12. Luka
Chapter 12
Luka
L ara looks adorably overwhelmed when I lead her over to meet everyone else. My aunts smile and give her big hugs while my uncles welcome her in with smiles and friendly jokes. My younger cousins get introduced as they come and go. Evgeny stops to tell her hi while Niki does the same before going back to the laptop he has set up at one of the tables.
“Where’s Dominic and Natalya?” I ask, making Vitaly laugh as he shoots a look at my Uncle Lev.
“They’re checking on Isabella,” he says and then nudges my Uncle Matvey’s arm. “They’re taking their sweet time, though. I mean, how long does it take to check on a sleeping baby?”
“Would you stop hinting at what you’re hinting at?” My Uncle Lev gives his brother a look that’s equal parts I’m going to fucking hit you and please for the love of god, shut the hell up .
My Uncle Vitaly ignores both, of course, and says, “I think we all know what he’s doing to your daughter up there.”
“Jesus,” Lev groans while my other uncles laugh. “I’m going to throw your ass in the pool if you don’t shut the hell up. ”
My Uncle Vitaly grins at Lara and points a finger at Lev. “He’s the grumpy brother.”
Lev looks at Lara. “I’m not grumpy.” He then turns his gaze to his brother. “I just want to pretend certain things aren’t happening, and someone insists on ruining that for me.”
Vitaly looks around with an innocent look on his face. “Who’s doing that? I’m guessing it’s some insanely good-looking bastard with the best of intentions at heart.”
Lev can’t help but smile, and Lara surprises me by jumping in and saying, “Maybe Isabella woke up and they’re changing her diaper and getting her ready.”
Lev laughs and smiles over at her before looking back at Vitaly. “See? That’s how you play the game. Is that so fucking hard?”
Vitaly grins. “Sure. They’re changing a diaper, if by changing a diaper you mean they’re squeezing in a quickie while we all wait patiently to eat.”
“You fucker,” Lev starts to say, but then we all turn when Dominic and Natalya step out with a grinning Isabella in her dad’s arms.
“Her hair is messed up, and his buttons look crooked,” Vitaly whispers loud enough for us all to hear.
Lev glares at him, but he just laughs and holds up his hands. “I’m just saying. It must have been one hell of a dirty diaper.”
Before Lev can punch him, he laughs and walks off, but we all know he’s safe. My uncle would never do anything in front of his granddaughter that might scare her. He beams at her, and as soon as they’re close enough, he reaches for her, snatching her from her dad’s arms while telling her in Russian that he loves her and that she’s the sweetest, most perfect baby ever. Dominic murmurs something to her in Italian and runs his fingers over the soft, dark hair that covers her head.
Natalya laughs. “Our daughter is going to be so confused by all the different languages. She probably won’t speak her first word until she’ s ten.”
Lev just smiles and kisses her head while she smiles up at him. “And when she does, it’ll be dyedushka . Won’t it, Bella baby?”
“Our daughter’s first word is not going to be the Russian word for grandpa,” Dominic says.
Lev raises a pierced brow at him and then looks at his daughter. “Is he finally learning Russian?”
Natalya laughs. “He’s picked up a few things.”
“Oh, do tell,” Vitaly hollers over from where he’s getting another drink. “We’d all love to hear the phrases you’ve taught him.”
Natalya’s face turns a bright red while Dominic laughs and Lev groans.
Vitaly looks over at my Aunt Jolene. “Probably similar to the phrases Lev taught you.”
My aunt laughs and shakes her head at him before kissing her granddaughter and whispering, “Your Uncle Vitaly is a big ol’ troublemaker.”
Isabella laughs and lets out an adorable squeal while flinging her arms and legs in excitement. When her blue eyes find mine, she gives me a big, gummy smile and reaches her arms out. She’s impossible to resist, so in seconds I’m scooping her into my arms and bringing her to my chest. I kiss her cheek and smile down at her, and when I look over at Lara, I’m taken aback by the look on her face. She’s watching me with a baby in my arms, looking every bit like she’s falling in love with me all over again. It’s the kind of look that knocks a man on his ass and steals the breath from his lungs.
“Uh-oh,” I hear my Uncle Vitaly say. “I know that damn look.” He laughs and pulls a surprised Lara in for a hug. “Welcome to the family, sweetheart. I’m looking forward to the wedding.”
We all laugh because he’s not wrong. I’m marrying Lara as soon as I can get her sweet ass down the aisle. Isabella joins in the laughter, not having the slightest clue what’s going on, but loving it all the same.
When my family finally releases Lara from the recent round of hugs, she steps closer and smiles at the squirming baby in my arms. I turn her around so her back is to my chest, earning me another happy squeal as she kicks her legs, happy that she can see everyone now.
“She’s so beautiful,” Lara whispers, smiling when Isabella grabs onto her finger and refuses to let go.
“She is,” I agree, “and I think she knows it.”
