I don’t think Emily realized I was still awake when she crept out after we’d had sex. I frowned, wondering what exactly her problem was, or if I’d done something wrong. The whole evening had gone well, I’d thought. Not that I had anything to really compare it to.

I wondered if maybe I shouldn’t have taken her home with me after all. But she’d just been so pliant. And she hadn’t hesitated a second when I’d asked her.

I shook my head. I hadn’t done anything wrong, as far as I knew, but she had made it clear that she didn’t even want to cuddle after we’d had sex. Usually, the moment I flopped back on the bed, I could expect whoever it was that I’d fucked to roll over and put her head on my chest, or at least to reach out and take my hand. Instead, Emily had kept her space, and then she had left.

I had the guilty thought that maybe she’d thought that was what I expected of her. She knew that I slept around; maybe she thought that no one ever stayed the night. And they didn’t always, but I wasn’t asking Emily to leave. I didn’t mind her being there, and in fact, I kind of liked the idea of waking up next to her in the morning.

Maybe I would even have made her breakfast. It had been a long time since I’d cooked for anyone.

Instead, I had a cold and quick breakfast of cereal and fruit in the kitchen, trying to pretend that it didn’t feel lonely. Reminding myself not for the first time that I wasn’t looking for a relationship. I wondered why that was so hard to remember when it came to Emily…

I didn’t have time to dwell on it, though: Uncle Evgeni had sent me a message early that morning asking to see me when I had a chance, and I knew that meant I needed to head over to his mansion straightaway and see what was up. Probably he just had another delivery for me to make. I rolled my eyes; it seemed like lately, I was the only one doing any work for him.

Of course, I knew that wasn’t actually the case. It was just that we were starting to get more power in the area and that meant that there was more work to be done. And with Andrei working solely on Ritmo at this point and Dima working on real estate transactions, that meant that really, whenever Evgeni had a sensitive delivery that he needed a blood relation to carry out, he turned to me.

Soon, he’d start turning to Vanya as well, and I found myself hoping that that would happen sooner rather than later. Vanya was still young, and he was Evgeni’s son, so I knew Evgeni was hesitant to throw him into anything too soon—it would look bad for Evgeni as well if his son fucked up something important—but we could use all the help that we could get.

Especially if we continued to expand our territory.

I frowned as I stared down at the address that Evgeni had given me. Then, I looked up at him. “Isn’t this Audaz territory?” I asked. The Audaz gang spread across Spain, with their central headquarters in Madrid and Barcelona. Since the Volkov family operated mainly out of Barcelona, it meant that we’d essentially taken over territory from the Audaz gang that they’d been bitter about ceding to us. We weren’t fighting at the moment because Audaz had other things to focus on, but there was definitely bad blood between us, and I doubted they’d appreciate it if I went waltzing into their territory in Madrid to deliver a package.

I wasn’t concerned about the danger to me personally; I was more worried that we might set off a whole gang war here in Barcelona. The authorities wouldn’t look so kindly on that, I knew, and the last thing any of us needed was to get sent off back to the motherland.

Evgeni shrugged, his eyes glinting as they narrowed. “Are you telling me you’re not up for a challenge?” he asked. “You’ll just have to make sure that you’re…discreet about it.”

I frowned. “Who’s the delivery for, anyway?” I asked. It had to be someone important, if my uncle was willing to risk our very existence in Barcelona and everything that we had worked for over the past years.

“It’s better that you don’t know,” Evgeni told me, sitting back in his chair.

“All right,” I said slowly.

“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how important this delivery is.”

“Are we trying to expand our territory?” I asked bluntly, even though I knew it wasn’t for me to question my uncle. Still, I wondered if he was thinking everything through. Not only was there the risk of fighting here in Barcelona and possible expulsion from the country, but… “Are you sure we have the manpower for this?”

I could only imagine how many deliveries I would have to take on if we started running things all the way to Madrid on a regular basis.

Evgeni’s face turned an ugly color. “Someone is growing cocky,” he snapped. “You think you have the power to question me?”

“I just meant-“ I began, but Evgeni interrupted me.

“Perhaps I ought to send you back to Russia so that you remember your place here,” he said. “How lucky you are to be here. With those soft hands of yours and no skills, how far do you think you would get there? You’re lucky I took you under my wing; if I hadn’t, you’d still be back in Russia sucking milk from your mother’s teat!”

“I apologize, Uncle,” I said quickly, ducking my head. “I won’t question you again.”

“Get out of here,” Evgeni said, disgust clear in his voice, and I wondered for a wild moment whether he’d wanted me to actually stand up to him. But there was no way I was risking being sent back to Russia.

It wasn’t that I disliked Russia. I had plenty of friends who still lived in Petersburg, and whenever I was back there, we had a great time. But I liked to visit Russia. My whole life was here in Barcelona, at this point.

Especially since with Andrei there in Barcelona now and showing signs that he would settle there for good, Father would probably decide that my return to Russia meant that the countryside estates would be mine for the rest of my life. Not that I’d have to do any work on them; I’d have hired hands for that. But I had gotten used to living in a major city, and there was no way I was going back to live amongst the beasts.

I nodded at my uncle and backed out of his office, taking the package with me as I went.

That afternoon, I boarded an express train for Madrid, even though I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about this was wrong. Still, it wasn’t as though I had a choice. There were plenty of benefits that came with working for the family business, but it was also the most double-edged sword of them all. Everything that I did was for the love of my family, but anything that I did wrong could also negatively impact my family.

But even though I knew that this was more about my family than anything else, I couldn’t help taking on this mission, no questions asked, for selfish reasons too. I wanted to keep my place there in Barcelona. I couldn’t even imagine being sent back to Russia.

Especially because that would practically guarantee that I never saw Emily again, I thought.

I blinked and shook my head, wondering where that thought had come from. Once again, I had to remind myself that I wasn’t in a relationship. Even if I had wanted more, Emily clearly didn’t, if the way that she had run off after we’d had sex was any indication.

Besides, I didn’t have time for a relationship. If we were expanding the Volkov territory, I needed to concentrate on that. I needed to focus. Especially with such an important delivery currently in my possession.

I glanced towards my bag in the overhead racks, wondering again what it was that I was delivering and who I was delivering it to. I had to wonder whether it was even the package and the recipient who were so important, or if this was just Uncle Evgeni’s way of getting Audaz’s attention.

I didn’t like the situation either way. But I supposed it wasn’t for me to like.

I couldn’t get tangled up with a girl right now, whatever the situation. Fall in love with a girl and you make a target for yourself.

A few hours later, I arrived in Madrid and grabbed my bag off the overhead racks. As I stepped off the train, I squared my shoulders and went to deliver the package.