Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I hate Benjamin Baranov.
He stole everything from me—my dream internship, my friends, my future.
And now, thanks to his father’s ruthless decree, I’m trapped… married to my enemy.
He’s cold. Calculating. Consuming.
A master manipulator who moves through the world like he owns it—and now, he thinks he owns me.
He watches my every move. Twists my thoughts. Controls the very air I breathe.
He’s not just playing a game.
He’s writing the rules, stacking the deck, and locking the door behind me.
But there’s one thing he should
I can’t be controlled.
Prince of Control is the first standalone in the Bratva Heirs series, a spin-off of the USA Today Bestselling Chicago Bratva series. It’s all the bratva goodness you desire, but set at Thornecroft University, where loyalty is currency, secrets are deadly, and love could ruin you… or save you.
Expect enemies-to-lovers intensity, forced proximity heat, and the dark, dangerous heirs of the bratva world. Includes scenes of violence and explicit content intended for mature readers only
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Prologue
Author’s note: This first chapter was originally written as a bonus epilogue to the Chicago Bratva series for my Kickstarter supporters, but I realized it was too important to the Bratva Heirs to leave out, so I’m including it here. This will be the only section in Ravil’s point of view in this book.
* * *
Ravil Baranov
My eyes burn as my wife, Lucy, and I walk out of Thornecroft University’s freshman dorm.
“Our nest is officially empty.” I squeeze her hand.
Ben, our oldest, is a senior at Thornecroft, and we just helped our youngest child, Liliya–Lili, for short–move in. I hung her bulletin boards and lifted furniture to place her rug where she wanted it, and then there was nothing else to do but leave. Our presence in the one-room dorm was no longer helpful. Lili couldn’t get to know her new roommate with the two of us hovering.
Still, leaving my precious daughter here sends a pang through my heart. It’s an unexpected emotion. I didn’t have it with Ben, but he’s always seemed older than his years. Lili is my well-protected printsessa. Our baby.
But Thornecroft, known as the “Harvard of the Midwest,” is the safest university in the world. Tucked in the outskirts of Whisper, Illinois, the rich, elite, and, like me, most dangerous people of the world have sent their offspring to study here for over two hundred years. Senators’ sons, ambassadors’ daughters, and the world’s royalty sit in classes with the children of uber-rich movie stars, cartel leaders, and mafia.
Security is tight, and Chancellor Ogden, a dangerous man in his own right, somehow manages to keep wars, assassinations, or paparazzi from penetrating the bubble of safety he keeps around the campus. There are rumors that he’s part of a dangerous cabal that runs the world. There are rumors he is former CIA. It’s possible both stories have some truth built in.
Lucy drags in a long, terraced breath like she’s holding back her tears, and I turn to wrap my arms around her. We stop in the middle of the sidewalk, creating an obstacle for the parents and students pushing carts filled with dorm decor from their cars to the freshman dorm buildings.
I kiss the top of my wife’s head.
There’s a hollowness in being empty nesters I didn’t expect. I thought today would be more of a celebration. A finish line. We raised two bright, capable children into adulthood and now have time to focus on our reconnection. But it feels like an appendage is missing.
“I’ll miss her so much,” Lucy chokes.
“I know. Me too.” I slide my arm around her waist to guide her to our Lucid Gravity SUV. “We will say goodbye to Ben, and then I’m stealing you away for a spa weekend.”
Lucy looks over, her brown eyes bright with tears but her expression warm and soft. “You are?”
I stop again to cradle her cheek with my hand. “Yes, kotyonok. I thought we might need a place to find each other before we get back to Chicago.”
“That sounds perfect.” Lucy’s voice is still clogged with tears. It makes me want to draw a sword and slay every monster around my wife. But of course, there are no monsters to slay.
This is exactly how it should be. Children grow up and move out. Their adult lives are just beginning as we face middle age. It’s not like our lives will be dull without the kids at home.
I’m pakhan of a bratva dynasty that now spans two continents. Lucy pulls the strings of our political empire–managing the campaigns of our handpicked state senators, governor, and representatives. Because when you’re head of an underworld dynasty, it helps to have friends in high places.
We pull around to Baranov House, a sprawling Victorian on the outskirts of campus. Yes, it’s named after me. Ben asked me to donate five million to the school to buy it just to have a fortress even more secure than the dorms where he could protect his friends. Most young men rush a fraternity or seek entrance to one of the elite Thornecroft Society Houses. Mine saw a way to create his own. He came to me with a proposal in the middle of his freshman year, explaining why having his own Thornecroft House, which would join the invitation-only society houses on campus, as a haven for those under his protection was important.