Lara laughs and then grabs her phone. “I’ve got to take some photos. You look too good with a baby in your arms, Luka.”
I lean down so my mouth is close to her ear. “I could easily make sure I’ve always got a baby in my arms, kisa .”
When I pull back, she’s blushing and smiling and making me wish I could haul her inside and get to work on making our own baby. I resist, just barely, and instead smile with Isabella for all the photos Lara takes. When she’s satisfied, I hand her Bella and do the same thing, because fuck does she look good holding a baby.
My Uncle Lev comes back to grab her, because he can’t ever go long without holding her. She gives another happy squeal when she sees him and then immediately reaches up for his lip ring, making him laugh and pretend to gobble down her hand.
“Your family is amazing,” Lara whispers, wrapping her arm around me and tucking into me like we both love.
“Yeah, they are, and they’re your family now too.”
She holds me tighter and nods her head. God, I would fucking do anything for this woman, and having her here with my family feels so fucking natural, like she was always supposed to be here with us.
“Oh my god,” my cousin Mia yells, drawing our attention to where she’s stomping away from an angry-looking Dario. “How the hell am I supposed to learn how to stab someone if you won’t teach me the proper way to do it?”
Lara looks up at me. “Huh?”
I smile and say, “That’s Mia, my Uncle Lev’s youngest daughter.”
Dario looks over at the others for help, but they just laugh, leaving him to face the angry fifteen-year-old alone. He sighs and scrubs a hand over his stubbled chin. “I promised to teach your brother close contact fighting, Mia, not you.”
She turns and points a finger at him. “You could teach me too. You just don’t want to.”
“No,” he corrects. “I just don’t want to see you accidentally stab yourself during training.”
She calls him a bastard in Russian, making her dad laugh while Dario mutters something in Italian that has Dominic fighting a grin.
“I’m not an idiot,” she says, spitting the words out at him, “and I’m not going to accidentally stab myself like one.”
“I’ll teach you when you’re older. Keep training with your dad, and I’ll teach you knife fighting when you’re older.”
“When I’m sixteen,” Mia declares.
Dario laughs and shakes his head. “Eighteen.”
“Seventeen,” Mia counters.
Dario glances over at Lev, who gives him a slight nod. With a sigh, Dario finally agrees and says, “Fine, when you’re seventeen, but lose the bratty attitude before then. I’m not going to teach you if you’re going to be stomping your foot like a toddler and throwing a tantrum every time I tell you something you don’t want to hear.”
Mia huffs out a breath, pushing a strand of her newly dyed hair behind her ear, revealing the pink streaks and the line of piercings she talked her parents into letting her get. “I wouldn’t get so angry if you all would treat me the same way you treat the boys.”
“Sorry, little witch,” my Uncle Lev says, using her favorite nickname. “I love you too much, baby. You can train with Dario when you turn seventeen. That’s only a little more than a year away.”
“Can’t fucking wait,” Dario mutters before walking past his brother and back into the house. Alessandro just laughs and starts throwing hamburgers onto the grill. Just a typical Sunday night supper with the Melnikov and Alessi families.
Sasha comes walking out a few minutes later, having no idea what’s just taken place, but as soon as he sees Mia’s pouty face, he picks her up, tossing her into the pool. She comes up sputtering and cursing him to hell and back, but he just laughs and pulls off his shirt, jumping in after her. Sasha is almost eighteen, and I’d be lying if I said we all didn’t worry about him from time to time. Violence has always been a part of our lives, but Sasha fucking revels in it. Nothing ever fazes him. I’m not so sure he feels things like the rest of us. He loves his family and would do anything for them, just like the rest of us, but if you’re not a part of his inner circle, you’re absolutely nothing to him, and the dead look he sometimes gets in his eyes is enough to have most men pissing their pants. He’s going to be a hell of a Bratva boss when the time comes. He already joins in more than the rest of us did at his age, and soon he’ll be stepping up full time, and god help the poor fucker who tries to go up against him.
“Come on and sit down,” my Uncle Matvey says, pushing out the chair next to him and motioning for Lara to take it. My Aunt Alina is on his other side, tucked up next to him just the way Lara likes to sit with me.
Lara thanks him and takes the seat, keeping her fingers threaded through mine like she’s afraid I might actually walk off and leave her by herself. I squeeze her hand to let her know that’s never going to fucking happen.
My Uncle Matvey glances down at the long-sleeved shirt she’s wearing but doesn’t comment on it. He’s no stranger to sweating his ass off because he wanted to hide his scars. My dad said it wasn’t until after they found Alina that he started wearing T-shirts again. The burn scars on his arms are still obvious, even with the tattoos covering them, but he no longer cares about hiding away.
“Do you have a big family?” he asks her.
