Page 31 of Auctioned to My Bratva Boss

Matvey? I couldn't figure out what he was thinking anymore.

I blocked out my coworkers' schadenfreude and buried myself in work. Didn't even break for lunch.

By the time I had about ten drawings left, it was already quitting time. Coworkers trickled out. Even my supervisor left.

The massive office area was down to just me. I rubbed my aching neck and shoulders and kept going. At least it was work I liked, not boring spreadsheets.

"Such a pain in the ass." Adrian's voice drifted in from the hallway.

Not loud, but the office was too quiet.

Yesterday's scene floated back into my head. I needed to apologize to him. From what Matvey said yesterday, he got chewed out half because of me.

"Adrian," I called to his back.

He turned around, holding a cardboard box.

"Riley, it's you." He looked worn out, the light gone from his eyes.

I walked over to him, uncomfortable.

"Hey, about yesterday, I'm really sorry. I got you yelled at by the boss." I looked at the box. "What's going on? Are you moving stuff?"

Adrian's expression turned strange.

"I got reassigned. To field operations." He smiled awkwardly.

"Because of yesterday?"

Adrian nodded.

My head throbbed. Matvey kicked a perfectly good employee down to a position where he'd have to hustle for business, just because he had coffee with me? That was completely unreasonable. Even if he was the boss, he couldn't do that.

"God..." I didn't know what to say to comfort him. "Let me help you carry that."

"Forget it." Adrian looked at me with nervous distance. "If you really help me, the boss will probably just fire me."

"I'm so—" All I could do was apologize.

"Don't make things worse for me. I really can't afford to lose this job." His resistance, his timidness—I barely recognized him.

I was about to lose my only friend in the company.

After he left with his box, I turned back dejectedly, planning to finish my work. But I crashed right into something. Sharp cedarwood flooded my brain, the headache easing halfway.

But when I looked up and saw his dark expression, my stomach twisted. When did Matvey get here?

Chapter Nine

Matvey

I stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at Manhattan spread beneath me.

Traffic streamed through streets where neon signs flickered and flashed.

I'd lived here for over a decade—as head of the Bykov Group, as pakhan of the bratva. Over the years, I'd crushed everything that threatened me. But it wasn't a one-and-done job. Vermin always bred in corners you couldn't see.

"Pakhan, we opened the crates. That bastard Victor stuffed drugs into the false bottoms."