Chapter 14: Bratva Prince: Chapter 14

Ijogged up the stairs towards the top floor of the house, heading for Illayana’s room. The slightest trickle of surprise fluttered through me. I had to give it to the kid, he had balls.

I expected him to be quiet. Meek. Docile. Based on what Father told me about him, I thought he’d be a shy kid who was afraid of his own shadow. Not some disrespectful little shit who had no problem speaking his mind, even if it got him into trouble and reminded me too much of Lukyan for his own good.

I could definitely see glimpses of Mikhail in him. They had the same eyes. The same dark blonde hair. The same stubborn streak a mile long. If Dayton inherited Mikhail’s ruthlessness and business smarts, he’d be a force to be reckoned with when he got older. But only time would tell on that.

Tatiana, my sister’s best friend, came bounding down the stairs. “Hi Aleksandr. Bye Aleksandr,” she said, running past me and out of my field of vision before I could even respond.

I shrugged, continuing up the stairs. I rounded the corner at the top and froze when I saw Illayana and Lukyan in the hallway. “Why do you two look like you’re up to no good?”

“No reason,” they both responded at the same time, and my suspicions grew tenfold.

I know those two better than anyone else in the world. When our mother died and our father was so overcome with grief and rage he went on a killing spree, I was left to pick up the broken pieces of our family.

Illayana was only eleven when the Voznesenskys murdered our mother. Lukyan was thirteen. At twenty-four, I didn’t know shit about taking care of kids. Up until that point, my life had consisted of training, fighting and being one of my mother’s personal guards.

The look on my younger siblings’ faces right now was one I’d seen many times over the years—primarily when they were about to do something they weren’t meant to be doing. Something that would get them into trouble.

I narrowed my eyes. “Right,” I said, letting the trace of suspicion I felt linger in my voice. I waved to the pile of suitcases next to them. “Come on, let’s get your stuff and get down to the car. The plane is waiting.”

They both shared a look with one another.

“Alright, seriously. What’s going on with you two?” I barked.

“I wanna talk to the girl. The one you took from Nero’s,” Illayana breathed out in a rush.

“No,” I growled instantly, leaving no room for debate on the matter. I didn’t need my little sister peppering Drea with question after question. Especially since I hadn’t seen her since our little…incident.

“But—”

“I said no, Illayana. Now get your shit and move it.” I grabbed one of her suitcases in each hand and walked away, confident they would follow.

Father was waiting in the foyer when I got downstairs. All the stress I’d seen when I was in his office was gone, hidden behind the Pakhan mask he kept in place around others. Father was an expert in compartmentalising his emotions. You would never be able to tell something was wrong just by looking at him. He made sure people only saw what he wanted them to see; a strong, ruthless leader without a worry in the world.

“Your sister on her way down?” Father asked, adjusting the cuffs on his Armani suit.

I nodded. “She’s right behind me.”

The guard standing by the front door opened it and I walked outside. A black SUV was parked in the driveway, Dayton leaning casually against it. He was still dressed in the same clothes; ripped jeans and a black shirt with a denim jacket, his hat flipped backwards.

He looked up at the sound of the gravel crunching beneath my feet as I made way towards the car. He scowled and looked back down at his phone, dismissing me. The cuts on his face were angry and red, sticking out like a sore thumb on his pale skin.

Raised voices reached my ears. Nik and Tatiana were locked in a heated argument halfway down the driveway (what else was new?), screaming and yelling at each other like they did the majority of the time.

They were like two opposing forces, constantly fighting against one another, refusing to accept there was something deeper, something more meaningful going on between them.

Frustration radiated from Nik, his hands in his hair as if he was a heartbeat away from ripping it out in sheer exasperation. Tatiana was smirking, as if she was enjoying putting my brother through such turmoil.

I couldn’t hear what they were arguing about but whatever it was, it was driving Nik crazy.

I thrust one of the suitcases in my hands at Dayton, the force jostling him. “Put these in the trunk,” I said, dropping the other one at his feet.

Dayton grumbled but didn’t argue. I grabbed the keys from Sam—one of our men, who drove the car here from the garage—and unlocked it, popping the boot open.

Lukyan stepped outside of the house a moment later, carrying one of Illayana’s suitcases in one hand and a duffel bag in the other. He reached my side just as Dayton threw the suitcases I gave him into the boot, slamming it shut a bit more aggressively than was needed. Dayton climbed into the back seat next, slamming the car door with just as much force.

