Chapter 34
Dominik
When I hear my cell unlock, I look up, expecting Alina.
Instead, I see the doorway standing wide open.
“Come on,” Simeon tells me as he motions for me to walk out of the cell.
My brow furrows in confusion, but the door is finally fucking open. Instead of standing there and asking questions, I get up and walk out of the cell, spotting another guard positioned near the stairwell. Both he and Simeon are armed.
Simeon nudges me toward the stairwell, and I head there quietly, my eyes sweeping around the prison. Nothing seems abnormal.
The other guard flanks my other side as the two of them take me up to the foyer and then up the next flight of stairs to the second floor. Judging from the warm sunlight outside of the windows, it’s early morning.
Why am I being transported now?
Simeon walks ahead and opens the door to the first bedroom on the left side of the hallway. “In.”
I glance down the hallway for a second where Gavriil’s bedroom is located. I’m sure that she’s in there right now, but what is she doing? Is she okay?
With the hope that I’ll find out soon, I stride into the bedroom that has an attached half bath. The moment that I reach the halfway point of the room, the door shuts behind me and locks from the outside.
I narrow my eyes as I glance around, not seeing any sort of clues as to why I’ve been brought in here.
As happy as I am about the nicer arrangements, a pit of dread opens up in the bottom of my stomach. Gavriil must be preparing something, and he wants me rested and strong.
Something bad is happening on the outside.
The door unlocks and opens again. I spin around to see Alina stepping inside in a new outfit. She looks gorgeous as always, but flushed and confused, like she just rolled out of bed.
“Dom?”
She immediately hurries over to me and throws her arms around my neck.
I hold her against me, breathing in deeply. “What am I doing up here? Nobody tells me anything. I—”
Mixed in with her sweet scent, I smell my brother’s cologne. It’s all over her.
“What?” Alina asks as she pulls back to look at me.
“You smell like Gavriil,” I reply, watching her face fall.
She swallows, then nods. “I didn’t know you were up here. I thought it was Ulyana.”
“That doesn’t explain why you smell like him.”
“I was just with him. In his bed.”
Shock ripples through me. It’s worse since there’s not even any guilt on her face. She loves me, but she can’t stop giving in to him.
“You wanted to?” I ask her, needing to be sure that Gavriil didn’t manipulate her.
Alina nods, a frown tugging at her lips. “It wasn’t to try and coerce him. I just…I can’t explain it.”
Jesus.
I should be furious with her, but I’m not. How can I be when it’s her decision? I told her that I would love her no matter what, even if she feels something for my brother. And I plan to keep that promise.
Losing her would be the worst pain in the world.
“You were just with him?” I ask her as I take her hand and lead her over to the large bed so that we can sit down on it and talk.
Alina nods. “He asked me to sleep in his bed with him last night until he had to go this morning.”
I blink at her in shock. “You only slept beside him?”
Alina winces. “Mostly. We did other things but I’m not going to go into details or apologize for it. He’s been struggling. Gavriil needed…someone.”
That comment makes me scoff.
“We both knew a physical relationship was the unspoken part of the deal I made with him,” she adds. “And you’re the one who told me to dig my nails in deeper, remember?”
She finishes defending herself, then waits for my reaction.
Eventually I make a sound of reluctant, begrudging agreement and Alina lets out the deep breath that she was holding. “He’s been taking my advice, talking to me about the conflict. And he’s opened up to me a little more…”
Tension wraps around my chest and tightens.
My men were right. Gavriil must have feelings for her.
“Go on,” I encourage her through my gritted teeth.
Alina gives my hand a squeeze. “I sat in on another meeting yesterday.”
“What’s going on?” I ask her as I rub her arm, my heart racing in anticipation.
“The Irish, the Armenians, and an unknown group have joined together, and they’re planning a coordinated attack on Gavriil’s strongholds,” Alina tells me.
My stomach drops. “Three different groups?”
“His lieutenants think they want cuts of the territory,” Alina replies, her worried eyes flickering to mine. “And they want a mutual enemy removed.”
