Page 158 of Bratva Knight

“It’s about your stalker,” Aleksandr finished.

Lukyan shrugged uncaringly. “What about her?”

“Did you knowshewas the one who sent the location of the island to Drea? Or thatshewas the sniper who saved you in the Arena?”

His eyes widened. “She was?” he breathed out in shock. “How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I didn’t order anyone up there.” A troubling look crossed Drea’s face. “Neither did Arturo, Mikhail or my brother.”

“Okay? I don’t get what the big deal is. If what you’re saying is true, it means she saved me, savedus.”

“The big deal is, the woman is highly-trained, highly skilled, has managed to sneak in and out of our property completely undetected,andwe have no idea who the fuck she is. The big deal is that she is a massive,massivethreat, and the moment she realises she can’t have you will be the moment everything changes.”

Lukyan said nothing, his brows lowered in a deep frown.

“We need to find her and deal with her.” The underlying meaning in Aleksandr’s words were clear. “She’s followingyou. That meansyou’rethe only one who can do it. You do whatever you need to do to find her, and you kill her. Understand?”

The room was silent for a moment until finally, Lukyan agreed. “Got it.”

“Good.” Aleksandr addressed a few more issues; where we sat with inventory, our new clients in New York, the progress of the new soldiers sent over from Russia. Lukyan and I sat and listened, chiming in whenever we had anything to add. Father said nothing. He just sat back and watched Aleksandr completely in his element. If there was ever any doubt about Aleksandr being able to handle this job, it was all squashed at that moment.

After he was finished, Father spoke. “I will be going away for a few weeks. There’s something I have to do—”

“Does this ‘something’ have anything to do with a certain feisty red-head?” Lukyan sang, his face full of cheekiness.

Father’s head snapped to him so fast, I worried he’d break his neck, that dark, angry cloud hanging over him that had slowly started to diminish flaring straight back to life.

Aleksandr and I both groaned.You goddamn fucking idiot.

Weallknew not to mention her to him. Anytime anybody did, his mood got even worse. Darker, more enraged.

Lukyan winced under Father’s terrifying glare, hunching his shoulder in to try and make himself smaller.

Now’s as good a time as any to share your news. It might distract Father long enough to save Lukyan’s life.

“Since we’re sharing news,” I coughed. “I have something to tell you all. I’m leaving.”

That did it.

Father’s gaze whipped to me and they all spoke overtop of one another.

Father: “What are you talking about?”

Aleksandr: “Where are you going?”

Lukyan: “Can I have your room?”

We all looked to him, giving him a deadpan stare.

“What?” he shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a surprise. Of course he’s leaving. As if he could live somewhere different than Tatiana.”

There he went again, being a complete idiot one minute and incredibly insightful the next.

Aleksandr leant forward, bracing his elbows on the desk. He frowned in concentration. “Tatiana can’t move here?”

“We spoke about it and she offered, but her classes have just started. Moving back means she has to pull out. I don’t want her to do that. This is something she’s been dreaming about for years. I don’t want to be the reason she can’t do it.”

Aleksandr’s jaw clenched. “I need you here, Nikolai.”

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