Page 19 of The Bratva's Nanny
She questioned whether it would be worth throwing away everything she had worked hard to build. The second she reached her conclusion, I saw the resolution in her eyes.
I grinned.
No one said no to me.
“You said you’ll clear the debt and still pay a salary?”
One brief nod from me seemed to convince her. She let down her walls and exhaled—a long breath of surrender.
Not like she had a choice or anything.
“Fine. I’ll do it, but only because I really need the money and not because you threatened me. Take it this way: I’m using you.”
She’d said it, intending for her words to sting, and my smirk broadened. The girl was naïve if she thought her disdain would perturb me even in the slightest.
“If that will help you sleep at night.”
Her brows wrinkled, and she attempted to scold me with her eyes. “I need to know how long you’ll keep me here. When will I gain my freedom?”
I rose to my feet, sending a clear message: I was done with this conversation.
“For however long I fucking want it to be. You’re not going anywhere anytime soon, Miss Maria Simmons. You’re stuck here until I decide that you’ve proven yourself. If I find your services satisfactory, and you’re no longer needed, you will be dismissed. Understood?”
She grumbled, mumbling something that sounded like a curse under her breath, and her expression was grave when she said, “It’s not like you left me any other option.”
She looked like I might have as well pointed a gun at her head and yelled, “Give me all your money!”
“Great. Glad we have an agreement.” I let the pregnant silence linger for a few seconds between us before adding, “Lev will have your things brought here first thing tomorrow morning.”
The moping and grouchy visage remained until I was halfway out of the living room, and I felt the heat of her stare burning the back of my clothes.
Maybe I should have felt the smallest pinch of concern. I was asking—demanding—that she throw her life away and dedicate it to my household for as long as I wanted.
It was wicked, selfish, and against every principle she probably stood for. But this was my life—ticking and checking those boxes to make sure shit happened in my favor. In this case, it was Polly. And I knew deep down that, to protect her, and without a second thought, I would do whatever it took to keep her safe. No matter how much it cost me, I would do it a thousand times over because she mattered to me more than anything else in the world.
Chapter Six – Maria
“Is this the last of it?”
The big man with broad shoulders, blond hair, and green eyes stared at me like he would rather be drinking glasses of freshly squeezed lemon juice than helping me drag my boxes through the door and up to my new room.
I wished I could help him—them (more men were assigned to crowd my small apartment to throw all my stuff into big boxes that they literally brought out of nowhere). But I couldn’t. The boss himself had given explicit instructions that I leave them to do all the packing, just in case I had intentions to pull a mischievous stunt.
Why the hell would I do that when I’ve seen the darkness himself in action?
There was no doubt about it: My life was on the line. And I’d rather drink a glass of lemon juice before I even dared risk it.
“Look, Lev…Lev, is it?” I said, stepping forward to the big man.
His eyes grew colder by the second and turned to stone when we stood chest to chest. True, he was intimidating. But he didn’t make me squirm or want to piss my pants as much as his Arctic boss did.
“I don’t like this as much as you do. I don’t even want this—to be living here like some old governess with no life’s purpose. But I love Polina and want her safe. And I don’t have much of a choice. So, you’re just going to have to suck up your pout and start getting used to the idea of waking up to see me roaming these halls every day.”
His nose did a tiny twitch, as though he was stunned by my audacity to approach him up close, but his eyes didn’t betray him. He stared me down, which was fair enough, seeing that he had the advantage of being a head taller than I was.
Then, he grabbed one of my boxes, signaled the others behind us to haul the rest, and made a small growl at the back of his throat. “Move.”
No objections there.