Til Death Do Us Part (Kornilov Bratva Duet #2) - Nicole Fox Page 0,24

team?” I ask, feigning confusion and tucking her into my side. “But you are unnaturally flexible. Really,” I say, turning towards our stunned lunch guests. “I’ve seen Molly get in positions that you wouldn’t believe.”

Angela’s face goes red, and Molly hides a laugh with a cough into her elbow.

“It was about more than flexibility,” Angela says. “You have to know what to do with that flexibility, unfortunately.”

“Oh, she knows what to do with it,” I purr, wagging my brows at Molly.

Molly grips my thigh under the table. It’s a warning, but it only serves to speed up my heart and spur me on.

Angela lets out a humorless laugh and cuddles up to her husband, who is too busy looking out the window at the parking lot to even pretend he is paying any attention. “Are you two newlyweds? It sure seems that way. Brad and I were the same way after we got married. He couldn’t keep his hands off me. Honestly, he still has a hard time.”

“We got married in Paris last year, but it wasn’t legal, so we just had the small ceremony last week,” I say before Molly can answer.

Angela’s eyes bulge out. “Paris? That’s …”

“Beautiful,” Molly interrupts. “He proposed to me at the top of a mountain in Switzerland, we were married in Paris two months later, and now it is finally official. It has been a whirlwind.”

“Jet setters,” Angela says, bitterness obvious in her tone.

The waitress brings out our shake with two straws, and I’m now grateful for the iconic symbol of cutesy romance. Molly and I both drink from the shake while staring into each other’s eyes and trying not to laugh.

Angela talks about her job as a legal assistant and Brad’s position at the construction company, but Molly and I one-up each of her stories with tales of our fictitious travels and wealth. By the time we finish our shake, Angela is begging her husband to slide out of the booth so they can escape.

“It is late. We should really order and get going,” she says, pinching her husband’s arm. “It was great to see you, though, Molly.”

Molly squeezes my bicep and waves to her high school “friend,” and the second Angela and Brad are out of earshot, she collapses into a fit of laughter, her head on my shoulder.

She stays close to me all the way out to the car, and when I climb into the driver’s seat, she sighs.

“That was amazing. Do you know how long I’ve wanted to stick it to Angela? God. She is unbearable.”

“She seemed it,” I agree.

Molly reaches across the console and grabs my hand, squeezing my fingers. “Thanks for that, Viktor. Even if it was all bullshit, it felt good.”

It did. It felt so good.

I wish I could whisk Molly and Theo off to Switzerland and Paris. I wish I had the time to woo them both the way they deserve, but keeping them safe is my main priority right now. It has to be. As much as I want to daydream about a future where Molly and I are carefree jet setters, I have to be practical.

Right now, I have to be a mob boss above everything.

7

Molly

“We should go to lunch sometime,” Hannah says. “I’m not used to being cooped up in an apartment all day. Maybe tomorrow?”

She volunteered to watch Theo while Viktor and I went to lunch today, but I still feel guilty about using her for babysitting her first whole day in town. “Sorry you felt cooped. You can go explore and do whatever you want, you know?”

“It’s not your fault,” she says, reaching out to ruffle Theo’s light hair. “I enjoyed my time with the little dude.”

I know she misses her own son. I can see it in the way she looks at Theo.

“I just think it would be fun for the two of us to get out and do something together. On my way here, I saw a deli that looked really good. Maybe we could try that?”

I’ve been avoiding leaving the house with Hannah simply because I don’t want to have to try and explain why I have guards trailing me everywhere we go. I could just tell her Viktor is extra cautious, but even that would barely explain it.

“Sure, but I can’t tomorrow. Viktor and I have plans.”

“Oh right,” she says, suppressing a smile. “I forgot you have the old ball and chain you have to run things past now.”

“He’s hardly a ball and chain.” Really, Viktor has