“Sasha,” Grigori called as he stood up from the table, motioning for me to follow him. My gaze flicked briefly to Sienna, who was talking with Elif, but I forced myself to look away, clenching my fists. I closed the terrace door behind me as my brother leaned back against the railing, crossing his ankles and folding his arms. “Any news about the merger?” he asked, I grimaced. “Tremblay’s stuck. His Council doesn’t want the merger,” I said with a sigh. “According to him, someone from our council changed the minds of his members.” “Yelsky?” Grigori asked, and I saw his expression darken. “Probably. Either him or Vassili. But most likely Yelsky, considering his cousin sits on Tremblay’s Council,” I replied, scratching my beard. “We need this merger, Sasha. The Council hasn’t been this fragile since Father’s death,” he growled, rubbing his face. Anger rose in me at the sight of his worry. My brother had almost been a father to us. He had taught us everything we knew, protected us, shaped us into the menwe were today. He had fought for the Bratva, for his family. He deserved peace now, he and Elif.
“Tremblay told me he would handle this, Grigori. On our side, we need to deal with Yelsky and Vassili,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We need to dig up Vassili’s secrets. We need proof of that parallel prostitution business” he nodded. “Our Serbian agent will arrive tonight. I’ll drop her in Mission District. We should have information soon,” I assured him. Alix had to succeed.
I closed the front door behind me, slipping my phone into the inner pocket of my jacket, and walked down the steps toward my car, then froze when I saw Nikolai and Roman standing beside it. “Thank you, Semionov,” Nikolai said as he ended his call upon seeing me approach.Fuck. Semionov, our doctor who had given me the CGM.
I shot Roman a look, he only shrugged, but I could see how tense he was. “A problem,moybrat?” I asked, sliding my hands into my pockets, big mistake. It kept me from blocking the punch Nikolai threw. I staggered against the car, my jaw throbbing, but he was already grabbing my jacket collar, slamming my back violently against the door. “If you ever manipulate my wife again to get what you want, I’ll rip your head off,” he spat, fury blazing as he shoved the CGM box against my chest. “Don’t force me to do things I don’t want to do, Sasha.” I clenched my jaw. He was right. Using a pregnant woman like that was wrong, but I didn’t know what else to do, damn it. I felt like Sienna was slipping through my fingers. “You think I would’ve done it if I’d had a choice?” I snapped back, rage boiling over. “Selina is my sister, I would never want to hurt her, but fuck ! I need to know !” I shouted, shoving him back, the box fell to the ground, he staggered a few steps as Roman moved closer to us, carefully.“You need to know? Know what, Sasha? If Sienna doesn’t want you, there’s nothing you can do,moybrat.”
The blood rushed to my head so fast that I already lunged at him, his words barely having time to leave his lips, but my back never left the car, because Roman stopped me, his hand pressed firmly against my chest. “Calm the fuck down,” he growled, keeping Nikolai in his line of sight.
“Sienna is an adult woman, Sasha. She knows what she wants. Nothing good ever comes from force,” Nikolai sighed, shaking his head as he slowly calmed down.
I clenched my jaw, refusing to answer, refusing to accept what he was saying, refusing to let her go. Yes, Sienna wasn’t a child, but I had seen her. I had seen the real Sienna in our rare moments together. She wasn’t as strong as she let on. Sometimes, I felt a weariness and a coldness radiating from her that gave me chills. As if she didn’t care what might happen to her. As if she were completely disconnected from reality. As if she were… dead.
And Sienna couldn’t die. I couldn’t even imagine it.
“Nikolai, please,” I finally breathed as I saw him turn away to go back inside. “Just for a little while. I’m going to lose my mind,moybrat. I need to at least know if she’s okay when she’s not in front of my eyes.”
I pushed Roman’s hand away from my chest and bent down to pick up the box. Nikolai turned back to face me, his gaze locked onto mine, and I saw him struggle. His hand slid to his jaw as he thought. And I knew the moment he gave in. “I’m doing this for Selina,” he said, snatching the box from my hands. “She’s worried about her sister. I’ll give her the box, and she’ll find a way to make Sienna wear it.” He walked away as and I let out a breath of relief.
I’ve got you,moya malen’kaya gadyuka, (my little viper).