Lara fidgets with my fingers and shakes her head at him. “No, it’s just me and my mom. My dad died before I was born.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” my Aunt Alina quickly says. “Roman barely remembers our dad, and he died soon after I was born, so I don’t remember him at all. It’s hard growing up without a dad.”
She gives Lara a smile, and my Uncle Matvey runs his hand through her hair and kisses her forehead. All my aunts and uncles love each other, but there’s something especially intense about the way Matvey and Alina love one another. I’ve always assumed it’s because he lost her for two years and nearly went insane trying to find her, but my dad says his sister has always been deeply in love with Matvey, and as soon as she turned eighteen, Matvey fell just as hard for her. It’s exactly how I feel about the woman sitting next to me. Just the thought of someone taking her from me makes me feel like I can’t breathe. I don’t know how my uncle survived those two years. It must have been an absolute, unending hell. Even though he survived it, it definitely left its mark. He’s militant about his family’s security, and he doesn’t do well if he has to be away from them for too long, especially Alina.
A bark cuts through the air, and my uncle’s face spreads into a huge grin when he looks over and sees his daughter walking into the backyard with Val. Rasputin jumps around at Val’s feet, waiting for him to throw the ball. As soon as he tosses it into the yard, the dog gives another bark and runs after it.
“What a beautiful dog,” Lara says.
My Aunt Alina laughs at Rasputin when he comes bounding back to Val, wanting the ball thrown again. “Thanks. Raspy’s a great dog.” She looks at her husband and kisses him. “Matvey got him for me.”
“Anything for you, malishka ,” he tells her, giving her a wink that still manages to make her blush and smile up at him like he’s her whole world.
Lara leans into me, and I kiss her head, breathing in the scent of her as I do. “Come on, baby. I want you to meet the rest of my cousins.”
I ignore all the sweet looks my aunts are giving me as I walk Lara over to where Val and Yelena are sitting by the pool. Max is heading towards us, and when we’re all together, I start making the introductions. Yelena quickly pulls her in for a hug while Svetlana runs over to join in the fun, and Max gives her a friendly smile. We sit around one of the tables by the pool, and I make sure Lara is completely in the shade because she has to be hot in her long-sleeved shirt and jeans.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Yelena tells her and then secretly gives me a thumbs up behind Lara’s back.
“Welcome to the family of ridiculously overbearing men.” Svetlana laughs and adds, “They mean well, though. ”
“Thanks so much for that, cuz,” I tell her.
She smiles sweetly. “You’re welcome.” Nodding over at Vitya, she says, “This is what you have to look forward to.”
Lara looks at Vitya and then back up at me. “That’s not Arkady, is it?”
Svetlana laughs. “No, Arkady actually smiles and talks. This is Vitya. I saved his life,” she proudly declares while Val rolls his eyes. “You can see how grateful he is by that huge smile he’s giving me right now.”
I laugh at the hard, unreadable look Vitya’s giving Svetlana, having heard every word of our conversation. He surprises all of us by nodding at the woman in my arms. “It’s nice to meet you, Lara,” he says in his thick, Russian accent.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Svetlana asks him, crossing her arms over her chest. “We’re basically glued to each other’s asses twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and you’ve never said anything even remotely nice to me like that.”
His only response is a dead stare and a slight twitch of his lips as he fights the smile he no doubt wants to give. Vitya knows how to get under Svetlana’s skin like no one else, and he takes every opportunity to do so.
Svetlana looks back at us. She darts her eyes to mine and then back to Lara’s before asking, “You sure he’s worth all this?”
When she sees the look I give her, she laughs. “I’m just kidding, Luka. It’s obvious you two are smitten with one another and we’ll be having another wedding soon and another little Melnikov baby.” She sighs dramatically, a sound I’ve heard more times than I can count while growing up with her. “I guess it’s up to me and Mia to be the rebellious single ladies.”
Lara looks over at Yelena but doesn’t say anything. I tighten my grip on her waist and give a very subtle shake of my head that only she notices, letting her know to not ask questions, and then I give her a wink to tell her I’ll fill her in later.
“Well, if anyone can handle it,” Val tells her, “it’s you.”
“Thank you,” she tells him, even though we all know it’s not exactly a compliment. Her eyes dart to Vitya before she says a little louder, “I don’t need to get married. I’ll just learn to be content with late-night booty calls.”
Vitya raises a brow but doesn’t say anything.
Val laughs. “And who exactly are you going to be booty calling?”
Svetlana shrugs. “Whoever the hell I want.”
“Such as?” he presses.
“Okay, so maybe not booty calls,” she relents, but then she says, “but I could do one-night stands.”
“You’re not allowed to go to clubs,” Max reminds her.
She glares at everyone except Lara and Yelena. “This is what I’m talking about. The men in this family are impossible.”
“Yes, we’re so terrible because we won’t let you get drunk at clubs, put your life in danger, and sleep with random men,” Val tells her.
