Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
LUKYAN VOLKOV
Isat at a table with Nikolai, Aleksandr, and Adrian, one of Illayana’s guards.
The fun and loving atmosphere of the party surrounded me from all sides, the mood infectious.
We’d all danced together, Nikolai and Tatiana doing sickening yet beautiful slow dances, wrapped up in each other’s embrace no matter which song was playing.
It was kind of funny to watch, especially when it was an R’n’B or hip-hop song ringing through the air.
But neither one cared, too engrossed in the other to even pay attention to anyone else but them.
Illayana and Drea did silly, awkward moves, not caring in the slightest how it made them look, while Aleksandr and Arturo stood beside them like guard dogs.
Even my father—a man who wasn’t known for partaking in events such as that—danced alongside us, his movements as smooth as silk, as if he’d been a dancer in a previous life.
In fact, he was still out there after the rest of us had decided to take a break, moving effortlessly to the beat of the music, twirling Autumn around him. The music switched up, and my mouth dropped open in shock as I watched him.
I looked at Aleksandr sitting across from me. “Did you know he could salsa?” I breathed out, still unwilling to believe what my eyes were seeing.
The same look of shock on my face was mirrored on Aleksandr’s. He shook his head slowly, his eyes as wide as saucers as he watched our father move his hips in time with Autumn, a genuine smile on his face.
“I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him so…so—”
“Happy,” Nikolai finished, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.
Aleksandr nodded. “Yeah. Happy.”
“It’s been a long time,” Adrian commented. At 6’5 and built like a pro football player, he was a beast of a man. Originally my father’s main bodyguard, he’d been in our lives for as long as I could remember. He had short black hair, deep brown eyes, and a scar that ran through his left eye.
When Illayana and I were kids, we used to call him Scar, like from The Lion King. He’d hated it, but never stopped us. We’d always thought of him as our unofficial uncle, since our real one was a fucking asshole with a capital A.
“It’s nice to see,” Nikolai commented, his blue eyes following Autumn and Father around the dance floor. “I feared he would spend the rest of his life alone.”
“Me too,” Aleksandr grunted. The chair groaned underneath him as he shifted forward, placing his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together. “He deserves to be happy, and I’m glad he could find that again. Even if it is with someone who’s fucking crazy. Have you seen her kill list?”
My body shot up with excitement. “No. Who’s on it?”
“Some pretty impressive names. All I can say is I’m glad she’s on our fucking side.
Otherwise, we would all be in serious trouble.
” His eyes flicked to me. Held. Aleksandr didn’t have to say what he was thinking.
My usually unreadable and stoic brother was focused solely on me, and that could only mean one thing.
“Don’t, Zander,” I warned.
“It’s not too late, Lukyan. You don’t have to go.” He was trying to talk me out of going to Russia—again—and my patience with the whole thing was about to fucking snap. “We can come up with another way.”
No. We couldn’t.
My grandfather’s most recent infraction was the final straw in a war that had been brewing between him and my father for years. There was no going back. Something had to be done, and I was going to be the one to do it.
I knew Aleksandr was only saying that because he wanted to protect me. He feared the unknown. Feared what might happen to me if I walked into the lion’s den without him.
Regardless of all that, I couldn’t deny the fact that it hurt.
It hurt because I knew that if it were Nikolai in my place, he wouldn’t have been saying those things.
He trusted Nikolai. Had faith in Nikolai. Believed in Nikolai.
Me?
I was just the idiot class clown of the Bratva. I knew that was what they all thought of me. They made no attempt to hide it. And yes, in part, I was. But that wasn’t all I was.
I was so much more.
But no one could see that.
That was why I was so determined to do it. To show them all that while, yes, I did enjoy fucking around and having fun, I could also be serious and mature when the occasion called for it.
Aleksandr must have sensed the inner turmoil I was going through because his eyes softened just a touch. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Again, a nice sentiment, but the lack of trust was really starting to grate on my fucking nerves.
A few replies came to mind. Thanking him for his concern despite the underlying insult in his words. Cussing him out. Brushing it off with a smile or a joke.
I went with one he would have expected of me.
