Vow of Deception (Deception Trilogy #1) - Rina Kent Page 0,53

momentarily distracted from me.

Jeremy and I have lunch together and I ask Yan to come with us. After living on the streets for so long, I’ve learned to share my meals, especially with people I feel at ease with. I wish Larry was around, and since I have no way to reach him, I somehow pretend that Yan is his replacement.

The guard shakes his head while Ogla fixes me with one of her judgmental stares for even suggesting it.

Adrian is still cooped up in his office and doesn’t join us for lunch. Something that I want to ignore, but think about during the entire meal.

After I put Jeremy down for his nap, a sense of emptiness echoes in my chest.

Thus far, the little angel has been keeping me busy, but now that he’s sleeping, nothing is able to.

Emptiness is bad as fuck in my case. If I don’t occupy my mind, it’ll occupy me, and that’s the last thing I want in light of the damn nightmares I don’t usually have.

I try searching for alcohol in the kitchen and come up empty-handed again. On my way out, Ogla startles me by appearing out of nowhere, standing in her rigid posture. The woman is everywhere, I swear.

I place a hand to my chest. “You scared me.”

“Have you learned anything about the Bratva?”

“Yes, I’ve made some progress.” While I was reading a story to Jeremy.

“What type of progress?”

“I know that the Pakhan’s name is Sergei Sorlov.”

“It’s Sokolov.”

“Same thing.”

“It is not the same thing,” she scolds with stiff seriousness. “If you say the Pakhan’s last name wrong, Mr. Volkov will pay the price.”

“Isn’t Adrian high-ranked?”

“That doesn’t make him bulletproof. If anything, he’s more scrutinized than anyone else and his punishment would be the most brutal possible to set an example out of. So for everything that’s holy, stop playing around and take this seriously.”

I hate that she’s making me feel like a petulant child, but at the same time, I can see the sincerity in her eyes. Her loyalty to Adrian is her incentive and no matter how much I hate the man, if something happens to him, Jeremy will be fatherless and this entire household will probably fall apart.

That’s not what I want.

An idea pops into my head. Since my role is fairly important for Adrian, I can use that to my advantage.

“I understand, Ogla.” I smoothen my tone. “Is Adrian coming out for a break anytime soon?”

“No.”

“Doesn’t he have to go to work or something?”

She narrows her eyes. “If you’d gotten past that first page in the document, you would’ve seen for yourself.”

And with that, she turns and leaves, her heels clicking down the hall. I really don’t want to call someone a bitch, but Ogla is heading in that direction with flying colors.

After I get the iPad, I wander around until I find Adrian’s office. Since it’s on the ground floor and I’ve seen it from the garden, it doesn’t take me long to figure out where it’s located.

The door is closed and Ogla said I’m not to disturb him when he’s working, so I pace in front of it, then soon give up and choose to occupy my time until he comes out. It’s not like I’m dying for another confrontation with the devil.

There’s a small lounge area across from his office. I lie on my back on the sofa and kick my shoes away, sighing with contentment. One of my legs dangles from the armrest and I use my arm as a pillow as I read from the iPad.

Sure enough, as Ogla said, Adrian’s duties are outlined on the second page of the document. His job consists of finding the right people to bribe for the brotherhood. His critical intelligence allows Sergei Sokolov’s Bratva to be ahead of all other criminal organizations. Since he performs more of a background role, Adrian usually works from home and rarely appears in public.

Criminal. Check, check, and check.

Not that I expected anything different. After all, he did frame me for murder ever so easily.

I scowl at his picture at the top of the page. He’s standing at some grand opening, wearing a tux and holding oversized scissors to cut a red ribbon. The asshole is too good-looking for his own good. He could be a bit shorter or have a beer belly. Hell, he could at least not be tatted. But no, he has to tick the boxes on all accounts.

The picture is mainly focused on him, but on his right, there’s