Page 77 of Bratva Queen

“So did I…” I looked down, feeling angry with myself. “I’ll be going home tomorrow to start working on Gregori. I don’t care how long it takes; I’ll get him to speak.”

“You sure you don’t need help?” Ivan asked, but Maxim smiled and answered him instead.

“Oh no, brother. This kind of thing our mother is fairly good at. There’s a cell in her basement for a reason.”

I smiled. It was true, as a bratva queen I’d had my fair share of prisoners. Just like that day in the alleyway, I preferred to get my own information. No wires crossed, no chances for double agents. I handled my own business, with Lev and Igor the only men I actually trusted. In a way, with Maxim included, we had created our own bratva family. The Chernoff bratva.

“I assume Lev is with uncle Greg now?” Maxim asked. I nodded, keeping my eyes on him. I hadn’t had much chance to speak with him about his feelings toward finding out his father was still alive, after all these years. He didn’t know him like I did, and after finding out that Alek had been in my and his brothers’ lives right up until he was ten-years-old, I was sure he was feeling apprehensive about it all.

“Wait.” Misha sat forward. “Lev’s been with you? This whole time?” Misha asked. It was him who’d released Lev from duty after Stepan’s death. Misha chuckled, shaking his head. “I told him to disappear.”

“Well, he did, didn’t he?” I said. “Only, he’s in my basement, probably wielding a blowtorch by now.”

They all laughed. “Look…” Dmitry started. “We loved Alek.” He looked at Maxim meaningfully. “He was a good man, and I think he would have made a great father. So,” he turned his eyes back to me, “whatever we can do to help find him, just let us know.”

I smiled, “Thanks, boys. I think I’ve kept you from your wives long enough. And the sun is approaching.” We looked out the window to see a faint glow on the horizon. “It’s time for me to get back home.”

Chapter31

Aleksei

Isat in silence in the dead of the night, staring into the darkness of my solitary confinement cell. I hadn’t seen daylight in about a week. I only knew it was night because I’d been keeping track of the sounds of the guards walking past the metal cell door. They passed every hour during the day, and at night, no one passed at all.

I was placed in solitary for hurting a guard. A week ago, we were in line up, our hands and feet shackled, and he’d been in my face. Teasing me, testing me, smacking my face to get a reaction, as he usually did. Soon enough, when he got closer, I headbutted him. He was out cold.

When the other guards struggled to pull me down the hall while the prisoners laughed and whooped, I gave Randa a look, and he nodded his head knowingly.

I’d been waiting every night, silently focusing on what was to come. Finally, I heard a noise. A guard with his keys jangling, unlocking the cell next door, then locking it again. Next, he unlocked mine, and I stood up from the bed. I saw his and Randa’s faces. Dom, the guard, held his finger up to his lips.

Treading carefully, we snuck past the other cells, and passed by the night guard sleeping soundly at his station. Dom smiled—he must have found a way to drug him, judging by the proud look on his face—and led us to the artillery and vehicles warehouse. We had to be in solitary to be able to execute this plan without having to pass other general inmates who would no doubt make a noise.

In the warehouse we could speak, though still in whispers.

“We’re so close!” Randa said excitedly.

Dom looked at me seriously. “You’d better make good on that promise you made me. Your brother is a wealthy man, most of us are on his payroll just to give you a hard time. You think you’ll be able to kill him?”

The deal was that I would kill Gregori and use his money to set Dom and Randa up for a life of running. I wouldn’t have to run, because I was only in the prison through bribe money. There were no actual charges against my name.

I looked down at my body, wider, harder, and stronger than it had ever been. Covered in scars, I didn’t think it was a pretty sight, but it sure had the potential to crush Gregori’s thin neck in seconds. “Have you met my brother?”

“No.”

Randa and I laughed together. He’d seen him once or twice when Gregori paid visits, he knew what a scrawny and jittery man he was. He jumped every time I moved. It was only his money that gave him power.

Fuck what my father said. This time, it was truly the survival of the fittest. Gregori’s money and power meant nothing to me, I would squash him like a fucking flea when I found him.

Dom shrugged, convinced by our cavalier attitudes toward that part of the plan. “Well then, I trust you. Here.” He threw us jackets and boots, scarfs and ushanka hats with ear flaps. It was fucking freezing out there, and we had far to go. “Get in.”

With the warm clothes on, we squeezed together in the back of an old army truck. The guard laid cloth over us, then balanced guns over our bodies, and covered them with another cloth. It was tight and uncomfortable, but it wouldn’t be for long.

We felt the rumble of the engine, and then the whoosh of cold coming through every little opening in the truck when he pulled out of the warehouse. After a minute of driving, we stopped at the gates.

“I’m off to town,priyatel’,” the guard told his colleague. “Boss needs more bottles.”

The outside guard laughed; it seemed the prison ward was quite the drinker. He opened the back doors, lifted the cloth, and saw the guns. We didn’t breathe. It wasn’t unusual for a guard to be armed to the teeth, even if only for protection from the rough wilderness, which was why he’d used this tactic. The guard closed the doors and walked to the front, sounding unbothered. “Be back by morning, or he’ll be kicking our asses before breakfast.”

Our guard laughed too, and we heard the gates groan as they opened. Randa squirmed with elation, but I kept still. Not because I still feared we’d be caught, but because I couldn’t believe we hadn’t.

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