Page 90 of Claimed By the Bratva Brothers

The guys take turns shuffling the babies between them before placing them in their bassinets next to my bed.

Max smiles and comes to my side, eager to kiss me, lovingly caressing my face. “You were incredible, Lyric. You’ve truly blessed us.”

“And I cannot love you more,” Ivan adds and kisses me. Deeply. Sweetly. Pouring his heart and soul through his lips and flooding my heart with his.

I welcome their love. Artur’s delicate pecks on the cheek. His honeylike whispers. Max’s gentle caresses. I welcome everything they’re so eager to give me while our sons sleep soundly in their little beds, warm and comfortable swaddled in their blankets.

“I never thought I’d find myself here,” I say, melting in Max’s embrace.

“Neither did I but I welcome every second,” he replies.

“We have kids now,” Ivan says, laughing as he slowly shakes his head. “I didn’t think we’d ever see this day, to be honest.”

Artur gives him a smile. “Given what we’ve been through, it’s a miracle, isn’t it?”

“Lyric is our miracle,” Max declares. “Our boys are just the first of many bonuses.”

“We never settled on names,” Artur reminds us. What are we naming them?”

Extended Epilogue: Lyric

My father stares at me in sheer disbelief.

“Lyric, why didn’t you tell me?” he asks from behind a thick, bulletproof glass pane. The orange prison jumpsuit makes him look pale and sickly. Then again, he’s been here for almost a year now. Matthew Phelps is but a shadow of the man he used to be, and judging by the healing bruises on his face, his inmates don’t like him much. “You have twins?”

“Sasha and Alexander. Twin boys,” I reply, calmly seated in my chair.

He reaches out, touching the glass with a look of longing in his eyes. “I’m happy for you.”

“They’re Sokolov sons. I’m not sure how happy that makes you,” I mutter.

“It doesn’t really matter anymore,” he says with a heavy sigh. “I’m spending another nine years in this place. It’s all water under the bridge. I’ve made my peace.”

“Have you, really?”

I don’t believe him. I know from our lawyers that he has been trying to appeal his sentence. Former Director Smith sang like a bird once he was confronted with the prospect of twenty years in general population. As a member of law enforcement, he wouldn’t have survived his first year.

So he sang and then some. About Bowman, about my father, about other state and city officials who worked closely with his group. Heads rolled. Prison sentences were meted out aplenty. My father didn’t stand a chance, though he did try to make a deal with the Attorney General.

But he had nothing of value to give them.

The information that Shelby provided rendered him ripe for the picking. The jury was swift, the judge was unforgiving. Lucky for him, the magnitude of his crimes only got him a decade in prison. It’s better than nothing, our lawyers reiterated.

“What do you mean?” my father asks, looking innocently confused.

“Did you really think you could get away with trying to smear my name?” I reply, smiling and remaining calm, just like Max taught me. “Did you think the editor of Chicago’s biggest tabloid wouldn’t reach out to the Sokolov Corporation when you first approached him with your salacious gossip about me? Are you for real, Dad?”

He leans back, growing increasingly uncomfortable. I hit a nerve. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Calls from prison are recorded,” I say. “And given Max’s connections, rest assured I heard every word you said to that editor. Luckily, he knew better than to attempt a name-trashing campaign against the heads of the Bratva. He told us everything.”

“Lyric…”

“Even in prison as you pay for your crimes, you’re still trying to hurt me.”

“You put me in here!” he snaps.

“No, you put yourself in here. Fucking own it, you coward,” I shoot back, pointing an angry finger at him. “You were supposed to be my father. Instead, you got involved with the worst kind of people. You managed to get Shelby under your spell by manipulating her, almost turning her against me while you did Bowman’s bidding. Everything that happened, it happened because of you and nobody else.”

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