Page 11 of Bratva Menace

“I would relax if you stopped treating everything like it’s a goddamn game,” Aleksandr seethed. “One wrong word, one wrong move, and it’s all over. Don’t you get that?”

His words cut deeply, but I smiled regardless, pretending like it didn’t hurt that he thought so little of me.

I opened my mouth to respond when Drea came bounding over, her face alight with happiness. She jumped on Aleksandr from behind, trying to wrap her arms around him, but they were too short to span the width of his body.

“Come dance!” she beckoned cheerfully, holding onto him.

Aleksandr rolled his eyes, but the smile dancing on his lips showed he wasn’t actually annoyed or irritated by her antics. In fact, he secretly loved them. But he had that grumpy, stern persona to maintain, so he grunted and got to his feet, Drea clinging onto his back like a spider monkey. She threw her head back and laughed as Aleksandr made his way onto the dance floor, not even a hint of struggle in his movements from having her attached to his back like that.

“He’s just worried about you.” My gaze flicked to Nikolai. “If something happens, there’ll be nothing we can do. We’ll be too far away to help.”

We were going around and around in circles. I could say, everything will be fine, I can handle it, a dozen times, but neither of them would believe it.

“How’s Tatiana feeling? She’s just about ready to pop soon, hm?”

The change of subject worked like a charm. Nikolai could never pass up the opportunity to talk about Tatiana or his unborn children. An expression filled with warmth and love took over his face in an instant.

“Her due date is only a few months away, and we’ve already got everything sorted. We’ve got the room next to ours all set up for the babies. We’ve got clothes, toys, wipes, nappies, formula in case Tatiana has trouble breastfeeding⁠—”

“So basically the whole store then?”

Nikolai chuckled. “Basically.” He grew quiet. Pensive. “You’ll come back when they’re born, won’t you?”

It was a double-edged question. He wasn’t just asking if I’d be back in time. He was asking if I’d be back at all. If I would live long enough to meet my niece and nephew.

I sat up a little straighter in my chair and locked eyes with him, pouring every ounce of honesty and conviction into my next words. “I’ll be here,” I promised.

He searched my eyes for something. What, I couldn’t say, but he eventually nodded, seeming satisfied.

Conversation broke out around the table. People came and went. Eventually, Tatiana managed to wrangle Nikolai up for another round on the dance floor, much to his protest. Father and Autumn took a break, coming over to join Adrian and me, and we all sat in comfortable silence for a while, eating and just enjoying each other’s presence for a while until Father spoke.

“Are you ready?”

I glanced up from my plate at his deep, baritone voice. He was leaning comfortably in his chair, elbows resting on the back of it, while a finger twirled absently with a lock of Autumn’s fiery hair.

I couldn’t lie. It was a little weird seeing him with her. Mainly because I hadn’t seen him like that in so long. I’d actually forgotten what he looked like when he was happy. What he looked like when he smiled. The sound of his laughter.

Autumn had brought that side of him back to life, and for that, my siblings and I would always be indebted to her.

“I’m ready,” I answered, steel layering in my voice.

I was more than fucking ready. My grandfather had fucked with us for the last time. The fact that I got to be the one to end that old fucker’s life made it all the more sweeter.

“You remember the plan?” he asked, a frown on his face, eyes firmly on Autumn as she shoveled food into her mouth.

“Yep. Etched into my noggin.” I tapped a finger against my temple twice.

“Do you think”—Autumn’s words were cut off with a loud, abrupt slurp as she sucked a long piece of egg noodle past her lips—“Sergei will suspect you?” she mumbled, her lips smacking loudly as she chewed. My father’s right eye began to twitch.

I bit my tongue to keep from laughing. “I doubt it. The man has said a total of three words to me in my whole life. ‘Cut your hair’. It’s the first and only thing he says to me when he sees me. He’s very stuck in his outdated gender roles, and firmly believes that men shouldn’t have long hair.” I flicked my dark, thick, long locks over my shoulder and gave her a dazzling smile. “It’s why I keep it long. To piss him off. And…because…well…the chicks love it.” I winked.

Father kicked my shin underneath the table, and I winced.

Of course, he knew there was absolutely no chance of anything happening between Autumn and me, but he didn’t like it when anyone flirted with her. Fuck, he didn’t like it when another man so much as looked at her. Even the soldiers around the house would avert their gazes whenever she walked past so as not to gain my father’s angry attention. He was as territorial as a wild animal.

Sometimes, I just did it to piss him off because it was funny watching his right eye twitch like that. A year before, I never would have dreamed of pissing him off intentionally. Otherwise, I would have found myself in the ring with him, and that was a place one did not want to be.

But Autumn had softened him. Opened up his heart again. And in doing so, she had made him see the fun side of life again.