Page 75 of Bratva Butcher

The guard approached from behind and used a key to unlock my collar. I may have forgotten I was wearing the thing half the time, but I was glad to no longer have pounds of explosives around my neck. The moment it left my skin, I stretched out my neck, moving it left to right. Autumn did the same.

We were herded back over to Aleksandr, Nikolai, Lukyan and Illayana, the roar of the crowd getting louder and louder with each passing second.

I hated the fact that I didn’t even have a second to talk to Illayana like I’d spoken to my other children, because the next words out of the presenter’s mouth signalled the start of the games.

“Introducing the next competitors of the Til Death Games, The Crimson Death and the most notorious family in the Bratva, the Volkovs!”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Autumn DeValos

The cheer of thecrowd was so loud that it hurt my ears.

“Volkov!”

“Volkov!”

“Volkov!”

I stepped out into the arena, bright, blinding lights bearing down on me, making it difficult to see anything up in the stands. It was probably better that way. If I caught the faces of anyone up there, I’d hunt them down and kill them.

If I got out of there alive, that was.

My toes sunk into the sand with each step, my skin buzzing with excitement despite the danger I was about to face. Dimitri’s children took in the arena, his youngest, Illayana and Lukyan, looking around with wide eyes. It would be a sight to behold if you were seeing it for the first time, that was for sure.

There was only a moment to adjust to our new surroundings before that asswipe, Talon, appeared on the massive jumbotron suspended over our heads.

“Wow! Aren’t we excited?!”

The crowd cheered even louder, something I honestly didn’t think was possible.

“Ipresent to you, the Volkovs, the most lethal and dangerous family in all of the mafia,” Talon continued. “You’ve all heard of the Bratva Butcher. Allow me to introduce you to his children. All cut from the same cloth as their murderous father. All born and raised to be ruthless, violent killers. And all brought here to you byme, to fight for their lives in what promises to be the show of a lifetime!”

I eyed Aleksandr, Nikolai, Lukyan and Illayana out of the corner of my eye, my interest officially peaked. Based on their behaviour down in the cells, I never would have chosen those specific words to describe them. Then again, the people I was looking at were suddenly not the same people I’d been locked up with for the past few days.

They were completely different. Gone were the squabbling siblings who fought and argued over every little detail, and in their place were hardened individuals, not a shred of playfulness or humanity on their faces.

Well, everyone except for the long-haired one. He raised his hand and waved to the roaring crowd with a smile on his face like he was some sort of superstar out on the red carpet, and they were his adoring fans. Then Aleksandr thumped him on the back of his head.

Ha.

“Now, I’m sure you’re all dying to know what we have planned for the family tonight.”Aren’t we all?“As these are not ordinary people, I thought something special was in order, something different. Something to even the odds a little bit and ensurethere is a good, brutal fight for you all to see. So, tonight, it will be a fight to the death between the Volkovs and me. Or, more specifically,allof my men.”

Oh, shit.

The arena flooded with soldiers not even a second later, all coming in from different points of entry.

What in theKill Billfuckery is this?

“Back to back!” Dimitri ordered, and in unison, his children spun on the balls of their feet, forming a tight circle, standing shoulder to shoulder, facing out towards the small army descending upon us.

I stood outside of the circle with my jaw open.Who the fuck are these guys? The fucking military?

They conducted themselves like they were—on a battlefield, anyway. Moved as if they’d had some sort of formal training. It was like a flip of a switch. They went from being normal, everyday siblings who liked to roast the shit out of each other to serious, deadly soldiers in the blink of a fucking eye.

It was actually quite impressive. No wonder they were so notorious.

Dimitri clasped my arm, jolting me out of my daze. He moved me into position beside him as more of Talon’s soldiers entered the arena, so many that I couldn’t even fucking count. There had to beat leastfifty of them. Probably more. Some of them carried weapons; knives, machete’s, axes, baseball bats. No guns that I could see, though.

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