Her BRATVA Protector (An Instalove, Bratva Romance #6)
Prologue
Viktor Maksimov
It’s two in the morning California time, and Jamie’s calling. My cousin knows our time difference with Edinburgh. That means one of two things. He’s dying, or he needs to talk about Adam…
I pick up.
“Brother.”
“Viktor.”
He sounds wrecked. I sigh. “What’s the bastard done now?” Jamie takes a long breath. “Jay. What’s he done?”
“They sent six men to take him out. He gave back four. Two of them in a cooler. A fucking cooler , Viktor. And a note that said, missing some .”
I chuckle. “Christ.” Gotta love that kid.
“Aye.”
“Well, they came after him.”
“That is not the point , Vik.”
“It’s a bit of the point, Jay,” I tease.
“And there are the public menaces he hunts. Rapists, serial killers… you name it. There’s not a magistrate in this country who wouldn’t put them away if they knew what Adam knows, but he still chops them into pieces.
And the family calls me. What the fuck am I supposed to say?
” I cough to stifle my laughter. “I say sorry. I say I’m very fucking sorry my son’s a fucking psycho.
But then what? What am I gonna do, discipline a grown fucking ass man?
He’s twenty-eight, he’s the most dangerous bastard in Scotland, and he’s my son . ”
“ Bratan ,” I try.
But he just keeps going, “We’re not even at war, Vik.
I could manage the cunt in a war. In a war, he’d be a gift from God.
But we’re at fucking peace . He’s killing in peacetime.
He’s putting heat on the family with bodies that don’t even need killing, because the courts would do it for us if he could just sit on his fucking hands! ”
I shake my head, grinning a mad smile, proud as fuck of our boy. “Adam does not sit on his hands.”
It’s like a dam broke and Jamie can’t stop.
“Three lieutenants gone in three months. Two dead. Last one ran to Glasgow and won’t take my fucking calls.
I cannae get a man to run the eastern routes.
They know he’ll put one in their head the second they fuck up, and men fuck up , brother, that’s what they fucking do.
Money’s flowing in, his territory’s clean, but nobody will work under him. ”
An idea forms in my head.
“Send him to me.”
My cousin pauses his venting to reply low and heavy, “Don’t fuck with me, Viktor.”
“I’m not, Jay. Send him.”
“Vik…”
“Listen to me. Ray Venn died eight weeks ago.”
“I remember the cunt.”
“Yeah, and we have a marriage contract for his daughter that never got finalized. Territory, routes, a bride, all of it sitting on the table. Ray’s people are bleeding out. No boss, no plan. Halo City’s about to get eaten alive by whoever moves first.”
“You want my son to move first,” he says in a reflective tone.
Smart man.
“Yeah, I want him to lock in the contract. Let’s keep our boy busy. Give him a wife and a town to run.”
Jay is silent for a beat, then he says in an amused tone, “He’ll fucking hate it.”
I scoff. “No one thinks they want a wife, Jamie. Not until we find the one.” My eyes automatically go to the framed picture of my fucking beautiful woman on my desk.
“I fucking love the kid to death, but this shit has to stop, brother.” We stay quiet for a few seconds, then I say the words we’re both thinking but felt better left unsaid.
“Before Adam brings heat on Skye and Fiona. Send him.”
A long beat follows, where I know Jamie’s blood is boiling, thinking about his son putting his mother and sister in danger. Then: “Aye, I’ll send the bastard.”