Page 12 of The Bratva's Bounty

Something's not right.

I couldn't find Lev, no matter how hard I looked. Well, to be fair, I wasn't lookingthathard because he was usually within a few feet of me if he wasn't by my side. Yet, he was nowhere to be felt or seen today. Damn asshole left me on read, too, when I texted him and asked about his whereabouts! I mean, he never really replied to my messages before with any actual responses, but he sent me a period, at the very least, to show that he acknowledged the message.

Tracking his phone was pointless as well because he either left it at home or bugged it somehow; the blinking dot on my tracking app hadn't moved one bit over the last three hours. But, considering how he saw my message, I assumed he had his phone on him, so the fucker bugged his phone somehow.

The hell is he doing? What's more important than following me around like a lost puppy? How dare he leave me on read like he did. Who the hell did he think he is? The fucker better have a good explanation for this later when I track his ass down.

Grumbling to myselfinternally, I continued to sip at my drink and pick at my salad that grew blander by the second because of my souring mood. Seriously, we should be sitting for lunch together right now. Instead, I sat here by my lonesome self without my handsome hunk to ogle between my bites of food.

My handsome hunk.

God, that was weird to think about, but not thinking about him as mine made me feel empty. As annoying as Lev was, he grew on me. A day without him lingering around felt amiss, like missing a part of a daily routine; it bugged the shit out of me if he wasn't around and didn't let me know beforehand. We weren't 'together' by any means, but a heads-up was common courtesy.

Granted, I should give him some slack. He was usually on top of things and always informed me at least a day before unless it was a true emergency or something similar.

This could be one of those situations, but the fact he hadn't moved for a few hours was suspicious.

Actually, wait, I needed to not be dumb for a second.

Huffing, I pulled my laptop out of my bag to boot up one of my tracking apps to get a better idea of Lev's current location. I could dig around in my phone's app, but the internet at the café wasn't the best for the phone. Plus, I could do a lot more on my laptop, like hack the cameras at his location to get a better view of everything.

Imagine my surprise when I pulled up his full location and saw that he was currently occupying a gentleman's club. Better yet, he was inside with some scantily clad woman who had her manicured talons on his body, and he was just letting her feel him all up.

Fucking asshole! How dare he go see other women?! Seriously, this is what he ditched me for today!? To go play hooky?!

Growling softly to myself, I slammed my laptop shut with a deep scowl. I shouldn't be bothered by this; he was his own person, and we weren't an exclusive couple. But still, I couldn't help but feel hot anger burn through my veins like lava oozing down a volcano. Lev shouldn't be paying anyone butmeany kind of attention!

Guess he needs a reminder of who he belongs to.

Okay, maybe I've officially lost some more nuts and bolts in my brain with this impulsive plan of mine.

Well, also, I might not have really been thinking much about this whole thing… Oh well, it was too late now. But also, Lev had no one but himself to blame for this. He should have known better than to look at another woman when he should be obsessing over me.

"Girl, I knew you had a crazy bitch in you, but goddamn, this is a whole new other level of insanity to you," Mark, a good artist friend of mine, commented with a chuckle as he snapped his gloves off. "There are other ways to mark a man as yours, ya know."

Playfully shrugging my shoulders, I let out a nervous laugh. "Go big or go home?" Too late for regrets now; the deed was done.

Flashing Mark a grateful smile, I gave him a quick hug before letting him finish his packing so that he could scram before Lev woke up. "I owe ya big time."

Rolling his eyes in response, Mark waved his hand at me dismissively. "Hey, ya saved my ass too many times with my systems and finances, so this was the least I could do for you." He assured me with a smile before leaving out the door with a small wave.

The gravity of my actions sank down quickly with the silence that filled the room, along with Lev's rather cute snoring. Seriously, for a huge guy like him, I expected some kind of blaring ship horn of a snore, not the tiny baby grunts. Also, he looked so adorable asleep, as if he were a harmless little fly and not a brutish bratva boss. It kinda made me feel bad for wanting to wake him, but I haven't got all day to sit around and wait for him to naturally wake.

So, with a sigh, I walked over to the buckets of iced water, I had set out in the corner of room, and hauled them over to Lev, who remained knocked out and tied down to a chair.

Bucket in hand, I stood there for a moment to blatantly check him out.

Fucking, hot ass bastard.

It really shouldn't be fair for someone so handsome and sexy like him to be walking the earth, ruining every man out there for me. Whenever I looked at another cute guy, all I could picture in their spot was Lev's bearded and scarred-up face with his dashing smile and haunting blue eyes. Then that body of his, just, fuck. He was a piece of art that belonged in a museum. Every dip and curve of his hard muscles seemed like they were carved from marble. Even when he wasn't flexing, his muscles stood out naturally.

It's not fair!

Huffing, I tightened my grip on the bucket and threw the water at him. Lev instantly sputtered and gasped for air as he was startled awake. His body jerked, and he struggled against his restraints for a second before his eyes landed on me. "What the fuck?" Quickly, his eyes narrowed into a glare, and his struggle intensified. "You crazy bitch, let me go! What did you do to me?!"

"Wow, usually people say 'thank you' when others give them a gift," I remarked sarcastically with an exaggerated roll of my eyes.

Grinning at Lev, I plopped down into his lap after pulling my phone out. "Smile. It's our first picture together as a couple." I joked with a laugh before snapping a selfie with Lev, who was most definitely not pleased or smiling.