Page 30 of The Bratva's Bounty

Nicole spat something at Mark in Vietnamese before suddenly grabbing my gun from the coffee table. "Leave and never look in my direction ever again, or I'll show you what I'm really capable of." Placing her finger over the trigger, she steadied her aim. "I'm not your daughter anymore. That girl died the day you ripped the life I had built up from me and handed it to my brother on a golden platter and tried to ship me off to a different country to be married off to some old fart and his useless son for money!"

Was it wrong for me to root for Nicole to pull the trigger on her father? I mean, I could easily disarm her and prevent the 'unnecessary' violence in the office, but Mark deserved to be shot in the face—in my humble opinion. Also, if she wasn't gonna do it, then I might take the gun from her and do it myself.

Would his untimely death cause a lot more trouble than it'd be worth? Yes, very much. But! But the satisfaction of getting rid of this arrogant bastard would be so amazing!

"You made it clear where Bao and I stand to you, mother, and the whole family. You decided to cut us out the way you did. So, whatever happens from here on out is all on you." Nicole's chilling voice sent shivers down my spine as I watched her take an angry step toward Mark, who instantly held his hands up. "You have until the count of three."

Nicole barely finished counting to one before her father spun around and ran out with his tail tucked between his legs, making me bellow an amused laugh that shook the office.

"Empress, as hot as you look all riled up with a gun, you're lucky your father didn't call you out on the fact you wouldn't shoot him." I teased her with a snicker, watching her body spin around.

Huffing, Nicolescowled and pointed the gun at me. "I would have! You don't think I'm serious!?" I couldn't help but laugh at her for her tough-guy act. "Lev! I'm being serious!" She growled, stomping her foot.

Slapping a lid on myself, I stifled my laughter. "My empress, you're not going to be shooting anyone with the safety on." I pointed out the little switch with an arrogant little smile.

Now, I probably shouldn't shove it in her face, but I was too much of a jerk to resist. So, to add the cherry on top of everything, I pulled a loaded magazine out of the pocket of my pants. "Nor will you hurt anyone with an empty gun." For extra effect, I waved the magazine in front of her face. "It was cute that you tried, though."

Pouting at me with a glare, Nicole muttered something under her breath before tossing the gun onto the coffee table with a huff. "Well, why the fuck do you have an empty gun for? Mister bratva boss," she snarked.

"I needed to reload it because I spent all the bullets on some idiot who didn't listen to me when I told him not to run," I answered with a nonchalant shrug of my shoulders.

"Did you really call off the contract with my parents?" she asked sheepishly while hiding a smile.

Smiling softly to myself, I trap her in my arms before pulling us back down to the couch. "I had no intentions of keeping to it after you reacted how you did when I told you about your parents sending me after you," I assured her with a kiss on the cheek. "I didn't feel good about it from the start, but my gut really punched me when I saw the anger and fear in your eyes that day."

If I were a heartless bastard, the outcomes would be different. Luckily for Nicole and everyone else in the world, I was raised better and actually had a functioning brain cell and heart.

Money was no issue for me; even if I needed money, I would never place it above someone else's livelihood. A person and their life are priceless—well, most are anyway. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I knew I sent someone to their doom when they didn't deserve it.

I did beatmyself up a little with Nicole's case for jumping the gun and not listening to my gut initially. I should have done my research before agreeing. Instead, I let my stupid instant infatuation take the wheel.

Well, at least being impulsive this time resulted in something good.

Keeping my arms tightly around Nicole, I held her tenderly as she remained draped over me. "Do you need to nap some more,zhizn moya?" She had barely been napping for an hour before her father barged in.

Humming softly, Nicole snuggled herself into me. "No, I think I'll be fine. I need to get home soon anyway." She sighed heavily, pouting softly. "I don't like driving back to my place in the dark."

Looking down at her, I stroked her hair while replying, "Stay then. I'll take you home later." Simple enough of a fix to her problem. "Or let me take you back to my place. You'll be safer there."

Given what had transpired with her father just now, I didn't like the thought of letting her go back to wherever she lived. Her parents could very well send someone else after her, ambush her, kidnap her in the middle of the night, and many other things as a means to get her. They hiredme, of all people, to go after her, and I wasn't the first, from what I found out recently. So, them hiring some other unsavory person to track and retrieve Nicole wouldn't surprise me. Even if I did make it known that Nicole was under my protection, I highly doubt they would be deterred.

Shaking her head, Nicole gave me a confident smile. "My place is safe, so don't worry." Giggling softly, she reaches up to ruffle my hair. "Unless that's your way of asking me to move in." She cheekily teased me with a grin.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I stared at her for a good moment before cracking a devious grin. "Or I can just take you back to my place and chain you to my bed," I joked, laughing at the way Nicole's face dropped.

Growling softly, Nicole dug her fist into my side, causing my laughter to increase from the ticklish sensation. "I'm kidding," I assured her, pushing her hand away. "My brothers would kill me if you don't do it first."

No matter how ruthless my brothers and I were, we had our boundaries. If they ever found out that I held a girl captive in my home for the sake of keeping her, thenI'd be lucky if they gave a quick death with a bullet to the brain.

It wasn't abnormal for us to keep prisoners, though. We actually had a whole compound in the desert with prisoners in it currently. The only difference between them and Nicole if I were to go through with the absurd plan was the intention. Locking Nicole away was more of a selfish reason to benefit me. As opposed to the other prisoners, who were all bad people the bratva had an issue with. Everyone locked away right now had a damn good reason to be in a cage.

My brothers and I weren't in the business of bartering around with human lives or trafficking them. The only thing that happened in our mafia business regarding humans was prostitution, but even that was more along the lines of regulation and protection. A lot of our clubs had sex workers in it, but they're all there of their own accord. We merely provided a place of employment and a roof over their heads to protect them from abusive pimps and other unsavory bastards out in the streets.

Sighing softly, I looked at Nicole pleadingly as I stroked her cheek with the back of my fingers. "Empress, please, come stay with me. I really just want to keep you safe, and I don't know anything about where you live and how the area is." Every time I've tried to follow her back home, I've failed. I don't know how she does it, but she had an uncanny ability to shake me off her tail.

Propping herself up onto her forearms, she looked at me pensively, frowning a little as her eyes slowly furrowed together. "I'm sorry, but I can't." She was genuinely apologetic, and I felt a small tug at my heart with how guarded and hurt she looked. "But, I promise, I swear, if anything happens, no matter how tiny, I'll show up at your door and claim your bed," she promised with a smile.

Well, call me a bastard for what I'm about to do then.