Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
“F or fuck’s sake Drea, really? A Bratva guy? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Juan hissed low in his throat after Aleksandr, Nik and Logan left the room.
I laughed halfheartedly. I knew Juan would see the connection between Aleksandr and I in a heartbeat. Though to be fair, Aleksandr’s actions made it pretty fucking obvious.
Ordinarily, I wasn’t a big fan of the whole jealousy thing, but I had to admit watching him get all territorial over me made my skin all tingly and shit.
Logan and I had a ‘will they-won’t they’ kind of relationship for years. After Daniel, I wasn’t interested in a serious relationship, and Logan loved his playboy lifestyle, so fucking whenever the need arose worked out really well for the both of us.
People in the cartel wondered if we’d ever get together ‘officially’.
We were similar in a lot of ways. We got along really well, and he wasn’t threatened by me or my position, which was a damn hard thing to come by.
To be honest, if I was going to get with someone, he would have been the ideal choice.
Until I met Aleksandr, that is.
He’s getting married, remember?
Ugh. Sometimes I hated my inner voice. She was always a bitch, pointing out rational shit I’d rather forget or ignore.
“Calm down, it’s not what you think.”
He snorted, giving me a derisive look. “Who do you think you’re talking to here? I’m your twin. I know you better than anyone and I know you’re hot for that guy. And he’s hot for you.”
“Really? You think so?”
His jaw dropped. “Do you even hear yourself right now?” he hissed, the glare on his face the same as the one I’d seen on my dad’s face countless times before.
“Is this some weird case of Stockholm Syndrome or something? This guy kidnapped you, Drea. You understand that, right? Please, oh please, don’t tell me you fucked him. ”
I stared at him blankly. “Do you want me to lie to you?”
“Of course I don’t want you to lie to me,” he whispered harshly.
“Then don’t ask stupid questions,” I snapped back. “Obviously I fucked him. Are you telling me you wouldn’t if you got the chance?”
He stuck his nose up in the air. “We’re not talking about me.”
I scoffed. “That means yes.” I couldn’t tell you how many times I’d walked in on Juan fucking one of his boyfriends.
“No, it doesn’t. It means—oh no. Don’t you dare try and change the subject. You fucked the enemy, not me. I can’t believe—”
“Okay, we don’t have time for this,” I said, cutting my hand through the air. “Aleksandr gave me five minutes, and trust me when I say he won’t go a second longer than that.”
“Oh, I trust you. If anyone would know it would be you, wouldn’t it, hoe bag?”
“I’m gonna get you back for that later. We’re accepting his deal.”
“Well obviously. It’s not like I was going to leave you with them. We have to get you out quickly before they find out who you are.”
I bit my lip, glancing away.
Oh man, he’s gonna kill me.
“They already know.”
Juan stared at me, unblinkingly. “Come again?”
“They found out a while ago. They’ve got some contacts in high places. He managed to get his hands on a fingerprint ID scanner and he scanned my prints the first night. He was able to figure out my identity from there.”
“He knows you’re Don?”
I nodded. He was taking this a lot better than I thought he would.
“What the fuck am I doing here then? You could have negotiated this deal on your own and come home ages ago.”
“You don’t think I tried? The Bratva are old school. They’ll only make a deal if there are others there to witness it.”
He scrunched up his face. “What? Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s just the way they do it and Aleksandr refused to budge on it.” I glanced at the door that Aleksandr, Nik and Logan had walked out in and back to Juan, lowering my voice. “Did you find out who ratted me out to Nero?”
“No.” Frustration streaked across his face. “But Oliver is missing.”
Oliver was one of Juan’s longtime bed pals. They’d been friends since they were kids and were actually each other’s first. Deep down, I knew Oliver loved Juan—but he loved power more.
When my dad passed and named me as his successor, Oliver had tried to convince Juan to take it from me. He wanted Juan in charge so that, by extension, he would be too.
“You think he’s the rat,” I stated, feeling sorry for my brother. It made sense. Oliver wanted me out of the way so Juan would be Don.
“I think it’s suspicious. You and Oliver get into a fight, Nero all of a sudden reaches out and requests a meet, he kidnaps you and I get put in charge by default.
Oliver went missing shortly after you were taken.
I’ve been looking for him but so far, no luck.
” Guilt shone in his eyes. “I should never have pushed you to take that meeting. It’s all my fault. All of this.”
