about this because none of this shit is leaving this office." I quickly chimed up pointedly with a stern glare.

"And how did she get to the point of striking you? I mean, you've blocked and avoided much worse than some wood to the face," Nikolai pressed with an amused smirk.

Crossing my arms, I slumped in my seat. "Don't want to talk about it." Because it was too damn embarrassing for me to admit it all out loud.

I got one-upped by a girl half my size.

At least she was cute and feisty.

Chapter 6

Nicole

~1 week later~

I started to wonder if Lev was deaf, stupid, or both because the damn idiot continued to follow me despite how I got physical with him.

Honestly, I thought a literal smack to the face would do the trick, especially since he ended up with at least a broken nose from it—apparently not!

His persistence unnerved me if I was being honest. Because, why? What was his reason for following me? Well, not like I cared too much at this point because I wanted nothing to do with him, given his mafia standing, nor did I want to continue feeding whatever obsession he had with me.

I needed to shake him and show him I meant business.

Which was a big shame, because his Ferrari GTS was one sexy thing. Not gonna lie, thinking about doing what I plan to do breaks my heart a little. But, all is fair in love and war—and this was war.

I'd kept to my normal routine up until it was time for me to go back to my cabin, which is when I usually had to shake Lev off my tail either way, so doing this deplorable act next wouldn't be much of a deviation from my daily routine. Still, it was gonna suck big time. I felt likeit would be one of those moments where it'd gonna hurt me more than it does him.

"Are you going to knock off the stalker behavior?" I asked in a raised voice, not bothering to look back to see if Lev heard me or not because I was sure he did, considering how we were down a quiet stretch of road where we were the only two people on it.

"No, but you don't have to worry about it for much longer after today because you're coming back with me and then back to your parents." Oh, fuck that! That's why he's been tailing me for the past month?! Oh, now I really wouldn't feel bad about what's about to happen.

It wouldn't have been bad if he followed me out of his own volition for some personally sick and twisted pleasure, but he was doing this for my parents? Also, my parents sent the damn bratva after me? Why the fuck didn't Angel let me know of this? Actually, now that I think about it a little, it's only been Lev I've seen and heard about, and nothing nor anyone else. But it also didn't make much sense because surely the rest of his brothers would have known about this task of his. After all, it was my parents, and they had ties to the mafia. So, technically, this could be mafia business, and obviously, his brothers should be in the know if it was mafia business.

Fucking hell.

Pissed and frustrated, just lovely.

"Fine, catch me if you can." I didn't spare him a glance as I took off toward my Kawasaki Ninja and turned the engine over the moment I got my hands on it.

With one hand, I threw my helmet on before revving the engine and turning around full circle to face Lev as he rounded to the driver's side of his Ferrari. Under my breath, I muttered a quick apology before reaching into my bag to pull out some small bombs the size and shape of ping-pong balls. Not giving him a moment to try and figure me out, I tossed the bombs at the underside of his car before pulling my phone out and triggering the bombs through my app.

Strings of loud pops, a little louder than typical gunshots, shot off, effectively blowing the engine of the car up and setting it ablaze. God that sexy car did not deservesuch an end, but my survival was more important, sadly. With a sad sigh, I tucked my phone and high-tailed it out of there with a laugh when I heard Lev's angry cries of disbelief.

I did warn him, kind of. Well, I didn't explicitly tell him what would exactly happen if he kept stalking me. I would have felt a little sorry for him if it weren't for the fact he was after me on behalf of my parents. So, fuck him.

Well, no matter, he'll be yesterday's problem tomorrow. No way he'd keep pursuing me after that.