One side of my lips hiked up into a playful smirk. “I’m your favorite, aren’t I? No, no, no, don’t deny it. It’s okay. I know I’m everyone’s favorite.”
Aleksandr shook his head. “I’m serious, Lukyan. If Grandfather finds out you’re trying to kill him, death will be a kindness compared to what he’ll do to you.”
“Then he won’t find out.” I shrugged lazily. “I can be sly.”
Nikolai scoffed. “We know.”
“Hey. I take offense to that tone.”
“Oh, do you?” He flicked a french fry at me. It bounced off my chest. “Cry me a river.”
I picked up the fry and popped it into my mouth. “You guys need to relax. I can handle it.”
“I would relax if you stopped treating everything like it’s a goddamn game,” Aleksandr seethed. “One wrong word, one wrong move, and it’s all over. Don’t you get that?”
His words cut deeply, but I smiled regardless, pretending like it didn’t hurt that he thought so little of me.
I opened my mouth to respond when Drea came bounding over, her face alight with happiness. She jumped on Aleksandr from behind, trying to wrap her arms around him, but they were too short to span the width of his body.
“Come dance!” she beckoned cheerfully, holding onto him.
Aleksandr rolled his eyes, but the smile dancing on his lips showed he wasn’t actually annoyed or irritated by her antics.
In fact, he secretly loved them. But he had that grumpy, stern persona to maintain, so he grunted and got to his feet, Drea clinging onto his back like a spider monkey.
She threw her head back and laughed as Aleksandr made his way onto the dance floor, not even a hint of struggle in his movements from having her attached to his back like that.
“He’s just worried about you.” My gaze flicked to Nikolai. “If something happens, there’ll be nothing we can do. We’ll be too far away to help.”
We were going around and around in circles. I could say, everything will be fine, I can handle it, a dozen times, but neither of them would believe it.
“How’s Tatiana feeling? She’s just about ready to pop soon, hm?”
The change of subject worked like a charm. Nikolai could never pass up the opportunity to talk about Tatiana or his unborn children. An expression filled with warmth and love took over his face in an instant.
“Her due date is only a few months away, and we’ve already got everything sorted. We’ve got the room next to ours all set up for the babies. We’ve got clothes, toys, wipes, nappies, formula in case Tatiana has trouble breastfeeding—”
“So basically the whole store then?”
Nikolai chuckled. “Basically.” He grew quiet. Pensive. “You’ll come back when they’re born, won’t you?”
It was a double-edged question. He wasn’t just asking if I’d be back in time. He was asking if I’d be back at all. If I would live long enough to meet my niece and nephew.
I sat up a little straighter in my chair and locked eyes with him, pouring every ounce of honesty and conviction into my next words. “I’ll be here,” I promised.
He searched my eyes for something. What, I couldn’t say, but he eventually nodded, seeming satisfied.
Conversation broke out around the table.
People came and went. Eventually, Tatiana managed to wrangle Nikolai up for another round on the dance floor, much to his protest. Father and Autumn took a break, coming over to join Adrian and me, and we all sat in comfortable silence for a while, eating and just enjoying each other’s presence for a while until Father spoke.
“Are you ready?”
I glanced up from my plate at his deep, baritone voice. He was leaning comfortably in his chair, elbows resting on the back of it, while a finger twirled absently with a lock of Autumn’s fiery hair.
I couldn’t lie. It was a little weird seeing him with her. Mainly because I hadn’t seen him like that in so long. I’d actually forgotten what he looked like when he was happy. What he looked like when he smiled. The sound of his laughter.
Autumn had brought that side of him back to life, and for that, my siblings and I would always be indebted to her.
“I’m ready,” I answered, steel layering in my voice.
I was more than fucking ready. My grandfather had fucked with us for the last time. The fact that I got to be the one to end that old fucker’s life made it all the more sweeter.
“You remember the plan?” he asked, a frown on his face, eyes firmly on Autumn as she shoveled food into her mouth.
“Yep. Etched into my noggin.” I tapped a finger against my temple twice.
“Do you think”—Autumn’s words were cut off with a loud, abrupt slurp as she sucked a long piece of egg noodle past her lips—“Sergei will suspect you?” she mumbled, her lips smacking loudly as she chewed. My father’s right eye began to twitch.