Page 28 of Bratva Knight

One thing I’d noticed about Drea when watching her fight previously was she had this “brawler” type of attitude. She knew that, with her smaller stature, she had to be quick. Not allow herself to get too close to her opponent. But when she had them pinned, her fighting style changed from deadly and cautious to fucking animalistic.

Illayana did her best to deflect Drea’s blows. When the opportunity presented itself, she went on the offensive, leaning forward to wrap Drea up in a headlock.

Drea struggled, ramming her fists into Illayana’s side to try and get her to let go, but my sister held strong, gritting her teeth through the pain. Drea had only seconds left before she passed out. There was no way out. This fight was over—

Drea’s hands ran frantically down Illayana’s body, as if she was searching for something. Then Illayana cried out in pain, her back bowing. Breaking out of the hold, Drea scrambled away, hand to her throat as Illayana moved to her hands and knees, one armed wrapped around her side.

“What was that?” I whispered to Aleksandr.

He watched them closely. “Drea has a thing for pressure points.”

“Ahh.”

They glared at each other from across the ring before they rushed forward, starting all over again. You could tell they were both in pain and beyond exhausted, but it was like neither one of them wanted to be the first one to concede. As they went back to trading blow after brutal blow, Illayana’s guards, Christian, Luca and Lorenzo made their way through the overflowing crowd, coming straight towards us.

“Heads up.” I nodded to the Cosa Nostra men.

Aleksandr groaned, running a hand down his face. Like me, he knew exactly why they were approaching us. Also like me, he wasn’t remotely interested in hearing it.

“You need to stop this,” Luca, the more level-headed of the twins hissed.

“Do I?” my brother drawled, eyes never straying from the ring.

“Yes! Look at them! You need to get in there and break it up, or they’re going to kill each other!”

It was a very reasonable assumption, considering how hard Illayana and Drea were going at each other. They were fighting like they hated one another, when really, it wasn’t about that at all. It was about who was better. Plain and simple.

“I thought Christian was the dumb twin,” Lukyan butted in, a smirk on his lips.

“Hey!” Christian barked, affronted, at the same time that Luca growled, “What?”

Lukyan pointed to the ring. “You never,neverget in the middle of a chick fight. Not unless you want to lose an eye.”

“Arturo will takemyeyes if he finds out I just stood here and watched her get hurt like this." He looked at Aleksandr. "Eitheryouget in there and stop your wife, or I’ll—”

“Careful.” Aleksandr’s voice dropped dangerously low, his eyes snapping to Luca, full of anger.

“Excuse my brother.” Christian laid a hand on Luca’s shoulder, pulling him back as he took his place. “After the last punishment we all received, you can understand why we’re all a little nervous. Arturo has given specific instructions for Illayana not to be harmed and, well,” —he gestured to the ring with a wave of his hand, Illayana and Drea locked in a grapple—“I’d say this constitutes as ‘harmful’, wouldn’t you?”

Lukyan frowned. “Okay, is this like aFreaky Fridaykinda situation? Since when are you” —he pointed to Christian—“the voice of reason? And you”—he pointed to Luca—“the hothead?” He pursed his lips in obvious distaste. “It doesn’t suit you. I don’t like it. Switch back.”

Aleksandr and I rolled our eyes.

“Look,” I began, taking charge of the conversation. “You guys remember what Illayana did to Rayna, right? You were there?”

All three men winced.

“That’snothingcompared to what she will do to you if you try to stop her from fighting. You, on the other hand,” I said, looking at Aleksandr.

There was one man in the world my sister would listen to without a shred of hesitation. He wasn’t here, but Aleksandr was a very close second. He sighed, glancing at the ring uncertainly. I had a feeling that he was more worried about his wife’s wrath than Illayana’s.

“Lukyan’s right,” I pressed. “Those two aren’t going to stop until one of them gets knocked out. Best put an end to it now.”

Aleksandr’s grunt of agreement made Illayana’s guards almost drop to their knees in relief. He walked the few steps to the ring and slammed his hand down on the canvas floor. “Enough, Drea. End it.”

Illayana froze, looking his way with a frown on her face, her arms up in a boxers pose.

Drea pouted.

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