Sinful Promise (Koslov Bratva #6)

24. Danil

24

DANIL

“Do you really have to go?” Emily is trying to play it cool, but I can still hear the sadness in her voice.

I glance over at Dimitri, who is waiting for Zara to say her goodbyes to her parents.

He jerks his head in the direction of the exit when he catches me looking, and I fight the urge to flip him off. But I guess that’s my answer.

“Alexei needs us. Family business.”

“It can’t wait until tomorrow?” Emily’s green eyes are so full of hope that it pains me.

I wish I could ignore my duties to the bratva and take her back to my place and spend the night worshiping her body, but I can’t. I need to show my brothers that I’m reliable and committed.

I just wish it didn’t have to hurt Emily in the process.

“Alek is outside to take you and Zara home.”

Her eyes fall to the floor. “Okay.”

It takes everything in me not to reach out and stroke her cheek.

I hate that I’m making her sad, especially after the fun we had in the bathroom during dinner. I just hope that whatever it is that Lev has remembered is worth sacrificing a night with Emily for.

“But…” I wrap my arms around her and pretend to give her a goodbye hug. “I promise to take you out for that date tomorrow night.”

“Oh, yeah?” Emily bites her lower lip.

“Prepare to be amazed, Emily Mullens.”

“I swear, if you take me to laser tag Danil, I’m going to make sure my mother sets you up on a blind date next time.”

I laugh. “Fighting talk, Mullens. I like it.”

“You have been warned.”

“For the record, laser tag is awesome.”

Emily rolls her eyes at me, and I grin.

“What’s the dress code?”

“No clothes would be preferred…”

Emily smacks me on the arm. “Jackass.”

“But whatever is comfortable for you is perfectly fine, too.”

Dimitri is glowering at me. “Danil, let’s go.”

I grind my teeth, but the brush of Emily’s fingers against mine soothes my annoyance.

“See you tomorrow,” Emily whispers before turning her back on me and walking away.

I follow behind Dimitri’s BMW from the restaurant to the family penthouse. My thoughts are buzzing around but none of them stays long enough for me to focus on any of them.

Emily.

Lev.

Tom.

Igor.

“I need a fucking drink.”

I switch on my turn signal to take the ramp that leads to the underground garage beneath the apartment building.

Dimitri is surprisingly quiet as we take the elevator up to the top floor. He’s furiously typing away on his phone, but I don’t bother asking him what’s occupying his focus. The fact that it’s not on me for the first time this evening is a blessing in itself.

Hopefully, Alexei will let me sit back and enjoy a drink while Lev discusses whatever information he has suddenly remembered. The rest of my family is likely to have many opinions, which will give me time to clear my head and be able to focus on the task at hand.

Taking down Igor Ivanov.

“What the fuck?” I blurt when the elevator door opens, and the only people waiting for us are Alexei and Lev.

The pair of them are lounging on the couch, both with glasses of vodka in hand.

I look around. “Where’s Mikhail?”

Lev’s eyes move between each of us. It’s almost unnerving how observant he is. Though I suppose when you’ve been brought up by one of the most dangerous men in Russia, you learn to watch your back if you value your life.

Alexei takes a sip of his drink. “He’s out with Anton, trying to intercept a shipment.”

“Sounds fun,” Dimitri mutters as he heads straight for the bar cart.

I narrow my eyes at my oldest brother.

Whatever information Lev has remembered clearly isn’t that important if half of the family isn’t even present to hear it.

Alexei looks at me and tilts his head to where Dimitri is. “Get yourself a drink.”

“Oh, I intend to.”

I go to join Dimitri at the bar cart. He’s already poured me a vodka, even though he knows I hate it, but I don’t bother changing it. I just want to get this meeting over with. I already have a feeling that it’s going to be a colossal waste of time and if it is and I could have somehow managed to take Emily home with me tonight, I’m going to be pissed.

Dimitri seems to sense my train of thought as he places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes it hard enough for me to flinch. It’s something he used to do to me as a kid, and the fact he’s doing it now is only making my mood worse.

I’m not a child anymore, and my brother would do well to remember that.

“What’s this about, Lev?” Dimitri looks at our brother. His hand is still firmly planted on my shoulder despite my best effort to shake him off.

Lev gets to his feet to address us and slides his hands into the pockets of his slacks. He looks pale, which isn’t unusual for Lev. Though it makes me wonder if he’s had another one of his episodes today.

“I remembered a place that my father—” Lev flinches. “I mean, Igor used to take me to.”

I frown. “What kind of place?”

“It was a building of some kind. Igor used to lock me up there for days at a time.”

The severity of Lev’s past experiences is completely lost on me as I try my best to hurry the conversation along. If I get out of here within thirty minutes, I might get Alek to take Emily to my place after dropping Zara off.

She would have to come up with some excuse, but I’m sure she could think of something if I gave her enough of an incentive.

Alexei is focused on Lev. “Where is it?”

A heavyweight settles in my stomach.

My oldest brother’s eyes soften a bit. “You don’t know, do you?”

Lev looks at the floor, and he shakes his head. “No.”

