Page 62 of Kept By the Bratva
Glass shattered, and a man shouted in pain.
“Hide.” Mila stood, gripping her steak knife as she stared back at me.
I searched for another one further down the table, eager to have some kind of a weapon if I had to fight back. Prepared. I had to be ready to defend. My fight-or-flight instincts were honed, and adrenaline coursed through me as I braced for a hit to come. This room was toward the corner of the house, a vulnerable position if anyone was driven to invade from the outside.
“We need to hide until they can secure the premises,” she stated firmly just before more gunfire cut through the air. Closer. Louder. Ihunched my shoulders, wanting to hide and run at the same time, but I didn’t know where to go for either reaction.
I nodded, ducking low and following her away from the table as more men burst into the room, guns blazing.
I only noticed one person among the chaotic entrance of men who didn’t belong here.
The sinister smile covering his face chilled me.
No!
25
NIKOLAI
At the last minute, Alek insisted on coming with me to deal with Diego. He’d been instrumental in the correspondence, but I was surprised when he joined me at the garage.
“You can help Ivan,” Alek said.
Dmitri snorted. “No thanks. He’s ‘staking’ out at the club downtown. It’s not my scene.” He walked off. “He can handle it, anyway.”
Ivan could handle anything. He was one of our deadliest killers, and Dmitri was right. Our brother volunteered to supervise things at the Bratva’s sex club. He never shied away from the harder kinks and clearly preferred things a bit rougher than the rest of us.
“I’ll check on Harrow’s,” Dmitri said, strolling away. We’d started the cleanup and rebuild, but we were all skeptical about the Ortezes leaving it alone.
I understood what Alek meant about being a show of our power. With so many avenues of business, we had to constantly patrol and supervise so many things. Pavel had done a shitty job of it, letting otherssneak on our turf or take over businesses. It would be a major team effort to solidify our power to what it once was.
Teamwork was one thing. But I didn’t like Alek coming with me to deal with Diego.
“You’re really struggling to stay in the office and just call the shots, huh?” I asked when we got in the car.
He shook his head. “No. On this matter, I need to be there. I need to show them that I’m not afraid to address my enemies or bother with negotiations like this.”
I checked my guns. “There will be no negotiations tonight.”
“But they think there will be. Some men have been reporting rumors about the Rossinis. They’re claiming that I’m secluded at home, hiding and letting my brothers take all the hits and do my dirty work.”
I rolled my eyes and looked out the window, shaking my head. Him and his pride. “You’re the leader, Alek. You delegate. That’s how it works.”
He scowled as he drove. “I should’ve been more present when they burned Harrow’s.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. No one is going to assume you’re like Pavel,” I reminded him. I knew he struggled with that image. He didn’t want to be anything like the asshole who’d killed our father, like a lazy leader who’d ride on everyone else’s hard work.
“Tonight is too critical,” he said, evading a direct reply to my words. “This isn’t just Bratva business with an enemy. It’s about family.”
“You consider Amy family? Just because she’s carrying the next generation of Valkovs?”
“I do.” He nodded. “And you are my brother. If she is your woman, then yes, I would do everything in my power to protect her alongside you.”
His loyalty would never fade, but I questioned it as he drove closer to the location we were to meet Diego.
“She’s not my woman,” I countered, furrowing my brow as I scoped the scenery.
“How is she not?” he scoffed. “Because you said you’d pay for her?”