“Pretty much,” Svetlana says, leaning back in her chair, legs crossed and foot swinging in an angry rhythm. “I’m just saying it’s not fair. You guys can go out and do whatever, but we can’t. It’s not fair.”
“We don’t, though,” Max reminds her. “You know we don’t do any of that. There’s too much riding on all this. We all feel the responsibility of not fucking up what our dads started. You’re not the only one with clipped wings, Sveta, even if it does feel that way.”
“Ugh,” she groans. “I hate it when you make sense, Max. It’s so annoying.”
He laughs right before his dad hollers over to us that supper is ready. Everyone gets up to grab a plate, but I keep Lara with me while the others walk over to the tables that are stacked with food.
“You doing okay, kisa ?” I ask, cupping her face and looking into her blue eyes.
She smiles up at me. “I’m good. You’re so lucky to have all of them.”
I nod because I know she’s right. There’s never been a time in my life where I haven’t been grateful to have all of them, just like I’m now grateful to have the woman in my arms.
“I told you they’d like you.” I smile down at her, running my thumb along her cheek. “My uncles are already planning our wedding, I think.”
“It’s hard to believe you all do what you do,” she says, making me laugh at her reluctance to breathe the word bratva out in the open. “They’re so nice.”
“I’ll let you in on a little secret, baby.” I lean closer and whisper, “They don’t look nearly as nice when they’re working. None of us do. We’re different when we’re with our family. Everything we do is to keep the people we love safe and protected from the Bratva side of things.”
“My mom is so wrong about all of you,” she whispers.
“She’ll learn the truth of things. We’ll get it all sorted out. I promise.”
Lara nods and then smiles when I lean in for a kiss. With my entire family behind me, I keep it somewhat chaste, but I can’t resist parting her lips with my tongue and sliding in for a taste. With a groan, I delve deeper, wanting her more than I want my next breath, and when I start to lose myself, it’s a loud catcall whistle that pulls me back to reality.
“Oh my god,” Lara whispers against my lips, making me laugh.
“Perks of having an enormous, nosy family, kisa . You’ll get used to it soon enough.”
Her cheeks are bright pink when I grab her hand and lead her over to the table that’s piled high with food. Dominic has a cook, but Lucia always gets Sundays off because Dominic knows she’d insist on cooking for all of us, and he doesn’t want her to wear herself out like that.
“Please tell me you’re not a vegetarian,” Alessandro jokes when she sees the huge pile of hamburgers, hot dogs, and steaks.
“No, I’m not,” she tells him, quickly reaching for one of the steaks. “This looks amazing.” She stabs a fork in and looks up at me. “Is this okay?” she whispers.
“You can have anything you want, kisa .” I grab my own steak and give her a wink. “If you want another one, let me know, and I’ll get it for you.”
She smiles and ducks her head before scooping out some of my Aunt Jolene’s potato salad. I watch her load her plate up, and it probably shouldn’t turn me on as much as it does, but goddamn I love that she’s a woman of many appetites. If she insisted on chewing on nothing but a leaf of lettuce when we ate together, I’d be bored out of my damn mind.
We take a seat by Max and my brother, and spend the next few hours eating and laughing and enjoying the time we have together. No matter what’s going on with work, my dad and uncles have always made a point of carving out time for huge family gatherings. It’s ingrained in me as deeply as everything else, and with Lara by my side, I appreciate it in a whole new way. Family is everything, but now that I’m on the verge of having my own wife and kids, it also changes everything. Our line of work is dangerous, and none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow, but instead of fearing death and letting it control us, we’ve all made the choice to embrace life to the fullest and to do everything within our power to make sure the people we love are safe and protected.
When Natalya, Sveta, and Yelena pull Lara aside to get to know her better, I look up and see Niki staring at me. He’s been quiet the last few days, working his ass off to try and find information for us, and as soon as I meet his eyes, I know two things immediately: One, he’s found something, and, two, I’m not going to like it.
Walking over to him, I take the chair beside him and wait for him to speak. He shuts his laptop so I can’t see anything and sighs, looking so much older than his fifteen years.
“You’re not going to like it,” he says, confirming my gut reaction to his stare.
“Tell me.”
“Can’t do it here,” he says, looking around at our family, and I know he’s right. Way too many people, and no doubt one of them will be walking over any second to see what we’re up to. “Meet me at my place later and bring Val. I’ll make sure Max is there. You all need to hear about this.”
I want to argue and insist he tell me everything, but my mom comes walking over with my Aunt Simona and Aunt Jolene, and I’m forced to keep my mouth shut.
“She’s so sweet,” my Aunt Simona whispers, giving me a big smile.
“And so pretty,” Aunt Jolene adds. “You two look adorable together.”
“I really like her,” my mom says, giving me her seal of approval. She gives me a hug and kisses my cheek. “I’m so happy for you, honey. I can see how much you two love each other.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I tell her, hugging her back while my aunts walk off to grab some wine. “I’m glad you like her. I knew you would, but it’s still nice to hear it.”
