Chapter 4

four

Alexandr – Current Day

I smile as I watch Mila swirl in her ballerina outfit as she practices her dance, ready for her show tonight. Maksim stirs in my arms, and I gently rock him, patting his butt while smiling again. He's the spitting image of Damian, and a happy little baby. At five months old, he's started to butt shuffle, and he always looks proud when he does it, too.

He settles as Mila curtseys, indicating the end of her dance, then bounces up and down, proud of herself, and I grin at her. I can't believe she's nearly four.

"How was that, dyadya ? Do you think Phe-Phe will come to my show tonight?"

I give her a loving smile while rage builds in my gut. "You were perfect, Malen'kaya , but Phoebe won't be able to make it, sweetheart. She's still at college to learn to look after animals." She smiles a little and nods, and I sigh. She misses the woman she saw as a loving aunt when, really, she's a fucking selfish bitch. Mila gently leans over her brother to kiss my cheek, then heads to the kitchen to find her mama. Sofia is amazing with the kids, and Damian doesn't take it for granted to have her back in his life.

I look down at the beautiful boy in my arms, and I sigh. My mind wanders back to Phoebe as it normally does when I'm alone, and my thoughts are mine alone. Usually, I'd go out and do the grunt work for the Bratva; torturing is my specialty and helps me think of all the ways I'm going to punish her, but I can't when I have this little dude. I rub my finger along his cheek. I had never wanted to kill a woman before her, but she made me fall in love with her, then bolted without a word to anyone.

I shake my head.

I've been trying to find her, but not so we can pick up where we left off. No, I want to fucking punish the bitch for doing this. I never felt true emotions before, and now I feel like a fucking fool.

Sofia walks in, bringing me out of my head, and I smile at her. She smiles back and sits beside me, touching her son's head.

"How are you doing, Al?" she questions, and I lean over, kissing her cheek. She asks me every day, even though I wish she wouldn't, but I love her for it anyway. She's not just my sister-in-law, she's also my best friend, much to Damian's dismay.

"I'm fine, Mladshaya Sestra ," I state, and she chuckles.

"You're a bad liar, Al, but I'll let you off today. Want to hear some good news?" I know she's struggling without her friend, too. I lean closer, hoping and praying it's something I can use on Damian.

"I'm pregnant."

My eyes widen in shock, and then I grin the biggest fucking grin. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and squeeze her tight, kissing the top of her head.

"That's fucking awesome, Sof. I'm fucking happy for you." She grins at me as Damian walks in; his face is angry, and I furrow my brows, but it changes as soon as he sees me with my arm wrapped around his wife. He grins.

"She told you about my magic sperm?"

Sofia rolls her eyes, and I chuckle.

"Absolutely no living with him now, Al," she states, then goes to take my nephew, and I pout, making her chuckle. "Come on, my boy, let's leave dyadya and your papochka to whatever man talk they're about to have," she coos at Maksim, taking him up the stairs, where Mila quickly follows with food. I chuckle again while my brother has a loving look on his face.

"What's up, baby brother? You looked pissed when you walked in," I state, and he clears his throat, taking a seat next to me.

"We're both fucking idiots when it comes to phones, aren't we big brother?" I furrow my brows, confused. What is he talking about?

"Have any luck finding Phoebe yet?" he asks out of nowhere, and I growl, not wanting to talk about the fucking bitch. According to Selene, she had already lost her virginity and was sleeping with two of her guards, and that's how she escaped. Basil and I have personally questioned and interrogated all of them, and none of them knew what we were asking about. We killed three who we thought were involved in her escape because no one is that fucking lucky, and when I do find her, she's going to fucking wish she'd never met me.

"No, both Basil and I have looked all across Europe because, according to Selene, that's where she would go. Greece is out of the question because it's the first place we'd look."

He nods and clasps his hands together while leaning his arms on his knees. He hangs his head a little before taking a deep breath, and I still. He only does this when he has something important to tell me that he knows I won't like, which explains why he didn't argue with Sofia taking the kids upstairs when he's just gotten in from the office.

"Spit it out, brother, we haven't got all day. Mila's show starts in a few hours, so tell me what you want, and we'll figure it out." He nods once and looks at me, his eyes assessing me.

"What did you do last night?" he questions, and my brows shoot up. That is not what I thought he was going to say.

"You mean the night that was supposed to start my honeymoon?" I say sarcastically, and he nods once. I tilt my head to the side, assessing him, and answer, "I had a threesome with two of the strippers at the club. Why?"

