Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Bratvabloodline
Tell me something, Ember.
I freeze. He used my name. My real name. My heart pounds in my chest, fingers hovering above the screen.
How do you know my name?
Bratvabloodline
It’s in your profile. Relax, kitten. I’m not stalking you.
Kitten, again. The word slips through my defenses, a deliberate stroke that feels both possessive and unsettling.
Bratvabloodline
Unless you’d like me to.
My stomach tightens. Is he joking? He has to be.
What’s wrong with you?
Bratvabloodline
Plenty. But we’re not talking about me. Yet.
The confidence in his words makes my skin tingle.
I’m just trying to figure out why a guy like you is wasting his time chatting with me.
Bratvabloodline
Because I’m intrigued. And trust me, I don’t waste my time.
It feels like a warning as much as a compliment. A thrill works its way through me despite my better judgment.
You don’t even know me.
Bratvabloodline
Not yet. But I’m a fast learner.
There’s a pause, long enough for my heart rate to settle, then spike again when his next message arrives.
Bratvabloodline
I’d enjoy learning you, Ember. Thoroughly.
My breath hitches. My hands tremble as I read and reread the words, heat rushing to my face.
I swallow hard, my mind racing, my nerves alive.
Bratvabloodline
Keep talking. Or better yet, stop talking and let me tell you what happens next.
I shouldn’t reply.
What am I doing?
Every instinct screams at me to stop, to delete the conversation and forget this ever happened. When I don’t respond, he sends me another message.
Bratvabloodline
Behave yourself or you’ll find out in vivid detail.
And just like that, I’m not just hooked.
I’m trapped.
Nope. I will not reply. I have to get ahold of myself and be reasonable here.
I grab myself another beer, even as every instinct in me warns me to stop.
There is one of two options here: He’s lying, and I shouldn’t have any interaction with a man who lies. I don’t do relationships, but I most especially don’t do relationships with unreliable, self-centered liars.
Or two. He’s not, which means… I should stay far, far away.
An hour passes.
Two.
My phone buzzes when I’m tagged in another video. I stare at my phone in the corner of the couch, as I dutifully try to ignore it and stare at my book instead.
But the real-life story is so much more interesting than the one I’m reading. I finally can’t resist anymore and pick up the phone again.
He tagged me in another video.
Chapter 3
RODION
I wake up determined. Today, I’ll make choices my brothers can respect—choices that prove I’m more than the reckless, impulsive wildcard they expect.
This is the day I turn things around.
Last night, when she wouldn’t reply to my messages anymore, I tagged her in another video. And even though I get the notification that she watched it, she still didn’t reply to me.
I roll over, and something cold hits my chest. My phone. I shake my head at it and push it under a pillow near my head.
Nope.
Get away from me.
I spent all night flirting with a woman I’ve never met and never will, letting her words slip into places they have no business being.
Reckless. Stupid.
Addictive.
It’s my fault I’m all the way in California while the rest of my family’s in Russia.
I can still hear Rafail, the disappointment in his voice worse than any punishment he could’ve levied.
You have to keep a handle on your anger, Rodion. You’re not a child anymore.
He was right, of course. I didn’t have to make a public spectacle of punishing the fucking traitor.
I scrub a hand across my brow and blow out a breath.
I can do this.
And I won’t fuck this up by flirting and risking it all by putting myself out there on stupid social media.
I shake my head and get to my feet when another buzz from my phone sounds.
I stare at the pillow, vibrating with message after message.
If it were Rafail and I ignored him…
I scratch at my bicep and roll my eyes heavenward. Everyone has to take a piss or make a fucking cup of coffee… right? Wrong, when it comes to my brother. I can hear him now. “You only need one hand to take a leak. Use the other to check my messages.”
I am going to get on Rafail’s good side no matter what it takes. I will prove to him I’m not the tagalong he thinks I am.
I reach for my phone and check my messages.
Good thing.
Rafail
Saw the work you did yesterday, read the files and your report. Well done, Rodion. Talk’s died down, people are starting to forget.
Pride blossoms in my chest. I was still a child when my parents died, and Rafail became guardian of my family. He’s like a father to me and pleasing him matters. Semyon, four years younger than Rafail but still older, is colder, more detached, but that’s just his personality. He’s as faithful to my family as any of us, and I fucking hate that he got screwed over.