My mom laughs and looks up at me. “You’re so much like your dad.” She pats my cheek in the same loving way she’s been doing for as long as I can remember. “Now Lev won’t be the only one who gets to brag about having a grandbaby.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Jesus, Mom, no one said anything about babies,” I tell her, even though that’s not entirely true. I’ve been coming inside Lara as much as I possibly can and loving every fucking second of it.
“You’re just like your dad, sweetie, and I’m not that naive. I think you’ve been waiting for her, and now that you’ve found her, you’re not going to waste any time.”
She’s right, she knows she’s right, so when I don’t say anything, she just gives me a knowing smile and hugs me again before walking off to take the glass of wine my Aunt Jolene offers her.
When they’re far enough away, I look back at Niki. “Meet me inside,” I tell him, because no way in hell can I wait until later. Without giving him a chance to respond, I make sure Lara is still happily chatting with my cousins before walking into Dominic’s house.
A few minutes later, Niki comes strolling in, and as soon as he sees me, he follows me down the hall and into the front living room. It’s not exactly discreet, but there’s a clear shot down the hall so we’ll be able to see if anyone is coming.
“What did you find?” I quickly ask, knowing we don’t have any time to waste. When he hesitates, I add, “You can tell us all in more detail later, but I need to know what the fuck is going on.”
Niki grips the strap of his messenger bag, looking like he’d rather be anywhere than right here, and says, “It’s really bad, Luka. Her dad ran a Bratva with his brother, the Lebedev Bratva.”
I raise a brow, waiting for the horrible part. He does’t make me wait long.
“They ran a sex-trafficking ring.” His blue-grey eyes dart to the open doorway, making damn sure no one is listening. “They’re the ones who took Aunt Alina. Konstantin is the one who held her for two years. Our dads ruined them when they found out, killed every fucking one of them.”
“Jesus,” I groan, feeling like someone’s just knocked me on my ass. It explains why Lara’s mom hates the Melnikov name. She’s just completely wrong about who did what and why. My heart fucking aches at the thought of Lara finding out about this, and I quickly decide that she never will. She’s not responsible for what her dad and uncle did, and my family’s already taken their revenge. It’s done, and there’s no reason to bring it all back up again.
“Have you told anyone else?”
Niki looks at me and shakes his head. “No.”
“Good. Don’t.”
He starts to argue and I hold up my hand. “I’ll meet with you later and we can talk to Max and Val, but don’t tell anyone else, Niki. Promise me, yeah?”
My younger cousin hesitates, and I feel a slight twinge of guilt at the position I’m putting him in, but I’m older and officially in the family Bratva, and that means we both know he’s going to agree to it. Plus, he knows I’d never do anything to hurt our family, and he trusts that if I’m asking, then it’s for a good reason.
“Fine,” Niki says, “I won’t say anything until we’re all together later.”
“Thanks, man,” I tell him, squeezing his shoulder. “We can talk about it later and decide what to do. I just don’t want Lara to find out.”
“Do you think she has any idea of who her dad really was?”
“No,” I say with absolute certainty. “She knows his name and that he was an asshole, but she knows nothing about any of this, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she never does.”
“No,” he agrees, “it’s best if she never knows. The things I had to look at,” he starts to say and then shakes his head as if to clear it, but not before I see the flash of horror and disgust. “I’ll never forget it.”
Even though he’s almost sixteen, he’s way too fucking young to have to look at shit like that, and I hate that he’s had to do so. He’ll see enough horrors to keep him awake at night when he’s older and helping us run the Bratva. It’s not something he should have to worry about right now.
“I’m sorry you had to comb through it all. I would have done it for you if I could have.”
A faint smirk lifts the corner of his mouth. “Well I think we both know that was never going to happen.”
“Hey, I’m not that bad,” I tell him with a laugh.
“Uh-huh,” he says, patting my arm in a very sarcastic sure thing kind of way.
“You don’t have to be an ass about it,” I say while trying not to laugh because he’s not wrong. No way in hell could I do what he does.
He just laughs and starts to walk off while I follow him out, eager to check on Lara to make sure she’s okay. As soon as I spot her laughing at something Svetlana’s said, the tightness in my chest goes away. All I want to do is keep her safe and to make sure she always looks as carefree and happy as she does now. As if she can sense my presence, she looks up and meets my eyes, her smile growing even wider when she sees me.
God, I fucking love this woman.
After another hour of mingling with my family, I’m about to suggest we go and meet with her mom and then get her moved in with me when I see my dad and uncles talking in a group a few feet away. They look pissed, really fucking pissed, and when my dad waves me over, I brace myself for whatever the fuck he’s going to say. I know Niki would never lie to me, but I have a gut feeling that this relates to the Lebedev Bratva in some way. No such thing as a coincidence and all that.
