Page 7 of The Bratva's Bounty

Oh well, it ended very well for both of them, and I was more than happy for them. Truly, I was, especially for Angel. Poor thing had been through enough in her life, so she deserved to be happy and have someone who genuinely loved her for all she was and more.

If only I could have my little happily ever after.

Bah, who was I kidding? I was too crazy of a bitch for some man to settle with.

"What? Back to the silent treatment already?" I quipped with a quirked brow when Lev's lips continued to remain pressed in a tight line.

I thought I'd get to have some fun fucking around with Lev, but after finding out he's bratva, yeah, no thanks. If he was some little grunt worker and proved to be worth the time, then maybe I would have had some fun and entertainment in my dulling life. But ain't no way would I fuck around with a bratva boss—nah, fuck that. Besides, not like Lev was giving me anything but silence in return, so at this point, he wasn't proving worth the time.

The more entangled I became into his life, the graver I'd put mine in. If I put myself back into the spotlight, then it'd make my parents' task of dragging my ass back or finding a way to use me again that much easier.

Scooting a step up, I preseds myself right up against him, and thank God for these heeled boots of mine for giving me some inches. My 5'4 ass would pale so badly against his bulky ass 6'3? 6'2? frame. Well, he's six-foot something for sure, who cares about the inches—I mean, he was already huge compared to me either way.

Standing my ground firmly against him, I lean up to him on my tippy toes until my face was as close as possible to his.

"This will be your one and only warning, little lion. Back off. Whatever your little fascination or obsession is with me ends right here, right now. If I catch a whiff of you or see you following me out of the corner of my eyes after today, well, I won't be responsible for what bodily harm comes your way."

Well, I did warn him, so he couldn't say he didn't see this coming.

Okay, to be fair, no one really ever sees a wood plank straight to the face, especially from someone from me.

Even after my warning yesterday, I still found him to be tailing me today. Either he doesn't take me seriously, or something else went on I was unaware about. Unfortunately, I was more prone to opt for the latter given my strange life.

Seriously, what the hell did he want with me?

I mean, I could flat-out ask him. Actually, I did and got nothing in response, literally. My check on him still ran, so I wouldn't have much information on him for a little while. Well, it should be done tonight or tomorrow night. I couldn't do too much from my remote location without giving myself away. Limited time stretches on the internet really dampened the speed of things, but I couldn't risk my parents pinpointing my location and going after me in the middle of the night or surprising me some other way. Otherwise, all my efforts of evading them would be for naught.

In the city and general public, I was safe because of bystanders and the fact Angel had men at every corner. At the cabin, though, it was just me, and I couldn't fight for shit.

Either way, I'll probably find out what I need about Lev in the next day or so. There has to be some kind of change in his life that I could pick up because I doubt he was old school; no technology whatsoever. It won't be long now.

In the meanwhile, I'd just have to try and scare him off.

Hopefully, some innocent—not really—bodily harm would ward him off long enough until I could figure out his plans.

Just like allthe other days, he followed me around—despite my warning. I made a quick detour this time after exiting the café and dodged around the corner fast enough to nearly shake him. Unfortunately, I wasn't that smooth, so I had to resort to plan B, which was to smack him in the face with the closest object, which happened to be a piece of discarded wood from a broken pallet.

I didn't feel guilty about him reeling back in pain after the sickeningcrackof his face breaking filled the area. Hey, he deserved it for not heeding my warning. "Last chance, fuck off, or I won't be so nice next time." Did I want to up the ante? No, not particularly, but if push came to shove, then I would.

Granted, it didn't have to be violent in nature. I could hack his bank account and drain all of them in a blink of an eye, make up some stupid images and videos, and post them online to completely drag his reputation through shit, or I could even take it far and blow his whole life up—literally. I might not be the best fighter out there, but I had brains and nifty bomb-making skills that made me formidable.

"Fucking… Fuck!" Lev's nasally groan gripped at my heart a little as he leaned against the wall with his face in his hands, blood dripping out from between the spaces of his fingers and splattering onto the ground at his feet.

"I warned you." I tried to remain firm and strong, but the small waver in my voice came out unconsciously.

I don't know why I was a little torn up about injuring him because he wasn't the first man I had to get physical with ever since I've been on this strange run with my parents. But he's the first person I've engaged in a playful manner because, well, actually, I don't know why besides some feeling of fascination toward him. At least, I was fascinated until I found out about his real identity. Yeah, fucking with the mafia never ended well.

"You broke my nose with a piece of wood! I didn't think you'd be crazy enough to just swing right off the bat like that," Lev groaned in response, peering up at me with pain-riddled eyes filled with fury and… Fascination? Excitement? There was an edge to his eyes that I didn't expect.

"Well, that's your fault for underestimating me," I retorted, scoffing and crossing my arms with a huffing glare. "I don't want to see your stupid handsome face again,ever, so leave me alone."

With one last look, I turned on my heels and briskly walked off with my head held down in shame.

I needed to shut him out and away, for both our sakes.

Chapter 5

Lev