Page 102 of Disgraced (Russian Sinners 3)

Sergei

It was the first week of November and the weather was already turning cold. I fucking hated winter and snow. Even to this day, I found no appeal to flurries. I’d rather slash my legs than willingly go skiing. Why would anyone go out and freeze their balls off in the snow was beyond me!

Scarlett and I kept talking about living arrangements. She wanted to live in the States but agreed we would visit Russia in the summers. It didn’t matter to me as long as we were together… and it wasn’t fucking cold.

I was eager to start my life with Scarlett. Dealing with the threats became tiresome but I knew unless we eliminated them now, we’d be hunted for the rest of our lives. And I wasn’t willing to spend my years looking over my shoulder, worrying whether they’d hurt my wife, children, or brothers. Because Vlad wouldn’t have qualms about hurting my family. Neither would Irina and Bartek. Those had to be eliminated.

I left Scarlett asleep in our bed. It has been barely a week since Olivia’s rescue. My brothers arrived in St. Petersburg late last night. We planned to surprise all three of the girls with a reunion.

But first, I had to talk to my brothers. It was barely seven in the morning. I was sure Dimitry and Nikolai were cursing me for dragging them out of bed so early. I couldn’t blame them. I would have much rather remained in bed to wake up with my tongue between my woman’s legs.

But this couldn’t wait anymore.

“Damn it, little brother,” Nikolai grumbled. “I hope you at least have hot coffee for me.”

“Fuck, Sergei,” Dimitry grumbled. “This couldn’t have waited till we brought the girls over?”

“No, I wanted to tell you two first.”

We huddled into the guard house. I gave my gate men the next few hours off so we’d be uninterrupted.

“You won’t even take us into the house?” Nikolai questioned with a raised eyebrow. “I promise I’ll be a good uncle to your baby.”

Both Dimitry and him chuckled. Dimitry smiled a lot more since he met Anja. They sat at the small table, opposite of each other and left the middle seat for me. I couldn’t help but smile. Certain habits were hard to break. Those two always put me in between them, trying to keep me safe.

“I hope you’ll still want to be an uncle to my baby after I tell you what I have been keeping from you two,” I told them seriously.

Suddenly, both their faces turned somber. I poured a fresh cup of coffee for both of them and sat down. I didn’t need a cup. I was jacked up enough on the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I took the middle seat.

“Serg, what is it?” Dimitry used to call me that when we were children and I was upset.

I took a deep breath and then exhaled. “I don’t even know where to start with this.” I pushed my hand through my hair and thought of Scarlett. I owed it to her to be a better man. I couldn’t keep a secret like this forever.

“Remember when Boris gave you that scar?” I asked Nikolai the stupid question. Of course he remembered it. Neither one of us could ever forget. “A few months later, I learned who my parents were. I had been searching for months, relentlessly. I wanted to know how they could dump me like that.”

“Brother, that’s on them,” Dimitry put his hand on my shoulder. “Trust me. I looked up my parents and found only my mother. She regretted nothing. She wasn’t worth my love.”

“Yeah, my mother didn’t regret dumping my ass either,” I muttered. “But she did give me my true birth certificate that showed my birth name and who my father was.”

I raised my eyes and my stomach churned. I tortured men, gutted men alive, and I never felt sick. But the knowledge that Nikolai and Dimitry suffered through many beatings and endured scars to protect me from Boris, my own father, made me sick to my stomach. They should have never endured it.

“Brother, whatever it is,” Nikolai spoke up, “we are in this together. Always.”

“Both of you have protected me and raised me.”

“Okay, if you call me mother, I’ll have to beat your ass,” Nikolai joked.

“As long as I’m the father,” Dimitry added teasingly.

I swallowed hard. “Just remember that no matter what, I would still consider you my brothers. And I won’t blame you if you no longer want anything to do with me.”

“Sergei, you are starting to worry me,” Nikolai grumbled. “I promised Olivia no more cursing since we are trying for a family but fuck… you are making me fucking sweat.”

I pulled out the birth certificate out of my pocket and placed it on the table. I destroyed all the evidence of my parents and traceability to them. This was the last piece. “Boris was my father. I found out a few months after he gave Nikolai the scar.” I took a deep breath. “I should have said something but knowing everything he had done, all the sacrifices you made for me. I regretted ever finding out. It was better not knowing.”

Now that it was finally out in the open, it felt like a heavy weight was off my chest. Although dread of losing them still lingered. My brothers must have stopped breathing. I watched them, waiting. For what, I wasn’t sure.

“Fuck, brother,” Nikolai spat. “And you kept this boiling inside for fourteen years?”

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