Page 8 of His Disobedient Bride

I looked out the window, scanning the long, pebbled walkways and luxury houses in this part of Sochi, the smoke still rolling out from where our property burned.

Then, as we rounded a corner in the road, I saw the SUV that had just left with Cerise. It was lying sideways in the ditch, with another dark SUV beside it.

My brother cursed. There was no way I could be mistaken. That was the same SUV I had just seen Cerise and the other women getting into not 10 minutes ago.

When they saw us, the other SUV tried to get away, but the road ahead was now blocked by our men as part of the response to the attack.

Before we had even stopped, Andrei leaped out of our car, and the other men, none of whom I recognized, reached for their guns.

But Andrei was fearless, striding up to them with no backup, so fast that they couldn’t even get their guns up. I saw him slash out with both hands, and two men immediately fell to the ground with his telltale mark of a crisp, clean death slice on each of their throats.

The man that looked like their leader managed to get a shot off at Andrei from close range, blowing through his shoulder, and I saw a puff of blood in the air as the bullet sliced through his flesh.

But Andrei ran him into the car with his uninjured arm, then twisted his neck, the man’s head hanging crazily to the side as Andrei snapped his vertebrae, his body falling heavily to the ground.

Grigoriy was already out of the car and I followed him, even though I had a moment of fear.

I felt a sudden stab of guilt amid my worry. Had I become so old and soft that I felt fear before a fight? I wasn’t a killer any longer, but I needed to be able to defend the family without any hesitation.

Andrei’s long legs were already propelling him to the SUV in the ditch where he wrenched the door open. It was already hanging off its hinges.

My heart sunk as I looked in the door. All I could see were bodies. Bodies lying in the front and back seats at unnatural angles, all sprawled over each other where they had been shot. My stomach roiled and heaved with nausea. The smell of blood was thick in the air.

Cerise.

I got a glimpse of Andrei’s face. He looked like a skull barely covered with flesh, his face dead white, like everything that made him alive had been drained from his body.

I saw Andrei start to move the bodies, working quickly. I expected him to call for Cerise, but he didn’t speak. I don’t think he was able to.

For long moments, no one said anything, and the silence hung heavy on me.

This was already the biggest security failure our Bratva had ever had. To lose Cerise would be unendurable.

Finally, Andrei turned back to Grigoriy. “I don’t see her,” he said, his voice sounding hoarse and unused.

“Go slower,” Grigoriy said.

My stomach roiled again as Andrei did as the Pakhan suggested, taking each body out one by one, and turning them over carefully. I recognized a woman I had slept with several times, her bright platinum hair falling over her face. I felt the rage rising in me. I was almost never involved. . . actively with the Bratva. But this made me burn with fury.

Andrei moved from the back of the car and opened the trunk.

Cerise’s body wasn’t there either. He hadn’t found her among the dead.

“She’s not here,” Andrei said.

He whirled on me. “I thought you said you saw her get into this car?”

I stopped, forcing myself to think. “I didn’t see her actually get in the car. I only saw her beside the car, doing a head count. I assumed she would have gotten in immediately after that. She knew the protocol.”

“This car would never take off without Cerise,” said Andrei bleakly.

“Think,” Grigoriy urged me sharply.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

I saw Cerise beside the SUV, counting to make sure all the girls were there, her motions efficient and sure. She had been wearing a white dress and her hair was up in a braid. She was obeyed when she spoke, and the SUV looked full of women. As I kept my eyes closed, I remembered two guards getting in the front seat.

“Who was getting in there with them?” Andrei asked.

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