Lucky for him, he’d managed to keep quiet the entire time, otherwise I would have added another indiscretion to his count.

“Who’s the kid?” Lukyan asked, throwing Illayana’s luggage in.

“His name is Dayton. He’s Mikhail’s son.”

Lukyan frowned. “Mikhail has a son?”

“Apparently,” I grunted. “He’s here for training.”

“Uh oh,” Lukyan sang with humour. “If you’re the one doing it, I wish him all the luck in the world. He’s gonna need it.”

My brows lowered. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re a hardass. Even more so than Father.”

Nik’s angry voice cut through the air. “Fine! Get yourself killed! See if I fucking care.” He turned his back on Tatiana and marched towards the house.

Lukyan opened his mouth.

“Don’t,” Nik snapped, stomping past. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Lukyan held his palms up, not saying a word.

Like me, he knew there was no point. When it came to Tatiana, there was no reasoning with Nik. He was stubborn as hell on a normal day, but whenever Tatiana was involved, he was even more headstrong.

Tatiana had her hands on her hips, glaring after him. She took a step in his direction, stopped, shook her head and turned around, walking away.

“The sooner those two get over their issues, the better,” Lukyan said, shaking his head.

I grunted in agreement. I wasn’t sure they ever would though. Something happened between the two of them a few years ago. I had no idea what, and I was pretty sure Illayana didn’t even know about it. The only reason I did was because I ran into Nik right afterwards. I’d never seen my brother so broken.

Whatever it was created a rift between them, one that despite their overwhelming sexual tension and feelings for one another, they couldn’t seem to get past.

Adrian came around from the side of the house, a large duffel bag slung over his shoulder. As Father’s personal bodyguard, Adrian usually went everywhere he did. But when Illayana agreed to marry Arturo, there were a number of families within the Bratva that were very unhappy about it.

The opportunity to marry into the Pakhan’s family was something a lot of the other families vied for. Since Illayana was Father’s only daughter, that opportunity vanished the moment she said ‘I do’.

Nobody was stupid enough to voice their displeasure outright. Questioning the Pakhan was a death sentence. That didn’t stop them from talking amongst themselves though, from causing discontent to grow within our ranks.

Father, being the overly paranoid man he was, wanted to make sure Illayana was always protected in the event someone decided to act on their anger. Assigning his top fighter to be her permanent guard was his way of ensuring she always had someone watching her back.

Adrian greeted me with a nod of his head before climbing into the back of the SUV.

Illayana walked out of the front door, her blue eyes glistening, sadness etched all over her face.

I frowned. She looked like she was going to cry. My sister never cried. I took a step towards her and froze, my back stiffening. My eyes hooked onto the necklace around her throat.

A painful memory slammed into me with such force it took my breath away, making me choke. I couldn’t stop it from taking over, dragging me under like a powerful current in the ocean. The world around me slipped away as I was thrust into the past.

“Aleksy, come help me with this,” my mother Yekaterina said, looking at me from the mirror in front of her.

She sat at the vanity table in her bedroom, holding a silver locket in between her manicured fingers. She was in an elegant, long-sleeved black lace dress, her dark hair down with a few strands braided back. Her blue eyes were a few shades lighter than my own. There was the smallest amount of make up on her heart-shaped face, just enough to accentuate her delicate features.

I pushed off the wall, making my way over to her. “I don’t think this is a good idea. Maybe I shouldn’t go.”

Mother spun in her chair to face me. “Don’t be ridiculous. You have to go. You’ve been waiting for years for an opportunity to prove yourself to your father.”

“If he knew I was leaving you unprotected to attend this meet—” I shook my head, my words dying off at the thought.

I knew exactly how he would react. As one of my mother’s bodyguards, it was my job, my responsibility to keep her safe. Ever since I was seventeen I went where she went, a constant presence looming over her, warning others away. I never left her side when we were out of the house. If Father knew I was even entertaining the idea, he would beat me within an inch of my life.

Shrugging, Mother smiled, a twinkle in her eyes. “He doesn’t have to know.” She handed me the necklace and turned around, lifting her hair off her shoulders.

It was one of her most prized possessions and she never left the house without it on.

I sighed, clipping it around her neck. “Father will find out.”

“And if he does, I will deal with him,” Mother said, straightening her shoulders.

