Page 27 of Bratva Queen

Iwatched Stepan make his way around the room with Isabel on his arm, charming all the family members.

It was the right thing to do. It was his duty, if he wanted to call Isabel his girl. But it made me fume with anger. He was fucking late, thedurak! He left his girlfriend to mourn her brother all alone, so he could go and seal a fucking deal? It took everything in me not to walk over to her when she stood there alone and lost and put my arm around her shoulders. Hold her close and let her rest her head on my shoulder. Tell her that even though I never met Oleg, he would always be remembered.

I hadn’t seen my own brother in a few years. The eulogy at the ceremony made me think of him, even though the idiot was, in fact, still alive. He might’ve been a foolish, greedy bastard, but I loved him, nonetheless.

Thinking of Stepan’s late arrival, I knew he would always choose the bratva over Isabel. He would always choose money and power over her. I just hoped that she knew that and got away as soon as she fucking could. Her life was still salvageable if she somehow found a way to bore him, then maybe he would walk away and leave her be, let her continue her life without consequence.

My hopes for that were doused when I pulled Stepan aside, outside the social hall in a back alley.

“Boss, how did it go?” I asked sternly, hoping he would explain some emergency that went down, that he couldn’t get away from.

“Fantastically, Alek!” He grinned from ear to ear, smacking my shoulder with his palm. “We unloaded just about half of our stock to distributors, the next half in a week or two. I’m telling you, if we keep it up with this supplier—”

“Stepan, Isabel needed you today.”

“What?” He cocked his head.

I looked away, then looked back with narrowed eyes. “When it wasn’t you outside her door to pick her up, she looked devastated.”

I felt rather devastated myself when I saw how disappointed she was to see me at the door.

Stepan waved his hand through the air. “Relax, I’ve already smoothed it over with her. She’s putty in my hands, Alek. Her mom even more so. I’ve just gotta make it up with a proposal, and they’ll be happy for life.”

“A proposal?” My heart began to beat faster, pounding against my chest. And it wasn’t even jealousy this time; it was pure fear for her. She couldn’t get stuck in a marriage with him. It would be her fucking death sentence, or at least the end of the strong woman she was and everything that made her special. She’d have absolutely no power once she was truly under his thumb.

I’d seen him at his worst when it came to women. When it came toowninga woman. It wasn’t just dangerous, it was fatal.

“Yeah!” He shrugged, looking proud of his decision. “This woman is…” he rolled his eyes into the back of his head, “she’s the juiciest piece of ass I have ever, ever had in my life. If anyone’s worth marrying, it’s her. Imagine the adorable Russian babies we’ll have, huh? White skin, big brown eyes! She’ll give me a strong heir, Aleksei—”

“That’s it? That’s why you want to marry her? Because of her looks?”

He tipped his head back, chucking. “That’s all a bratva king needs, Aleksei. It seems to me that there’s still a lot you need to learn, even though you’ve been with me for what… ten years? Your heart is too soft. Do me a favor and find yourself someone you fuckinglustover, someone you want to fuck over and over again, that you never get sick of, then tell me if it fucking matters what her thoughts and opinions are.” He shuddered, like he got chills just thinking of listening to a woman’s thoughts.

I had to bite the inside of my lips just to stop from asking him what the actual fuck his problem was. Why couldn’thefind a different woman with a great body who didn’t care for having opinions and dreams? They existed. They were called gold-diggers, and Stepan had enough money to satisfy a woman like that. Why did it have to be Isabel? A fucking great woman who had the potential to be anything she wanted.

I felt stuck; there was nothing I could do to help her. I couldn’t warn her or tell her to run. At this point, he would search the ends of the earth to find her. She meant that much to him. There was no way out.

“Stepan… marriage isn’t something to take lightly. It’s not some extravagant gift you’d be giving her,” I tried to reason. He drew in a deep breath, finding patience, and gave me a look, allowing me to continue. “It’s something you need to consider as a bratva king. You need a woman who will be fine with being told what to do. Someone who will want to stay at home, where it’s safe, and look after your children. Someone who won’t ask questions when you come home covered in blood.”

“You don’t think Isabel can be that woman?”

“Have you seen her? She’s feisty as fuck, boss.”

He laughed heartily, and I looked around to make sure no other guests thought he was being rude, laughing at a wake.

“Alek, this is something you can learn from me and hopefully take to heart—no matter how feisty a woman can be, she can always be tamed. Isabel is merely a wild horse, begging me to tame her.”

My eyebrows slowly came together. Stepan took that as confusion and continued.

“Look, I know that you can see how beautiful she is. How intelligent she is. Hell, everyone can see it. Except maybe those dumb fuckwits inside that call themselves her family,” he peered over his shoulder. “My point is, where will I find a better woman? The rest are all sluts, money grabbers, scheming fucking whores. But Isabel? She’s only ever fucked me, my man. She is fully, completely mine, Aleksei. And I’m going to make sure she stays that way. I’m going to tame that horse and train her to be my wife, my fucking bratva queen. I’ll be the envy of every single one of my rivals and my associates, and their wives too. You’ll see. She’ll be perfect.”

I looked down, my jaw muscles popping. That was the end of it. Stepan would never, ever let her go. “Sure, Stepan. If you say so.”

It was later, when most guests had left, including Stepan—he was going back into the city—when I found Isabel sitting outside alone on a garden bench, looking up at the stars. I looked around and saw only her mother chatting with whom I believed to be her aunt, so I approached and sat down next to Isabel.

“Do you think he’s up there, Alek?” she asked without looking my way. I looked up. “Like a little shining light, way up above the clouds, looking down and watching us?”

I took a moment to reply. “I guess I do. Whenever I want to ask my father’s advice or feel his presence, I look up to the sky.”

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