Page 81 of Brutal Bratva King

“Hello, husband.” I can hear the smile in her voice. “Can you talk for a moment? Something happened—I just want to let you know—“

My stomach knots immediately. Even though she doesn’t sound panicked, panic rushes through me.

“Are you ok? Is the baby ok?”

“Yes, no, it’s not about me—it’s your sister. Ruslana is here. We just had a long talk. It’s not good at all, but everyone is ok—it’s just something you need to be aware of.”

“Ok—“ I say, feeling anxiety growing inside my chest.

“You know, with how she’s been withdrawn lately—we thought it was just her being a bit sulky over the drinking incident, but it’s not—“

Anya explains everything that’s going on with my sister and my stomach knots tighter and tighter.I don’t understand why she didn’t come to me for help. Although Anya tells me it’s because she was worried about being in trouble—but this is serious. This is more than just me being annoyed with her. This is her being in danger. The exact thing I was trying to protect her from in the first place.

“Do we know anything about the guy who’s bothering her?” I ask.

“No, she only knows his first name—nothing else.”

“Send me his name and his phone number. I am going to have my guys look into it so we can find out who he is.”

“I’ll send it. But listen, I am going to take Ruslana shopping now.”

“Anya—I would prefer if—“ she interrupts me, immediately cutting off my attempt to control her.

“We will take bodyguards with us, I promise. And we will be careful. I want to get her out for a bit and clear her head. She’s been so stressed about all of this. She needs to know we are there for her.”

I sigh, fighting the urge to try and tell her she can’t go. I have to learn to let go. Anya and Ruslana will be perfectly safe with the bodyguards nearby. Some idiot from the club is not going to be able to bother them. And as much as I want to, I can’t keep Anya home just because she’s pregnant. She will hate me by the time the baby is born. I have to relax and not get so worked up over things.

“Alright. If you take the guards. Two of them, at least. And please put your live location on. I know—I’m being paranoid. But please, do it to make me happy.”

She giggles and the sound rustles through me, making my skin tingle. I love the sound of her laugh. “I will put it on right now,” she promises.

We chat a little more, with her taking the time to reassure me and me worrying anyway. I appreciate that she knows me well enough to be patient with me about these things. The need to control everything that goes on around me is in my blood.

“Princess, just keep in touch. And I will see you at dinner tonight. I can’t wait. I’m missing you terribly today.”

“I’m missing you too, my love. I can’t wait to see you either.”

We say goodbye and I hang up, taking a deep breath. “They will be fine,” I tell myself, still feeling horribly stressed over it.

But just because I am trying not to control everything, doesn’t mean that I will just let idiots mess with my family. I make my way to the security office in my warehouse. I’ll give them his number and they will easily be able to find out exactly who he is. I will deal with him, even if I need to do it without Ruslana knowing—he has no right to make my little sister so stressed.

Chatting to the security team there, I give them the asshole’s name and phone number. I want to know who this idiot is who thinks he can mess around with my sister and upset her like that. I’m angry she didn’t tell me—but I can understand what was going through her mind. I am more angry that this fucking idiot thought he could get away with it.

He clearly has no idea who she is.

Who her family is.

But he’s about to find out.

I leave the information with my security team and head back into the warehouse to get some more work done. These constant distractions will hold me back from being able to get home to Anya earlier. If I had my way, I’d take off a full year of work to be with her throughout the entire pregnancy. I want to look after her all the time. But I also know that once our baby isborn, I’ll want to take off another year so that I can take care of both of them.

What I need to do is keep this business running—and give my wife everything her heart desires.

The entire time I’m working though, my stomach is in a knot, my throat feels tight. My instincts are going crazy, warning me over and over again that something is wrong. I check in with Anya on message and she reassures me they are fine and having a lot of fun at the mall and I can relax. But the feeling doesn’t go away.

All afternoon, I feel sick.

My gut is churning and twisting and begging me to pay attention and I keep pushing the thoughts back down.

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