My ears ring for a second as I process what she just told me. If they’re going after strongholds, we’re looking at total war soon. Dozens dead. Gallons of blood spilled.
The Bratva might be run out of the territory if we fail. If any of us survive.
“I told Gavriil he should apologize to you and ask for your help,” she says quietly.
“He’s not going to do either of those things, is he?” I ask and she shakes her head.
“There’s something else. I wasn’t at the meeting, but he told me about it,” Alina says. “Gavriil met with the Italians, someone named Luciani, to try and form an alliance with them. He thought they could help in the war.”
I nod. “That’s a decent idea. The Italians are strong. We could stand a chance with Maximo Luciani by our side.”
Her frown deepens. “It didn’t work out. Gavriil said he blew up the deal.”
My eyes widen. “He blew it up? What does that mean?”
Gavriil is always cool, level-headed. Even when things seem to be going south, he knows how to control a room full of people and smooth things out.
“He said that he had been watching us on the camera and was jealous,” Alina tells me.
“He admitted that to you?”
Gavriil doesn’t talk about his feelings, and he certainly never admits his mistakes. Part of me wonders if she imagined it because that doesn’t sound like my brother.
“He was drunk,” Alina replies. “He wasn’t acting like himself.”
Gavriil never drinks to excess. Ever. I’ve never seen him even tipsy.
A faint ache hits me deep in the chest, but I don’t want to identify it.
“Fuck, he really is losing control,” I mutter before pulling her down onto the bed with me.
“I know,” she agrees as she cuddles up against my side and rests her cheek on my chest. “I’m worried about him, Dom.”
She worries about him.
I rub her back as we lay there together, my arm wrapping around her smaller body to keep her close.
“He had to leave me for an update that couldn’t wait and sent me in here.”
“Good,” I reply as I peer up at the ceiling, wondering what’s happened now.
Gavriil just sent a beautiful woman out of his bed to me, so I imagine he feels pretty shitty, whatever it is.
He deserves it.
“He thought you wouldn’t want to work with him,” Alina says as her fingertips roam over my chest. “That you would rather stab him in the back.”
“I betrayed him once. He’s not wrong to think I would do it again.”
Sitting up to look down at me, she says, “That’s what I told him too.”
“What?” I ask.
“I couldn’t keep lying to him, Dom. He mentioned releasing you and I…didn’t want him to be caught off guard. He already knew you would try to overthrow him.”
“Of course he did,” I tell her. “He’s not stupid.”
“You can’t kill him, Dom. You’re brothers. He saved your life, and he’s the only family you have left,” Alina says. “I know how much it hurts to lose your entire family.”
“I’m sorry. I know you do. But this is different from Archer. He made his mistakes and so has Gavriil. I’ve bled for him, risked my life so many times, killed for him. I can’t do it anymore, dikaya koshka.”
Despite her claim and refusal to apologize, I know Alina feels a little guilty for sharing his bed, for having feelings for him, and letting it come between us, but she can’t expect me to forgive Gavriil for all he’s done. What he’s done to her, knowing it was killing me.
“I’m not upset with you, wildcat,” I tell her in the silence that follows.
What’s done is done, and I’m just glad that she’s in my arms right now and that her decisions were her own.
“Really? Because you look upset.” Her voice comes out tight.
I shake my head before kissing the top of hers. “I want you to be happy and safe. That’s all that I care about.”
“I’m happy and safe with you,” she replies as she nuzzles her cheek against my chest.
The corner of my mouth curls up, but my thoughts stray from her sweet words.
Alina might not fully realize it, but I think she feels that way around Gavriil too. Happiness and safety probably just seem different around someone like him.
Her heart races. Her skin flushes. When she lets him get close, lets him touch her, it feels dangerous and exciting.
Things may feel different when she’s with Gavriil, but the feelings for us could be the same.
And just as there can only be one Pakhan when this is all over, there may not be room in her heart for both of us.