Page 69 of Bratva Queen

“Yes… You know, Martin’s been fucking us over for a while now.” I remained quiet, knowing exactly why that was. “I’ve heard of this other bratva ring… And we’re going to find them, but for now, you’ll never believe the call I received yesterday.” I lifted an eyebrow in question. “A man who said that he is in fact Martin’s supplier; and he’s willing to cut out the middleman and supply me directly.”

I cocked my head to the side, wondering why this man would do that.

“Yes, yes…” Stepan nodded. “I asked him why the fuck he’d do that for me? What does he want in return?”

“And?”

“He said he’s always preferred doing business with the Koslovs, even if he’s never met me. It’s the principle of so much history together that fosters loyalty, and he doesn’t agree with Martin that the other bratva ring will be better for him. He plans to cut him out of the picture completely.”

“Okay,” I said, my mind whirring with thoughts about who this man could be, because he was obviously working against Isabel.

“I want you to go to Saint Petersburg and find this man. I need you to vet him, let me know if he’s speaking the truth. There are many reasons he would lie… So we need to be sure before we make any decisions.”

“Alright.”

I was almost out of the door when Stepan added, “He said something I liked… He said that he and I were more suited to work together without the interference of Martin because we shared something: money and power. He said, money and power are more fitting for a greater destiny together than anything else. Isn’t that beautiful?”

I froze, turning my eyes back to Stepan. My own father’s words played through my mind as a distant memory.Life truly is ruled by the survival of the fittest. But don’t be fooled, money and power are more fitting for destiny than physicality.

“Did he say anything else? Did he want to meet up?”

“No… he just said to let him know once I had my ducks in a row… then he’ll take Martin out himself.”

“I’m leaving right now.”

It was Gregori. It had to be. I knew thesvoloch’couldn’t be trusted! I tried to call Isabel but she didn’t pick up. I hopped on the Koslov jet—of course, Stepan wanted me to get this done quickly—and that was working in my favor.

On the flight I wondered if Gregori was speaking the truth or just lying in order to take Martin’s place. Could he really have been Martin’s supplier all along? I thought back to when I set Martin up as our supplier, he led me to believe the supply was cooked by his friends. But that could have changed without me knowing. I lived in the same house as Gregori. The man was a sly fuck with many contacts. It was definitely possible.

When we landed, I still couldn’t get hold of Isabel. I knew it was against our rules when it came to Maxim, but I went straight to the house. I had to get to her first, I had to warn her that there was a fucking snake in her house.

Only, before I could even knock on the door, I was knocked into darkness with a swift blow of something hard across the back of my head.

* * *

I woke up feeling cold.It was fucking freezing, and my head pained unbearably. I opened my eyes and saw dark, damp concrete walls.

“Chto za huy?” What the fuck? I groaned, carefully touching the back of my head and seeing blood on my fingers. I looked around and realized I was in a goddamn cell.

“Ah! My dear brother has awoken.” I heard Gregori’s voice and looked up to see him in the cell with me. Only he was calm, dressed in a pinstripe suit, and leaning back against the wall with his hand in his pockets.

“Gregori, where are we?” I growled out, standing up with difficulty.

“Oh no, save your energy.” He kicked me against the shoulder, sending me falling back against the opposite wall. “You’ll need it in here.”

“Where ishere?”

He smiled. “Northern Russia, in a prison in the middle of nowhere.”

“What? Why?” I raged, standing up again.

“Because I couldn’t let you get in my way!” He shouted, his eyes bulging with anger now. “By God, I tried to get rid of you but you were just too attached to that spoiled Stepan Koslov! I tried to use you, tried to use Dima, I tried to infiltrate Stepan’s bratva ring every chance I could but you!” He poked my chest. “You keep getting in the fucking way!”

I stepped closer to him, nose to nose. He was shorter than me, and skinnier. But as soon as I did so, a guard wielding an AK-47 stepped into view outside the bars of the cell.

Gregori shook his head. “The bratva was always my destiny, Aleksei. Not yours. You took it away from me. You got to be the right-hand-man. You got to make the money. And then… You got the woman.”

My eyes widened. “You leave Isabel alone! I will fucking kill you!”

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