Page 44 of Innocent Bratva Twins

Nico punches his brother in the arm. “I told you to behave.” He shakes his head, pushing Arkady out of the way and wrapping his arm around my waist as he moves me protectively against his side.

For a second, I’m worried he’s genuinely angry, but he throws his brother a massive smile, and Arkady winks at me.

Luka is the next brother I meet, and he’s less playful, but very welcoming. Everyone else is wearing long sleeves, but he only has a thin t-shirt on. He also pulls me straight into a hug. The last thing I expected was for this to be a family of huggers. But then again, Nico is very affectionate and likes to reach out and touch me often, so why wouldn’t his family be a bunch of huggers?

When Luka steps away from me, he smiles and says, “I hope you aren’t a vegetarian, because we made lamb shanks for dinner.“ He pulls a face, suddenly worried.

Nico sighs. “You don’t think that’s something you should have checked a day or two before?” he laughs.

“Well,“ Luka says tensely.

“I eat almost everything. Except snails. Just the idea of it freaks me out.”

“In that case, you’ll fit in just fine. Let me take your coat.” Luka steps behind me and shrugs the heavy blue coat off my shoulders while he talks to Nico. “That crate of red wine you ordered arrived this morning. Jade just opened a bottle now. It’s freaking good.”

“I knew you’d like it,” Nico nods.

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it,” Luka smiles. He throws my jacket over his arm, then disappears to hang it up somewhere.

Jade and Aliyah rush over to me, bubbling with excitement.

“These are my sisters.” Nico gestures towards them.

“Oh my goodness, Nico said you were gorgeous—but wow,” Aliyah says, and my cheeks are red again.

They both hug me, and before I know it, they’ve pulled me away from Nico to introduce me to everyone else, including Radmir Kuztnetsov, who is married to Jade. When he reaches out to shake my hand, I notice that he has a gun strapped to his hip. He’s not the only one.

Luka and Arkady are also carrying guns. I wonder if everyone is?

By the time I get to the dining table and sit down next to Nico, I’m doing my best to remember who is who, and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.

Beneath the table, Nico brushes his hand over my leg.

“Are you doing okay?” he whispers, leaning close to me.

“They’re all so friendly,” I whisper back.

“Mm. They are. They’re also all a pain in the ass sometimes,” he chuckles.

“I heard that,” Aliyah says, catching her brother out. “Don’t pretend like you aren’t the biggest pain in the ass out of all of us.”

“Hey,” Arkady says, sounding hurt and disappointed.

Nico shakes his head at his sister. “Don’t do that to Arkady. You know he works hard to be the most annoying and unpredictable out of everyone in this family.”

Jade throws her hands in the air in defeat. “Sorry, Ark. I didn’t mean it,” she giggles.

The banter continues all through dinner, with everyone taking a turn to tease someone else and then everyone joining in on the laughter.

It’s strange that in my mind, I spent two days preparing to be questioned about work and business and my qualifications, and no one here has mentioned the office, not once. They’ve asked me about what I enjoy doing, my favorite foods, and whether or not I like a particular artist. They’ve asked me about my travels, or lack thereof at this point, and where I would go if I could go anywhere. They’ve asked me if I’ve ever been diving before, and hiking, and which beach I like the best.

But they haven’t asked me about work.

“What was Nico like when he was young?” I ask, cutting a very sharp knife through my lamb shank. It’s so soft and tender that I hardly need a knife at all.

Yilian is the one who answers by chuckling first. “When we were all much, much younger, my parents had to go out one night—some kind of event, I can’t remember—and they lined us up to give us a very stern talking to. And what they said that day—I think it set the tone for the rest of our lives.”

“I don’t remember this. What are you talking about?” Arkady says.

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