If there was anyone in the world that could put Dimitri Volkov in his place, it was his wife. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to make her happy.

“I don’t think it’s worth the risk. What if something happens? No. There will be other opportunities.”

Mother stood, turning to face me. “I will be fine. I’m only going to The Arch and back home. I promise not to go anywhere else. Plus, I’ll have Aaron and Borik with me. That’s more than enough protection.”

Her words should have made me feel better. The Arch was a casino we owned. It was in our territory. Our men were the security guards. Aaron and Borik were both skilled soldiers. So why did the ball of anxiety in my chest continue to grow, expanding until it felt like it was going to crush me?

I couldn’t shake this horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen and I wouldn’t be there to protect her.

“No.” I shook my head. “No, I’m coming with you. I’m not—”

“Aleksy,” Mother cut in, gripping my arms and forcing me to look at her. Even with her heels on, she was still several feet shorter than me. “Relax and breathe. You’re stressing yourself out over nothing. As far as your father knows, I’ll be here, but in the event he finds out I went to The Arch, I will tell him it was an unplanned trip. Totally spontaneous—which it is. Up until a few hours ago I had no intention of going out, but Natasha invited me, and it’s been so long since I’ve spent quality time with her. Nothing bad is going to happen. I’ll be perfectly safe at The Arch. I know you take your job as my bodyguard seriously, but you’re the future head of the Bratva. The responsibilities that come with that outweigh your responsibilities to me. You can’t worry about me when you’re meant to be focused on the task in front of you. This deal your father has with The Triad is an important one. You need to be there not only to learn from the interaction, but to watch your father’s back.”

I grumbled, turning away. Everything she said made sense. I knew she was right. I just hated the idea of leaving my mother’s safety in the hands of others.

“Fine,” I exhaled heavily, rolling my neck. “You win. I’ll go.” I should have known better than to argue with my mother anyway. She was who we all inherited our stubbornness from. I was sure of it. “And stop calling me Aleksy. I’m twenty-four years old. I’m not a baby anymore.”

Mother smiled a beautiful, radiant smile that lit up the entire room. “You’ll always be my baby, Aleksy.” She touched my cheek softly. “Moy pervenets,” My firstborn.

Those were the last words my mother ever said to me.

The memory faded just as quickly as it came on, tearing me back into the present.

Illayana’s worried eyes were on me. “Aleksandr—”

“Quiet,” I barked out, raising my palm in the air, trying to get a grip on the chaotic emotions quickly overtaking me.

It had been ten years since that day and the pain of her death was just as bad now as it was back then. The guilt I felt for not being there to protect her ate away at me every day like a cancer. In that one moment, I sealed my mother’s fate. Because of that one decision, I would never hear her voice again. Never watch on as she gave Father a hard time for being too strict on us. Never enjoy the hot bowl of botvinia soup she would make me when I was sick.

I would never see her smile again. Out of everything, it was the thing I missed the most. When Mother smiled at you, you couldn’t help but smile back. It didn’t matter what was going on in your life, if you were sad or angry. Her smile was comforting, warm. Like a tight hug.

Hesitation flashed across Illayana’s face, her mouth opening and closing like she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure if she should or not. Her suitcase was on the ground at her feet, her arms up as if she wanted to reach out and hug me, to offer comfort.

I didn’t deserve her comfort.

I turned my back to her, heading for the car. “Get in,” I said, opening the passenger-side door. “We need to go.”

Adrian and Lukyan were already in the backseat next to Dayton, having moved sometime after Illayana came outside.

Illayana picked up her luggage and rushed over. She looked at me, brows forming into a small frown. “Aleksandr—”

“Get in, Illayana.”

Her lip curled in dissatisfaction, but she did as I said.

I climbed in, turned on the car and pulled away from the house, heading down our long driveway. The iron gates swung open when we got close and I drove out onto the road towards the airstrip.

An awkward, tense silence hung in the air, thick and uncomfortable. Lukyan, being the class clown he so naturally was, decided to fill it.

He turned to the sullen teenager sitting next to him. “I’m Lukyan.” He offered his hand.

“Dayton,” he grumbled back, not even looking at Lukyan, staring out the window like he was the main character in some emotional rom-com movie.

It didn’t bother Lukyan in the slightest though. I glanced in the rear-view mirror just in time to see Lukyan point at the cuts on Dayton’s face.

