Page 43 of The Bratva's Bounty

Sometimes, I did feel a little bad for not helping more, knowing the situation of everything, but I just wasn't in it. I was tired and exhausted of everything and wanted a break from it all. Although, the break kind of stretched on and on until it hit this weird retirement funk I was in.

Not gonna lie, a big part of me deep down craved the action and chaos again. To hack into the enemy's system on a wire or send the enemy into a frenzy by whacking their system up was a rush I missed. Also, I missed blowing shit up. Angel was a little too passive to use the explosives I gave her, but I lacked such restraint. I mean, yeah, I was probably injuring or killing a few innocent lives too many whenever I threw a live one into the field, but why did that matter? They made their choice to work for the wrong side.

I had so many bombs sitting around in storage that I felt bad for. My poor babies would probably never see the light of day and experience the cathartic boom of glory unless I put myself back out there. Actually…

Slowly, my eyes trailed up Lev's body with a growingsmirk. "Hey, if I gave you some bombs—"

Unfortunately, he didn't even let me finish before shooting me down. "My brothers would have my ass grilled and banned from the field if I ever caused that much damage, so no." At least I could appreciate his disappointment and his sense of responsibility.

Sighing with a pout, I pressed myself into Lev's body, remaining comfortably for a moment before playfully nipping at his neck with kisses. "Something is bothering you," I noted out loud with a concerned hum.

"It's… Complicated," Lev grumbled with a heavy sigh. "It's a me problem, mostly. The other thing that's bugging me is your parents and just everything with the old triad members and whatnot." Breathing deeply, Lev held me tightly against him and kissed my forehead. "But those things will have to take time, unfortunately."

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I held myself back from pushing Lev to open up. As curious as I was, I didn't want to push him away by accident. He'd tell me when he was ready, or at least I would give him more time to reach out to me before I pried at him.

So, relenting with a curt hum and nod of my head, I kissed the underside of his jaw. "Whenever you're ready, I'm here," I let him know with a warm smile. "Also, I'm here for everything, whether that be for you to vent about your day at the office or about the stupid man whose face you had to smash in." Reaching up, I played with the edges of his messy bangs. "I'm not some innocent housewife who's oblivious to everything, and you don't have to keep me in the dark for my sake either."

Unfortunately, I knew about all the ugly in the world and have dealt with them. As nice as it would be to live an ignorantly blissful life, I'd go mad with guilt. The only reason why I didn't pack my bags and move to some tropical getaway or the damn mountains was because I wanted to keep my nose in everyone's business. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I could help Angel and the others with burning scumbags off the streets but didn't.

Me and my fucked-up morals.

"Oh, and we need to stay out a littlelate tonight. I have to meet with my supplier, too." Tonight was going to be a busy night for me, that's for sure.

However, speaking of supplies, that reminded me of something else. "We also need to go back to my cabin to pack my shit up and move it into your place. And I will probably need a shed or a work area." Okay, maybe not, probably because I will need an area. I couldn't stick everything into one of Lev's guest rooms and turn it into my office/workspace. I had too much shit and needed a lot of room.

Also, I was pretty sure Lev wouldn't want explosives inside his actual house. Personally, I kept work and home separate, except for right now, because I only have a cabin to work in. Still, I kept my worktable as far away into a corner as possible.

Shaking his head with a chuckle, Lev kissed my forehead before grasping my chin to tilt my gaze up at him. "Whatever my empress wants, she'll get. As long as you don't burn my garden down, I'm fine having a shed out in the back." His tone was light-hearted, but his intentions were serious. Without an ounce of hesitation, he asked in an eager voice, "How big of a work-shed do you want or need?"

"Uhh… Maybe like a thousand square feet?" I mean, ideally, the bigger the space, the better, but I was basically asking for a small ass house to myself the more I thought about the space I wanted.

Unsure, I scrunched my lips up while looking at Lev nervously. Then, much to my surprise, he didn't flip out on me. "Alright, consider it done, but it might take a while, a few weeks, give or take, but I'll get started on it in the next few days," he replied with a proud and determined grin. "Getting the materials will be easy. Just working out times to build it is going to be a little tricky, but I'll work it out."

Looking at him quizzically, I let my head naturally tilt to the side. "You make it sound likeyou'regoing to be building it." Unless I was sorely mistaken and misunderstood him greatly.

Giving me a confused look of his own, he studied me intensely with his mesmerizing blue orbs before his lips broke out in an amused smile. "Of course, I'm building it for you. You asked me for it, so I'm giving it to you. Like hell am I going to let you workin some house that some other man built." He scoffed playfully with a dry chuckle. "I'm your man now, so that means I take care of you and everything pertaining to you."

Okay, that's rather sweet.

Unable to help it, I cracked a big, happy smile. "I can't believe I'm getting sappy with you," I voiced my thoughts out loud with a chuckle.

Snuggling into him, I enjoyed his presence for a long while, taking in the dream-like scenery of his garden basking in a lovely day. "Did you really make this garden yourself and kept it up to this day?" Honestly, it was a little strange for me to fully comprehend because a hulking bratva boss like Lev was the last person on this earth I expected to have such a green thumb and peaceful gardening side to him.

I couldn't help but giggle softly when Lev's face went bright red. "Y-yes, but don't tell anyone… Everyone thinks I hire people to plant and upkeep it all," he admitted with an almost cherry-red face. "It calms me and reminds me of my mother." His voice dipped with his sad smile as his eyes gained a nostalgic glaze to them.

Logic grabbed at my shoulders—and failed—to keep me from spewing my next question. "Where is your mother? If you don't mind me asking?" Maybe it was a little too soon in our relationship to ask about it? But curiosity killed the cat, as they all liked to say.

Thankfully, I had a lot of lives.

The air around us thickened with sadness as tension weighed his smiling face down. It made me feel bad for asking when Lev's eyes grew glassy and distant. But I knew nothing about his family besides his brothers and whatever records there were of his parents stored electronically.

"Gone, but in a much better place." His low voice cracked slightly at the end with his sigh. "Though, I suppose you want more than just the generic answer." He dryly chuckled.

Shifting around, he slouched a bit against the tree he'd been sitting against. "It was about five years ago," he started with a hard swallow. "It was… A heavy day… Nikolai had just come home from Russia with our sister's ashes, and the rest of us had gotten back from a long night of a violent turfwar." Averting his eyes to the ground, he stared at nothing as he mindlessly stroked my arms with his thumbs. "All hell broke loose after Nikolai told us all what happened over in Russia and what became of Natasha, and it just all kind of broke my mother."

I could feel his body tremble against me with his heavy breaths, and I gave him the space needed. Leaning against him, I calmingly stroked the length of his forearm, letting him know that I was there for him. "My mother snapped, attacked my father, and the two got into it for a while before my father left the house." Burying his face into my hair, he breathed deeply. "We all went to bed for the night after grieving together for a while, but we woke up in the middle of the night to my father and mother going at it again. By the time we got to them, my father had drawn his gun on my mother…" His shoulders shook with his hitched breaths. "We were too late to stop him from pulling the trigger."

The creaking of Lev's jaw and teeth grinding together echoed faintly in my ears. "He was pissed at her again for giving him useless children and whatnot because the bratva he married my sister off to get on his ass, before Nikolai tore their empire down to the ground and burned it all to ashes along with their bodies." Lev's voice perked with proudness but also with some jealousy. "Guess everything kind of spilled out with the alcohol in his system, and he really just exploded."