“No, it’s not. It’s Oliver’s.” If he actually was the rat, that is.
“One thing I don’t get is if he was the one to tell Nero who I was, why did he run?
He would want to take advantage of you finally being Don, or acting Don, but whatever.
It doesn’t make sense that he’d just bolt when he finally got what he wanted, unless—”
“Unless he’s dead,” Juan finished, his jaw clenching. “It occurred to me, and I’ve wondered about it. Maybe Nero killed him when he got the information he wanted, I don’t know. I’m not ruling anything out. I’ll keep looking for him until I find him, dead or alive.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry, brother. I know you—”
“Don’t say ‘love’. I don’t love him.” But he did though—he just refused to admit it because Oliver had hurt him more times than either of us could count.
He was the one who outed Juan to our parents because he was sick of hiding their relationship.
He took it upon himself to tell Juan’s secret before he was ready to share it.
Despite that, and everything else that bastard had put my brother through, Juan still loved him. He just wouldn’t admit it. Not even to me, or to himself.
“One thing I don’t understand about this whole thing with the Bratva is why they’re even willing to make a deal with us,” Juan said, changing the subject entirely. I got the feeling talking about Oliver was just too hard for him right now.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“We’re small-time compared to them. It probably wouldn’t be hard for them to squash us under their boot and move on. So why don’t they? Why are they even bothering to negotiate with us?”
It was a good question. One I’d wondered about myself, to be honest. Juan was right in saying we were small-time. We didn’t have the same reach the Bratva did. But we were fierce and cutthroat.
Juan leaned closer, his voice barely above a whisper, “There’s talk, on the streets.”
“What kind of talk?” I asked suspiciously.
“That they’re losing their edge.” Aleksandr?
Losing his edge? The idea was laughable.
“There are rumours circulating that they’re in the middle of some brutal internal war or something and are spread thin.
Can’t even monitor their own territories properly.
A bunch of their buildings have burned down and there’s been zero retaliation for it. ”
“That doesn’t mean they’re losing their edge. It could mean they haven’t found the people responsible for it yet.”
“We should take advantage of the situation,” Juan uttered, completely ignoring what I’d said. “If the Bratva are distracted, it’s the perfect time to strike. Can you imagine? The Los Zetas being the one to cripple and take down the all-mighty Bratva? We’d be goddamn legends.”
I growled, baring my teeth in anger as I grabbed him by the ear and pulled him down to eye level.
“Ow! Drea!” he whined.
“Shut up,” I hissed, my eyes darting to the door and back in alarm.
I prayed they didn’t just hear what he said.
“Don’t ever say something that colossally stupid again, you hear me?
Even if what you’re saying is true—and that’s a big fucking if—we’re still no match for the Bratva.
I’ve seen what they can do. I’ve seen their men.
They train every morning like they’re in the fucking army.
They have a military-type focus, Juan. Trust me when I say they’d crush us with little to no effort. ”
Juan’s face was scrunched up in pain, his whole body hunched over as I kept a tight grip on his ear. “But—”
“It’s this kind of stupid, ambitious thinking that got me kidnapped to begin with.”
He snapped his mouth shut. Guilt clutched my chest at the heart stricken look flashing in his eyes, but I couldn’t think about that right now. I let him talk me into the meeting with Nero even though all my instincts were screaming about what a bad idea it was. I wasn’t doing it again.
I let go of him and he straightened, rubbing his ear in discomfort. I gave him a level stare. “The Bratva are far better to have as an ally than as an enemy, Juan. If there’s ever a time in your life when you listen to me, it’s now.”
He blew out an irritated breath. “Fine,” he nodded. “Are you excited to come home?”
I hesitated in answering. The truth of it was, I wasn’t. Not really. I missed Juan and my mum, but I was afraid I’d miss Aleksandr more. I’d taken a peek through his hard, rough exterior, getting a glimpse of the person he was inside, the one he hid from everyone else. And I loved it.
He was strong, caring, selfless. He always put others before himself, especially his family.
I didn’t set out to like him, or even care for him for that matter. But it happened. I was powerless to stop it. It didn’t matter how I felt though, because in six months he’d be married. Come to think of it, leaving today before I got even more attached to him was probably for the better.
I’d get over him.
Eventually.
Maybe.
Probably not.
“How’s mum?” I asked instead of answering his question. I hoped he wouldn’t notice the blatantly obvious subject change.
He didn’t, thank God.