Page 76 of Bratva Queen

“Oh well. I’ve been working too long for this. For years. Decades,” he said, sitting down on the bed.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “You’ve made your trade.”

We heard a commotion downstairs and Gregori smiled. “Just making sure I get my end of the bargain. Oh, by the way, Maxim is marrying into the Sorokin family. It’s a part of our new alliance. Looks like our boy will have to settle down now and behave.”

“He’s not your boy, he’s Alek’s!” I spat at him.

“Well, then Alek will be pleased to know his son is moving up in the bratva chain.”

What?The way Gregori said that implied that Alek was still alive. My heart filled with hope, if he’d been merciful enough to keep me locked up, maybe that’s what he’d done with Alek. Maybe Alek was in the house the whole goddamn time! For 15 years!

“He’s… He’s alive? What did you do with him? Where is he?” I asked, pulling at my ties as I tried to sit up and get closer to him.

But he merely smiled, too clever to give me any more than little bites of information at a time. Instead, he looked down and ran his hand up my leg. “Isabel, you already know what’s about to happen. I’m going to become one of the most influential men in this country. Hell, on this continent. All you have to do is say yes, you’ll be mine, and I will show you a life you’ve never known before.”

“Where is Aleksei?” I shouted at him, my tears starting to build. He was all I could think about. I felt ashamed for believing that he was dead. I should have had more hope.

“Nowhere nearby, I’ll tell you that.” Gregori shrugged. “It’s useless to try and find him. And truthfully, he’d probably want you to be safe, instead of killed by Sorokin. So, just say the word… and I’ll be your Chernoff King…”

His fingers traveled higher, reaching my thigh under my dress. I turned over, trying to kick him off but it only made him laugh with excitement.

Suddenly, we heard gunshots ringing throughout the house. Gregori stood up and looked toward the door.

“I think we may have just heard the death of the Koslov bloodline, darling.” He smiled at me, but when the door was abruptly kicked open, he screamed and backed up, cowering against the wall.

My sons walked into the room wielding their handguns. Maxim was leading the pack and he looked at me tied to the bed, then at his uncle.

“Get her off that fucking bed, now,” Maxim growled.

Gregori held his arms up in surrender, inching his way to the bed with his arms raised. “Okay, Maxim. Calm down. It’s me! Uncle Gregori!”

I realized that Gregori wasn’t actually used to getting his hands dirty. He made calls, hired hitmen and laundered money, but he’d never had to wield a gun himself.

“I said get her off that fucking bed,” Maxim snarled, holding his gun steady.

Gregori pulled out a knife and cut the ropes that held me trapped. He backed up again as I scrambled off the bed and went to stand behind my son. I looked at Misha and Dmitry, trying to gauge their reaction to this development. They didn’t know I was here, and they’d never known Gregori. All of them looked surprised, and Maxim the most shocked of all. He was realizing the full truth.

“Fucking traitor,” he said, ready to pull the trigger, but quickly I placed my hand around the gun to stop him.

“Don’t,” I said, shaking my head and speaking in a low, controlled voice. “Don’t kill him. I need him. Bring him home instead.” I looked at Gregori with hatred burning in my eyes. “Once I get the information I need from him, he’s mine to kill.”

“Alright, we have her now,” Dmitry said in irritation. There must have still been guards alive in the house, though I wasn’t so sure about Sorokin himself. “Now let’s get the fuck out of here.”

In the car, Misha was driving us away from the house that was still booming with the sounds of shots aimed at us, while Maxim assessed me in the backseat.

“Mama, you’re okay?”

“Yes.” I nodded and touched his cheek, noticing Dmitry looking our way. “Gregori didn’t hurt me, but he has something I need.”

“What?”

“Aleksei.”

All three looked at me with wide, dumbfounded eyes. Maxim knew that was his father’s name, though he didn’t remember much about him. Misha and Dmitry, on the other hand, knew him for many years.

* * *

“We really thought he was dead,”Misha shook his head at the table.

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