Page 93 of Thorns of Lust
“I said find a bride, not kidnap one,” Vasili roared so loud that I feared the glass on the building would shatter.
“Semantics,” Sasha retorted in a bored tone.
I should have known it was Sasha who wound him up. He mostly lost his temper around our slightly psychotic brother. Personally, I thought there was sense to Sasha’s madness but then maybe that showed how fucked up I was too.
My hand on the handle, I blew a breath into my other and smelled it. Fuck, it smelled like alcohol. I kicked the habit but after seeing that video and clear evidence that Adrian clearly lied to my brothers, I fell off the wagon along with my resolve to get my act together. I resorted to a glass of vodka to calm my nerves. Then to another glass to drown out my sorrow. And another to numb the fact that the man I loved betrayed me. My family. It turned out, I hadn’t known my husband at all.
Well, it spiraled from there. At this point, I wasn’t certain how much I drank.
I waved my hand around as if that would eliminate my alcohol breath, then opened the door and strode in.
“So I hear you’re starting a war,” I said jokingly. Sasha needed Vasili to back off. He deserved to get the woman he loved. And so fucking what if he had to kidnap her? It wasn’t as if Vasili was a goddamn saint. “Can I join in?”
The stormy look my eldest brother shot me could have killed a lesser person. Lucky for him, I could handle him. I took a seat and leaned back, watching my brothers. Vasili was too riled up to sit, instead he kept pacing back and forth.
“You two are worse than my toddlers,” Vasili bellowed. “That’s it. Enough is enough.” He pointed a finger at me. “You will stop drinking. I don’t want to smell alcohol on you and-“
I’ve been good, I wanted to protest. Fucker caught me on a bad day. Instead, I had to come up with a smartass comment.
“I’ll spray more perfume,” I retorted, my speech slightly slurred. Damn it, that shit hit me harder than I thought.
“The fuck you will,” Vasili roared. “You will stop drinking and taking sleeping pills. Every goddamned thing.”
I flipped him the bird. He was crazy if he thought he could boss me around. I was a grown ass woman. He pushed his hand through his hair and turned his eyes to Sasha.
My poor brother.
“And you, Sasha, will return the bride,” my big brother demanded.
“Nah, I’ll pass,” Sasha answered nonchalantly. “I’m keeping her.”
“I agree,” I chimed in, against my better judgment. “Why should you be the only one to get what he wants and needs?”
I winced at the bitterness in my voice. It was hard not to feel the acid of envy after the video I had just watched. It seemed I didn’t even know Adrian.
“The two of you will be the death of me! Tatiana, you get your shit together or I’ll do it for you. And you, Sasha. You will go to Alessio and deliver his sister, then apologize.”
“The fuck I will,” Sasha answered, then blew a bubble with the gum still in his mouth. “His sister is mine.”
Vasili pushed his hands through his hair.
“Jesus Christ. I thought you had the hots for Autumn, not her friend.”
I snickered. Vasili should pay more attention to his siblings. On the other hand, maybe it was best that he didn’t.
“Your mistake,” Sasha retorted, shrugging his shoulders.
“We cannot go to war with him,” Vasili attempted to reason. He must not know our brother well if he thought that would dissuade Sasha. “Cassio and his gang will back him up. He’s even close with Raphael.”
“I never liked the devil anyhow. He thinks he’s more of a brother to Bella than Alexei. I bet you Alexei would be on my side.”
On cue, Alexei walked in wearing his signature black cargo pants and t-shirt. A knife sliced through my chest. Adrian loved wearing the same kind of stuff. Ignoring it all, I focused on my brothers.
Alexei sat himself down. “So you got yourself a bride?” His voice was casual, unemotional.
“Yeah,” Sasha replied almost proudly. “I need to lay low for a bit. But first I need some ink. Want to hold my hand?”
Alexei cocked an eyebrow. “I’ll keep you company. But there’ll be no hand holding.”
