Page 40 of Broken By the Bratva

The poor man shook his head violently in agreement. Aleksandr turned to me and grabbed the set of keys I was holding. “Now go,” he spat pointing out the door.

I wasn’t going to wait for a second invite or for him to change his mind. Bolting out the door, I joined the guard in the car. We drove in silence to Abram’s house. Biting my nails I hoped Vadik and his brothers were still safe, still alive.

The car hadn’t even stopped completely when I flung open the door and ran towards the house. Abram opened the door before I even reached it. I knew my brother had called him.

“Slow down spout,” he said as I reached him. “First give me a hug and then we can talk.”

Hugging Abram, I felt some of the anger leaving me. He had always been there for me, and I couldn’t take my anger out on him. “Abram,” I said as he stepped aside letting me in. “Please we have to contact Vadik and warn them.”

“Yes, I understand but first you need looking after. Take a bath, lick your wounds, and get some rest then we can see about them.” Abram stated plainly as he waved his hand. Glancing back, I saw the two guards coming towards me. “Take her to her room,” he added.

My mind whirled with shock as the guards took my arms and led me upstairs. I couldn’t even form any words to reply. It felt like I had stepped into quicksand, and I was sinking fast.

My heart felt heavy, and my chest felt like an eighteen-wheeler had parked on it. How was I supposed to explain to any of them what I was feeling? As the guards pushed me into my room. Turning, I realized what a clusterfuck I was in.

Sighing, I watched as they pulled the door closed. I knew I had to move quickly. I would do whatever it took to help Vadik and his brothers. Turning in a circle, I tried to focus. “Screw it,” I spoke out loud deciding to take matters into my own hands.

Opening the door softly, I skimmed the hallway. There was no sight of my brothers. As I headed downstairs to find Nadia, I mentally apologized to my brothers. ‘Sorry, this is something I have to do. I can’t just sit back and do nothing.’ There was too much at stake.

Sneaking into the downstairs lounge, I found Nadia reading a book by the window. “What are you doing here?” she asked surprised.

“I need your help, your cousins are in trouble,” I whispered glancing back at the door.

Chapter 21 - Vadik

It was one mistake on another once we lost contact with Tasha. We couldn’t get through the last door and somehow the alarms were triggered. Mr. Chernykh himself was waiting outside for us. He came with us to ensure we got the documents to him first.

But soon we found ourselves in the middle of what could be considered a war of families. My brothers and I ducked and dived between the shots. We barely missed the knives. We even threw a couple of punches as we tried to get around the fighting men.

My fist collided with a man’s face as I fought to clear a path to our boss, the Chernykh leader. If something happened to him here, we would not get off unscathed. His sons would likely blame us even though his own men couldn’t keep him safe.

As we moved through the last couple of men between us and him, someone came up behind him. He looked at me as he tried to turn. Our eyes met and I saw the flickering as his life drained from his body. He collapsed a couple of meters from us.

Turning, I grabbed my brothers by their arms halting them in their tracks. “We have to get out of here,” I blustered. I knew there was nothing we could have done to prevent it. As we started moving out, a heaviness came over me. What were we going to do now?

The last thing we wanted was to get in the middle of two bratva groups, but here we are. “Come, quickly, we can go through here,” I grumbled at my brothers moving to the corner of the house. I had seen a passage through the trees when we arrived before all the chaos started.

As we moved, we kept an eye out for any straggler’s following or coming our way. Once we reached the road, I hailed down a cab and we retreated to our home. The cabby stopped at the bottom of the driveway. Walking up to the house I couldn’t shake this feeling that something was wrong.

I noticed the front door stood open as we approached. Pulling my knife, I nodded at my brothers. We kept quiet as we entered. We couldn’t allow the intruder to know we were there.

Biting my tongue, I kept myself from calling out for Tasha. It’s been a while since we heard from her. She was supposed to be here. I worried that something terrible had happened.

Glancing over my shoulder, I motioned for my brothers to split up. Pavel headed back towards the kitchen and dining room. Makari headed out back while I went upstairs. Entering the second-floor hallway, I noticed all the doors were open.

Moving towards my office where I had left Tasha, I peeked into the rooms. Everything was a mess. Most of the drawers had been pulled out, beds were turned over, it was clear someone was looking for something.

I made slow and steady progress toward my office. The door was halfway shut. Pushing it open, I expected the worst. Holding my breath, I quickly scanned the room. Tasha wasn’t there, but I could see there had been a struggle. Her phone lay on the floor in the corner smashed.

With fear and worry settling in, I stopped being careful. I had to find Tasha. I turned and ran to her room. The door was broken and the window wide open. Looking out the window, I wondered if she had jumped.

I rushed through the rest of the house, but she was nowhere to be found. Dread filled me as I met up with mybrothers in the foyer again. “Grab what is essential and meet me here in five,” I said. My mind was distant as I knew our house had been compromised.

My brothers returned with their go bags. I had no idea where we were going. I felt slightly out of function. I looked at Pavel with a blank expression as he touched my shoulder. “Tasha is gone, we have to find out what happened here,” I grumbled.

“Don’t worry,” Pavel replied. “Tasha’s a tough cookie, she will be fine. She can handle herself remember?”

“Yes, right,” I mumbled as we left our home.

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