Page 134 of Bratva Knight

Illayana didn’t say a word. Didn’t fight. She just stared Talon down with an angry glare that would put my father to shame.

Father growled, and his cage rattled. “You touch her, Talon, and I swear to God, I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” Talon smirked, moving behind her. He pressed up against her, burying his face into her hair and smelling her. Illayana took a deep breath and stayed completely still, head up, face strong, like what he was doing wasn’t affecting her. But I knew it had to. She was putting on a strong front for our father, for us.

“There’s nothing you can do, Dimitri.I’mthe one in control here. You can spend the next few days thinking about all the nasty ways I’m defiling your pretty little daughter here.”

My brain exploded with fury and I rammed into the bars with my body at the same time Father and Aleksandr did. The cellsshook. We all kept ramming while Lukyan opted to kick furiously instead, each of us screaming and cursing at Talon to let her go, not to touch her.

But the man just smiled, seeming happy with the reaction his words and actions brought forth. “That’s it,” he encouraged, egging us on. “Let that anger build! It will make for a more entertaining fight.” He gripped Illayana’s chin and ran his tongue up her cheek. She shivered in repulsion and it made Father roar in fury, his body slamming into the bars over and over again.

My shoulder hurt. I could already feel the bruises forming on my skin but I didn’t stop trying to break down the cell. Neither did Aleksandr or Lukyan. We kicked, rammed and pounded our fists. All while Talon laughed.

"Ostanavlivat'sya.“ Stop,Illayana whispered.

I didn’t want to. I knew it was physically impossible to break down the bars but I didn’t want to stop trying. How could I? She was my baby sister. It was a big brother’s job to protect their baby sister. I couldn’t stop.

“Ostanavlivat'sya." Stop,Illayana said again, pleading, begging.

The look on her face and the suffering layered in that one word was what did it for me. Watching us hurt ourselves trying to get to her was hurtingher.

One by one, we all stopped. First Lukyan. Then me. Then Aleksandr. Father was the only one who didn’t. His fists bled. His body was covered in bright red marks that would turn into painful bruises. Indents from the bars showed on his shoulders. And still he kept trying, refusing to give up.

"Otets. Ostanavlivat'sya. Pozhaluysta." Father. Stop. Please.Illayana whispered sadly.

Father tried a few more times before finally doing as she asked, releasing a defeated sigh. Illayana looked at him and gave him a small smile.

"Vse normal'no.“ It’s okay,she said, voice strong. “I’ll be okay.”

“Aww,” Talon cooed condescendingly. “How sweet.” His following chuckle made me clench my fists, my teeth grinding. “You all should try and get some rest. Trust me when I say that you will need it.”

Agony assaulted me as he led Illayana out of the room, the door slamming shut behind them.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Tatiana Andreeva

“Howdidthishappen?”Mikhail asked, the question directed at no one in particular. We were all gathered in Aleksandr’s office; me, Drea, Arturo, Vincenczo, my dad, Illayana’s guards, some of the higher ranking Bratva soldiers, theSovietnik, Vladimir and, of course, Mikhail.

After Illayana had been kidnapped, I sprinted back to their house to report it. I’d given a description of the van but there had been no license plate, so the chances of finding it were slim to none. That’s when we discovered that not only hadshebeen taken, but so had Aleksandr and Lukyan. It was a completely unprecedented situation. Never in the history of the Bratva had not only thePakhan,but all of his children as well, been kidnapped. If word got out, it could mean the end for the Bratva.

As Aleksandr’s wife, Drea was technically now in charge, but they’d only been married a short time. A few of the Bratva soldiers had already begun to show indifference to her. It didn’t bode well for her, or for us. We needed the loyalty of all the soldiers if we were going to pull off any kind of rescue.

How? Well, I still hadn’t figured that out yet.

Arturo paced back in forth in the office and everyone stayed the fuck out of his way. The anger rolling off that man was enough to make even me steer clear of him. “Who the fuck cares how it happened?” he barked at Mikhail, never stopping his pacing. “The point is that it has, and we need to make a plan.”

Mikhail sat forward and interlocked his fingers, staring Arturo down. “I care,” he said sternly. “If there’s a rat, someone reporting the movements of this organisation to Talon, then we need to know and find them before we come up with any sort of attack plan. Otherwise we’ll just be walking right into a trap.”

“You’re sure it’s Talon that has them?” I asked, frowning in thought. Of course, it made the most sense. It was the most logical conclusion. But we had to besure.

“As sure as I can be.”

Drea was seated behind the desk in Aleksandr’s chair. She looked even smaller in it, the gargantuan size of the thing almost swallowing her whole. But she didn’t let that affect her. She sat tall and proud, like she had every damn right to be there, in that position. “First things first, we figure outhowthey were all kidnapped.”

“It was clearly a coordinated strike.” Vladimir crossed his arms over his chest, standing tall at Drea’s side. He’d shown nothing but respect to her and made it clear he was loyal to her and would follow her orders, something that couldn’t be said for some of the other soldiers in the room. Once Aleksandr found out, he’d have them killed. For sure.

“They were each targeted when they were at their most vulnerable. When they were away from the house,” Vladimir finished.

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