Sofia Petrov was used to a life of danger. Growing up as a part of the Bratva in Moscow had made sure of that. Though, nothing in the world could have prepared her for the sinful temptation that was Alexei Zakharov. Brooding and haunted by the demon...
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My god. If I'd been a man with no sense of self control whatsoever, I probably would have taken Sofia over my knee and spanked her ass raw for that attitude of hers that had annoyed me for God knows how long. But I wasn't that type of man. If there was one thing that I prided myself on, then it was my self control. Discipline that I'd honed over the years to not give into temptation. Only, it was biting me in the ass now because that type of temptation had come in the form of Sofia Petrov.
I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair. Sometimes, I questioned why I'd drawn a line between us - between what Sofia and I shared. It had been pretty obvious since the day she'd first laid her eyes on me. That she had a crush on me. A crush that eventually developed into feelings someday. I'd be lying if I said that I felt the same way in the beginning. Because I didn't. She'd been a literal child - the same as me - when I'd first come to the Petrov mansion. Besides, I was too scarred from the years I'd spent in the orphanage before. I just wasn't built to feel. At least that's what I thought until she started to make me feel things. Things that I wouldn't have thought possible after what went down nearly 12 years ago. But yes, the truth was that Sofia and I shared a way deeper connection - the word friends was just too mediocre to describe what we had. But that was the way it was supposed to be.
I couldn't be found fucking around with the Pakhan's younger cousin - and especially not after I became his second in command. And most definitely not when he'd entrusted me with her safety because he was all the way in London. I wasn't going to take advantage of her like that. Because I knew what it felt like to be taken advantage of. To be made to feel dirty, degraded. And I would never, ever do that to Sofia. Besides, I was sure that she must have grown out of her feelings. Though the knowledge of that being a reality turned my mouth sour.
Fuck. I shouldn't ever care about this. This was - is - so trivial. But I couldn't help it. Especially not with the way she had tempted me by swaying those hips of hers before she slammed the library door shut. I stood up with the intention to leave, moving to turn off the lights before I spotted a book kept face down on the table beside the chair. The chair that Sofia had been previously occupying. My curiosity was piqued as I picked it up. For some odd reason, Sofia had always been secretive about her reading habits, always deflecting questions when it came to books. But I knew. I knew how much of a voracious reader she was. She'd lock herself in her room and spend most of the night reading one of her paperbacks or on her kindle. She often read in the dark, so that everyone would think that she was asleep. But I wasn't fooled. I guess you could say that it was one of the perks of having a room right across from hers.
Since I was Pakhan now, in place of Mikhail, I had the privilege of occupying the upper floor that was specifically isolated and reserved for the leader. But I hadn't moved upstairs. In some sort of twisted way of torturing myself, I felt like I could be close to Sofia if I lived right across from her. So I'd stayed there. Trying to be as close as possible without blurring the lines much.
