Page 1 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir
Chapter One
Daisy
The room they led us to was up the back staircase of a club that was already buzzing even though it wasn’t even midnight. Not that midnight was early. Usually, I would have been tucked up in bed by now, exhausted by the long days I had been pulling recently. But that plan had been scuppered when two men had appeared at my father’s door and demanded we come with them.
I’d tried to ask questions on the uncomfortable car ride across the city, but my father just told me to trust him. Like I ever had any doubts about him. He was the most steadfast man I had ever met.
If he wasn’t worried, then neither was I.
Or at least I hadn’t been until we had been led through the club and then up the stairs. Dark red peeling wallpaper seemed to close around me as I took the stairs slowly, and I was hyper-aware that the man bringing up the rear had his eyes glued on my—well, rear.
I wanted to turn around and slap the leering look straight off his face, but I couldn’t seem to do anything but place one foot in front of the other and tug my shorts down over my ass.
Ignoring all the open doors on this level, the man in front moved straight to the one at the end of the narrow corridor and knocked once, hard.
“Come in,” an even harder voice barked out, and the nerves that were fluttering in my stomach took flight.
That voice, that Russian accent. It made me feel uncomfortable.
But nothing quite made me as uncomfortable as the man who greeted us when we were ushered into the room. Icy blue eyes lifted from my father to me, and I couldn’t help but shrink back as he smiled.
Those eyes in that lined face were instantly recognizable. Dimitri Popovitch. One of the most feared men in the city. The only person with a worse reputation than him was his grandson, Ilya.
Wildly I looked around as the door slammed behind us, leaving us trapped inside the small office with the monster of New York. Moving into my father’s side, I clung to his arm. “Daddy, what are we doing?” My fingers scraped at my father’s shirt sleeve, but I didn’t get to say anything more as a great, booming voice cut me off.
“Thank you for coming, Peter.”
I threw a glance at my father. What was going on here? Why was my father on first-name terms with a mobster?
My dad worked in insurance. His world and this one should never collide.
“You didn’t really give me much choice,” my dad said stiffly. “I would have come as arranged. You didn’t need to—” His eyes flicked towards me and then away guiltily.
“And this,” the older man pushed himself off the windowsill, the lights of the city street illuminating his face with neon red and green for a second. His too-blue eyes narrowed in on me. “Must be your lovely daughter. Daisy, is it?” He ignored myfather’s words completely as he came to a stop right in front of me.
I lost the ability to talk. Swallowing hard, I nodded my head. “Yes, sir. Daisy, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr—” My outstretched hand was ignored completely as he walked around me.
“She is prettier than I expected. Her pictures don’t do her justice.”
Again, my head snapped around to my father, but he just looked purposefully ahead and refused to meet my eyes. Why would a man like Dimitri ever have access to my photos? None of this was making a lick of sense. “You’ve seen my photos, sir?”
The old Russian came to a stop in front of me, his cruel hands pinching my chin and yanking my head back. “I know everything about you, Daisy.” The way he said my name made me feel uncomfortable. Why did I suddenly feel like a piece of meat he was studying? Like I was something for sale.
“I know you graduated top of your class at Brown. You’re how old now?”
“Twenty-one, sir.” My voice shook.
“Hmm, I suppose that is acceptable.”
I frowned so hard that a line appeared between my eyebrows. “I—”
“Be quiet.”
My lips snapped shut.
“But I see you can follow orders. That is good. We will take her.”
I ripped my face out of his hands. I didn’t know what he meant by taking me. But it sure as hell wasn’t happening. “Dad what the hell is—”
