Page 60 of Bratva Menace

“My name is Lyla. Lyla Voznesensky.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

LYLA VOZNESENSKY

“Did you say, ‘Voznesensky’?” The change in him was instantaneous. Lukyan’s body went still as stone, his voice cold, calculating. Not a hint of that boyish, playful charm I’d come to love about him.

I knew it was going to happen. Expected it. Prepared for it, even. And yet, it didn’t make it any easier, knowing we’d probably just taken a step back in our relationship.

I held my head up high, though, refusing to let it break me. “Yes. My father orchestrated the attack against your family ten years ago.”

“Your father killed my mother,” he snarled, eyes burning with hatred.

“And your father killed my entire family. I think that makes us even, wouldn’t you say?”

“Far from it,” he hissed. “My mother was beaten, tortured, raped, and left naked in a dirty, rotten building to die all on her own.”

A sliver of guilt cut through me at the sadness tainting his voice. It was irrational for me to feel. I wasn’t responsible for the sins of my father, but I still felt bad. Lukyan would have been twelve or thirteen when he lost his mother. I couldn’t help but picture that little boy…How sad he must have been when he realized what had happened.

“And your father crept into my house in the middle of the night, murdered my mother, my father, my uncle, and then dumped me and my brother off in some orphanage like we were trash,” I countered.

“Is that why you’ve kidnapped me? Why I’m here? To enact some kind of revenge on my family?”

I scoffed. “No.” I wasn’t as upset about that as I ought to be. The truth of it was, my family were assholes. My father liked to beat me when I wouldn’t follow his rules, and my mother was always too drunk or too high to notice. Or maybe she did notice, and just didn’t give a shit. That tracked. Either way, neither of them were winning Parent of the Year awards. If I was being honest, the Bratva Butcher had done me a favor when he killed them. I hated my parents.

Lev, on the other hand, adored them. But he had a different experience with them than I did. He was the firstborn son, after all. The legacy. He got all the love, and I got all the hate. Lev wasn’t blind to it. He’d witnessed the beatings I’d endured over the years, all because I said or did something our father didn’t like. And although he loved me, my brother never once tried to intervene. Never tried to save me from our father’s wrath. He would just come to me afterwards and help clean up the blood.

So, no. I didn’t give a shit that Dimitri had killed them.

A sad, disappointed sigh left my lips at the look on Lukyan’s face. The anger. The disgust. The hatred. He hated me, and it broke my heart. “Maybe we should call it a night. It’s been a long twenty-four hours. I’m sure you could use some rest.”

He said nothing. I much preferred his anger over his indifference. Although I wasn’t responsible for my father’s actions, I was still to blame in Lukyan’s eyes.

I got to my feet and wiped my hands down the front of my dress. “Cedric.” He walked in from the foyer and stopped behind Lukayn’s chair, hands behind his back. “Take Lukyan to his room, please. See that he has everything he needs.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He placed a hand on Lukyan’s shoulder. “Are you going to give me any trouble?”

His head rolled along his shoulders, and he glanced up at Cedric, cool, calm, and collected. “Nope,” he said, popping the p.

I’d watched Lukyan for long enough to know he was talking out of his ass. He had every intention of causing trouble. He wouldn’t be Lukyan without it.

But I was curious, so I let it play out.

Cedric pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and dropped to one knee. He unlocked the cuffs around Lukyan’s ankles first, then stood back up and unlocked the ones around his wrists. First the left, then the right⁠—

Lukyan sprang up, lithe and agile like a cat, one hand on the armrest as he swung his leg up and around to kick Cedric in the side of the head.

My eyebrows rose. Impressive.

Cedric went down, and Lukyan bolted out of the room without a glance back.

I blew out a sigh and took my seat back at the head of the table. I picked up my glass of wine and leaned back, taking small sips, letting the alcohol swirl around in my mouth before swallowing it.

Hmm. The sweetness becomes a bit much. Should have gone with the red.

Not even five seconds later, Lukyan came running back into the room. He locked eyes with me for the briefest moment before bolting to the window on my right. It was covered with beautiful sheer curtains. He flung them open and cursed.

Behind the glass was the same thing he would have seen over the front door.