Page 62 of Bratva Butcher

“And Lukyan? Illayana?”

He looked back at them. “I’m not sure.”

My jaw clenched. “You’re not sure,” I repeated, my tongue running over my teeth in distaste. “It’s your responsibility to look out for your siblings, is it not?”

He cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter. “Yes, Father.”

“Then explain to me how they ended up here.”

“I…can’t.”

“Bozhe proklyat eto, Aleksandr!” Goddamn it, Aleksandr!I thundered, banging my fist against the bars. “You have one job.One job. Keep your brothers and sister safe. And look at them. Look at them!” I roared.

He flinched. Barely, but I saw it. He did as I ordered.

“Do they look safe to you?”

“No, Father.”

“You sent Nikolai in here, knowing how dangerous it would be. How could you do that?”

“We were trying to save you,” he defended, his own anger starting to rise.

I growled, slicing my hand through the air to silence him. “I didn’t need saving! You should have known better!” I spat. “If your siblings had some ridiculous notion to rescue me, you should have shut it down! My life isn’t worth all of you being at risk!” I looked him dead in the eyes.“YA tak razocharovan v tebe.” I am so disappointed in you.

He recoiled as if I’d struck him. He looked down, his hands clenching at his sides.

Guilt burst in my chest, and I instantly regretted my choice of words.

The last time I used those words was after I’d found out he didn’t escort his mother when she left the house.

He’d been her bodyguard since he was seventeen. It was his job to keep her safe when I was not around to do so. I trusted him with one of the most precious people in my life, and he’d let me down.

For years, I’d blamed him. Blamed him for what happened to her.

Of course, I eventually realised how irrational that was. It wasn’t his fault. My anger and grief was just looking for someone to blame, and he was the easiest target at the time.

I looked at Aleksandr, and the guilt increased tenfold. So lost. So vulnerable. And it was all because of what I said. The specific words that I knew would cut him like a blade.

I was about to apologise when Autumn shoved me so hard that I stumbled. “Ease off him,” she snapped.

What the fuck?

I righted myself and glared down at her. “This isfamily business.It has nothing to do with you. Stay out of it.”

“I will when you stop being such a fucking asshole,” she hissed.

Aleksandr gasped, unable to hide his shock. I ignored him.

“What are you talking about?”

Instead of answering me, she turned to Aleksandr, her face a mask of disgust. I didn’t fucking like it. “This kind of shit happens so often he can’t even see it, can he?”

Irrational jealousy snapped my spine straight. Why the fuck was she talking to my son like I wasn’t even there? Why was she jumping tohisdefense? She didn’t even fucking know him. If she was going to defend anyone, it should have beenme.

I gripped her roughly by the chin andforcedher to look at me. “Don’t talk to him.Talk to me.”

She scowled, those fiery green eyes I was slowly coming to adore burning with anger.

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