Page 140 of Bratva Knight

It was a horrible plan, one we prayed we wouldn’t have to implement. But Aleksandr, Lukyan, my father and I weren’t physically or mentally capable of killing each other. If Talon chose to have us fight each other, we would have no other choice but to go through with it.

Father leant forward and rested his forehead against mine. He closed his eyes, taking a big, deep breath in before he whispered three words I’d never heard him say to me before.

"YA tebya lyublyu." I love you.

And then he was gone, leaving me to stare dumbfounded after him with my mouth hanging wide open.

Oh, he must be really,reallyworried we aren’t going to make it through this alive.

He went to Aleksandr next, pulling him aside to have the same conversation he’d just had with me. My suspicions were confirmed when a look of pure and utter shock flashed across my brother’s face, no doubt from Father’s declaration of love.

It wasn’t like we didn’tknowhe loved us. Of course we did. He showed us that in the way he fiercely protected us, in the way he cared for us. He’d just never said the actual words before.

When he got to Lukyan…well…it’s Lukyan. The idiot acted exactly how I predicted he would.

“Oh my god! I love you, too!” he screamed, throwing his arms around Father in a huge bear hug.

Father grunted, stumbling back from the force of it but didn’t push him away, patting his back lightly with a small smile on his lips.

“Ladies and gentleman, are we ready for the next round of the Til Death Games?!”

We all looked up at the set of TVs hanging on the wall, seeing a man dressed in a tuxedo and holding a microphone, displaying on each screen. Tension descended over us as the man announced the events of the night, saying that there was something special planned for everyone. That it would be a night no one would ever forget. That something that had never happened before in the history of the games was about to take place.

I found his voice irritating. If I somehow made it out of this, I was going to take his voice box so he could never talk again. I’m sure I’d be doing everyone a fucking favour. Maybe—

“Father!”

At that voice, we all spun, seeing Illayana running towards us from another entrance. Behind her marched a line of A-Team soldiers, all armed.

“Illayana!” Father caught her when she jumped into his arms.

Relief literally took my breath away. My body slumped slightly, my hand grasping at my chest.

She is okay. She is okay.

We crowded her, asking her a million questions.

“Are you alright?”

“What happened?”

“Did he touch you? I’ll fucking kill him.”

Illayana laughed softly at our fretting.That is a good sign, right?

She didn’t look any worse for wear. She was still in the same clothes she was wearing before she was taken from the cells. There was no blood and no bruises. If someone tried to take her against her will, she would have fought back. Hard.

“I’m fine,” she said, stepping back out of Father’s arms. “Talon didn’t touch me. That’s not what he wanted me for. He just wanted to fuck with you all. Rile you up for the games. Plus, I told him I’d die before I let any man touch me, and he said that would interfere with what he had planned, so he just left me locked up in a room the whole time.”

We released a collective sigh, all beyond pleased to hear she hadn’t been hurt.

Before we could say anything else, one of the soldiers barked out a command. “You two, against the wall.” —he pointed to Autumn and Father— “You four, over near the door.”

None of us moved.

“Now!” he demanded, waving his gun around.

Aleksandr, Lukyan, Illayana and I all looked to our Father and waited. When he gave the slightest nod of his head, we moved to where the guard indicated.

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