Chapter 6 I look down at the ridges of my six-pack now covered with my own cum. Fuck, I needed that. I grab a couple of tissues, cleaning myself. I lied to my little milaya when I told her that she was the most beautiful woman I'd seen in a long time. She's the most beautiful woman I've seen. Ever. Hands down, as the Americans say. No contest. It's the thick, blonde hair and the big blue eyes, the perfection of her features, the generous lines of her curves. I love her confidence and the way she squares her shoulders and tackles problems. Smart and sassy, she's this perfect combination of sweet and competent that drives me wild. But even more than that, I love the way she touched my daughter, the way every line in her body softened when her eyes met Anna's. I told milaya I was a quick decision-maker, and that is the absolute truth. In that moment, I made a decision. She's going to be mine. My wife and mother to my daughter. I'm going to wrap her in a protective bubble so tight, she'll stop being afraid. Before I was forced into my father's business, I studied the brain and the effects of trauma. I know exactly how to help my little milaya. There are a few problems, however, I'm going to need to address first. Well, really, there is only one. And it's not her past. That will just take patience and care. I've got both. But my father. The head of the Ivanov Bratva. He's an issue that cannot be set aside. I look down at my hands, covered in Bratva tattoos, permanent evidence of where my loyalties are supposed to lie. I received them on the day I was supposed to receive my post graduate degree from Stanford University. They are meant to be a constant reminder of his power over me. I don't say this lightly...I'd kill him if I could. A sadistic fuck who is a true and diagnosable narcissist, he has no heart or soul, he's tortured his own children for years. I've spent years rewiring my own mind to undo his cruelty and malice. There is nothing in that man worth saving. And I'm fairly certain he'd kill me too. I think he's been trying. Stirring trouble in Las Vegas with powerful men who might very well do the job for him. Is that his plan? I'm guessing, yes. Originally, I was sent here to do his bidding in Las Vegas. Buy the casinos that he uses to wash his money, oversee the drug trade that makes him a hefty profit. I agreed on one condition. I got to take over the sex trade completely. Reluctantly, my father agreed. If he likes to mistreat his children, with women, he's a filthy animal. So, I wash his money, run his drugs, and in exchange, in one corner of the world, I keep the women who work for us safe. And a few of them, I can help. No woman participates in an act she doesn't choose. Activities remain on site so guards can intervene if necessary. It's not much when it comes to my father, but it's something. Some part I can control. Like I said, I'd kill him if I could, but I haven't seen him in five years or more, he guards himself against me. And he lords the safety of my two sisters over me to keep me in check. But that's going to end soon enough. I'm about to make the first major move in my end game, checkmate on my father. I push up, stretching. What Ava doesn't understand is I need time too. Time to eliminate my father as a threat to her happiness and mine. Time to save my sisters from his tyranny. Which means we can have as much phone sex as she likes, slowly build to a physical relationship. No one knows how badly abuse can affect a woman like I do. My father broke my mother until she was nothing but a shell of a person. I'll guard my daughter, save my sisters, and I'll fix my little milaya's broken wings. I don't bother putting my shirt back on as I stride into the hall. I hear Anna fussing and I head into her room, reaching down on her toddler bed to rub her back while she sleeps. She was pulling her ear this afternoon and I'm worried she might have an infection setting in. I comfort her with soft words in Russian before I rise again, heading to my room. Relaxed as I am, I may as well get some sleep in case Anna is up in the night. Just as I've stepped into my room, my phone buzzes in my pocket. It's not uncommon for me to receive calls at night, but one of my men wouldn't be calling if it wasn't an emergency. But as I pull the phone from my pocket, Ava's name appears on the screen. Answering the call, I'm smiling before I've even brought the phone to my ear. "Miss me already, milaya?" She gives a nervous laugh, her voice tight with a tension I don't understand, but don't like at all. "Actually," she starts, and I hear her shift, her clothing rustling, "I need to speak with you about the nanny position." I straighten up, my eyes narrowing. Her voice has taken on that professional tone she used the first day. But under that, I can hear fear. "What's wrong?" "Nothing's wrong. Well...I hope you're not too upset...." I wait, tension tugging at my previously relaxed muscles. "Gertrude isn't able to make it this week after all." I let out a frustrated grunt. I need to get back to work. I've sold a casino to my Las Vegas rivals and have plans to sell two more in order to arrange a marriage between my oldest sister Katarina, and one of the Smith brothers. Their eldest brother is a duke in England, and my father, power-hungry fuck that he is, has agreed to the match because being part of a royal family is his ultimate goal. It's how I'm finally going to draw him out. But what he doesn't know is that I've promised the Smiths two more casinos and a potential second marriage. It would remove my sisters from my father's influence and cut his financial ties to my business, in addition to allowing me to go legitimate. Once he finds out... Once he finds out, he'll try to take back his business. It will be the opening I need to end this once and for all. "Don't worry," she keeps talking, her voice breathless in a way I've never heard her sound before. "I'm going to fill in myself while I search for a long-term nanny." I stop. Ava under my roof? Tucked in my house with my daughter? "You're going to come stay with me, milaya?" "Well. That's the awkward part. I'll be there professionally and..." My brows lift. Is she trying to tell me I'll have to behave? I'm a man of iron control and infinite patience. But I'm also a shameless opportunist. If the potential arises to further my cause, I'll take it. "I promise not to do anything you don't wish for me to do." She'll want everything I give her. "Good. Because you'll be my employer, and I cannot fraternize even over the phone. It would be highly unprofessional. And our professions are of the utmost importance." I pull the phone from my ear, looking down at it as I try and puzzle that one out. What does she know of my profession? I bring the phone back to my face. "Indeed." She gives a nervous laugh. "So, I'll see you tomorrow at eight in the morning?" I run a hand down my bare chest, my muscles bunching with tension. Having Ava here is a dream come true. But something is wrong. I can hear it in her voice. "Tomorrow at eight." "All right then, I'll see you tomorrow." "Ava?" "Yes?" "Say my name." It's a simple request, but she hasn't spoken it since we got on the phone and I want to hear it now. "I don't⁠-" "Say it," I softly command, already noting, that for all her professional confidence, she bows to my commands. "Dimitri," she scoffs, irritation or anger lacing her voice. What the actual fuck? Did I push her too fast? She seemed really into the intimacy on our last call. I breathe out through my nostrils. I'll have to find out more tomorrow. Maybe I'll spend the morning here, going through Anna's routine. "I'll see you tomorrow, milaya." "Tomorrow." She hangs up then, leaving me to look down at my phone again. I scrub a hand down my face, frowning, when my phone rings again. This time, it's Trent, one of my foremen. He came with me from Russia, a former man of my father's. "Yes?" "Sorry to bother you so late, avtoritet." "Something wrong?" He wouldn't call if there wasn't. "Today we had a PI sniffing around the club." "PI?" "Private investigator. Asking all sorts of questions about Cadence." He lets out a breath. "Should I tell Zane?" Cadence is a girl with no family and a very checkered past. Why would an investigator be asking questions about her? "She was clean, right? No drugs and no debts?" "Not that we could find." "And we're sure there was no family?" We carefully pick the girls who join The Hunt for this specific reason. We don't want anyone looking for them. "Sure," he answers. "Her mother died last year from an overdose. She was the last living blood relative." "Pay the investigator a visit. See if he'll talk. No force this time, offer him a carrot, not the stick. I need to know who is asking the questions." "Done." I hang up the phone. I am so close to wrapping up a long-standing problem. I don't need another one knocking at my door. I'm going to have to deal with whoever is causing problems and trying to track down Cadence.