Page 44 of The Bratva's Bounty

"Him pulling the trigger on our mother set something off in my brothers and me that night as well. We all jumped him and trapped him in the basement for a week, where we all took turns venting out all our years of pent-up resentment." The twisted smile that curled at his lips with each and every word sent a shiver of unease down my spine, especially when I caught the way his eyes sharpened dangerously with cruel pleasure. "Then, to watch the house burn down on top of him was fucking perfect." And now he looked and felt a little psychotic.

"Y-you had sister?" Maybe a change of topic would deter him from going batshit crazy on me.

The only person who was allowed to be a psycho in our relationship was me.

Inhaling deeply, Lev's crazed gleam faded from his eyes as he hummed and nodded in response to me. "Yeah, Natasha." His smile softened fondly as his fingers played with the tips of my hair. "She came after me but before the twins." Then, the warmth slowly faded to a stale sadness. "We all doted on her. Well," Lev scoffed, "everyone but my father, who only saw her as a means to an end."

Straightening himself out, Lev squeezed me tightly with a flat hum. "My father arranged her off into marriage to some rival bratva to form a truce and ally, but all they did was torture and kill her after my father shipped her over there." His voice sank into the depths of emptiness with his frown. "We tried to hide her, and we almost managed to sneak her out of the country… But he caught us by sheer luck at the last minute."

Frowning sympathetically, I cupped and stroked Lev's face. I hated how dejected he sounded. "Little lion, you guys did what you could, and sometimes, the universe is just a piece of shit to us despite our efforts." No doubt the near success got Lev to this day—the 'what if' of it all.

"After we got radio silence from the other side, Kolya took it upon himself to fly over to Russia to see what was going on and to bring Natasha back… But, he said he was far too late…" Dragging a hand through his hair with a deep sigh. "Kolya refused to tell us the full truth and still does to this day."

Now, it was my turn to frown deeply. Seeing the way his face tore with agony, sadness, and anger made my heart sink into my gut. "But you found out," I stated blatantly.

Almost robotically, he responded with a nod. "I contacted officials over there after drinking too much one night." Swallowing his feelings, he lulls his head backward to blink away the tears I saw forming. "And I've regretted it ever since."

Lev's body shivered with his hitched breath, and I could see him trying to hold himself together. I wasn't about to have any of that, though.

Prying his arms off and shoving them away, I slid out of his lap to the ground next to him. Reaching out, I coiled my arms around his shoulders and neck and tipped his big body over. "Lev." I sighed softly as I forced him to settle in my lap. "Let it out." I urged himwith a comforting smile. "It's okay," I assured him with a kiss to his forehead. "I'm here for you."

Whoever said grown men shouldn't cry needed to go throw themselves off a cliff right into a shark's toothy mouth. Emotions were a vital part of being human, and that included expressing them. Lev could only put so many bullets into so many things or smash his fists into so many faces and bodies before another outlet would be needed. Besides, being a violent little shit won't do much to curb his guilt and underlying sadness.

Stubbornly, Lev resisted me with a blank stare, but something in him broke after a while. It started with a shiver, which turned into a shudder, then full-blown shaking as the tears came like a broken dam. Hugging my waist tightly, he buried his face into my lap and sobbed away.

Did seeing Lev cry make me happy? No, not in the slightest, but I knew how cathartic it could be.

Sitting there against the tree, I let my bratva boyfriend cry it out while soothingly petting his head. "I'm proud of you, Lev," I admitted with a prideful smile.

Chapter 22

Nicole

"Top middle drawer ofthe black dresser," Lev said lazily from the bed, not looking up from his phone.

Completely lost, I spun around with my hands on my hips. "Huh?"

Once again, without looking up from his screen, he replied rather flatly, "Your Ruggish Red lipstick is in the top middle drawer of the black dresser, specifically in the upper right-hand corner because it tends to roll around with how hard you open and slam the drawer."

Unable to come up with a proper response, all I could do was sputter and scoff as I trudged over to the black dresser and opened the middle drawer of the top row. Mocking him under my breath, I was about to spin around and snark at him that my lipstick wasn't there until I caught it in my field of vision at the last minute.

Zipping my lips shut, I pressed them into a tight line as I snatched the tube of lipstick up. Grumbling to myself internally, I applied the lipstick rather testily before slamming it down onto the counter. Crossing my arms, I spun around and glared softly at Lev with an angry pout.

Probably sensing my glaring eyes, Lev glanced up at me with a quirked brow. Silently, he stared at me quizzically before giving me his full attentionas the corner of his lips smirked. "You always wear Magjik's Ruggish Red with your fancy clothes that are black or gray in color," he answered my silent question as if he had read my mind.

Okay, officially a little creeped out by Lev for the first time ever.

"What?" Lev shot back with a somewhat confused and offended look. "Why you looking at me funny for?" I didn't know whether he was serious or a really good actor with his dumbfounded expression.

"You're weird," was all I managed to stammer out bluntly before turning around on my heels to put my focus back on finishing my makeup.

Soft sounds of the sheets ruffling crumpled behind me. "What? What's weird about helping you find what you needed?" Lev's genuinely confused voice grew closer with his steps. "You were looking for your shit, and I helped out, so I don't understand what the weird look was for." Okay, now I felt like a piece of shit when I heard the hurt in Lev's voice.

Not wanting to see the possible pain on his face, I refused to turn around to meet him full-on, nor did I let my eyes wander to his reflection in the dresser mirror. "It's a little freaky how you read my mind," I muttered with a small shiver of discomfort.

I don't know why I felt so weirded out with Lev, who seamlessly knew my intentions without a hint from me. I mean, the damn dude literally stalked me for weeks, and this was what freaked me out about him!? Maybe I was a little crazy in the head, as he liked to claim.

"Read your mind?" Lev scoffed and snorted a snicker. "Zhizn moya, all I did was read your body language and study your beautiful face while putting it with what knowledge I knew," he answered merely as if it was no big issue. "You put on a fancy black and red uhh ow zai? Is that what they're called?"