“How so?”
“I get to be a part of the Bratva without shouldering all the responsibility. I have much more freedom.”
“And Anton doesn’t?” I ask tentatively.
“He has a Bratva to run, territories to protect, and children to raise.”
I frown. “Children to raise?”
“His future children, I mean,” Yulian amends hastily. “He will need sons to carry on the legacy he builds.”
“What if he has daughters?”
“Then he’ll either marry them to men who can take over for him or he’ll make sure his daughters are capable of running the Bratva. It’s unlikely, though.”
“Why?”
“Because the Bratva is a man’s world.”
“Hate to break it to you,” I snap, “but that's not a Bratva exclusive thing. The world in general is a man’s world.”
Yulian isn’t fazed by my bitterness. “Once you’ve immersed yourself in the Bratva, you’ll understand what I mean. Women don’t command the same kind of respect here that men do.” He glances at me. “Just to clarify, I’m all for women running Bratvas. Girl power and all that. In fact, I think they’d do a kickass job of it.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he says.
Weirdly enough, I actually believe him.
“I like you, Yulian.”
He gives me a smile that might have made my heart skip a beat if I were another woman in another time, another place.
“I like you, too, Jessa. I just hope…” He trails off. “Never mind.”
“Are you really going to leave me hanging?”
He smiles sadly. “I just hope this world doesn’t chew you up and spit you out.”
I frown. His warning is ominous, but I get the sense he was about to say something else before he changed his mind.
I’m on the verge of asking him what that was when his phone starts ringing. He glances at his screen and then answers it on speaker.
“Yeah?”
“Where the fuck are you?”
I feel a little jolt of excitement the moment I hear Anton’s voice.
“Um—"
“Worthington Manor is out west. Why are you taking the east route?”
Yulian rolls his eyes. “I made a scenic detour, okay? Also, how the fuck do you know where we are?”
“Because I’m right behind you,” Anton says impatiently.
I turn around and see a black car trailing behind us on the road.