Page 3 of Stolen By the Bratva

Instead of being rewarded for keeping the bratva on top of their enemies and catching a spy, we had been chastised and dismissed.

“I don’t like this shift,” I told Ivan as we headed out of the warehouse. “Pavel doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing, suggesting an alliance with Kastava.”

“He means it, too. He’s only got Andrey for an heir.”

Arranging a marriage with the Kastavas’ eldest daughter signaled a permanent union between the families. Once they married, the Kastavas would no longer be identified as our rivals but as our kin.

“I don’t trust it.” I opened the door Andrey had left through, holding the door open for Ivan to go first.

“Me neither,” he replied, scanning the alley we'd exited to.

I assumed many more of my brothers in the bratva would be with us on this sentiment. Until someone else was in power, these disastrous ideas would continue to bring us down. I wanted to think things could change for the better, but it didn’t seem likely.

Because once Andrey married his bride, there would be no way to backtrack out of whatever the Kastavas were scheming to do.

2

MILA

Today began like any other day.

I left my father’s home to promptly come in to manage the front desk of the S.T.L. Shipping headquarters. Dealing with paperwork for one of the family’s cover businesses was how I survived the daunting hours as they passed.

I wasn’t ever idle, and that helped to keep my mind on my tasks. Business was good—both the legitimate shipping transactions and the undercover and more profitable transportation services that happened at the Colver dock. I didn’t have much to do with those dealings. My father would never trust me with everything, certainly not those high-risk arrangements. All I was good for was keeping the front running. I did. My days were full of paperwork, emails, and taking calls.

This Wednesday seemed ordinary, but it would end on a sour note.

As soon as Lev, one of my father’s top soldiers, entered the office and headed to the private rooms upstairs, I knew I had to be on my best behavior. I always was, anyway. I had been trained to be submissive and obedient. Acting out or being sloppy wasn’t allowed. Lev was sort of like my supervisor, but he wasn’t here to watch over me. He only showed up when he’d have a meeting with my father, and those came with stipulations.

Lev had escorted his wife, Rosamund. Next came Geoff, another of my father’s top men. Then my father showed. Another brigadier, laughing and talking as they entered the private floor of the shipping offices.

As each of them came in and headed to the private rooms in the back up there, I kept my head down and acted oblivious. Every month, they arrived as a group. For the sake of appearances, it looked like a top-secret meeting would occur.

I knew better. Rosamund had confided in me once, explaining that the sounds they made frightened the other whores who hung around. Mistresses would get concerned. Too many men would want to be invited.

Here, with no one but me in the offices, they could have their fun as loud as they wanted. I'd once tried to use ear plugs to tune out the screams, shouts, and wails, but Geoff had noticed them when he’d left.

“Don’t hide,” he’d teased as he removed the ear protection on his way out after they’d all gang banged her. “I know it turns you on to hear her screaming.”

It didn’t. That was my father in there, participating. Rosamund was one year younger than me, only twenty-one, and newly married to Lev.

As the first scream cut through the air, bile rose up my throat. I rubbed my stomach, grimacing as it churned with unease. If I knew when they would decide to share Rosamund, I would simply close down the computer and head home, but they never gave any notice. They never announced when they’d show up, and tonight, I had too many emails to forward to the specific customers.

This was our life. To be a woman under the protection and possession of the Kastava Family, this was expected. Demanded. I’d grown up knowing the sanctity of marriage, and I was aware that above all else, I would be expected to obey my husband.

But this?

No. Please, no.

Hours later, just before evening fell, they exited the building. First, the brigadier and Geoff, who stormed off, cursing up a storm. Then my father exited, laughing with Lev as they came through the doors connecting to my office up front on the first floor.

“Mila.”

I sat up straighter as my father addressed me. “Yes?” I sucked in my stomach and pulled in my cheeks. Anything to thwart him from commenting on my weight again. If he cut any more calories from my diet, I would faint from malnourishment.

He nodded his head to the side, indicating the door he’d just walked through. “Rosamund needs some… help cleaning up.” He spoke it like it was a waste of time. Like that slender blonde should be able to handle their dicks shoved into her over and over, in any possible way. Like that young girl, barely an adult, should be stronger to withstand abuse and torture because she’d been arranged to marry an asshole.

“Yes, sir,” I replied as I stood.