He looks at me and asks, "Have you had threesomes with anyone else or just the strippers?" I furrow my brows in confusion. Why the fuck is he asking me these questions? "Just humor me, please, brother."

I nod. "With Mindy and Selene, twice a month for years, why?"

He clears his throat. "Does anyone know about your meet-ups with them?"

I lift my brows now in surprise. "No, brother, just the three of us, and now you? Why? What's going on?" I'm getting agitated, and he swallows hard before sighing deeply.

"One of them has betrayed you, brother. Probably both of them were in on it together, I don't know. But you were betrayed."

I go to open my mouth to ask him what the fuck he means when he lifts his hand to silence me, and I grind my teeth. He knows I hate it when he does that shit.

He gets his phone out of his pocket.

"A few of our business associates have called the last couple of days, complaining about their emails going unanswered. When I spoke to them personally, they were still using my old email address, the one where I'd talk to women about our plans. As you know, I got rid of it out of respect for Sofia, but for some reason, my assistant didn't realize she never discontinued the account or sent out my new email address to some people.

I personally went through all the old emails myself, when I came across one from five months ago." He takes a deep breath; the look in his eyes tells me I'm about to explode, and I brace myself.

"It was from Phoebe."

My breath stops, and a lump forms in my throat.

"She sent me a live link she'd saved, and in the subject box, she wrote, 'contract void.'" He looks at me like I'm an active bomb in my hands, and I feel like I am one. Once I finally find my voice, I ask coldly, "What was the link?"

He unlocks his phone, goes onto his emails, and finds the one from my girl, and he clicks on it. When voices ring out a rage like no other consumes me.

"It's about time you got your sexy ass here, Selene," Mindy states, coming into view on the camera in black lingerie.

"Sorry, Daddy took me shopping because he send my sister to her own apartment. Still, she stole my fiancé; the least she could have done was fuck off." Selene gloats like the spoiled bitch she is. My body starts to vibrate with rage when Mindy speaks again.

"He's finally knocked me up, so we can all be a happy family once we get rid of your sister. We just have to let the marriage paperwork go through so he can get the inheritance you mentioned, and then you contact your guy for the Romanians to pick her up. Alexandr has agreed." They start making out after that, as my blood boils with rage.

My brother watches me cautiously, knowing what they are saying is absolute bullshit; she isn't fucking pregnant, and like fuck did I okay this crap!

Then I come into view, smirking.

"You both started without me?"

"Turn it off, Damian." I get up and go outside, stopping next to my Mercedes. My body won't stop trembling, and my ADHD is not helping my rage. I ball my hand into a fist and ram it into the car window, smashing the glass which slices through my hand. Blood drips onto the ground, but I don't give a fuck. I start to beat the shit out of my car, punch after punch, kick after kick, until my brother comes up behind me and restrains me.

"I get it, brother, trust me, I fucking get it, but think of the positive right now, yeah." I'm about to bite his head off because none of this has a positive fucking outcome. Clearly, she left me after seeing that fucking feed, and rightly so, but for the past five fucking months, I've been fucking the same two women, I've been fucking strippers, I've been plotting her death, and I've been fucking punishing her. I mean, fuck, I've got a fucking mistress!

I take a deep breath as Damian continues.

"We now know one or both of them are the ones who tried selling Phoebe to the Romanians, and I'm betting it was Selene's idea. She wants you, but she wants her grandmother's money more. We both know she wanted this alliance because she likes living a life of luxury, and Mindy, well, Mindy just wants a top man, and she's trying everything to get you, now that Sofia is back."

I nod and attempt to calm down as my brother lets go of me. I take a deep breath. "I need to contact Basil; Selene needs to have surveillance on her at all times, as well as Mindy."

Damian nods, squeezing my shoulder. "Make your call and get your hands cleaned and checked; we have your girl to find. Come to my office when you're done, yeah?

I have a feeling she stayed in America, knowing we would look in Europe."

I nod and whip my phone out, pulling up Basil's number. It rings three times before he answers.

"Alexandr, I still haven't found her," he states without saying hello. I know his not finding her yet is wearing him down, especially with the Romanians after her.

I take a deep breath, knowing he's going to be pissed. "I know why she ran; it's all my fault and Selene's."

He's quiet for a couple of minutes before he clears his throat.

"Tell me everything."

And I do.