Page 37 of Bratva Butcher

Autumn’s words snapped me out of my over-analytical brain, my eyes cutting to her. “Excuse me?”

She laughed, her head rolling along her shoulders as she propped her elbows up on the bed behind her and crossed her legs at the ankles at the same time. If I moved, if I stretched out my own legs just a little bit, I would touch her.

“The way you say things is a trip sometimes. There’s this incredulous tilt to it like you can’t believe someone has the audacity to call you out on your bullshit. It’s hilarious.” We might have been surrounded by darkness, but I could see her staring me down. Could feel those piercing green eyes locked on me. “I said you’re a coward, Dimitri. You can’t admit there are some things you want to know. Instead, you’d rather lie and pretend you’re not interested.Coward.”

She was challenging me. Daring me to contradict her words by proving I was the exact opposite of what she was accusing me of. It wasn’t going to work. I wasn’t one to be manipulated.

“You seem to be under the impression that I give a fuck what you think.” I got to my feet, towering over her. Such a position put her at an extreme disadvantage, but she didn’t care. She just tilted her head back and looked up at me, no hint of fear or anxiety on her face at all. “I don’t. Call me whatever you want. It doesn’t affect me. Wolves don’t lose sleep over the opinions of sheep.”

“That sounds vaguely familiar. Did you steal that from somewhere?”

Tywin Lannister fromGame of Throneshad said something similar. I hadn’t watched the show, but Illayana and Lukyan had, and that was one quote that had always stuck with me.

Because it was true.

The annoying thing was, though, was that Autumn wasn’t a sheep. She was very much a wolf. Intelligent. Cunning. Vicious. And absolutely fucking fearless.

The more time I spent around her… The more I got to know her… The more I hated her. And it was because I didn’t hate it at all. She had qualities I respected and admired. She was tough as shit. Had no problem saying whatever was on her mind, even if it offended someone bigger and stronger than she was. Strength was something I respected. I despised weakness, and it was becoming clearer with each passing day that there wasn’t a weak bone in Autumn’s body.

“Look, enough of the bullshit, Dimitri,” she huffed, getting to her feet, bringing herself almost toe-to-toe with me.

A zing shot through my body, an electric hum buzzing beneath my skin. I took a step back instantly and almost sighed with relief when it disappeared.

“Whether you like it or not, we’re partners here. That means we have to work together. Open the fuck up and tell me what I need to know.”

Silence drifted between us as we stared at each other.She’s right. Of course, I knew that. The more she knew about Talon—what kind of person he was—the better prepared she would be. And the more preparedshewas, the bettermychances were.

Talking about my past wasn’t an easy thing for me to do—especially with someone who drove me absolutely fucking insane—but I knew it was the right course of action.

“I met Talon in boarding school,” I sighed, moving backwards to sit down on my cot.

Autumn’s eyes widened slightly. “You guys gothatfar back?”

“Forty years,” I said idly. “Sunset Boarding School wastheschool for not only the rich and famous but also the offspring of the criminal underworld. It was clean cut. Had the best academic excellence on record, with graduates moving on tobecome the top people in their field of choice. And most of all, it was known worldwide for its discretion when it came to those who attended. Meaning that when students stepped out of line—like trying to kill a fellow student by trapping them in a fire in their dorm room—it got swept under the rug for a hefty price of a donation entering somewhere in the hundreds of thousands.”

Autumn blinked. She took a seat on her cot, leaning back against the wall and getting comfortable. “So, who tried to kill whom?”

I kept forgetting about her perceptiveness. She was able to hone in on the one detail that mattered in a sea of useless words. “He took the first shot.” The memory of said event moved to the forefront of my mind. The flames. The heat. The panic that inevitably crawled under my skin when I realised our only way out had been blocked. Having to resort to jumping out of a third-storey window to escape. “From that point on, it was a bit of a blow-for-blow situation. He went after me, so I went after him. In a one-on-one fight, I could have taken him. Easily. It didn’t matter that I was sixteen—technically still a child by society’s standards. Not by my father’s, or the life we lived though. From the moment I could grasp, my father put a knife in my hand. Fighting was second nature to me. Talon might not have had the physical skills to best me, but he was smart. After he tried to kill me and Mikhail, he realised his life was in danger and started walking around with armed guards. That didn’t stop me from trying to get even, but it made things more difficult.”

“Mikhail?” she questioned.

“A very, very old friend. From before boarding school. We ended up attending Sunset together, and that’s where we met Talon. For a while, we were all really close.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Let me guess.” She leant forward, something twinkling in her eyes. “The three of you were the big hotshots on campus. People moved out of your way when you walked downthe halls. All the guys wanted to be you, and all the girls wanted to fuck you. Am I right?”

I refrained from smirking, even when the compulsion to do so almost consumed me. “Somewhat.”

“So, what happened then? If you guys were so close, what happened to make all that change?”

I settled back, the cool steel of the cell bars pressing into my skin. “If I were to boil it down to one, pivotal moment in time, I’d say it was Parents Weekend.”

“Parents…Weekend?” Her face scrunched up. “A hoity-toity school like that had aParents Weekend?”

“Every year,” I said, shrugging a shoulder. “My father never attended one, not that I minded.” In fact, I preferred it. Even at that age, I hated the man.

“And your mother?”

My brows slammed down into an angry frown. “My mother is not up for discussion. She has nothing to do with Talon, and I willnotbe talking about her. Don’t ask again.”

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