36. Alexander

Chapter 36

Alexander

I give Lev another day before I get tired of this shit and hunt him down.

It’s not easy, since he’s not answering calls. But eventually, around midnight the night after I showed Natalya the nursery, I find him hanging drywall in the back room of Fed Jeweler.

He’s got a bunch of floodlights set up and loud music playing. A couple empty beers are on the floor and another one’s sweating in the humid evening air. I sit back and watch him work for a few minutes, sweating and grunting with exertion. His mask is down again, and there’s almost no feeling in his face as he moves through the room, putting his body to work.

This is what he does when he’s stressed. Lev doesn’t like to sit still. Even when we were younger, I’d find him in the basement of his family’s house punching a heavy bag for hours. He’s normally good at distracting himself, but sometimes it feels like the darkness he’s hiding gets too much for him, and he has to pull away.

“You gonna stand there and fucking watch all night or are you gonna help?” He looks over to where I’ve been lurking, grabs a beer from the cooler, and throws it over.

I catch it and crack it open. “I wasn’t sure I was welcome.”

“You’re not, but the extra set of hands are.”

I pour down half my beer, strip off my shirt, and join him.

There’s something cathartic about the work. I have to admit, I get why he does it. We work together in silence for nearly an hour, putting up a few panels, drinking a few beers. Sweat rolls down my back and shoulders. Lev slowly seems to relax into himself, and his coldness recedes. He’s not smiling and joking around, but he doesn’t look like he’s about to murder a puppy anymore.

“You want to beat the shit out of me again?” I ask him when we take a break. It’s around one in the morning. I hate leaving Natalya alone for this long, but she should be asleep. IT’s taking all my willpower not to check the cameras, including the one in the bedroom.

Added with her permission, of course. Turns out, she’s as much of a voyeur as I am.

“Not really.” He drinks back a beer and sighs. “You think I don’t get it? The second she fucked up that marriage, I had a feeling I was next.”

“For what it’s worth, it wasn’t my idea.”

“I know that.”

“Adriano wanted it.”

“Like I said. I get it.”

“Natalya’s a mess. She feels guilty as hell.”

“I’d probably feel the same way if I were in her position.”

“What do you want her to do, Lev?” I crush my empty can and toss it aside before getting another. I toss him one too. We crack them open together. “I’m the father of her child.”

He absorbs that in silence for a moment. “I wish she’d done what she was supposed to do. I wish I didn’t have to clean up her mess. But if I’m being really honest with myself, I’m happy it’s you.”

That surprises me. I sit back and study him. “You mean that?”

“If my sister’s going to marry someone, it might as well be a man I consider worthy. I don’t like the way it happened, and I sure as fuck don’t like the consequences, but I’m happy knowing you’ll be there to take care of her. I can’t handle losing another sibling.”

“You have my word, Lev. No matter what. She’ll be safe.”

“I know that.” He sighs and stretches out his legs. “I just wish I didn’t have to marry some fucking Italian girl.”

“You might be able to get out of it. There could still be another way.”

Lev gives me a look, and we both know what it means. But before he can say anything, there’s a noise from the front of the building and a shadow falls across the room.

We both react fast. Lev scrambles for a weapon and comes up with a hammer. I leap to my feet and wind my arm back, ready to hurl a half-empty beer at the intruder to buy us some extra time. But we both freeze.

“I got an alert that someone was in my store again. I didn’t expect to find you two. I also didn’t expect to hear what I just heard.”

Oleg’s standing in the doorway. He’s wearing slacks, a button-down shirt, and has a gun pointed at my chest.

The old man looks furious. Just as angry as the last time I saw him.

“How long have you been there?” Lev asks, lowering his arm.

“Long enough.” Oleg’s face twists in rage. “Were you going to tell me?”

“Eventually,” Lev says.

“Not you. I mean him.” Oleg gestures at me with the gun.

“I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me.”

“I didn’t. I still don’t. And yet you are still a frustrating part of my life. You cut a deal with the Marinos behind my fucking back.”

I clench my jaw, but I don’t move. Oleg’s not the kind of man to be trifled with. He may not be young anymore, but he’s still ruthless and cold as ice. He’ll pull that trigger without much provocation, regardless of whether I’m married to his daughter or the father of his grandchild.

“Valentin tasked me with ending the war. Adriano’s the one that wants Lev to marry into his family.”

“And I wasn’t consulted? For some reason you, a man who is not a member of the Federov family, was part of the deal? While I was cut out, like you should have been.”

Lev speaks up. “I was going to tell you.”

“I don’t want to hear shit from you, boy,” Oleg snaps, waving the gun in his direction. “You must understand something. Our position in the Zeitsev Bratva is tenuous. Since your stupid sister ran off, and then ditched her second chance to throw in with this disappointment of a man, we’re not exactly on the Pakhan’s good side. They’ve slowly been pushing me out, and if we want to make our family strong, we need to do something to regain favor. That means you are going to marry the Italian girl, whether you fucking like it or not.”

Silence dominates the room. Lev stares at his father with unrestrained loathing. I look between them, and a strange mourning fills my chest.

We were a family once. Oleg was never kind, but at least he cared about his sons and treated me like one of his own. I was raised with these people, trained by them, given opportunity and chances. And now everything’s been torn apart because of one night in Paris.

No, that’s not right.

It wasn’t that night.

It was all the nights that led up to it—all the nights I had to struggle with myself not to talk to Natalya, all the nights I left the room when she came around, all the nights I told myself I hated her because otherwise I’d have to admit that I was weak and really wanted her more than anything else in the world.

I wanted perfection, but if I had accepted myself as I am, maybe I could have avoided this a long time ago.

“What if I refuse?” Lev asks flatly.

“Then I’ll kill your fucking sister and that bastard baby of hers,” Oleg snarls.

I lurch forward. I can’t help myself. I lunch at him, and Lev’s the only thing that stops me from strangling Oleg to death or getting murdered in the process. I try to wrench forward, but Lev muscles me back.

“He’s baiting you,” Lev snarls at me. “Get it together.”

I breathe hard, glaring death at the man I once considered a father.

The man I would’ve done anything for.

“If you ever come near Natalya, I’ll end you,” I promise him.

Oleg sneers. “I’m sure you’ll try.”

“It’s okay,” Lev says, pushing me away. “I’ll handle this. You need to get out of here.”

“That’s right, Alexander. Walk away and remember, you are not important, and you never were.”

I flinch toward him and the old man stumbles back like I might break free and kill him with my bare hands.

But Lev shoves me to the door. He gives me a hard look. I linger for a beat, but getting myself shot in the head right now isn’t going to help Natalya, and it sure as hell won’t be good for my baby.

I tear myself away, blind with rage, and hurry home to make sure I can protect my wife while Lev is left alone to confront his piece of shit father.