Page 44 of Innocent Bratva Virgin

I was doubting myself.

“Hey, knock it off. It’ll be fine. We got this, okay?”

Ivan’s voice cut through the endless cycle of turbulent thoughts threatening to drown me. I looked over at him, a little shaken because of the abrupt end to the silence, and I cocked a brow. How did he do that? He always knew when I was spiraling.

Pulling out the new burner phone we’d stopped and got before arriving here, I typed a message into the newly activated TalkBack system and let it play for Ivan.

“How the fuck do you always know when I’m too in my head?”

Abe scoffed from the back, and I could practically hear him roll his eyes. “When aren’t you, dude?”

I saw Ivan roll his eyes and shake his head for good measure. Looking out the dash, Ivan gripped the steering wheel, and I watched him for a moment as he considered, the gears in his brain whirring as he squinted out over our target.

“You have a habit of it, I’ll admit. But…”

He sighed, an exhaustion washing over him that gave me pause.

“I’m the big brother, yeah? Sure, we all know that. But I’ve been more like the dad of the group, and we all know that, too. Our actual father…well, you saw what he did to Mom.”

My gut clenched as it turned sour. I didn’t want to remember that day. I never wanted to remember that fucking day. But Ivan was forcing me to face some truths I always wondered about.

“But that shouldn’t have happened. Not that I ever thought we’d be able to change the man or keep him from killing her. I think I knew he’d do that the moment she got pregnant with you. No, I mean that you shouldn’t have seen it. We kept as much as we could from you, Vlad. Our beatings, the way he treated Mom right up until that fucking end. Abe and I did everything we could to let you have a normal life, so I guess I’m pretty damn tuned into your needs. Because it’s my job, Vlad. It’s why we’re here. Because I know you need this. Needher.”

I was completely thrown off balance, an invisible rug pulled out from under my feet, and I hit the ground hard. Turning over my shoulder, I looked back at Abe, my eyes wide as I asked for silent confirmation.

He nodded.

When I looked back at Ivan, he was still staring out that damn windshield, his eyes glued to the warehouse. And I wasscrambling. Some part of me knew. I mean, of course, it did. My father was a piece of shit, a drunk, and a violent asshole who’d punch you as soon as look at you.

Hearing the truth straight from the horse’s mouth was different, though. Ivan had admitted that he and Abe took the brunt of Dad’s abuse, that they both steered the man away from me because…because…

I was an innocent kid.

Nausea pulled at the edges, and my eyes stung. They had tried. My brothers had tried so fucking hard to protect me. And none of us had gotten the childhoods we wanted—the ones wedeserved.

Leaning over, I pulled Ivan toward me by his jacket sleeve, and when he tipped in my direction, I hugged him. I held him there for longer than I would any other day. I owed him. I owed Ivan my life and the little bit of joy I’d gotten with our mother before she died.

He patted my arm. “You’re welcome, bro.”

There was a beat, and then Abe piped up from the backseat.

“Where’s my hug, asshole? I wrangled that drunk fuck more times than I can count. Which is, you know, probably because I don’t do numbers.”

Chuckling silently, I reached for the water bottle I’d put in the cupholder and chucked it at him. Knowing Abe was lying across the back seats, the thing hit him square in the dick.

“Fuck!”

Ivan laughed, glancing into the rearview mirror to see how the middle child was doing.

“Walk it off, rookie.”

“You can both suck my balls.” He groaned. “Which really fucking hurt right now.”

After a moment or two, the car returned to silence, and I turned my attention back to the warehouse. I needed to get a better idea of what was going on inside. Walking up to the front door wasn’t going to happen, obviously. Those assholes definitely set a trap, so finding another way to scope out the scene was imperative.

I typed up another message for the TalkBack.

“I need to see inside. I think I can get to the roof without being noticed. It’ll give me a good vantage point.”

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