Page 103 of Disgraced (Russian Sinners 3)

Dimitry picked up the birth certificate and his eyes roamed over it. He put it back down and his steel grey eyes met mine. Dimitry made people piss themselves. So did Nikolai. Their brutality didn’t scare me; it was losing them as my family. But what could I possibly say in my defense?

“Did he know?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I didn’t tell him and the woman,” I couldn’t even saymy mother,because really she wasn’t. “She claimed she never told him.”

“How does a bastard like that,” Dimitry uttered, “end up procreating two awesome kids?”

He shook his head in disbelief while I stared at him in shock. If there was anything I expected, it wasn’t this.

I turned my head to Nikolai, waiting to see disgust on his face. But there was none.

“Brother, you are not him. Nothing Boris has done is on you.” Fuck, I really loved my brothers. “You are family. I don’t give a shit who your parents are. The moment they left you there, you were our family.”

“Ditto, brother. And don’t forget he didn’t spare you all the beatings.”

“But you got the worst of it,” I reminded him. “You and Nikolai… because you always moved his attention from me to you.”

“You were so young when we joined his group. Barely eight,” Dimitry muttered. He would forever be the protective one.

“You were eight once too,” I reminded him. “And you had nobody protecting you in the orphanage. You and Nikolai are the only reason I lived into adulthood.”

“No,” Nikolai disagreed. “We survived into adulthood because of each other. You might not see it, brother, but when we wanted to give up, you helped us through. Together we are stronger.”

“Yes, brother,” Dimitry added. “Together, we are fucking invincible.”

“Fuck,” I muttered, my throat hurting at the sudden emotions. “I think Scarlett’s pregnancy hormones are contagious.”

All three of us burst into laughter.

“Fuck, little brother. You realize you are Anja’s half-brother?” Dimitry asked.

“Yeah, it crossed my mind,” I admitted. “And how I almost had her killed by handing her over to Boris’ men.”

I didn’t want to bring up my mistakes but they couldn’t remain lingering.

“Yes, you did,” Dimitry agreed. “But you are also beating yourself up enough for all of us. Anastasia has a point though; if you hadn’t done it, we wouldn’t have been here. All three of us with the three of them.”

“Agreed. And since we are in the admission stage, I might as well tell you.”

“Fuck, don’t tell me Boris is your father too?” Dimitry half-joked.

“Fuck, no. Olivia and I got married.”

“What the fuck? How could you do it without us?” I complained although I was happy for him.

“It was just the two of us. We’ll do a wedding for family and everyone else.”

“Well, you better. Because Anja is aiming for a triple wedding now. So you better play along.”

The world righted itself as I watched my brothers joke around. Growing up, we rarely had play time. Once we entered the mafia, the playground became a battlefield. Now, finally after so many years, we were almost there.

“I almost forgot,” Dimitry turned to me. “What about the Boston arranged marriage?”

I frowned. “What about it?”

“Well, you are going to tell them the deal is off, right? I don’t expect Patrick will be terribly upset since he has been trying to buy you off. He cares about his daughter.”

I chuckled. “Scarlett is Patrick’s daughter.”

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