Page 144 of Bratva Menace

“Thank you.” She handed the phone back to me.

I looked at the photos, smiling. “These are perfect. Thanks.” I handed Ivana off to her mother. She stayed asleep, cuddling deep into her chest. “Where’s Aleksandr?”

“I just saw him in his office with your father,” Tatiana said, her eyes firmly plastered to her beautiful daughter in her arms.

“Cheers. I’ll catch you guys later.”

Neither one looked at me again, both too focused on their sleeping children. I couldn’t even blame them. The kids were damn cute.

As I made my way upstairs toward Aleksandr’s office, I sent the photo of me and Ivana to Illayana.

Me: Attachment 1 photo.

:Told ya. Favorite.

Illayana Butt Face: Soak it up while you can. I’m coming for that spot.

Ha ha. In your dreams. If I had to bribe those kids with money to stay the favorite, I would damn well do it

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

LUKYAN VOLKOV

“Knockity, knock, knock,” I said, rapping my knuckles on Aleksandr’s office door. I opened it without waiting for a response.

Aleksandr was sitting behind his desk, face grumpy and stoic as per usual. Father sat in one of the two chairs in front of him, looking a little worse for wear. Understandable, given he was still recovering from, you know, almost dying. He was slightly pale, and looked as though he was trying to catch his breath.

“Uh-oh,” I sang, walking in and taking the free seat beside him. “Does Autumn know you’re out of bed? I thought you were only allowed one hour of activity a day?”

He glared at me. “I am a grown man. If I want to get out of bed, I will get out of the damn bed.”

“Oh, really?” I pretended to reach for my phone. “Should we tell Autumn that?”

“No!” Father lunged forward and immediately winced, grasping his chest. “Okay, fine! She doesn’t know I’m out of bed, alright? She’s doing a grocery run, and I snuck out. Happy?”

I smiled. “Yep.” Sometimes, I just liked fucking with him. It was so much fun.

Autumn had been nothing but vigilant when it came to Father’s recovery. She had a doctor on standby twenty-four-seven in the event of an emergency, had voice recordings of the doctor’s instructions with how much medication to give him and when to administer it in case she couldn’t remember, and kept Father on a very strict exercise regimen. Only an hour of physical activity a day. Not a minute more or less.

I crossed my ankle over my knee. “What we talkin’ about?”

“We’re finalizing the details for Mikhail,” Aleksandr grunted, tip-tapping away on the laptop in front of him.

“Ah. Right. I’m still surprised he agreed to go.”

“Of course he would agree to go.” Father leaned back into his chair, blowing out a sigh of relief. Maybe I should text Autumn. It was clear the old bastard was overdoing it. Again. Fucker had a hard time keeping still. “It opens up a whole new market for him.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But it also creates a fuckton of work for him, too. As your liaison, he’ll be overseeing all Bratva business in Russia for you, right?” With Sergei gone, we needed someone to oversee affairs in Russia for the foreseeable future. Father would be the obvious choice, but he’d chosen to remain in Vegas. He didn’t want to be away from his children—and now, grandchildren. Life was fucking short, as we’d all come to see. Father wanted to spend what time he had left in this world with the people who mattered the most to him. Going to Russia and being Pakhan would have taken that away from him. He didn’t want that.

Aleksandr was Pakhan here. He couldn’t go. Nikolai and Tati had built lives in Vegas. Tati had her father and school, and Nikolai was Aleksandr’s second, so they were out. Illayana, of course, was Queen La Cosa Nostra. And me?

I just didn’t want to do it.

Plain and simple.

I was capable, sure. If I had to, I knew I could fucking rock it. I just didn’t want to. All my family was here. Not to mention the fact that I was a little preoccupied at the moment, searching for the love of my fucking life.

That was when Mikhail, one of my father’s oldest friends, offered to handle things in Russia for a while. He was probably the only other person Father trusted to do it.