Page 33 of Broken By the Bratva

Iosif opened his arms as he spoke. “And these two are our treasures, our beauties.” The girls stood on both sides of him. Iosif closed his arms around them hugging tightly. They had kind loving laughter. Innocent if I could put it in such a way.

“This is Misha, and this is Lena the baby of our family,” he announced proudly as he let them go. We stood watching them head around the pool back to the loungers.

“Nice to meet you all,” I said as we left the pool area. Most of them returned my greeting except for Lukyan. I followed them down the hall to the lounge.

We had barely taken our seats when a maid entered bringing the coffee. Once she left, Iosif spoke, “We appear to have a new enemy popping their heads up. Could you look into it for us?”

“Yes, sure,” I replied without hesitating.

“Father said he felt sure they were part of the Morozov family, but I don’t think so. I will be assisting you with this one if you don’t mind,” Avgust added.

Glancing at him, I wondered how I was going to work around having Tasha at home. Nodding, I considered my options.

“Great, then I will send you what I have, and we can talk details later?” Avgust asked as he got up.

“Yes, yes,” I replied hastily. The urge to get home was suddenly overwhelming.

Heading out I walked between the two brothers once again. Before we reached the door, Avgust took hold of my shoulder, stopping me as he spoke. “Wait,” Turning to face him, I noticed his phone in his hand.

What was happening, I wondered swallowing hard as Iosif pushed past me to join him. The look on his face was slightly worrisome as he turned his head staring at me intently. The room instantly turned into a sauna as I felt sweat forming on my neck.

“What’s wrong?” I huffed pulling at my collar.

“You got hitched? Is that true?” Avgust inquired. His voice raised slightly.

It felt like my body instantly went from overheating to freezing. I inhaled sharply. How did they find out? Taking a slow, steady breath, I calmed my mind. Looking down at the floor I replied in a soft tone, “Yes, I did.”

I could hear a rise in Iosif’s tone as he spoke. It was clear that there was no room for arguing. “You have to let us meet her.”

Cursing to myself, I smiled and spoke in a neutral tone. “Why don’t you come for dinner tomorrow evening?”

Glancing at each other, they grinned. It was an evil kind of grin and made me feel sick. “We would love to,” the two brothers spoke in almost perfect harmony.

With that settled, I greeted them and headed home. It felt like I had a hole in my stomach and my mouth tasted like metal. Sure, it was a hint of nerves, but I dismissed it.

Arriving home, I looked for Tasha. I found her in the practice room. She was working hard on her hits and kicks. Sweat was lining her forehead glistening in the late afternoon sun. I stood in silence watching her for a moment. She was getting better but had a long way still to go.

Walking closer to the mat, I spoke lightly. “We have a small problem.”

Tasha swung around throwing a punch in my direction. Catching her hand as it was about to collide with my jaw, I moved sideways. “Nice,” I huffed as she pulled back smiling.

“What’s the problem? Is it the new job?” She huffed bending forward to catch her breath.

“No,” I replied hoping the news wouldn’t scare her. “The Chernykhs are coming for dinner tomorrow.”

Tasha came upright instantly. Shock crossed her face as my words sank in. “Why? What does that mean?” Tasha asked. She sounded a tad hysterical.

“Calm down. They don’t know who you are. They heard that I got married and insisted on meeting you. So, we’ll have dinner together.”

Shaking her head, Tasha stepped back. “But what if they ask me things? Should I lie?”

Rubbing my chin I considered her questions. “Okay,” I said with a plan in mind. “We’ll talk it through and get you ready. Let’s go in.”

Tasha followed me into the house without a word. As I walked, I thought of questions and suitable answers. If she stuck to the script, we would be fine. She was brilliant so I felt sure we could pull it off.

Chapter 18 - Tasha

Meeting the Chernykh brothers wasn’t what I had in mind as an evening dinner party. Yet, I would put on a good act. I knew how many lives were at stake here. War would surely be imminent if they caught a whiff of who I was.

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