“We need to have a meeting,” my dad says, cutting to the chase. “One of our men can drive Lara home.”
I scrub a hand over my face, not liking this idea at all.
“This is how it is, Son, you know that,” my dad reminds me. “She’ll be fine, and you can go and see her later.”
“What’s this about?” I ask him.
He looks at his brothers, each of them stone-faced and quiet, but none look as violent as my Uncle Matvey.
“We’ll explain later,” my dad says. “Val and Max are helping everyone get packed up and then we’re meeting in Dominic’s office. Tell her goodbye, Luka, and then come find us.”
He’s right. I have no choice. I don’t get the option of going home and living a normal life with the woman I love. My life is dictated by the Bratva. It’s not that everything else comes second because it’s less important. It’s more that everything has to come second so I can keep the people I love safe. If we get lazy about work, then it will come back and bite us in the ass, except we won’t be the ones who feel the sting of it. When enemies strike, they go after the people you care about first. So to keep Lara safe, I need to send her away from me so I can focus.
When she sees my face, she stands and walks over. “What’s wrong?”
I smile down at her and thread my fingers in her hair, pulling her closer. “Nothing’s wrong, baby, but there’s a slight change in plans. I need to talk with my dad and uncles about something, and I’m not sure how long it’ll take. I’m going to have one of our men take you home, and then I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”
She clutches my shirt and looks me in the eyes. “You’re sure everything is okay?”
“It’s fine, kisa , just some work shit.”
“That can’t be good,” she mutters.
Looking into her blue eyes and sweet face, I know there’s no way in hell I will ever tell her the truth of what’s going on. I will take this secret to my grave to spare her the pain of ever having to know the kind of monster her dad and uncle were.
I cup her face and kiss her, losing myself in her for a few precious seconds before I’m forced to pull apart. Resting my forehead against hers, I say, “I swear to you I’ll be there as soon as I can, and then we’re telling your mom and you’re moving in with me. Tonight you will be in my bed, and every fucking night after that for the rest of our lives.”
“Okay,” she whispers. “Sounds good to me. I’ve got a few things I still need to pack anyway.”
“That’s my girl,” I tell her, making her smile.
“Be careful, Luka.”
“Always, kisa ,” I tell her, giving her another kiss before reluctantly letting her go.
Svetlana sees us and nods at the black SUV that Vitya’s getting into. “Do you need a ride? We can drop you off, Lara, if you need us to.”
Lara looks up at me to make sure I’m okay with it, and when I nod, she smiles at Svetlana and says, “That would be great. It’s on the other side of the city, though. Is that okay?”
“No worries,” Svetlana tells her. “I’m just going home anyway.” She gives a playful eye roll. “I’m not allowed to have an exciting life, remember? All my nights are spent with this guy watching over me like a hawk, like I’m some sort of troublemaker or something.” She laughs, ignoring the glare she’s getting from Vitya.
“She’s definitely a troublemaker,” I tell Lara before looking over at my cousin. “Try not to corrupt her, Sveta.”
Svetlana laughs. “No promises.”
I’m not happy about letting Lara out of my arms, but I know Vitya will make sure she gets there safely, and as soon as I’m done inside, I’ll be coming to get her. I give her one last kiss before helping her into the back of the SUV.
“I’ll text you as soon as I’m on my way,” I tell her. I buckle her in and then cup the back of her head. “I love you, kisa . I’ll see you soon, okay? ”
“I love you too.” She smiles and kisses me. “Hurry up.”
I grin back at her. “I will.”
Stepping back, I shut the door and turn to Vitya. He’s put the tinted window down so I can see him, and when I meet his eyes, he nods, letting me know that he’ll guard her with his life, and it’s all the confirmation I need, but that doesn’t stop me from switching to Russian and saying, “Walk her to her apartment and make sure her mom doesn’t see you.”
He nods again, confirming it’ll be done just as I ask, and I relax a little at knowing she won’t just be getting dropped off in the parking garage. Svetlana can complain about him all she wants, but he’s one of our most trusted men for a reason. He’s damn good at his job, and if he wasn’t already assigned to my cousin, I’d be making him Lara’s personal bodyguard. Arkady is a good man, though, and I know he’ll keep Lara safe. He knows exactly what will happen to him if he doesn’t.
I watch the SUV drive off and then head back inside, not at all looking forward to what comes next. Everyone is already waiting in Dominic’s office when I walk in and take a seat next to Max and Val. They both give me an inquisitive look, and I give them a subtle shake of the head to let them know that now isn’t the time to ask questions.
Max leans back, extending a long leg out while lightly tapping his fingers along the arm of the leather couch like he’s playing a piece of music, and Val crosses an ankle at his knee as we wait to see what the hell is going on.
Dominic gives voice to what we’re all thinking when he says, “Tell me what the fuck is going on.”
