Used by the Russian Mafia Boss: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance Read Online Free Page B

thought of her father disrespecting her mother in such a way made her almost lightheaded. Toni threw her legs over the side of the bed and got up. She reached for a pair of soft sweatpants that Mrs. Urevich had brought for her to wear. Pulling on a T-shirt next, she padded to the bedroom door and listened. It was silent in the hallway. The numbers on the digital bedside clock read 3:45. There was no light seeping through the crack under the door. She turned the knob and pulled it open just a bit to peer out into the hallway. There was utter and absolute silence.
    Toni entered the hall and left her door barely ajar. She crept along, her footfalls muffled by the thick runner in the hallway. She found the stairs and carefully descended from the third floor to the first. The winding path down the steps was creaky and almost spooky. She tried to test each step in an attempt to avoid the dramatic noise a squeaky step could cause. There was no need to wake anyone up. Especially not if she intended to go snooping in Dimitri’s office.
    It felt ten degrees cooler down on the first floor. Toni shivered in her babydoll T-shirt. Feeling her nipples harden, she crossed her arms over her chest to hide the telltale response. She was reminded of Dimitri’s words earlier that night. He’d had no right to bait her in such a way, yet she couldn’t deny that she had responded. Or rather her body had responded without the consent of her brain. She would hope her brain was a little smarter than that at least. The man was a criminal, like her father. And like her father, Dimitri couldn’t be trusted.
    Toni walked past the kitchen and a formal dining room that didn’t look as if it saw much use. The furniture was draped in sheets. The living room was full of the dark shapes of overstuffed furniture. A huge flat screen television hung on the wall. It gave the appearance of an enormous gaping black hole. She padded into the living room. There was very little in the way of personal touches. A single lonely photo sat on a sofa table. She picked it up, gazing at the three people depicted there.
    The one in the center was Dimitri so she could only assume that the other two were his siblings. She recalled him telling her to steer clear of his brother Anatoli, but she had no idea what his sister’s name was and maybe it didn’t matter. Toni stared at the photo, taking in the long pale, blonde hair and laughing eyes. She was a beautiful woman. Of course Toni’s mother had been attractive, but this young woman in the photo was exactly that. Young. Toni’s mother had aged gracefully, but she had aged. She had worried about it sometimes. She’d whispered to Toni that her father didn’t like older women. He didn’t find them attractive even though he wasn’t getting any younger himself.
    Toni set the photo back on the table, marveling at the double standard that seemed to exist between men and women for such things. Men grew older and people simply called them distinguished. Women got older and they were hags. Yet it made no sense to think that the smiling blonde woman with so much life ahead of her would somehow managed to be seduced by Boris Rustikov. Her father wasn’t a great looking man. He was a little paunchy and his hair was thinning. Yes it was difficult for Toni to see him as anything but her aging father, but she truly couldn’t imagine him being on object of fascination for a woman who appeared to have so much going for her. Where would they have even met?
    A light went on. The intensity of the bulb briefly blinding Toni and making her hold her hand up to protect her eyes. She couldn’t see who else was in the room with her, but she had a feeling it wasn’t going to matter.
    “Snooping are you?”
    The unfamiliar male voice made her anxious. Could this be the infamous Anatoli? If so she was doing a terrible job of avoiding him. “Not snooping. I couldn’t sleep. I thought I would get a drink of water.”
    “The kitchen is back