Page 155 of Bratva Butcher

“Shit,” I answered honestly. There was a bowl of fruit sitting on the bench. I picked off a few grapes and threw them in my mouth. “My father is as stubborn as a damn bull.”

“Ahh, so that’s where you all get it from,” she joked.

I gave her a deadpan look. “Ha. Ha. But yes, probably.” I pushed her lightly on the arm. “You bitch.”

Nikolai jumped to his feet. “Hey! Don’t push her. She’s pregnant!” he snapped.

“Nikolai, it’s okay,” Tatiana laughed. “She barely touched me. Sit back down, love.”

Nikolai glared daggers at me as he took his seat back on Tatiana’s other side.

I raised my brows at Tatiana. “Jeez, what’s with that?”

She patted his hand comfortingly. “He’s just a bit protective.”

“A bit?” I scoffed. “Hate to think what would happen to someone if theyreallyhurt you.”

“Death,” my brother said with a completely straight face.

Sounds about right.

My eyes moved to Lukyan sitting across from me. A bowl of uneaten cereal was in front of him, his gaze fixated on the spoon as it glided back and forth through the milk.

“Lukyan.” He looked up at me. “You alright?”

“Fine,” he said, voice monotone.

He wasn’t fine. Nowhere fucking near it. He hadn’t cracked a single joke or said anything stupid since I got there. For anyone else, that would be normal. For Lukyan, it was incredibly alarming.

“You won’t believe what happened to me the other day,” I began, trying to coax that playful, fun side out of him. “I was walking down the street when my heel just snapped out of nowhere. I lost my footing and landed right in a pile of horse shit. Not dog shit.Horse. Shit.”

The normal Lukyan would have laughed. Pointed. Mocked relentlessly. Possibly asked if there were any photos or videos of the incident so he could see it for himself.

He did none of those things. Just mumbled, “That sucks,” and went right back to pushing his spoon through the bowl of mush in front of him.

With a sigh, he pushed it away and got to his feet. “I gotta go. See you guys later.” And then he left without another word.

Concern flashed across Tatiana’s face. It mirrored the look on Nikolai’s to a tee. I wasn’t sure if it was a relief to know that someone else had noticed how odd Lukyan was acting, or if that just made the whole thing even more terrifying.

“Do you two know what’s going on with him?”

Nikolai shook his head. “No. I suspect it has something to do with Father, but I can’t be certain.”

I picked a few more grapes, popping them into my mouth. “What did Aleksandr say?”

“He frustratingly refused to answer. I don’t think it was anything good, though.”

“Did you see the bruises on his neck?” Tatiana asked.

I did. I’d just assumed it happened from sparring or a fight. The cryptic things Aleksandr said to me before going into my father’s office streaked through my mind. “Aleksandr kept saying I needed to be careful around Father. You heard it. You don’t think…”

A troubled look crossed Nikolai's face. “I honestly don’t know—”

“Pizza!” Aleksandr yelled from the front of the house. A moment later, he stepped into the kitchen with Arturo, both their hands filled with pizza boxes.

“We’ll talk about this later,” I whispered out of the side of my mouth.

Nikolai nodded.

---