“That courtesy of my brother? He can be such an ass sometimes.” Lukyan lifted the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a scar roughly the same size. “He did this to me when I was sexting a chick during a training session.” He turned his head slightly and stretched out his neck, pointing to another scar. “This one I got because I showed up late to a deal with The 18th Street Gang. And this one—” he rolled up the bottom of his pants, showing another long, thin scar, “—was for the time I packed an order wrong for a client while I was drunk and accidentally gave them waaaay more than I should have.”

Dayton looked at Lukyan in shock, his mouth open and eyes wide.

“A little advice from someone who’s been in your shoes?” Lukyan leaned towards him and lowered his voice, though I could still hear him. “Do what he says. Don’t be disrespectful and don’t fuck around. My brother has no problem hurting someone to get his point across. All the scars on my body are proof of that. If you want to learn from him—”

“I don’t want to learn from him,” Dayton cut in, glaring at me through the rearview mirror. “I don’t even want to be here.”

Lukyan frowned, leaning back. “Why are you then?”

“My mum’s a whore and a junkie, and I didn’t get along with her new husband. Out of the two of us she likes him more, so she sent me off to live with my sperm donor of a father, who sent me here instead,” Dayton scoffed. “The moment I can get away from this place and you crazy people, the better.”

My head tilted to the side in thought, Dayton’s words flying through my mind. Something was off about the way he spoke of his mother. There was so much anger and contempt drowning in his voice. He clearly didn’t like the woman. And if what he said was true, she didn’t hold much love for him either.

I couldn’t even begin to understand what that would be like, having the one person who was meant to always love and protect you choose someone else over you. He’d been abandoned by her, shipped off to a man he’d never met before who, in turn, sent him somewhere else.

No wonder the kid was so bitter.

A lone figure jogging up the side of the road caught my attention. It was Tatiana. She lived about fifteen miles from us and was very big on running. Apparently it was one of the main sources of Nik’s frustration with her. Tatiana didn’t care if it was bright and sunny or pitch-black outside. If she wanted to run, she did.

Illayana put down her window and stuck half her body out. She put two fingers in her mouth and blew a loud wolf whistle at Tatiana as we drove past.

Tatiana gave the middle finger in return.

Illayana laughed, climbing back into the car and putting the window back up.

The rest of the drive was surprisingly uneventful. I’d even go as far as to say it was relaxing, which is a word I never thought I’d use around Lukyan and Illayana.

When we got to the airstrip the jet was already on the tarmac, fuelled up and ready to go. Two flight attendants, a man and a woman, were standing in front of the stairs that led onto the plane. Once the car came to a stop they rushed over, taking all the luggage and putting it onboard. Adrian jumped out, giving them a hand.

They, along with the pilot, were paid very, very well for their time, making themselves available to us whenever we needed them.

“Well, this is it big brother,” Lukyan sniffed, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. “No, no, no. You don’t have to say anything. I know how emotional you get with farewells, so I’ll do all the talking.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “I—”

“Get out of my car, Lukyan,” I cut in, turning in my seat to face him, my arm resting on the steering wheel.

Lukyan’s bottom lip dropped, like a toddler about to break out in a fit of tears. He shuffled along the backseat until he got to the door, his head bent. Then, out of nowhere, he sprang forward like a jack-in-the-box and planted a wet, sloppy kiss on my cheek. “Love you!” he yelled, bolting from the car.

“Argh, yuck Lukyan! Ty der’mo!”You shithead! I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand. “Disgusting! Good riddance.”

Illayana chuckled in the front seat. “You going to kick me out too?” she winked.

I grunted. “You get five minutes. If you want them.” I knew my sister very well and I noticed the change in her the moment we got to the airstrip.

She was nervous. Hesitant. Anxious. Here, she knew her role. As an Enforcer, her responsibilities began and ended with whatever job we assigned her. She didn’t have to think about anything else, worry about anything else.

She was about to go from having no responsibility to having a mountain of it. And she was so uneasy about it, I half expected her to throw up from the stress. I could see the panic in her eyes.

“Hey,” I said softly. “You’ve got this. There’s nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it. You go to New York and show them what us Volkovs are made of.”

She smiled softly. “But I’m not a Volkov anymore.”

“Sestra,” Sister. I laid a hand on her shoulder in comfort. “It doesn’t matter what your last name is. You’ll always be a Volkov.”