Page 63 of Bratva Queen

We stood in silence as we watched Sergio’s body burn on a large stack of branches. It would take a while, so after a respectable amount of time and prayers, I spoke to Lev, without looking his way.

“We’ll go back to the house. There won’t be much I can do for Isabel for the next few hours anyway… and we need a solid looking plan. When we get there, I’ll act as though I’m needed back in Saint Petersburg, that some emergency needs my attention. Then I’ll come back here as fast as I can and you,” I turned to face him. “You will never speak of this again. Do you hear me? We burned two bodies in the forest, we waited until only bones were left, and we scattered them.”

“Done, boss,” he said, still watching the embers of his friend’s body glowing and hissing.

“I’ll work on a proper grave for him while I’m up here.”

He turned to me, with a shimmering look of respect in his eyes.

“Thank you.”

Chapter25

Isabel

Iwoke up with a glowing red light flashing at the end of a dark tunnel. I could feel my body move, but only slightly as I stared at the red glow and tried to reach for it.

Where am I?

“You’re alive.” I heard a voice. A deep, comforting voice.

Who is that? Where am I? Why… Why can’t I say anything?

The red glow flashed brightly when I squinted at it. I realized my eyes had been closed. I struggled to pull them open, seeing the light through each strand of my eyelashes. It was a fire, bursting with little sparks as it ate through the logs underneath it.

“Isabel?”

Aleksei?I tried to speak again, realizing that my mouth was moving, but not a sound was coming out of my throat.

“Shh, it’s okay. Save your energy. Just look at me.”

When I moved my body again it pained everywhere, but it moved. My head turned and my arms pushed away the blankets that constrained me. Finally, I saw him. Alek was seated on the bed beside me, his knees toward the fire, but his warm hands clasping mine.

“You’re alive,” he said again as his face came into focus. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing… Aleksei Chernoff, at my bedside, a warm fire, a quiet cabin. I figured this must have been heaven but he kept telling me I was alive. He had that smile across his face, that special one that no one else knew. His dark hair was ruffled and his cheeks unshaven. My gaze connected with his, remaining there.

Those eyes… those dark, tiger’s eyes that said so much when he said nothing at all. His gaze was filled with emotion, conveying his feelings with a single look. They seemed to pierce my soul, and I once again, felt that powerful connection between us that transcended words. I felt safe and understood in his presence.

I felt hot tears prickle my eyes and I reached out my hand to touch his face. He held it there, kissed it, not once breaking our connected gaze. He spoke with a gentle voice, comforting, but serious. “I never gave up hope, but still, it’s a miracle. You’re here, alive, with me.”

I tried to reply, to tell him that I didn’t give up hope either. I couldn’t remember much, but I remembered fighting, in the dark of my subconscious, screaming from pain and anger but holding on because I could hear his voice. Now, here he was, still coaxing me back to life. However, I couldn’t speak. My throat was so dry, any attempt scraped at it like metallic shards. I began to panic but Alek shifted closer, pulling my hands from my neck where I felt tiny pricks. Stitches.

It all came back… The blade slicing across my skin. The fading image of Sergio’s body as I fell over and saw my own blood puddle around me. At that moment, I thought of my sons and I prayed for them. That they would be stronger than I ever was. That they would see a true monster a mile away, instead of being fooled like me. I prayed that they never turned out like their father.

Now, I cried, pushing up in the bed and falling forward into Aleksei’s arms. I couldn’t wail, there was no sound, but the tears streamed down my cheeks and my chest heaved with sorrow. He held me, and he shared the pain with me.

* * *

The following days were difficult,but bittersweet. I was away from my children but I knew that with this opportunity—Stepan truly believing he’d killed me—I couldn’t step foot back into that house to see them. But it also gave me the chance to not only be alone with Alek, but bewithhim.

He took care of me so diligently, making soup over the little gas stove, creating a straw out of an old pen so I could drink water more easily. He made sure that I was able to stand up to add logs to the fire or get myself a drink before he made the long drive back to the city to buy more food—anything I might find easy to swallow—water, coffee, and whatever else the cabin needed. He fixed the light fittings, the windows, and the porch, which he’d apparently torn up to keep me warm inside when we first got here.

He told me everything that happened after Stepan slit my throat. He told me that he was supposed to be in Saint Petersburg, attending to some fake emergency there. But Stepan wasn’t stupid. Apparently after Lev had told him Aleksei was gone, he’d muttered, “That sentimental pussy.” He told Lev that Alek never had the bratva blood in him. That his joining them was a cruel twist of fate, because now that his loyalty was unending, Stepan valued him too much to kill him for everything he’d seen.

“He’s right,” Alek murmured, looking into the fire with me cuddled within his arms on the couch. We’d moved the bed back to the corner of the cabin again, since I didn’t want to lie down anymore. I wanted to sit here with him, and talk. For the first time, we could talk without fear of being overheard.

“Itwasa cruel twist of fate. But now I’m thankful for that…” he kissed the top of my head. “Because it led me to you.”

“He was right about the sentimental part too,” I said jokingly, and his chest moved my body as he laughed.

---