My Uncle Danil holds up his phone. “I have certain things flagged on the internet so I’ll be alerted when they pop up. It’s been so fucking long since I’ve had a hit that I’ve gotten a bit lazy about checking on some of them.” He sighs and says, “I got a hit on Osip Lebedev.”
Val and Max dart their eyes to mine, but they don’t say a word.
“What?” Dominic asks.
My Uncle Matvey grips the back of the chair my dad is sitting in like he’s about to break it in two while my Uncle Danil says, “Someone’s been looking for information about him.”
“Someone?” Dominic asks.
“It looks like he has a daughter,” my dad says.
“What the fuck?” Dominic growls while Max leans forward and asks, “Who is Osip Lebedev?”
“We destroyed their Bratva,” my Uncle Danil says.
My dad looks at me. “It happened right before you were born. We killed them all, and we wanted to keep it from you.” He shakes his head, looking every bit like there’s a heavy weight on his shoulders. “To spare you from it, from what they did to our family.”
“What did they do to our family?” Val asks, looking between his dad and uncles.
It’s my Uncle Matvey’s deep, gravelly voice that answers. “They took Alina and tortured her for two goddamn years.”
“Jesus,” Max whispers.
“We spent two years searching for her,” my dad says. “We infiltrated their sex-trafficking ring, doing whatever the hell we needed to do to get to her, and when we finally found her, we killed every last one of them.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell us?” I ask him. “This is important shit that we need to know about.”
“We wanted to put it behind us,” my dad says, “and we swore when we killed those fuckers that their name would die with them, that no one would remember them or give a shit about them. We wanted everything to die with them.”
“What about other threats because of it?” Max asks. “Shouldn’t we have been aware of it for that reason alone?”
“Give me some credit,” his dad says. “I kept a very close eye on everything for years, and there was never any threat of retaliation. Another Bratva stepped in, just like we knew they would, but they’ve never once tried to come into our territory, and once they realized we weren’t coming after them, everything settled down. This is the first peep of anything in two decades.”
“There’s more to it than that,” my Uncle Vitaly admits. He looks at his brothers. “If we’re going to tell them, then we might as well tell them everything. When we were trying to get close to them, Konstantin and Osip suggested we unite the families through marriage.” He looks at Val. “That’s why your mom and I got married.”
“Jesus,” Val groans, rubbing his hand at the base of his neck. “Mom’s their sister, and that’s why it was an arranged marriage?”
“Yes and yes,” his dad says, “but as much as I tried to resist her, I fell so fucking hard for that woman.” He gives a faint smile at the memory. “She’s nothing like them. She hated them and lived in fear of them. They didn’t sexually abuse her, but they sure as hell did mentally.” He meets his son’s eyes. “Your mom is the best damn thing to ever happen to me, and I don’t give a fuck that we were forced to marry or about what her last name used to be. She’s a Melnikov now, has been since the day we married. She didn’t know that her brothers were the ones keeping Alina, and it nearly killed her when she found out. It’s taken years for her to stop blaming herself for their actions, and she never wanted you to know about them.”
Val sighs, still trying to take it all in, and when he looks over at me, I know he’s thinking the same thing I am. Lara’s his cousin by blood, a bond that the three of us don’t even share. We’re cousins because our dads decided to become a family, but he’s actually blood-related to her. She has family, cousins and an aunt and uncle, and she’s been forced to live alone this whole time, caring for her mentally unwell mom, shouldering the burden all on her own, and my heart fucking breaks for her.
“I guess I should come clean too,” my Uncle Danil says, and I see Max tense as he looks at his dad. “They also kidnapped your mom and put her up for sale. I wormed my way into getting a seat at the auction. The plan was for me to buy a woman, and then we’d question her and get as much information as we could before letting her go, but as soon as I saw your mom up there, I outbid the asshole who was trying to buy her,” he says, shooting a grin at Dominic, making it clear he’s the asshole he’s talking about. “Then I fell in love with her and couldn’t let her go. ”
I look over at Dominic. “Why were you bidding on Max’s mom?”
“I’d really like to know the answer to that one too,” Max says.
Dominic sits on the edge of his desk. “The Lebedev Bratva did the same thing to my sister. They kidnapped her and sold her and the fucker who bought her killed her. I was at the auction doing the same damn thing Danil was doing, but the fucker outbid me. We eventually confronted each other, Lev shot me?—”
Vitaly cuts in and says, “And we’ve all been besties ever since.” He looks back at the three of us and shrugs. “It’s a love story for the ages.”
We’re too stunned to speak. All the questions we’ve had about our family have just been answered, and it’s not at all what any of us were expecting.
“What about my mom?” I ask. “Was she taken too? Is that how you met her?”
