Page 73 of Bratva Queen

“Even if we drilled a fucking hole through the wall where would we go? We’d die out there in the cold before we even made it anywhere near civilization.”

We’d tried to escape before by over-powering two guards in the middle of the night and making it as far as the entrance—where we saw the extent of our predicament. Hills upon hills of snow, rock, and whatever vegetation was strong enough to survive it. Security had spotlights on us before we could even try to run into the abyss. We each spent six months in solitary confinement after that.

“We’d need a ride,” I said, lowering myself down and wiping my freezing cold hands. With all the beatings I’d been getting, not only because of Gregori but because the guards loved to pick on the silent prisoners who didn’t cower before them, I’d made sure to keep my strength up. My shoulders were wider than they’d ever been, the skin hardened under the layers of scars. “It’s going to be difficult. We’ll need a guard on our side.”

“Can’t we do what we did last time, but take their uniforms and keys and just drive out?”

“No. The security at the gates checks their faces and IDs when they leave. They’re not that stupid.” I shook my head.

“How do you even know that?”

“I’ve got a guard informing me…”

“On your side?”

“Not quite. He just likes to let me know how fucked I am, and in the process, the idiot gives me information.”

Randa chuckled, shaking his head. “I know you’ll figure this out, Aleksei. I may not be the brightest man in this prison, but God somehow knew to lock me up with the man who is.”

“Randa… If I was bright, I wouldn’t have been put in here by my own brother.”

He scoffed. “That is true. Do you think he’s sleeping with your wife yet?”

I looked at him. I told him Isabel was my wife because in our hearts, she was. We could just never do it legally without her needing a divorce from Stepan. “No.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“He would have rubbed it in my face. Besides, my woman knows how to rip a man’s balls off. The longer he doesn’t show up, the more hope builds that she’s done exactly that.”

He laughed. “Fair point. Hopefully we can break out of here soon so you can kill him yourself.”

I sighed, “My wife thinks I’m dead. My son thinks I’m dead. If anything, that’s what’s making me more determined to get out of this place. I’m going to kill my brother, that’s for sure, but I’ll be escaping for them.”

Chapter30

Isabel

Ten Years Later

Over the following years I searched for the man on the phone and tried my luck at meeting up with my sons. In the beginning stages I flew to Moscow secretly, but I was approached at the airport by a low-tier bratva man, and not a Koslov bratva man.

“If you don’t turn around right now and book yourself a ticket home, Maxim will bear the consequences.” He flashed his cell phone, showing a picture of Maxim in his school clothes, walking home. That meant he was being followed, and that meant this mystery man knew where we lived.

“Who is your boss?” I asked angrily, needing to know who was threatening not only my son and me, but the entire Koslov empire as well. He wanted it for himself, and the only way to manage that was to kill off the bloodline. The man just gave me a last warning look, then walked away.

I received a phone call almost immediately. The distorted voice said, “Just accept it, Isabel. You are not destined to know your Koslov sons. They’re growing up, almost all men now. Back off and stick to your own territory, until the time comes for me to take that from you as well.”

I killed the call and closed my eyes, feeling unraveled for the first time in a very long time. Since before I had this pretty necklace, as Aleksei called it.

Whoever this man was, he had eyes everywhere. He was obviously a bratva boss, with moles in both cities. But who? There were other families with strong bratva bloodlines, but I couldn’t go around accusing powerful people. I needed to pull back and reassess, get my own moles in the other families, do whatever I could to figure out who was planning the biggest takeover in bratva history.

My sons were strong. They’d grown up without me for the better part of their lives. No matter how badly I wanted to know them, it would have been selfish of me to put them in danger just to say hello. I heard about the rise of my boys. Misha was the new king, and I was so proud of him. Dmitry had moved to New York, and Ivan lived his life to the fullest.

Lev joined me in Saint Petersburg and with his and Igor’s help I grew my empire still. I stopped messing with the Koslov bratva, and began phasing out my drug business altogether. I would stick with the money laundering; I would stay under the radar. Even when I felt like waging war against this ghost and calling his bluff, Alek’s voice would flitter through my head and tell me to keep crawling, until the time was right to pounce.

I finally bought my own house. Maxim was becoming a man, and I couldn’t stomach the thought of living in Gregori’s house forever. Yes, it had parts of Aleksei in it, but it was like his smell had worn off. The heartbreak became too heavy.

Gregori tried to stop me from moving out, the poor guy even tried to woo me. I figured he’d just never found true love and felt like Maxim and I were the only family he had. But he gave me chills every time he touched me, and without even considering the fact that I didn’t trust him, I’d never forgiven him for forcing Aleksei into the bratva life. I tolerated him, because Maxim loved him. He was the only other family Maxim had, for now anyway.

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