chapter 42
Matleon
Participating in a war at your in-laws’ place is quite a thing to do, especially right after making love to your wife for the first time.
We’re sitting in an SUV now. She’s in the back seat with her mother, while I’m driving, Marco beside me. A few of my men and Mikhailov’s men are following us, while others lead the convoy ahead. Her father is in the SUV in front of us.
My phone rings. I pull it from my pocket and toss it back toward her. “Answer it.”
She picks it up and puts it on speaker. Zo’s voice comes through immediately.
“How serious is it?”
“Serious enough for your maternal side to lose their home.”
All the old Bratva families have tied up together to go against the supreme Bratva power of Russia, the one that stripped each of them of their influence. The Mikhailov Bratva. My lovely in-laws.
“I’m coming there,” he says.
“Don’t you dare, Zloban Bennett. I’ll kill you if you come here.” My anger spikes instantly.
“I’ve recovered significantly, Leo,” he argues.
“You haven’t recovered your ass. Stay the fuck there. I’ll handle things here. Just send men from A9.”
“I’ll send them with the Rintle-34 batch.”
“Perfect. And keep your shit there.”
“Don’t get yourself killed,” he says, then cuts the call.
Iselyn pulls the phone back to herself.
We reach the Mikhailov Palace in two hours. Men are everywhere, securing the entire perimeter. I park beside my father-in-law’s SUV. We step out.
He walks toward us and speaks to his daughter and wife. “Go inside. Marco will take you to the safe room. Savannah is already there.”
Iselyn looks toward me. I shift closer to her while my mother-in-law moves toward my father-in-law. She grabs my hand. “Will your life be in danger?”
“Nah, Angel. Your husband is impossible to kill.” I lean closer to her. “Especially when I know there’s a warm pussy waiting for me.”
She slaps my shoulder. “Be serious, Matleon.” Her face is filled with worry.
I cup her face. “It’s not an easy situation, but don’t worry. Look around you, there are thousands of men here who won’t let me die.” I kiss her lips. “Just stay in whatever safe room they take you to and wait for me there like a good girl. I swear I’ll come back to you alive.”
“Come, Matleon. We don’t have time.” My father-in-law pulls me away from my wife once again.
She follows Marco inside. I turn and follow Damir Mikhailov toward the other men.
Kaz slaps a hug around me. Then I hug Uncle Maksim.
Kaz lays out all the information, how the Bratvas planned this and how, according to his inside sources, they intend to proceed.
He points to the map of Russia spread across the table, old territories marked.
“It started with the Sokolov Bratva. They used an old grudge to ignite the rebellion. Over the past two months, the old pakhans of Baranov, Morozov, Dragunov, Petrovich, and Zimarev have been meeting at parties hosted at the Sokolov mansion. Turns out they were planning a joint attack with all their combined forces.”
He taps Moscow on the map. “The first step of their plan was to attack Moscow and kill Dad, but that failed. So now they’ve moved to the second step—attacking the Mikhailov Palace with as much manpower as they can manage.
They know they don’t have modern killing systems that can match ours, so they’re relying on brute force. The ancient method.”
He moves to another map, this one of Vladivostok.
“We have ten levels of security,” he says.
“The first is outside the city. The second is here.” He circles the outer borders of the city with a pointer.
“The third is here,” he marks a deeper region, “the fourth is here,” and like that, he walks us through all ten layers of defense.
I frown. “Then what’s the problem? With this many people equipped with high-class weapons, what’s the catch?”
“The catch,” he says grimly, “is that among the people who work for us, there are snakes—men they’ve already bought.
And killing from inside a syndicate has always been the most efficient way to take down power.
My most trusted men have been ordered to identify and filter them out, but a few hours ago we received information that at Base Six, soldiers were poisoned.
A hundred casualties in the blink of an eye.
And we still don’t know how much more damage they’re capable of causing. ”
“So what’s the plan?” my father-in-law asks.
“The plan is the same one they chose,” Kaz says coldly.
“We wipe out every single person these families have. Back then, when you spared the women and children of the Sokolov Bratva, this is what it led to. This time, no one walks away alive. My men have already begun attacking their territories. But because they’re spread across multiple locations, our forces are weakened.
And we can’t use large-scale blasts, civilians all across Russia are our responsibility. ”
“Who’s the most powerful among them?” Uncle asks.
