Page 41 of The Bratva's Bounty

"Yeah, she can't cook for shit." Angel laughed tiredly. "I'm surprised you're not in the hospital getting your stomach pumped or something." Angel's laughter was a little too amused for my liking.

"You just want to see me suffer, you sadist," I grumbled with a roll of my eyes. "God, you and all your friends are batshit crazy, I swear."

"Oh, as if you and the others are saints yourselves," she retorted with a scoff and chuckle.

"Compared to you? Yes," I playfully argued back.

To prove a point, I held my hand up and started counting off with my fingers, "You love to torture people, Hanna's another me, only more psychotic, and Nicole is a bomb obsessed techy who lost a few screws. Oh, and you agreed to marry Kolya knowing fully well who he is. Also, you get along with Alexei way too well, who, by the way, is a fucking psychopath." Holding up my other hand, I continued to list things off, "Hanna chases Stepan through the woodslike a psycho-killer, and I'm pretty sure she and Stepan do a bunch of other shit that would be considered a little crazy."

Glancing over at the bottle of whiskey out of the corner of my eyes, I debated cracking it open for a few sips. I quickly shoved the thought aside, though, to continue. "Then we have Nicole, who loves bombs a little too much. I'm not even going to go into the virtual havoc she can cause nor the crazy shit she'll pull." Anyone ballsy enough to attack a gang member outright definitely had a few crazy bones in their body.

Snickering, Angel looked at me with a deviously cruel smirk. "Shit, like tattoo and collar you?"

Nikolai choked and spat out his coffee at his wife's words. "Excuse me, what?" He stared at me with wide eyes, hoping something got lost in translation.

Paying my brother no attention, I darted over to Angel, slapping my hand over her open mouth before she could spew more embarrassing shit. "Nothing,bratok, nothing." I tried to wave him off with a nervous chuckle and grin.

Prying my hand off, Angel digs her fist into my gut, shoving me away. "Oh, come on now, Lev, it's not as bad as high school prom night." I wanted to strangle her grinning face—not to kill or harm her, just playfully!

My head instantly snapped to Nikolai, and my face paled a little with horror as my eyes widened. "You told her?" There were some secrets between Nikolai and me that were sacred, prom night being one of them.

Angel spoke up for him before any words could fly out of Nikolai's stunned mouth. "Of course, he told me." With a devilish grin, Angel leaned up to my shocked face. "He'smy husband, so he tells me everything." As if to further egg me on, she leaned even closer. "We tell each othereverythingand hidenothingfrom each other."

Directing everything to Nikolai, I stepped up to him, grabbed the front of his shirt, and jerked him a bit. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone about my dick getting stuck," I spoke in a rushed voice that was barely above a whisper.

"Oh, is that what happened? I thought it was about you being stupid." Angel's nonchalant sigh made me shake my brother again. "Or that time he had to pick you up."

"You told herallof that?" I freaked out slightly, feeling the world around me sink into my body, weighing me down with dread and embarrassment. "You promised me none of it would ever see the light of day…!" I hissed out in a raspy whisper.

Recovering from his stupor, Nikolai shoved me off. "You need to back off," he curtly told me with a jab to my chest with his finger.

Then, he turned his attention to Angel, who immediately wiped the grin off her face. "Wait, Kol—" Her words choked out with a gasp from Nikolai's sudden neck grab.

Pulling her right up to him, he leaned down until his face was mere inches from her. "You are going to march your bratty ass back to our room, bend it over our bed, and wait for me to come punish it. If you're going to be a brat this early in the fucking morning, then you damn well better be prepared to take it."

Now I couldn't help but be a smug asshole when I saw her get her dues. Lightening my expression, I gave her an 'Oh, you're in trouble' kind of look while flipping her off. As I watched the scene unfold before me, I leaned back against the counter with my arms crossed. Of course, once Nikolai was done with her, he turned his attention to me.

"And you." He jabbed a finger in my direction. "You need to stop jumping ahead of shit before you hear the whole situation." Straightening himself, he looked at me sternly. "I told her nothing about your high school prom night, where you had to call me after getting shit-faced drunk and got your stupid pierced dick stuck in a girl's braces." Then he had the gall to smirk and tilt his chin at me smugly. "Until now, because you were a dick to me."

Angel sputtered a laugh, holding onto her round stomach as she strained to stop. "For the record, Nikolai never told me anything." Breathing deeply, Angel held onto the counter for support. "I was just being a bitch and digging at you for the hell of it."

Motherfucker. I got played.

Growling out of frustration, I threw my hands up in the air and turned to leave. "You two are assholes," I half shouted as I began to walk away. "I'm not saving yourasses in the field after this, " I half-joked, grumbling a bit under my breath.

Deciding to take my chances with Nicole rather than stick around with my brother and his wife and risk more embarrassment. At least I could still show my face with food poisoning. No way would Angel let the new ammunition about my high school horror go; it was only a matter of time now before she'd use it to blackmail me into something.

Going back to my place, I decided at the last minute not to enter, opting for my garden for some more moments of peace before I had to face the music of life. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't displeased with Nicole or anything like that. I really wasn't trying to avoid her for the sake of it; I honestly needed some fresh air and time to myself to go over the past few days.

Nothing exciting happened the past three or so days besides adjusting to Nicole being around. Things were fine, but we've been living in some strange honeymoon haze. I'd go to work during the day, occasionally chat with Nicole via text during my time away, grab little treats for her on the way home, come home to either takeout or dinner prepped for me to cook, and we'd cuddle and fuck before bed.

Life was good, ideal even, but there was always a tension between us about the shit we had to address. We haven't poked the situation with Nicole and her parents with a ten-foot pole, nor have we touched my bratva business. Truthfully, I didn't want to involve her with my family's mafia turmoil, but it would seem that she had her hand in the pot already via Angel.

After a little digging, I discovered that Nicole was the other techy genius behind Angel's success besides Bao, who apparently was her younger brother. Strangely, I didn't find anything about Bao and Nicole being siblings. All I dug up about Nicole's familial background was her mother, father, and two younger brothers. I met one of her brothers, the one who was currently CEO of N.Q. Tech. Yet, when I questioned her parents about her other brother, the middle child, I was met with extreme detest before it flipped to a strange denial.

Come to find out, Bao was cut out of the family for being gay, and apparently, his name wasn't Bao. He was born Jacob Chau, but after high school, Jacob dropped off the face of the earth from my search. From whatBao and Angel told me, he came out to his parents at eighteen, and that was the last of Jacob Chau. His parents cut him off and out of their lives forever. Then, wanting a new identity for himself, he created new records for Bao Vu and has been living with Greg ever since his parents gave him the boot.

Even though their parents cut Bao out, Nicole still kept in contact and maintained the close relationship they'd always had growing up. Also, Nicole was one of the few who Bao came out to first and fully supported him through everything.