Page 65 of Broken Promises
He gave me a nod and took my hand into his as we stood and listened to the angry little man trying to rationalize why his initiation being disrupted was somehow unfair to him. When itseemed like Lucian had given about all the fucks he could give where Sergey was concerned, he interrupted the rant.
“So, you’re the second son of Lucian Lenkov?” Sergey nodded defiantly, and Lucian, with a bored expression, asked, “What’s your name?”
He puffed his chest out as he spoke. “I’m Sergey Lenkov, the second, and you have no right to be here.”
“So, this little gathering is for second sons only, is that what you’re saying?” Lucian inquired.
“The second sons are going to bring back the Syndicate stronger than ever. And you can’t stop us,” Sergey reasoned, and the little asshole seemed proud of himself as Kelly sat almost beaming at him.
I nodded as Devlin stepped up next to Lucian and rested his hand on the back of the chair while Kelly watched Sergey spew his bullshit. She was focused on his words, nodding and smiling when he’d say something.
Rhys leaned over and whispered, “I see what you mean about them. It’s . . . weird.” Then he remarked, “Watch this.”
Lucian looked up, interrupting Sergey to ask Devlin, “Do you have something to add?”
Devlin’s expression was almost manic as he looked down at Sergey, who still wasn’t acknowledging him. Devlin grasped the back of his head and wrenched it backward as Kelly screamed, “Stop!”
She tried to stand, only to be shoved back into the chair by Lucian’s associate as Devlin manhandled Sergey. He tried to release Devlin’s tight grip on his hair and was struggling to not get moved around like a ragdoll.
“I guess I never got the memo, but thanks for telling me the throne is mine now,” Devlin remarked, and Sergey’s expression turned from anger to confusion.
“Who the fuck are you?” Sergey asked, and Devlin pulled his head back farther, forcing him into a weird angle as he looked down on him. Briefly, Devlin glanced at a worried Kelly with a smirk before stating the facts. “My name is Devlin Lenkov, andIam the second-born son of Sergey Lenkov. You and your pathetic, gold-digging whore of a mother have stepped into something you couldn’t possibly understand.”
“Sergey didn’t have another son. Just my precious Sergey,” Kelly said in a rushed admission, and I felt something inside me snap.
Releasing Rhys’s hand, I marched up to her and slammed my hands down onto the table. “Shut the fuck up, you stupid bitch. You caused all this bullshit, and you didn’t even have all the facts.”
Kelly tried to stand, but I pushed her back down into the chair. Realizing she was outnumbered, she yelled up at me, “Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass? This is all your fault. I should’ve aborted you when I had the chance.”
Slapping her as hard as I could, I watched her head snap to the side, and she grabbed her cheek as she turned back to look at me. Glancing over her head, I saw Rhys smile at me before I leaned over, getting face to face with her. “You’re pathetic, you know that, right? You left your own child alone and somehow picked this asshole up along the way.” A smile pushed up on my cheeks as I felt madness slipping in. “Who’s his mother, by the way? ‘Cause I know you didn’t birth him.”
“He’s mine, and no one can take him away from me,” she defended, and I glanced over to see Sergey giving her a confused look.
“You brought this all on yourself, ” I said, and she cut her hard eyes to me. “I wasn’t the one who decided kidnap and rape were acceptable steps in the climb to the top. And I wasn’t the one who couldn’t comprehend that Sergey would’vesaid anything to keep you at his beck and call, even if it meant forgetting he had more than one child.”
“That’s all he had. His first wife couldn’t give the heirs he deserved,” Kelly rationalized, still showing defiance, like she had the upper hand and we were somehow wrong.
I looked up to see Stella and Hawk entering the banquet room. Stella hugged Rhys, and Hawk slapped him on the back as my sister, who I’d only spoken with over video chat up to now, walked to me and pulled me into a hug. I felt some of the ice melting around my heart as she embraced me, and when we pulled back, she whispered, “I’m proud of you.”
Kelly, Sergey, and Waylon watched the interaction, and Kelly couldn’t keep her mouth shut anymore as she asked, “Who the fuck is she? And why the fuck are you here, anyway? It’s not like you wanted the seat at the head of the family.”
Stella looked down at the woman who gave birth to me and tilted her head as she stared at her. Stella’s eyebrows furled as realization dawned on her, and she pointed a finger into a confused Kelly’s face. “I know you. You’re that bitch who was hanging off Sergey the night I was initiated. You were one of the people who cheered when I was being raped by that demented asshole.”
I heard a deep growl as Hawk took a step closer, only for Rhys to grab his forearm, halting his movements. Rhys shook his head before tilting it to us and saying something quietly to Hawk.
“Who’s she?” Sergey asked, and Waylon shook his head, rolled his eyes, and scoffed as he looked on.
“Me?” Stella asked as she pressed her fingertips to her chest in mock outrage. Her face broke out in a smile as she looked between the two of them and calmly explained, “I’m the one who slit that bastard’s throat in his own bed and watched as he bled to death.”
Kelly cried out, “You bitch!” She attempted to stand, only for me to grab her hair and yank her back to her seat.
“I guess it’s time to catch these dumbasses up on the family,” Lucian sighed and stood from his chair. “This is Stella, Sergey’s oldest daughter. You see, my father was a lying sociopath, and he’d do anything and manipulate anyone if it meant he could hold onto a little more power and money. I have no doubt he lied to you about everything just to keep you doing his bidding, but he’s gone and any promises he made are as dead as he is. So, to clear up any confusion, your ‘son’ isn’t shit in the hierarchy of this family and you are way out of your league.”
“What the fuck, Mother? You said Father told you it was just him. How could you have made this kind of fuck-up? I’m not second—I’m fifth,” Sergey screeched, and Lucian gave him an amused look as he yelled random shit across the room.
“Shut the fuck up!” Waylon yelled after being silent for so long, and we turned our attention to him. “This is both your fault, and I told you it was a bad idea, but you didn’t listen, and now, we’re all going to die.”
“No one asked you, Waylon,” Sergey spat, and Lucian nodded at the man behind him, who cracked him in the back of the head.