“Morozov Bratva,” Kaz answers without hesitation. “Over the years, they’ve accumulated massive wealth and influence by ruling across several countries.”
Uncle Maksim nods once. “Then break them first.”
“To break them,” Kaz says, “we need our full attention focused on them.”
“No problem with that.” I step forward. “Tell me which countries are backing them.”
“South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, and Botswana.”
I nod slowly. “You concentrate your forces on eliminating the others. Leave Morozov to me.”
I’ll strip the Morozov Bratva of every ounce of power they hold… within twenty-four hours.
Iselyn
Aunt Savi sighs softly. “It feels like time has gone back twenty-five years. Remember that Christmas, Hope?”
Mom nods, her expression darkening. “It was horrible.”
“What happened back then?” I ask quietly.
Aunt begins. “Back then, your father was the Pakhan, and your uncle and I were in America. We came here for Christmas, and that’s when one of your father’s enemies launched a surprise attack.
Your mother and I were hiding in that room.
” She points toward the room on my left.
“Your grandmother was alive at the time, and she was hiding in that room.” She gestures to the room behind me.
“They wanted us alive so they could torture Damir and Maksim.” She swallows.
“They found us. We ran, just kept running, until we reached outside. It was snowing heavily that night.” She shivers.
“I still get chills remembering it. Damir and Maksim saved us. And after twenty-five years, we’re once again in this basement. ”
Mom looks around the space. “But it’s in much better shape now. We could live here comfortably. Back then, it felt like an abandoned place.”
Aunt nods. “After uncle and aunt died, this entire wing was renovated.”
The wing where this safe room is located is the First Wing.
It got its name because it was the first wing built here.
It’s also known as the Pakhan’s Wing, whoever becomes Pakhan stays here.
My grandfather was the Pakhan back then, and later my father took over.
But Papa never wanted to live in the palace, so he had his own mansion, while Grandpa continued living here.
I don’t have many memories of my grandfather and grandmother. They died when I was very young.
We spend the night sleeping on the couches, and after using the restrooms, we come back and sit on them again.
My stomach starts growling, I didn’t have dinner, and now it’s another day.
By the time I wake up, it’s already 9 a.m. I slept surprisingly well, even in a situation like this.
Mom and Aunt were quite impressed by this particular skill of mine; they only managed to get a few hours of restless sleep.
I get up from the couch, my base aching with every movement from all the sitting and getting up. I walk toward the small kitchen area and search for something to eat. I find a few boxes of cookies. Carrying them with me, I return to the couch and hand one box each to Mom and Aunt.
I sit down again, swallowing a whimper of pain, and open my own box. I barely manage to eat two cookies when the sound of hurried footsteps rushes from above. All three of us look at one another, silently exchanging the same thought: something is wrong.
I close the box, my appetite vanishing instantly. Moments later, the sound of gunfire erupts from the entry gate of the basement.
“Shit,” I mutter.
I jump to my feet, grabbing the gun Marco gave me from the table along with the magazines. I shove the magazines into the lower pocket of my clothes and rush Mom and Aunt toward the room they hid in twenty-five years ago.
I just wish history repeats itself, and that we all survive.
“Turn off the lights,” Mom whispers once we’re hidden behind the old furniture.
I switch off the lights and take my position directly in front of the door. I remove the safety and load the gun.
Today, I’m going to kill.
No matter how many nightmares I’ll have to live with later.
Because not killing means getting killed, and becoming the reason for my mother’s and aunt’s deaths.
And that would inevitably lead to my father’s and uncle’s deaths too.
I know for certain those men wouldn’t be able to live without their wives.
What about my man? Will he be able to live?
Of course he will. He is Matleon. The death of his wife wouldn’t be enough to kill him.
Footsteps echo outside. Then the door flies open, along with the others. I fire instantly, aiming straight for the man’s head. He drops before he even understands what hit him.
Holding my breath, I take another shot immediately, hitting the next man and sending him crashing to the floor.
More men pour in. I shoot two more, but they keep coming, too many, moving in a force. Within seconds, the room is crowded with them.
Shit.
One of them switches on the light, blinding me. He raises his gun and aims directly at me. Two more men follow, guns trained on my chest.
I lower mine.