Page 51 of Bratva Bride

“That was a big mistake. By making a move against her, he’s made himself another enemy.”

“You were already an enemy. The second you agreed to merge your family with the De Lucas, you became his enemy.”

Dimitri pursed his lips and tapped a finger on his leg. His brows lowered in thought as he processed Miguel’s words. “Why are The Los Zetas helping him? Is your boss his new bitch?”

Miguel narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “My boss is nobody’s bitch,” he snapped.

Dimitri back handed him. Miguel’s head whipped to the side at the force of it. “Watch your tone. Answer my question.”

Miguel ran his tongue across his bleeding lips, eyes burning with rage. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Dimitri repeated slowly.

“No, I don’t. Our second, Juan, just told us we had to follow Nero’s orders.”

“And you didn’t think to ask why?”

Miguel gave him an ‘are you serious?’ look. “You don’t question orders from Juan. He tells you to do something and you do it. You ask questions, you get shot.”

Dimitri pursed his lips as he studied him.

“Why does Nero have such a hard on for my family? I highly doubt all this shit is happening because my father stole his girl nearly thirty years ago.”

Dimitri stiffened. Aleksandr cursed and narrowed his eyes at me.

Whoops. Forgot about his little bit of advice. Oh well.

“How the fuck should I know? I’m just a grunt. I don’t get told about anything substantial. They tell me to go somewhere and kidnap some bitch and I do it. You wanna know more? Kidnap one of his men.”

“Youareone of his men,” I scowled.

“No, I’m not. I’m cartel, through and through. Just because I take orders from that Italian scum doesn’t mean I’m one of his men.”

Confusion flared through me. There was clearly no love lost between the Cartel and the Outfit, so why the fuck where they taking orders from Nero? This whole thing wasn’t making any fucking sense and it was driving me crazy.

Dimitri rose to his feet and walked over to his son. He held his palm out facing upwards and Lukyan stepped forward, placing a pad and pencil in his hand. Dimitri walked over to Miguel and released his bindings, setting him free. Miguel instinctively touched each wrist, something everyone seemed to do after they’d been cuffed.

Dimitri laid the pad and pencil in Miguel’s lap and pointed a finger at him. “I want names of every fucker in your organisation, addresses for every safe house you’ve got and any more information you have on Nero and what he plans to do.”

Dimitri pinned me with his gaze and tilted his head towards the door. “A word, Arturo.”

Without waiting for a response, he headed out the door.

I scowled at Miguel, pissed that I wasn’t getting my pound of flesh right now and moved to follow Dimitri. Aleksandr and Nikolai both gave me nods of encouragement, while Lukyan stuck his tongue out and gave me the finger.

I shook my head and chuckled as I walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me. Dimitri was waiting just outside, arms crossed over his chest and his brows drawn down in a scowl. I arched an eyebrow at his aggressive stance.

“Get your father on the phone. We need to discuss how to handle this situation.”

I bristled at the clear command and glared. "Don't bark at me like I'm one of your soldiers, Dimitri."

He may bePakhanof the Bratva but that didn't mean he could talk to me like I was his bitch. There was no way I was going to take that shit.

Dimitri arched an eyebrow in surprise. I don't think he was used to anyone speaking up to him like that.

Well, he better get fucking used to it.

“You might as well know now; my father is stepping down as Don the moment this shit with Nero is handled. He’s put me in charge of dealing with this, so if you need someone to talk to about what to do next, you talk to me.”

---