Page 60 of Bratva Queen

Misha was swishing his sword around in the corner now. He’d recently been watching all of the most popular animated movies on repeat, many of which included sword fights. At five, he was extremely perceptive and able to grasp the storylines, which meant that Vanda, the nanny, and I were sometimes ordered to act as villains and be struck to pretend death by his plastic sword.

It was clear to me that he was the perfect big brother. Passionate about not just fighting, but about fighting for the protection of those who needed it. The movies instilled that in him, and I sincerely hoped he would remember that throughout his life and not be tainted by his father’s less-than-honorable reasons for violence.

Right on cue, the door to the playroom swung open and Stepan walked in, looking red in the face with rage.

“You!” he sneered at me, pointing and walking closer.

“Vanda,” I quickly said, and she stood up from her armchair where she’d been reading, to take all three kids to their bedroom. “Misha, take Dmitry’s hand and go with Vanda.”

Misha had already stepped closer to me, his knuckles white as he squeezed his sword tighter and watched his father. I took his shoulder and nudged him toward Dmitry, who looked at me with wide eyes and held onto Misha’s hand with both of his. They were worried. It wasn’t too long ago that they’d watched Stepan nearly beat me to death. Vanda had to pull Misha’s other hand, forcing him from the room.

I stood up from the floor and faced Stepan head-on, wondering what the hell was wrong. He’d been ignoring me completely since my deceit, so this was a surprise.

“Stepan, whatever this is, can we take it downstairs, please? The boys don’t need to hear it.”

“Oh, the boys, the boys,the boys! They’re all you care about, but you’ve got it wrong, bitch.” He walked right up to me and grabbed me by the throat, lifting me onto my toes as he spoke with his teeth clamped together. “They are none of your fucking concern. Not anymore. I should’ve gotten rid of you the moment I gotmyboys back, but no, I decided to be fucking patient!”

He threw me to the ground, and I gasped for air.

“Stepan, what is going on?”

“Oh that’s the question of the day, isn’t it?” he shouted. Pacing the room, he kicked Ivan’s toy stand away and pointed at me. “I know all about your little affair!”

Fuck! No, no. Where is Aleksei?

“Apparently, you’ve been seen creeping around the corridors at night, you fuckingshlyukha. And I know exactly who gave you the goddamn key.”

I stared at him in fear, for Aleksei. Was he already dead? Tears sprouted in my eyes, and it all but confirmed Stepan’s accusations. He shook his head, laughing bitterly. “No denials, huh? You really are a fucking skank.” Suddenly his hand waved across the air and backhanded me across the face. His thick ring immediately sliced my cheek open, and I saw the blood drip onto the kids’ playroom carpet. I also heard some crying from down the hall, definitely Ivan, but possibly Dmitry as well.

“No… no,” I started angrily, pushing myself up from the floor and charging toward him. “You won’t do this to me anymore!” I shoved him on the shoulders and he laughed, enjoying it. “You don’t get to come home and traumatize your children like this! It’s not right!”

“Not right?” he asked with a wide smile before it dropped to a menacing stare as he took my arm and turned it over, walking me backward until I was pressed against the table. “Sleeping around like aprostitutkais what I would call, ‘not right.’” He pushed harder and we both heard the snap of my bone.

“Aaah!” I yelled. Adrenaline kicked in and I surged my knee up, hitting him in the balls. When he bent over, I kneed his face, breaking his nose.

He crouched over in pain, spilling blood from his nose across the carpet all the while laughing maliciously. I ran out and headed for the stairs, holding my broken arm to my chest. “Vanda, lock the door!” I shouted over my shoulder, making sure Stepan wouldn’t go back to fetch them, and Misha wouldn’t try to come after me.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, two guards stopped me, holding onto my upper arms with serious faces as I kicked and screamed to be let free, not even feeling the pain in my arm due to the shock and adrenaline coursing through me. I didn’t really know these guards; they were bratva soldiers Stepan liked to have protecting him when he went out, not house guards.

At the top of the stairs Stepan appeared, blood dripping from his nose and down his chin, but he didn’t care. He watched me with a look I couldn’t say I’d ever seen before. I knew his evil smirks very well by then, but this one… He looked almost satisfied. Like he finally had reason to kill me, like this was all going his way.

“Let’s go downstairs, boys.”

They carried me down into the basement, the very same place he’d made my sons watch as he killed a guard for laughing alongside me.

Once there, they shoved me down onto my knees, where I sat sobbing with my broken arm cradled by the other. I looked around and didn’t see Aleksei. But I did see another guard, the one who usually took me for my supervised garden walks, strapped to a chair and already beaten so badly, his one eye couldn’t even open. His name was Sergio.

“What…” I said in confusion, looking around. “No, no Stepan you’ve got it wrong!” I wasn’t going to out Aleksei as my lover, but I wasn’t going to let this innocent man be killed because of me. Not again. I stood up and was shoved to the ground again by the two guards while Stepan walked over to him. Once again, there was a table loaded with torture tools, and he chose a long, thin knife.

“No!” I screamed, crying uncontrollably.

“Look how you defend your sweet, sweet lover.” Stepan spoke slowly and shook his head in disgust. “I mean, I should have known that marrying a stripper would bring this kind of betrayal. I knew back then already that you were a filthy whore only looking for the attention of rich men, and I’m willing to bet you’ve fucked all my associates too. That’s why they look at you the way they do. They all know you’ll fuck them for free just to gain an ounce of their interest.”

“No, Stepan,” I shook my head. “I didn’t, I promise you I didn’t—”

“Oh, shut her up.” He waved a hand, turning away.

One of the guards punched me in the mouth, splitting not only my lip, but I felt my teeth dig into the flesh inside. I was in so much pain, but I kept my eyes open, dreading what was to come.

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