Page 73 of Bratva Knight

My eyes widened.Shit. I jumped to my feet and bolted out the door.

Chapter Twenty-One

Nikolai Volkov

Istaredatmylaptop screen, lips pursed in mild agitation. My jaw ached, a slight flare of pain spreading out across my face as I opened my mouth to finish the rest of my drink. Fuck, Ivan hit hard. Had it beenanyone else,I would have killed them for daring to step out of line like that. Ivan got away with it purely because he was Tatiana’s father. And…well…because I deserved the strike. He was right. I had let Tatiana down. I didn’t deserve her, but do you think that was going to stop me from having her anyway?

No fucking way.

Tatiana was probably going to kill me for getting into it with Ivan. Usually, I could hold myself back from retaliating against him. I could ignore the way he looked at me with disgust and contempt. I could ignore the disrespectful words he grumbled whenever I walked past. The one thing I couldnotignore was him telling me that he planned to marry Tatiana off.

The rage that had consumed me swallowed me whole. There was no way I was capable of holding myself back from that. Even if I wanted to—which I didn’t.

Just theideaof it…the notion of her being bound to another man, kissing him, touching him, fucking him—

The glass in my handshattered, my rage uncontrollable. I cursed, letting the remaining shards of glass slip through my fingers to join the others on the floor.

I’d marry Tatiana right fucking then and there if she’d let me. I’d plan a big, grand, elaborate proposal—one worthy of her—drop to one knee at her feet and ask her to spend the rest of her life with me, if I thought there was even the slightest chance she’d say yes. I knew there wasn’t though. I had to work my way up to that, which I was beyond determined to do.

My laptop beeped, letting me know the file I was downloading had finished. I opened it and quickly scanned the information. I needed to find out everything I possibly could on Talon. His strengths. His weaknesses. His fucking shoe size. I wanted to know everything there was to know about him.Nothingwas off limits.

Talon Scardo. Fifty-four years old. Attended Sunset Boarding School for Boys and graduated top of his class.

I scoffed. Another perk of Daddy’s money.

No college listed, which meant he most likely didn’t attend one. CEO of a few massive Fortune 500 companies in the US, as well as several other companies all around the world. He had his fingers dipped into everything, from private security firms to run of the mill cleaning businesses. An idea flourished in my mind and I couldn’t hold back my grin. If it was possible, if I could somehow make it work, I had my in.

I need to run it by Mikhail first, if he is still here. See if he knows—

A hand slammed my laptop closed. “Get the fuck up.”

I looked up, staring into my sister’s angry blue eyes. She was glaring down at me like she wanted to slit my throat.

“Are you deaf? I said, get the fuck up,” she growled.

I arched an eyebrow. “A little early for a visit from the Red Dragon, isn’t it? That period calendar Lukyan and I made is usually pretty accurate.”

Her face reddened, teeth clenching so hard that I was sure she’d shatter them. If it was physically possible, there’d be steam coming out of her ears.

“Don’t joke,” she spat. “How could you?”

I sighed, rolling my eyes. “You’re going to have to be more specific. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Illayana was easy to anger. She could be talking about any number of things. Maybe I moved one of her belongings and didn’t put it back exactly where I found it. Or maybe I accidentally ate something in the fridge that she’d planned on eating herself (yet neglected to tell anyone about). Those were just a few examples of times she’d gotten pissed with me in the past.

“You’re seriously going to play dumb right now?”

I rubbed my temples in exasperation. “Illayana—”

Lukyan burst through the front door, panting heavily. His coat hung off his shoulders, like he didn’t want to waste the few extra seconds it would have taken to put it on properly, and his shoelaces were untied. “Okay, okay, I’m here. I’m—” he frowned, his eyes darting between Illayana and I. “Uh, what’s going on?”

We both ignored him.

“How could you keep something like this from me, Nikolai?How?”

I stiffened, my entire body going cold. That look in her eyes…the hurt layered in her voice…

Glancing over my shoulder, my eyes connected with Tatiana’s. She was wringing her hands together in front of her, chewing her bottom lip nervously. My girl didn’tgetnervous, so it could only mean one thing.

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