Page 35 of The Bratva's Nanny

If the case was dire, it was pertinent that I stayed informed. There was no way I was losing another man.

The ball went up again, and I eyed him. Bloodied inked knuckles, busted lip, and a helluva blow to his jaw. It was a lot more than a wedding—probably a funeral—and he knew it. Fifteen years of this man’s devout loyalty was enough to pull my concern. But first, he had to speak.

“Lev….”

The smirk faded, and his eyes went hard. When he spoke again, his tone was brittle, like it was fashioned to wound.

His fingers went through his hair again, more slowly this time, as a frustrated sigh came out. “She’s nineteen. Still a fucking kid, as far as I’m concerned. And the groom’s a shitty twenty-two-year-old that claims he’s in love. Love...pfft, like that’s a thing. I fucking doubt it when he’s barely able to hold his own working two jobs.”

“Decent jobs?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

The ball fell into my palm, and I squeezed hard. My lips curved to the side. The problem was simple: Lev was fiercely overprotective over family, just like the rest of us. In addition, he wanted a better life for his cousin. A life that wasn’t as gruesome as his. “Sounds romantic.”

“She’s pregnant.” He sounded anything but happy to be a big cousin-slash-uncle.

I barked a short laugh, adding, “So, not romantic?” and waved a hand toward his jacket. “Doesn’t explain that, though.”

Now, he looked even more than frustrated. Angry better suited the expression masking his features. More clicks on the keyboard, more file scanning, and then, he relaxed in his seat, meeting my eyes with a resigned sigh. “I got news, the same time Sasha confessed to being pregnant. So, I made up an excuse to lay a fist on the kid. Told him it was my wedding gift.”

I dropped the ball and knitted my fingers over my chest instead. Lev was looking at me, which meant whatever news he’d gotten alongside his cousin’s pregnancy announcement had a lot to do with me.

“What news?”

Lev rubbed between his eyes and turned the laptop around so I saw the screen. Displayed on it were the photographs of two men, one marked with an X and the other still clear. “You recognize the eliminated face? His name was Ferris Hayes. You offed his head four days ago and staged an accident with the van that blew up with his body in it. He was one of the men that kidnapped Polina.” He leaned forward, pointing his finger over the clear photograph.

Dark eyes, a jagged scar running down the side of his face, and an ugly snarl on his mouth.

“Now, that’s Mahone. Only goes by that name in all the records I could find of him. He was also in the van that day. He whisked her off the school grounds. We thought the tutor had this one taken care of, but as it turned out, the fucker fled before either of us recognized it.”

The rush of adrenaline started first with a buzzing hum before it formed into something wilder. Something hotter that made me go blind with rage. I remembered all of it: the minute the news hit me that my daughter had been kidnapped, the sight of tears streaming down her cheeks, and her trembling body, holding me at night and not wanting to let go before she slept. If I didn’t find out who had the audacity to cross me, to abduct my daughter, soon, I was going to lose my shit.

And New York wouldn’t love to see that.

It wasn’t normal—that courage. No one had ever dared to have the fucking balls to cross my territory like that.

Lev glanced over with dark eyes, mirroring the thoughts that rushed through my mind. “I have the spies looking into it. You have so many enemies that it’s hard knowing which one would go crazy like this. But we’ll find the bastard.” After a minute, he clenched his jaw and said, “I have my suspicions.”

I encouraged him to spit it out with a roll of my finger, and he pulled up a picture of an old frenemy. I just might have laughed if there was anything laughable about the situation. “Martin Claude,” Lev said.

I peered closely at the picture and pulled back. “No. I have doubts.”

“Just saying.” Lev shrugged. “Remember, we’re looking into everyone. He might not be as spineless as you peg him to be.”

The glimmer of the black steel by the heap of files suddenly seemed so inviting. I picked it up and aimed it at the wall. The gun was fully loaded. “Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

My phone buzzed beside the stress ball, and the screen lit up with a message notification from an unknown number. Suspicious, I dropped the gun, reached for the phone, and opened the text.

Hey, we need to talk. Maria.

I never saw that coming, and for some reason, knowing she wanted to talk to me was exciting.

My lips curved up on their own accord, and the smile lingered. Until Lev cleared his throat. When I looked up, he was...horrified.

“You’re smiling.”

I turned my screen off and put the phone down with an eye roll. “And the world has come to an end.”