Chapter TenAlexei

Chapter Ten

Alexei

"Look what we have here," Sasha says, crossing her arms over her chest and flashing a wicked smile at me. "You finally decided to pay your dear old mother a visit."

I ignore her attempt to anger me. I'm not here to play petty games with her. As a matter of fact, I don't even have enough time to spare her a minute.

I get straight to the point. "Don't ever come around to my home or my wife again."

There is so much Sasha can get away with, but messing with Irina is not one of those things. She can ally with my enemies all she wants, hurting my wife is one thing I won't forgive, regardless of who she is.

"I see your little whore tattled to you already."

"Call her a whore one more time, and I'll rip your tongue from your mouth." I prowl closer to her, towering over her. "Go on, Sasha. I dare you."

Fear bleeds into her eyes. I expect her to defy me, but she knows better and keeps her mouth shut.

"You're not meant to be Pakhan ," she finally says, changing the topic. "You're too weak. Your father would have killed me already if it were him."

She's said that over and over again since I took over the Bratva. At this point, I think she says it just to get on my nerves, but I don't give her the reaction she expects. I never have.

"You must be begging for me to put an end to your miserable existence," I drawl, my lips twitching. "Sometimes I wonder what is going on in that head of yours."

She squares her shoulders as if to challenge me. "I'll tell you. Mikhail deserves that throne more than you do. Your father wanted him—"

"Fuck what my father wanted," I say, cutting her off before she can finish. "You don't care about what he wanted or what Mikhail deserves. All you care about is yourself. You're selfish, and that is why you were never a mother to my brothers."

Anger boils in my gut as images from when we were little flash in my head. I didn't care about me, no. I'd gotten used to being beaten already, but Mikhail and Nikolai hadn't. At least my mother protected me when she was alive, but their mother didn't even try. She just cowered before my father, even refusing to tend to their wounds.

"Get out." Her chest heaves with rage. "Leave!"

"I will, but don't forget my warning. Stay away from Irina." I return to my car with my jaw clenched. I hate every interaction with that woman, I hate that I have to keep her here because of my brothers.

I loosen the knot of my tie, undoing the top buttons on my shirt.

Dimitri stares at me through the rearview mirror. "Are you okay?"

"That woman gets on my last nerve." I can't help the growl in my voice. I need to hit something or find a distraction. Any outlet for my anger will do.

"That's exactly what she wants," he says.

"I know, but I think she's up to something." Given how openly Sasha's distaste for me is, I wouldn't put it past her to do something stupid, just so she can put Mikhail or Nikolai on the throne. "Tighten security around the house and get one of the men to keep an eye on Sasha."

"You think she might be out to harm you?"

"Not me. She'll try to hurt Irina." Sasha probably already sees Irina as a challenge. Misery loves company and she'll do whatever she can to see my wife become bitter.

Dimitri nods. "About the video, I think we've finally got a lead on who sent it."

I straighten my spine, my interest piqued. "Who?"

"We tracked it to Spain this time. The IP address came from Paulo Ruiz's estate," Dimitri explains.

"He's dead." Paulo Ruiz is the man I shot, the man who started all of this. Do I regret saving those girls from him despite losing half of my territory and ending up in this mess? Absolutely not. I would do it again, knowing it would land me here. Bastards like him do not deserve to roam this world.

"He is." Dimitri twists around, holding the passenger seat. "But whoever recorded and sent this must have a connection to him."

I drag my fingers over my jaw, racking my brain for an idea of who it might be. "Find out all you can about his family, and everyone who worked for him."

" Da, Pakhan."

A thought flashes in my head. The angle of that video… I quickly pull out my phone from my pocket and open my email. I tap on the video and watch it more attentively than I ever have. Something is not right.

I hold out my phone to Dimitri. "Take a look at this."

He takes the phone from me. He doesn't seem to notice anything after watching it.

"Whoever took that video was standing right behind me, and it looks like a bodycam."

Dimitri's eyes widen. "A mole."

I nod my head as I take my phone back from him. "How many men were with me that day?"

He thinks for a moment. "Ten, maybe twelve. I'm not sure."

Shit. I've had a mole working beside me all this time. But if he knew to wear a bodycam, it means one of two things. Either he's been watching everything I do for a longtime, or it was a setup.

Thinking back now, I find it odd that Paulo did his dirty business in such an open way in my territory. It's even more strange that I received a tip on his activities.

I call Mikhail. It rings once before he answers. "Find out which of my men were with me the day I killed Paulo. One of them has something to do with that video."

"Da, brat! I'll get to it right away." He hangs up.

Just as I lower my phone, it beeps with an incoming message. And then it beeps a second and third time.

My lips curl upward as I read the message.

My wife just spent $95,000 .