I huff. “Well, that’s not exactly helpful information, Lev.”

Lev flinches.

Alexei gets to his feet. “Watch yourself, Danil.”

I don’t want to put a damper on things by pointing out the fact that Igor has left Lev with repercussions for life from his beatings growing up. He might be my brother, but he’s not the most reliable source.

I had thought that by welcoming Lev and Nina into the bratva, other than finally getting our brother safe with us, it would mean we had a direct path to Igor. I had hoped that the fucker would be long dead by now, but instead, he’s still out there, tormenting my family with no intention of stopping.

“This isn’t good enough.” I down my drink and slam my glass down on the bar cart so hard the bottles rattle.

Alexei crosses over to me. “At least he’s trying to help. I don’t see you putting in the work to track down Igor.”

I brace myself as Alexei approaches me with such fury in his eyes that I’m convinced he’s going to pull a gun on me.

We might be brothers, but we are in no way equal. He is the head of the bratva after all, and if I piss him off enough, he has the power to kick me out, no questions asked.

But apparently tonight, that isn’t enough of a threat to stop me from shooting my mouth off.

“You’re fucking joking, right?”

“Where’s your information on Igor, huh, Danil?”

“I’ve been keeping Emily safe, in case you forgot.”

“You always want more responsibility, Danil, and I might be more inclined to give it to you if you actually showed some initiative rather than waiting around for orders. If you wanted to help us take down Igor, you would find the time to help while you’re running around after Emily.”

I scoff. “That’s rich. I don’t recall you appreciating it when any one of us dares to go behind your back and think for ourselves.”

“That’s not true.”

I puff my chest a bit. “It is. And you know it, Alexei. You like having us all as your puppets.”

Dimitri steps in between Alexei and me and glares at me. “What the hell has gotten into you this evening?”

I fold my arms across my chest. “Nothing.”

Alexei glares at me. “What happened this evening?”

Dimitri doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Danil had Rurik do a background check on a guy Emily’s mom was trying to set her up with and humiliated him in front of the entire family.”

“It wasn’t the entire family. The twins weren’t there.”

Alexei looks at Dimitri. “Is there a point to this? It’s normal for us to do background checks, brat .”

“I fucking know that.”

I glance over at Lev, who is standing, frozen, by the windows. He looks tense as fuck, and a pang of guilt slices through me for snapping at him.

He didn’t deserve it, and I know he’s only trying to help. He wants Igor dead as much as the rest of us.

“I’m sorry, Lev. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

Lev dips his chin at me, but his lack of verbal response makes me wonder if he’s actually forgiven me.

Dimitri takes a sip of his vodka. “Danil, why don’t you go with Lev tomorrow night to some of Igor’s frequent hideouts. It might be enough to trigger something in your memory, Lev.”

Lev nods, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes.

That’s fresh! Are my brothers really trying to promote me from babysitting Emily to now babysitting Lev?

Hell, no. Not happening. And especially not tomorrow, that’s for sure.

I take a hefty sip of the vodka Dimitri poured me. “I can’t tomorrow.”

Alexie glares at me. “It wasn’t optional, Danil.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, dear brat , I’ve been tasked with watching out for Emily. And she’s made plans to go out drinking. So, unless you want to leave her life up to fate, I suggest you find someone else to go with Lev.”

The muscle in Alexei’s jaw ticks and for a moment, I’m taken aback by how much he looks like our father. His dark hair is starting to be flecked with a few strands of gray, and the lines around his eyes make him seem so much older and wiser than me.

Alexei eventually nods. “You and I will go, Lev. But make sure to keep your phones on in case we discover anything.”

Dimitri nods back. “I’ll inform Mikhail and Anton.”

“Thank you, Dimitri. Lev, let’s go to my office and start planning.”

I grind my teeth as Alexei turns his back on me and heads for the stairs that lead to his office, with Lev following silently behind him.

Before I have a chance to make things worse, Dimitri places a hand on my shoulder yet again and guides me back to the elevator.

Both of us are silent as we take the elevator down to the parking garage. But when I’m about to climb behind the wheel of my Porsche, my brother puts his hand on the door and slams it shut.

I’ve had it. “Watch it! You can be pissed at me all you like, but don’t take it out on the car.”

“Who’s Emily going out with tomorrow?”

“Her friend Jana. Why?”

“You sure it’s not another… date ?”

I shrug, pretending not to know or care.

“Who the hell knows, but what I do know, Dimitri, is that it’s none of your damn business.”

I can tell from the way my brother’s eyes darken that I’m grating on his last nerve.

It’s not uncommon for us to butt heads. We’re brothers, after all. But ever since this business with Igor being after Emily, I’ve found myself becoming more and more infuriated by my family’s lack of progress toward taking this fucking man down.

I feel bad that Dimitri is receiving the brunt of my frustration, but it just so happens that he’s the brother I’ve been spending the most time with lately.

“If there’s something I should know about, Danil, I suggest you just come clean.”

“I’m sure there’s a lot of things you should know that you don’t, Dimitri. But my love life sure as hell isn’t one of them.”