Page 5 of The Bratva's Bounty

See you tomorrow handsome ;)

It was signed with the initials N and L with a little old-school-looking bomb with a smiley face as the center dot between the N and L.

Damn it! She knew! She fucking knew! How the hell did she figure me out?!

Needless to say, I spent a good minute berating myself for being careless somehow. Although, I didn't understand how she spotted me because I stuck to my typical routine that always worked. I kept a very fair and good distance while following her, blending into the crowd by acting mundane, and literally drew no attention to myself one bit. So, how? No one, and I mean no one, has ever made me before on an assignment unless I broke protocol.

"Blyat'!" I growled, crumpling the paper up in a fist and throwing it against the brick wall with instant regret.

Great, now I was getting worked up over some stupid note.

Sighing, I bent back down to pick the paper ball back up and straightened it back out, smoothing it between my large palms. Well, she put some effort into this note, so it felt wrong to just toss it. So, I stuffed it into the pocket of my jeans and trudged off to my car.

I was calling it a day. If she made me then she most likely made herself scarce and ran back to her hiding hole. I struck out today, and I had to accept that.

But fuck was I pissed about it.

For once in my life, I was lost.

Nicole seemed to go about her daily routine without minding me one bit of attention, which threw me off because, obviously, she knew about me. Well, she actually gave me a glance—a single glance—and that was it. So, she certainly knew I was present and tailing her. Honestly, what the hell cooked up there in her damn brain? I knew she had one; she finished college with a few business degrees, so shedefinitelyhad a brain. Now, whether or not it functioned properly was debatable because this woman made questionable choices.

For fuck's sake, who the hell went out and had a routine that involved the outside world and public when they're supposed to be in hiding? Unless she wasn't in hiding, but then why the paranoia and skittishness? This woman made no sense, and my head pounded with annoyance whenever I tried to figure her out below the surface.

Obviously, she actively avoided her parents, and she could have very valid reasons for doing so. Either way, she didn't seem like the runaway rebel her parents painted her to be. Honestly, I felt a little bad about having to kidnap her back to her parents, but a job was a job. Well, I could withdraw from the contract and shove it back in their face, but that would reflect badly on me and the company.

Wecouldtake the hit, but it would be a little risky with the Le's because of their standing and reputation in the city as one of the top cybersecurity companies out there in California. They could easily spread the word about Volkov Inc. to their customers, who were also high profile, and we could lose a lot of business that way. Also, the Le's were involved in the mafia, too, from what I dug up, but it was unclear which side of the fence they fell into.

The last thing I wanted to do was make more enemies than necessary for my family's bratva. Nikolai—the Pakhan of the Volkov Bratva and my older brother—already had a lot on his plate with the recent merge with his wife's triad aftershe disbanded it. Going from controlling half the city to nearly all of it in one night wasa lotto take on. Recently, we started to branch out more because of our new connections to other cities. We might have bitten off a little more than we could chew, but we managed fine currently. Still, the fewer enemies we make right now, the better.

So, unless I had a very good reason to call off this contract, I had to keep it for now. Something in my gut refused to settle on the fact, though, because I smelt something fishy about this whole thing. Sadly, until I had solid evidence to back my decision to pull out of the contract, I couldn't.

Finally, after following her around for what felt like an eternity, she finally approached me after we stewed in some gelato café shop. "I figured ice cream as a first date sounded good. What do you think, handsome?" The gall of this woman, I swear.

Offering no words in response, I only gave her a scoffing sneer before sipping at my coffee. I was speechless, but she didn't need to know that. If it wasn't obvious, I've never been approached by a target before like this, let alone a pretty one this nonchalantly.

Without a single care, she slid into the seat across from me and settled her pretty little head up on her crossed hands after propping her elbows on the tabletop. "Oh? Shy type, huh? Strange, didn't ping you as the brooding type." She was toying with me, judging from the devious little smile paired with the little glint in her eyes.

"Either way, I'm Nicole, but I like to go by Nicki as well. What about you, handsome? It'd be nice to put a name to my silent stalker for the past week or so. Gotta say, they're not usually as good-looking as you." She chattered on with a growing smile until it became overly stretched as if she was trying to make me feel uncomfortable.

Too bad her little tactic won't work.

Refusing to engage her, I kept my lips firmly planted around the rim of my coffee cup, only offering her my intense gaze as a response.

"You're an odd one… What's your game? Want access to my underwear drawer? Some pervy pics through my window? Some weird voyeur from afar? Or is there a different reason you're following me?" She commented out loudwhile gesturing at me with her straw and studying me with careful eyes. "You don't seem like the typical fanboy or dude looking to score some rich bitch like me. You don't look like someone my parents would hire as a bodyguard either, but you do look of high caliber."

Do I tell her? Do I lie?

Fuck, I didn't know what to do for once in my life.

How the hell is this woman getting to me without trying?

Chapter 4

Nicole

I fucked around, andI found out.

And nope. Nope. Big nope.