Page 57 of Cruel Bratva King

“Jesus, Sergey. You scared me.”

A slow smile formed on his lips. “Forgive me,moy tsvetok.I was just captivated by how beautiful you are.”

His compliment sank into my stomach, and butterflies gained wings. He really knew the right words to turn me into an idiot. I patted my cheeks, embarrassed that I was blushing. Lord, the power this man had over me.

“How long have you been sitting there?” I asked, pretending to act neutral as if I wasn’t submerged in an invisible pond of pheromones. It didn’t help that Sergey looked as good as he did, either. He was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a tank top that clung to his chest and showed off the muscles and tattoos on his arms.

His dark curly hair was a delicious-looking mess that made him even more handsome. He was eye candy.I swear.

“All night.”

I gasped. “All night?”

“Yes. I needed to make sure you were safe and wouldn’t have a nightmare,” he said, tossing the newspaper on the floor. “It was needless, though. You snored and drooled in your sleep.”

Snored and drooled.

I wiped my hands on the corners of my mouth, desperate to clean whatever leftover dried spit that was on it. Fuck, I’d gone ahead and embarrassed myself.

Sergey let out a guffaw that echoed throughout the room. “I was just kidding,moy tsvetok.You’re perfect when you sleep.”

I paused, looking at Sergey as if he’d just grown a pair of horns. Sergey Vadim, joking? I was stunned to the marrow of my bones. With how serious he usually always was, it was possible to think the man had never laughed his entire life.

He was even more charming when he looked normal. I was sure he would have blended well with the rest of the world if he wasn’t who he was. I didn’t mind, though, that he was Sergey Vadim, the head of the Bratva. To me, he was just Sergey and the father of my child.

After he saved me last night, I developed the urge to give him a chance. Maybe I was dipshit crazy and straight-up making excuses for him, but the truth was, Sergey had never hurt me.

Yeah, he kidnapped me, but what did I expect from someone who grew up the way he did? He was trying to show me he cared in his own way. He hadn’t even as much as raised his voice to me, and he even risked his life to save mine.

If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have come. There were billions of women in the world, and he could have anyone that he wanted. He could also have dozens of heirs with those women if that was what he was after.

But he’d cared for me. He didn’t love me, but at least he cared.

“About yesterday,” I started, wanting to apologize for my altercation with him over Derrick but he cut me off.

“About yesterday,” he said. “Those were the Italians and they’d attacked us on Giovanni’s order.”

“And Aldo?”

Sergey narrowed his eyes at me, clearly not knowing who Aldo was.

“The guy that tried to rape me,” I clarified. “His name is Aldo Santiago.” I narrated to Sergey how I met Aldo two years ago and how I’d been able to win a court case against him for my client.

Sergey took a deep breath and rested back in his seat when I was done, crossing one leg after another. “Giovanni must have done his research on you and given the job to his henchman that had a grudge on you.”

“But why would Giovanni want to target me?”

“To get to me.” He laced his finger through his hair, looking hot and sexy as fuck. If he continued doing sexy shit like that, I was going to get distracted. “You might not know it, but you’re my weakness. The Italians have the sick habit of going after their rival’s weaknesses. Unlike the bratva where women and children were out of bounds, the Italians have no boundaries.”

I gaped at Sergey, absorbing the information he just shared. I hated that I was a weakness rather than a strength. “In other words, I make you vulnerable to attack?”

“You don’t. I should have protected you better, and I plan on doing so from here on out,” he affirmed with all seriousness.

“What do you plan to do now?” I asked, the topic piquing my interest.

“I plan to pay Giovanni back in full force.” A glint of darkness seeped into his irises as he spoke of Giovanni. “I should’ve done this twenty years ago, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll make sure to get rid of him for good this time.”

“And Giulia?”