“No, what we’ve always told you is pretty much the truth. Her dad was the mayor of the city, and I told you that I met her at one of his fundraisers. That’s the truth. I just hid the fact that he was heavily involved in all this shit and that she was suspicious of him and trying to find out what was going on.” My dad scrubs a hand over his jaw, watching me to see how I’m taking all this. “One night we were at a club that the Lebedev Bratva was selling women in, and I looked up and saw your mom.” He groans at the memory. “She’d decided she was going to take matters into her own hands and get some answers. I told everyone she belonged to me, that I’d brought her from Russia as my pet. No way in hell was I going to leave her alone in that goddamn place.”
While I try to wrap my head around the idea of my mom doing something like that, Val asks, “Anything we need to know about Aunt Jolene?”
Lev grins. “She was obsessed with me and stalked me at my underground fights. Her brother did sell her to the Bratva to pay off his debts, but I was able to quickly buy her from them. I did beat her brother to death, though, and that made me feel a little better.”
“Our family is even crazier than I thought,” Val mutters .
My Uncle Vitaly laughs. “Fuck yeah it is. Ask him what he did to his dad.”
We look at Lev, who’s scowling at his brother. “This isn’t a goddamn slumber party, Vitaly. We aren’t baring our souls here.” He turns to the three of us. “For the record, the fucker deserved everything he got.”
“So what are we doing about this?” Matvey’s asks, putting our attention back where he wants it. “How do we know it’s a daughter and not a son? How do we know it’s not a trap of some kind?”
My Uncle Danil waves a hand at the opened laptop beside him. “I’m guessing it’s a daughter. She used the name Odette19, and I tracked where she logged in from. It’s an apartment building that butts up against the western edge of our territory. The apartment is under the name Chloe Daniels.”
“Let’s go and grab her,” my Uncle Matvey says. “We can question her and find out what the fuck is going on.”
Val looks over at me, and even though it’s a quick glance, my dad still picks up on it.
“What?” he asks, looking between the three of us.
“Nothing,” I tell him, lying to my dad for the first time in my life. It makes me feel like shit, but all I can think about right now is getting Lara the hell out of there and protecting her from all of this, even if it means protecting her from my family. She just met them all for the first time tonight, and the last thing I want is for them to go storming in there and scaring the hell out of her. I also want to hide as much of her dad’s past from her as I can. She doesn’t need to know the whole truth. There’s no reason to hurt her like that. “We’ll grab her and bring her to the warehouse on fifth street.”
He eyes the three of us, knowing something is off but having no idea what it could be. When I stand, Val and Max follow, and we’re already making our way out the door when my dad says, “Let me know when you’ve got her. We’ll be waiting at the warehouse.”
“What the fuck are we doing?” Val asks once we’re outside and piling into my car .
“We’re getting Lara the fuck out of there,” I tell him.
“And then what?” Max asks. “There’s no way in hell they’re not going to realize who she is. My dad will have found out every single thing there is to know about them in less than an hour anyway. You got damn lucky that he hadn’t had enough time to dig any deeper before talking to us.”
“I know,” I admit, driving past Dominic’s guards before picking up speed and racing down the busy street. “I’m grabbing Lara and bringing her back to the apartment. I just want her separated from this. I want her safe, and I want to be able to tell her everything on my own. There’s no way I’m going to scare the hell out of her by grabbing her and her mom and interrogating her in one of the goddamn warehouses.”
I grip the steering wheel even tighter and weave my way down the busy road.
“This is going to fucking kill her,” I tell them.
“I can’t believe that out of all the women in this city, you went and fell for my damn cousin,” Val says. “What are the fucking chances?”
“I’d say one in a billion,” Max says from the backseat before smacking my shoulder. “But at least you didn’t unknowingly fall for your own cousin. I mean, our family is fucked up in many ways, but we’re not that fucked up.”
“Yeah,” Val agrees. “We draw the line at fucking blood relations.”
“It’s not a bad line to have,” I say, appreciating the way my cousins are trying to distract me. Nothing can take my mind off Lara, though, and by the time I pull into her garage, my heart is racing, and I’m working on my last nerve.
“What’s the plan?” Val asks.
“I’m going to go get her. We can take a taxi to my apartment while you guys grab her mom. When you’ve got her, swing by and pick me up. I’ll figure out something to say to Lara.”
“We’ll wait here then,” Val says, already checking his gun.
I hurry out and bypass the elevator not wanting to waste any time. Instead I take the stairs three at a time and race down the hall to Lara’s apartment. I don’t want to scare her, so instead of banging on the door and yelling her name, I force myself to take a calming breath while I knock on the door. My whole body tenses when I realize the door isn’t shut and it opens from the force of my knuckles hitting the wood.
Grabbing my gun, I lean against the doorframe and send a quick text to Val, telling him and Max to get up here. Unable to force myself to wait for them, I ease the door open with the toe of my boot and slip inside. By the time my cousins walk in, I’m barely holding onto my sanity because the only thing in this apartment is the tiny, scared kitten I’m clutching in my hands.