Page 72 of Bratva Knight

She looked like she was going to push more on the subject, but in the end decided to drop it. “That guy, Kurt, the one that started all this shit between you and Nik. Why did he do that? Why did he say you guys slept together when you didn’t?”

“Well, weusedto sleep together, remember? That trainee I told you about?”

“That was him?”

“Yes. We fucked for a few months while we were both going through the Bratva training. Then…”

“Nik?” It felt so strange talking about this with her, but only because I’d been hiding it for so long.

“Yeah. Once things started with Nikolai, I broke it off with Kurt instantly. He was pissed off but Nikoali is—”

“Whoa, whoa.” She held up her hands. “I don’t need those details. He’s my brother. I don’t want to know what you guys get up to.”

I chuckled softly. “Fair point. Anyway, Kurt didn’t take kindly to being dumped. I think he caused trouble between Nikolai and I as a way to get back at me.”

Illayana frowned. “How did he even know about the two of you, though?”

“He caught us. Once. We were fucking in the warehouse late one night when he walked in. Nikoali threatened to kill him if he said a word. Which he took very seriously because, hello, your brother can be a scary motherfucker when he wants to be.”

Illayana grunted.

“Everything was good, for a while. We’d been seeing each other for about a year when I fell pregnant. But I guess Kurt decided he wanted to cause drama, so he kept dropping hints that he and I had slept together recently. So recently that Nikolai thought the baby was Kurt’s and not his. The rest, you know…”

She shook her head in anger. “God, he can be so pig-headed sometimes. I can’t believe he didn’t listen to you when you said you hadn’t slept with Kurt. Did he ever give any explanation as to why he acted like that?”

I looked away. He had. Nikolai told me all about Galina and the whole “passing off the baby as his even though she knew there was a high probability of it being someone else's” thing. It finally gave me some clarity as to why he’d acted the way he did when Kurt ran his mouth. Nikolai had been stung in the past, and he thought I’d done the exact same thing to him. It excused his behaviour…up to a point.

I couldn’t tell Illayana that though. It wasn’t my secret to tell.

When I didn’t answer, Illayana asked, “Whatever ended up happening to him? Kurt?”

I shrugged. “Beats me. He disappeared shortly after Nikolai and I split. I know word got out that Nikoali was looking for him. I think he realised how much he fucked up and ran the first chance he got. I managed to have a brief conversation with him before he took off. If I hadn't been pregnant, I would have tried to kill him. Turns out, he’d been spying on me for months, stalking me. It’s how he found out about the tattoo on my ass. He used to watch me in my room.”

“Creepy,” she shivered. “Is there anything else you’ve been neglecting to tell me?” Her face was tense, eyes hard.

Was there? I racked my brain, trying to think if there was anything else I’d been keeping from her. Better to air it all out now and just be done with it.

“My mother called me a few weeks ago.”

“Your mother?” she frowned.

I nodded. “She reached out. Said she wanted to see me.”

“What the fuck?” she exclaimed. “Where the hell has she been the last twenty-four years?”

“Didn’t ask. Just told her to fuck off and hung up. My dad went to Russia to see her during the time of the attack. She tried to convince him to talk to me, to get me to agree to see her, but I’m not interested in anything she has to say or whatever excuses she tries to throw my way.”

Illayana asked a few more questions. Some about my mother. Some about Nikolai, our relationship and how we’d managed to hide it for so long. I tried to answer as honestly as possible. The shift in her personality was so gradual at first that I didn’t even notice it. The sadness and compassion she’d shown slowly began to fade, replaced by that infamous Volkov temper.

When the conversation reached a standstill, I peaked a glance at her. Oh, yeah, she was pissed.

By the look on her face, I could have sworn she was getting ready to throw down right there and then. I was expecting it. Preparing for it. I’d seen that dangerous glint in her eyes dozens of times before she challenged her brothers to the ring. It was going to happen. It was—

Illayana stood abruptly and marched towards the door. She flung it open so hard that it smacked against the wall with a loudwhack, and she disappeared around the corner without a glance back.

I frowned. She was itching to fight, yet she was ignoring it? That didn’t sound like the Illayana I knew. Unless something was holding her back from fightingme? Maybe she felt bad for me. Maybe after I’d told her what happened, she didn’t think it was right to be angry with me.

That only left—

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