Page 79 of Trapped By the Bratva
I nodded. I did know it. I hadn’t been talking out of my ass when I told Hannah how close-knit we brothers were. I was aware that they wanted to avenge what happened to me.
“But Erik is only one piece of the organization,” Alek said. “They need him—alive—to really start the process of dismantling their family and corporations.”
And we didn’t have any scrimmages with them, not as a whole. They’d only entered our realm of interest when Lev backed Sergei Kastava in trying to attack us and then capturing and torturing me.
“I can see that,” I admitted. It wasn’t easy to give up. This was what it felt like, surrendering completely, but I wouldn’t be a stubborn asshole just for the sake of it.
I thought back again to Hannah knocking on the door’s window. She seemed stressed, and I was in a rush to see her and help her with whatever was bothering her. If I had to guess, that fucking good-for-nothing sister of hers had called her. It was past time for her to change her numbers for good. And why wouldn’t she when she should know she had a place with me, for good?
I really like the sound of that. Knowing I had Hannah to focus on for my future helped ease the sting of annoyance that I had to give up my rights to killing Erik.
“We won’t stand in the Feds’ way,” Alek said. “And we’ve agreed to let them in on what we know about Avilov’s movements in the city.”
Maxim nodded. “Freeman’s been grateful for the surveillance intel I’ve shared with him so far.”
“While the Feds are busy dismantling the Avilovs, we can concentrate on our enemies, on our turf. Primarily the Kastavas.”
I grunted in agreement. We were long overdue to squash those pests once and for all. I had a bone to pick with Sergei Kastava for arranging for my capture. But Alek was determined to show his father-in-law what he thought of his attempts to get his daughter back—as if it wasn’t bad enough that he’d put a hit on his daughter in the first place when she didn’t marry according to his plans.
The meeting concluded after we discussed a few more details. I appreciated how my brothers were considerate of my opinions and input about the situation. At the end of the day, though, Erik Avilov wasn’t mine to kill.
Afterward, as I began to leave to find Hannah and see what she wanted, Alek gestured for me to stop and talk with him.
“I’m impressed.”
“With what?” I asked, shifting my weight on my feet and glad that today was a “good” day. I felt only slight discomfort in my ankle.
“You. I’m impressed with how level-headed you are about all of this.”
I smirked at him. Now. How level-headed I am now. I gave him plenty of shit for even wanting to cooperate with the Feds and help them in the beginning.
“I respect that you’ve changed your opinions about this. It couldn’t have been easy.”
“It’s never easy.” I bet the deeper scars of my torture would be with me forever. They would be more manageable with Hannah in my life. She calmed me. She soothed me, and with her stubborn optimism and happiness, she pushed me to be a better, more balanced man.
“You’re not letting your revenge control your life anymore.”
I nodded. Sometime over the last several days of being with Hannah, I’d come to accept that. When we were house hunting, I couldn’t shake the feeling of belonging with her. Of each of us grounding the other. Like a phoenix or some sappy shit like that, I was emerging from the pain of my injuries and rising as a new, better man.
“It’s come to my attention that there might be more to life than sticking in the past.” I shrugged. “A new home. A new woman.” Hannah and a place to call our own. That was all I needed. It sounded like a promise of a better life than sticking to the past.
“So long as Erik is handled,” I said and arched a brow. “So long as Erik is no longer a threat… Fine.”
He patted me on my back, the opposite side of where my shoulder still felt too tight. I was overdue for more exercises, and I wondered if maybe that was what had Hannah seeking me out. She was always so diligent to keep me to my routine of stretches and movements meant to regain strength. My girl was a stickler for improvement, no matter how old it got or how hard it could be to keep going.
“I’m glad to hear it.” Alek huffed a single laugh. “But I can’t say Mila and the others will let go of her so easily. They seem ready to fight over who gets to ask her to babysit.”
“She doesn’t mind.” Every time she came back from spending time with my nieces or nephew, she was happy and smiling.
Maybe we shouldn’t wait on starting a family after all. I wanted to be greedy and hog her, but time would tell how long it would take to knock her up. I didn’t plan to ever use a condom with her. Feeling her wrapped around my bare dick was too damn good of a bliss to ever pass up.
Alek accompanied me on the walk back to my wing. He wasn’t nosy, but curious, with his questions about where we were looking to move to. We all had multiple properties, most handed down through the family, but I wasn’t alone in wanting to have a separate, family-friendly house apart from this mansion. He and Mila were still looking for a place, but this large property would likely be his home for good since he was thePakhanand we treated this location as our most heavily guarded headquarters.
When we walked into my wing, Hannah wasn’t there.
“I could have sworn I saw her at the window to the doors during our meeting,” Alek said, furrowing his brow as I looked around and called out for her.
“I saw her too. She knocked, but I gave her a look to tell her to wait.” She’d appeared right when they were discussing letting the Feds have Avilov, and I couldn’t pull my focus from that topic then.
