Page 100 of Sexting my Bratva Daddies

38

LEO

One week after Peyton returned to us, a single phone call from one of my men at the docks raised the hair on the back of my neck. “What do you mean, Anton isn’t dead?” I barely managed to ask the question without shouting.

A heartbeat of silence passed, then, “Just telling you what I heard. Rumors started yesterday. Not sure why he waited so long to show his ugly face, but the guys down here are adamant that he’s back.”

Fuck. A single curse word wasn’t enough, so I indulged in a long, furious string of Russian, not stopping until I ran out of breath and my vision swam. “We turned New York into a fucking bloodbath the night we killed him.” The night we thought he was responsible for Peyton’s death. Never mind that we’d been wrong.

A man didn’t just come back from the dead.

Ridoc, my man at the docks, kept quiet.

“Thank you.” I ended the call while storming into the kitchen where Misha, Viktor, and Peyton had sat down for breakfast. Luka played with a new train set in the corner, and all four of them looked my way as I entered.

Luka shook his head and went back to his trains.

The others all stood, their movements so coordinated, they appeared synchronized.

“What?” Peyton took a step toward me.

I took a breath and pinched the bridge of my nose. “We promised no more secrets.”

“Yes.” Peyton sounded confused, and I didn’t blame her.

I closed the distance and rested my hands on her shoulders. “One of my men just called me from the docks. There are rumors that Anton is alive.”

Her knees gave out, but I was ready.

It only lasted a second before she locked her legs. Fire danced in her eyes, and all the softness fled in a blink. “He’s not taking me again. I want to learn to defend myself.”

“Misha will teach you self-defense. I’ll teach you how to shoot.” I made sure my voice didn’t carry to Luka. “We need to teach him to be wary of strangers. To hide and not come out if we say. And somehow, we need to do that without traumatizing him.”

Peyton nodded. “Turn it into a game. He already understands hide-and-seek. This will be an intense version of that.” She licked her lips. “Can we start today? If he’s back, we can’t risk waiting.”

I checked in silently with Misha and Viktor.

Viktor’s scowl put deep furrows in his cheeks. “I’ll take care of the office.”

“I want you and Misha in charge of hunting down the source of the rumors. If you’re not here, you’re taking care of that.” I took Peyton’s hand. “I want to promise that nothing will happen, but we’ve all learned not to deal in absolutes. The best we can do is train you.”

“Let’s do it.” She squeezed my fingers. “Can Misha go ahead and start working with Luka on hiding while Viktor takes care of the office and I practice?”

“Yes.” I didn’t care a bit that she took control of the moment.

I didn’t want to push them into anything they were not ready for, but we had to prepare for worst-case scenarios.

If Anton was alive, the fact that he’d come back now, a week after we found Peyton, meant he’d come for her.

We’d shamed him.

We’d blamed him and then we’d tried to kill him.

He’d had five years to work out his revenge, and we’d just handed him a powder keg of pain if he managed to get his hands on Peyton again.

If he knew about Luka, then we were in deep, deep shit.

We’d be prepared this time.