Page 30 of Devil's Bride
“When he finally grew old enough to protect us and himself, our father became afraid of him.” He turns the car down a road to the left. “He exiled Alexei and ordered his men to kill him.”
“What?” Surely I heard him wrong. What kind of father would exile and try to kill his own child?
“Alexei survived.” He pulls the car into a parking at the mall. Turning off the engine, he cranes his head around to look at me. “I don’t care if you’re here on a mission or whatever, but I’ll kill you if you ever betray my brother.”
As Mikhail's words sink in, a heavy weight settles in my chest. I hadn't fully comprehended the depth of the Vadim brothers' bond until now. The loyalty, the sacrifices, the unspoken code of protection—it all speaks volumes about the lives they've led, the horrors they've endured. Horrors I don’t know much of yet.
Looking into Mikhail's eyes, I see not just a hardened man, but a man desperate to protect the brother who did all he could for him. Mikhail claims he cannot love anyone, but I wonder if he knows what he feels for his brothers is love.
The image of Alexei's weeping angel tattoo flashes in my mind. That is what it meant, it was a symbol of all the pain he endured in the hands of his own father. I hate to admit this, but I feel sorry for him.
I feel sorry for all three of them.
“I won't betray him,” I finally whisper, my voice barely audible in the quiet of the car. “No matter what, I’ll never betray him.”
And I mean it with everything in me.
Chapter Ten
Alexei
“Look what we have here,” Sasha says, crossing her arms over her chest and flashing a wicked smile at me. “You finally decided to pay your dear old mother a visit.”
I ignore her attempt to anger me. I’m not here to play petty games with her. As a matter of fact, I don’t even have enough time to spare her a minute.
I get straight to the point. “Don’t ever come around to my home or my wife again.”
There is so much Sasha can get away with, but messing with Irina is not one of those things. She can ally with my enemies all she wants, hurting my wife is one thing I won’t forgive, regardless of who she is.
“I see your little whore tattled to you already.”
“Call her a whore one more time, and I’ll rip your tongue from your mouth.” I prowl closer to her, towering over her. “Go on, Sasha. I dare you.”
Fear bleeds into her eyes. I expect her to defy me, but she knows better and keeps her mouth shut.
“You’re not meant to be Pakhan,” she finally says, changing the topic. “You’re too weak. Your father would have killed me already if it were him.”
She’s said that over and over again since I took over the Bratva. At this point, I think she says it just to get on my nerves, but I don’t give her the reaction she expects. I never have.
“You must be begging for me to put an end to your miserable existence,” I drawl, my lips twitching. “Sometimes I wonder what is going on in that head of yours.”
She squares her shoulders as if to challenge me. “I’ll tell you. Mikhail deserves that throne more than you do. Your father wanted him—”
“Fuck what my father wanted,” I say, cutting her off before she can finish. “You don’t care about what he wanted or what Mikhail deserves. All you care about is yourself. You’re selfish, and that is why you were never a mother to my brothers.”
Anger boils in my gut as images from when we were little flash in my head. I didn’t care about me, no. I’d gotten used to being beaten already, but Mikhail and Nikolai hadn’t. At least my mother protected me when she was alive, but their mother didn’t even try. She just cowered before my father, even refusing to tend to their wounds.
“Get out.” Her chest heaves with rage. “Leave!”
“I will, but don’t forget my warning. Stay away from Irina.” I return to my car with my jaw clenched. I hate every interaction with that woman, I hate that I have to keep her here because of my brothers.
I loosen the knot of my tie, undoing the top buttons on my shirt.
Dimitri stares at me through the rearview mirror. “Are you okay?”
“That woman gets on my last nerve.” I can’t help the growl in my voice. I need to hit something or find a distraction. Any outlet for my anger will do.
“That’s exactly what she wants,” he says.