—
I parked north of the Mission District, on Fourteenth, and looked at Alix in the passenger seat as she reapplied her lipstick. “Don’t contact us for seventy-two hours unless it’s an emergency,” I said, handing her a burner phone. She took it, but I didn’t let go until she met my gaze. Her blue eyes locked onto mine as she raised an eyebrow. She was nineteen, but she looked younger. And we were going to use that, passing her off as a seventeen-year-old girl. “We can still find someone else, Alix. One word and Sergei will send another girl, an older one…” “When do we do the paternity test?” she suddenly asked, and I stared at her, confused. “What?” “The paternity test,” she repeated. “You know, to check if you’re my father, since you’re acting like one”. She mocked me, rolling her eyes, and I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling.
“Don’t worry, Daddy Sasha. I was trained for this kind of thing. I’ll contact you at the first opportunity with whatever information I get,” she said, snatching the phone from my hand.
“Tell me about that Italian woman who’s driving you crazy instead,” she added, slipping the phone into her bra as I opened and closed my mouth, not knowing what to say.
The Italian? Sienna?
“Stop looking at me like that. Everyone’s talking about this Sienna,” she shot back when she saw my stare. “The woman who managed to reach the Ice Man of the Bratva,” she added, waggling her eyebrows as I continued to look at her like an idiot. “You don’t have a picture? Is she really as beautiful as they say? And a photo of Selina Ivanov? I heard her wedding dress was stunning. You really keep your women secret,” she sighed, slipping into her heels, one of them broken.
She was right. No photos of our children or women were ever published or shared anywhere. Even our phones had special encryption to prevent hacking or photo theft. Everything was done to protect the family. Alix leaned forward and tore her skirta little higher, exposing the top of her thigh, then opened the car door. “See you later, boss,” she said before stepping into the street, already walking with a sway, sometimes leaning against walls, perfectly playing the role of a drunk girl. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel as I watched her disappear into the crowd.
She would make it.
She had to for herself, and for us.
Chapter 8
Sienna
I exhaled the smoke from my cigarette as dawn slowly crept in. I shivered, the cool morning air brushing against the skin exposed by my nightdress. My gaze wandered over the club’s inner courtyard, the floor of the inner courtyard was actually the club’s roof. I was on the second floor, standing in front of my suite’s door, waiting. Waiting patiently.
My eyes dropped to my bare feet just as Kenji suddenly bent down, placing my slippers beside them while casting a dark look my way. I sighed, rolling my eyes, but slipped them on anyway as he stepped back, pressing himself against the wall once more.
“Sienna?” a voice breathed behind me as the suite door opened, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Esme step out, pulling a cardigan over her nightgown. “You stayed here last night? I didn’t hear you come back,” she said as she joined me at the railing while I took another drag. “I arrived late,” I replied, scratching at my throat. I rarely smoked, very rarely, but I needed this one, which was probably why Kenji hadn’t snatched it from my hand yet. “Why didn’t you go home?” my friend asked, crossing her arms over the railing.Home? Was the Ivanovs’ house really my home? Wasn’t home where family was? Where the heart lived, my mother had once told me that. A blue-eyed Russian suddenly flashed through my mind, and I closed my eyes with a grimace, rubbing my forehead with the hand holding the cigarette.
Damn it.I had to stop. He had said he would respect my choice, that he wouldn’t come near me anymore, so why didn’t I feel any better? I stubbed out my cigarette against the railing and flicked the butt away, “I didn’t want to miss the show,” I said, straightening just as a scream echoed between the walls. Esmejumped, spinning toward the door that flew open across the courtyard, on the opposite side.
Edouard stumbled out, his clothes soaked in blood, especially his trousers. “They cut it off!” he shouted, collapsing against the wall, the anesthesia still leaving him weak. “No! They cut it off!” he sobbed as the club’s residents slowly gathered on the balconies to see what was happening. I felt my Shadow move closer behind me as I slowly lifted my eyes to the top floor. My gaze locked with the Master’s, he was already watching me. Bare-chested, barely awake, and furious, so fucking furious. But he could rage all he wanted. I would not let him hurt those girls, I would not let him hire a pedophile and place him near children. Not while I was alive. My lips curved into a slow smile as I lifted my chin, proud and I turned away, a satisfaction I hadn’t felt in a long time seizing me.
They wanted me to be Stella?
The monster he had created?
The madwoman he had pushed me to become?
