Page 54 of Bratva Queen

Was he being serious? Discussing her “disappearance” as though it was a normal plan to have on the books? It just wasn’t a convenient time to kill her?Chto za huy?What the fuck?

It was also clear that Stepan was not quite healthy. He was drinking and doing drugs again, I could tell by his red eyes that darted around the room, his constant sniffing, his fast, irrational conversation.

“I’ll deal with this, Stepan. I’ll talk with your team and figure out the situation. You rest up, alright, boss?”

He nodded tiredly, drooping his head, and gave me a tight smile. “Knew I could trust you, Alek. You’re the only one.”

I walked out and immediately found Lev, nervously waiting in the lobby of the house. It was a bittersweet reunion. I’d saved this kid from being used and killed by the bratva, much like my own little brother, only Lev wasn’t anything like Gregori. He wasn’t greedy or selfish; he never touched drugs. He only wanted to survive the abuse of his father and then ended up hungry on the streets, looking for work. I took him under my wing, and eventually, I grew to trust him.

However, I was angry with him for not telling me how bad things had gotten. I could only think that he’d perhaps fallen for Isabel himself and believed her when she said she could handle it.

“Where is she?” I asked him.

He tipped his head toward the front door. “Supervised garden walk.”

“Supervised? What the fuck is this? Lefortovo?”

I walked out and rounded the house to see a guard I’d worked with five years ago, still here, looking somberly toward the back corner of the garden. I followed his gaze and saw her, Isabel, sitting alone on a garden bench and looking down into the small pond. She tossed small bits of food into the water, which then rippled as fish came up to grab a piece.

I greeted the guard, who looked at me with happy, relieved eyes. “Aleksei, you’re back!”

“Yes, and, I’ve got this.” I jerked my head toward Isabel, and he quickly nodded, giving me a respectful smile before walking away.

I took a deep breath and approached her.

The closer I got, the more bruises I saw. There was a rather colorful one on her cheekbone—a mixture of purple, blue, and yellow. Her lip was split open but wasn’t swollen, so it had healed somewhat already. Her hair was still a beautiful deep black color but pulled back into a messy bun instead of flowing over her shoulders.

She wore a dress and small boots with a shawl draped over her elbows. There were deep purple bruises on her upper arms.

Guilt overtook me. I couldn’t believe that I’d let this happen. If only I’d listened to her long ago in Belarus and run away with her, I didn’t know where we would have been today, but I knew she wouldn’t have looked like this.

“Jesus… Isabel…” I said softly.

She jerked with fright and looked at me with wide eyes. “Aleksei?” She stood up and her eyes scanned the garden behind me. “What… what are you doing here?”

I kept studying her face as I spoke. “He called me back here. Why didn’t you call me?”

“What?” She frowned as though that was an absurd idea.

“Why didn’t you tell me it had gotten this bad?”

She scoffed, shaking her head. “Alek… It’s been five years… I figured you’d have moved on by now. Found a wife, had kids of your own.”

I narrowed my eyes and shook my head. “No.” I took a step closer and dropped my head down a little to look her level in the eyes. “It’s only ever been you. Even though I knew it might never happen. I only thought of you, of getting back here to see you. Are you telling me that you never thought of me?”

My voice was quiet and calm, I wasn’t accusing her, I was only trying to draw her honesty out. But it just seemed to frazzle her even more.

“Alek, I…” She shook her head, and anger bubbled over. “It’s only been me! I’ve protected myself! I’ve protected my sons! You weren’t here! And I wasn’t going to stand behind Lev and let the poor kid be killed in my name! Shame on you for expecting that of him! That he could ever live up to the deal you and I made! That you would be in the shadows! That you would always be there!”

Her tears spilled over her cheeks, and I quickly closed my arms around her trembling body, closing my eyes in pain.

“I’m so sorry, Isa… I’m so sorry…”

“You weren’t here!” she sobbed into my chest. “I thought of you all of the time! And it only made it so much more evident that youweren’t here!”

I felt the odd sensation of tears pricking my eyes. “I tried to be, Isabel… I promise, I tried. And hey,” I pulled her away with my hands on her arms, watching her wipe her tears, “Lev wasn’t supposed to protect you; he was just supposed to report back to me. I knew you could protect yourself. What I didn’t know was that he’d fall in love with you too and swap sides to be your undercover agent instead of mine!”

That pulled a laugh out of her. She breathed deeply, wiping her face and finding her calm as she stepped back. Her eyes brushed over my body, from bottom to top, over my hair, and stopped with her gaze stuck on mine. “I… I can’t believe you’re really here.”

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