Page 86 of Sins He Taught Me (Bratva Crime Syndicate 3)

Matvei

I return from running errands at half past ten, placing my keys down on the table and peeking into the living room to find the source of all the silly sound effects I hear. Nikolas sits with his eyes glued to the television as some cartoon plays. Rather than disturb him, I head into the kitchen to talk to Victoria about not letting him watch so much pointless crap instead of educational shows.

Only, she’s not in the kitchen.

The place looks spotless, but she’s nowhere to be found. Curious, I head up to her room only to find that empty as well.

My nerves twitch to life, and I move through the house quicker than before, searching high and low for her.

Finally, I make it back down to the living room.

“Where is Victoria?” I ask Nikolas.

He turns around. “Huh?”

“Victoria. Where is she?”

He shrugs.

The fact that he doesn’t know either makes me panic even more. Did she really just leave him here by himself? After the incident with Nikolas trying to cook and accidentally burning himself, I would’ve assumed she’d never leave him unattended again.

Sure, I can see her running away in the middle of the night, but she wouldn’t just abandon him like this.

There was no sign of forced entry, so that rules out a possible intruder, right? Or maybe not.

There’s a nagging in the back of my head that says Victoria could very well be in danger. With the shootout with the Albanians and the vigilante running around, there seems to be a nonstop stream of endless danger for the people close to me. Just being in my presence put Victoria in danger, and by proxy, Nikolas too.

I try not to let guilt bring me down.

I don’t have any time to be self-pitying or wallow in my feelings. That’s not who my father raised me to be. He brought me up to keep a level head and remain composed.

I march upstairs, and I take a seat behind my desk, logging into my computer and opening up the folder where I store all of the recordings of the cameras around the house. This is where I sat and watched Daniel talk to Victoria in the library, where the two of them conspired against me.

If that moment taught me anything, it’s that I can’t quite trust Victoria, even now. She could’ve finally found enough evidence on me to turn me into the FBI. This could all be over any minute now. Everything: my life. My business. My Bratva.

As I scrub through the videos, I locate her earlier in the day. For most of the morning, she and Nikolas eat and watch TV, but after she cleans up the kitchen, she heads to the front door.

Then someone steps into view, and I tense up.

It’s Brahim Shehu.

I’d know that bald head anywhere, that thick, unkempt beard. And suddenly, it all makes sense.

Brahim and the “CPS worker” who attacked Victoria, the one who got away right as I came home, before I could get a good look at him. They’re one and the same. He’s been watching me, anticipating my every move.

And now he’s come to take what’s mine.

I fast-forward through the conversation that they’re having, and watch as she backs up into the foyer. Then Brahim puts his gun on the table. Victoria seems shocked by this, but she doesn’t make a run for it. They talk for a while longer, then he grabs her, and they head out.

He came here, into my home, took my woman. That fucking bastard. I’ll skin him alive as soon as I can get my hands on him.

But I have to find him first. Victoria is not safe. I need to track her down and find out where she is, where he’s taken here.

I call Timofei and explain quickly what’s happening. “Get everyone on this. Unless they want to deal with me, every last one of my men needs to be on the lookout for her.”

I race to the bottom of the stairs, where Niko is looking around in confusion.

He turns around and stares up at me with big eyes. “What’s wrong, Uncle Matvei? Where’s Victoria?” When I don’t say anything, he tugs at my hand. “Where’d she go?” he asks again. “Did she leave me like Mommy did?”

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