Page 3 of The Bratva King's Twins

“He may not try again on his own, but there’s no telling if he’ll come back with reinforcements. He could use the profits from what he stole to leverage an alliance with another family on our bad side. Or perhaps he just wants to smear our name throughout the city—let everyone know he pulled a fast one on us. Either way, Edoardo cannot get away with this,” I said, using my voice of authority.

My brothers looked between themselves, surely wondering what was to come next.

I was pissed that the old man assumed he could push us around and poke at our defenses without us biting back. Assuming I was little league and wouldn’t properly defend what was mine and my family's.

It seemed my time to prove otherwise had landed right in my lap. The chance to flex what made me a Levov.

“Get me more information on the De Luca family,” I murmured, stroking my chin absently as I thought.

Kir lifted his brows with curiosity. “What are you going to do?”

“Something drastic. Something that’ll show Edoardo and his family that while I’m not Andrei, I’m a completely different beast he’ll have to contend with now,” I said, brainstorming on the spot. “Soon enough, he’ll wish he never rocked the boat.”

While they still didn’t completely know what that entailed, they exchanged glances, anticipating something that would truly show what we were capable of.

My brothers and I may be another vein of the Levov name, but we were just as willing and determined to secure our legacy as Andrei and the others had. We had our own battles to conquer and reputations to create.

And De Luca was about to find out the hard way.

Chapter 2 - Vivian

There was nothing worse than a family dinner.

Sitting down and having a meal wouldn’t be all that painful if I had a different family—one that functioned normally. One that didn’t make me feel like shrinking into myself every time I was stuck in a room with all of them.

Lounging in the living room while I scrolled through my phone was supposed to be a moment of reprieve, a chance to collect myself before having to sit around the table and pretend like we all got along swimmingly.

It was always Dad’s idea. After spending all week ignoring his kids, he’d announce that we needed to have more ‘family time.’ As if having a sit-down dinner once a week would solve all our problems and traumas.

If it wasn’t clear enough, it never worked. It did virtually nothing and caused more stress than necessary.

But still, if it was Dad’s idea, then it happened regardless.

Letting go of a deep breath, I continued scrolling, looking through pictures posted by the equestrian center I went to during the week. It was the one thing I had that my family couldn’t ruin, and I cherished every moment I had there.

I had a few prized horses, but I had trained my best one from the ground up and spent as much time with him as possible. Being around the horses was my favorite thing, and even in the worst times, it gave me comfort and stability in a life where I had very little of both.

While I certainly had opportunities that many others didn’t since money was never an issue growing up, it all came at a price. Those privileges were monetary Band-Aids—Dad’s solution for everything.

If he knew he'd been gone for a while, he’d sign me up for prestigious lessons somewhere. When he missed school events, graduations, or birthdays, he’d get us something expensive. After Mom died and I caught him getting too close with a woman much younger than him far too soon, his would-be new wife, he decided an all-expenses-paid trip to Greece was in order.

It didn’t matter what happened or how he messed up; Dad would find a way to use his money to fix it for him.

I didn’t always mind the lessons or trips, since I never had much to do outside of those things, but Dad’s absence seemed to hurt my brothers the most. Two eager boys wanting nothing more than to have their father’s approval were caused an endless storm of anguish and anger when he didn’t give them the time of day.

Dad may have ignored me at the best of times, leaving me to do whatever I pleased within reason, but he was something else entirely to them. He was a ghost of the man they looked up to—the man they expected to show them the ropes and include them in his work.

His disappointment in them was palpable. Whether it was because of their behavior that stemmed from his absence, or if there was just something he didn’t like about them, it was evident enough.

And of course, being the youngest and only girl in the family, I was the sole target of said bad behavior.

Since he wasn’t there to nurture and guide them, it certainly meant he was never there to stop either of them from picking on me and choosing me as their outlet to let out those tumultuous emotions.

It had been silent while I scrolled through the photos, biding my time until this evening was over, but the moment Dante dropped himself into the armchair across from me, it felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room.

I felt his eyes burning into me immediately, and I risked a glance up to find him staring.

Letting go of a breath, I returned my attention to my screen, hoping he’d just forget it for Dad’s sake.

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