11. Andrey

11

ANDREY

"The Black Brigade?" I nearly choke on my own disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"If I was gonna joke, I'd tell a better one than this."

Shura is not wrong. Nothing about this is funny.

"The Black Brigade hasn't been active since the 1960s," I say. "And even then, they didn't cause trouble."

"Maybe Slavik made them an offer they couldn't refuse."

" Fuck !" I pound my fist against my desk and rise to my feet. "It's bad enough that the Halcones were brought in. Now, the fucking Black Brigade, too? What's next?"

"Godzilla destroying downtown, probably." I side-eye him, and he shrugs. "Maybe jokes aren't for me. Should I inform the allies or…?"

"One band of mercenaries trying to horn in on my territory is one thing. But two?" I drop down on the edge of my desk, arms folded. "It's going to look like incompetence if we don't contain this situation fast."

Shura's on the verge of saying something when Efrem bursts into my office without knocking. Never a good sign.

His wild eyes land on me. "We have a situation."

"Of course we do. Who's moving against me now?" I hold up a hand. "And if you say Godzilla, you're fired."

He glances in confusion at Shura, who waves him on.

"Bogdan and Artyom…" he grits as though the words are poison on his tongue. "They've defected."

Shura's spine snaps straight.

My hands curl into fists. "Let me get this right: Bogdan Dimitriev and Artyom Balakin, two men who wear my mark and swore their allegiance to me over a decade ago, defected? "

Efrem looks at his feet. "Yes, pakhan ."

Running a hand through my hair, I turn to the window as the weight of this latest blow sinks in. "They've been loyal members of the Kuznetsov Bratva for as long as anyone can remember."

"I think that's the point," Shura suggests quietly. "They were your father's men before they were yours. They clearly think his return has changed something."

"Then they were fucking mistaken, weren't they?"

Both men take a step back, and I lash down the wild rage in my chest. There's no point alienating the men who are genuinely loyal to me.

"I want this knowledge contained," I order once I'm under control. "Only our inner circle can know about the defection."

"But—"

"Do it," I rasp, cutting both men off without so much as raising my voice. "Go. Now."

Efrem backs out of the room while Shura fixes me with a wary gaze. "He's moving faster than we expected."

Once again, my second is more right than I'd care to admit. I'd hoped to avoid this kind of messiness, but Slavik isn't afraid to play dirty, which means an internal war is almost a guarantee. And more betrayal is imminent. My alliance with the expansion partners remains strong—but not for one second do I believe their loyalty is absolute. It extends only as far as I can ensure our joint venture is safe. As soon as another, more lucrative offer appears, they'll ally themselves with the same men trying to destroy me from the inside out.

My gaze flits to the bottom right drawer of my desk. There's a pack of cigarettes stashed away there. For the first time in years, I'm dangerously close to cracking it open.

"I've got it under control," I tell him.

Shura stops at the edge of my desk, his hand over the drawer like he's holding it closed. "You forget who you're talking to, ‘Drey. I can tell you're worried."

"The only thing I'm worried about right now is Natalia."

Shura frowns. "Natalia is fine. She's safe."

"Physically, maybe," I accept. "But mentally, emotionally, I'm not so sure."

When I woke up in the middle of the night, I could've taken the back stairs down to the kitchen, but I wandered through the halls until I passed Natalia's room. Leonty was on duty, standing by the door in full sentry mode… as Natalia screamed inside.

"What in the hell are you waiting for?" I growled.

Just before I could plow through the door, Leonty shifted in front of me. "It's a nightmare. She's okay. She's dreaming."

Natalia's scream tapered off into a whimper before… silence.

I fell back against the wall, my heart racing. "She's been having nightmares?"

Leonty couldn't meet my eyes. "She didn't want you to know."

"What is the fucking point of you?" I shoved him away from the door just as another scream tore through the silence.

Everything in me wanted to tear into that room, to hold her. To save her from the monsters in her own head.

The problem was, I might've been one of the monsters.

Instead, I dragged Leonty further down the hall and grilled him on the secrets he'd apparently seen fit to keep. There was a lot to tell.

Natalia had been having nightmares every night. She'd wake up screaming, and only Remi seemed to be able to calm her back to sleep. On the nights when even that didn't work, she'd turn all the lights on and sit in her room for hours until she crashed out around dawn.

How the fuck am I supposed to handle attacks on my house when I don't even know what's happening inside the walls?

"Let Mila and Katya worry about Natalia," Shura says in answer to the question I didn't ask. "Misha is here for her, too."

"I'm her husband. I should be there for her."

Shura cocks an eyebrow. "I get that you're concerned, but we've got bigger problems."

"Nothing is more important than she is. Do you understand?" We're so close now that our noses are practically touching.

His eyes spark violently, but in the end, hierarchy wins out. Shura steps back. "I understand."

"Speaking of which: did you get into contact with?—?"

"Done," he assures me. "She doesn't usually make house calls, but she'll make an exception for you."

I nod, reasonably satisfied. I won't be completely satisfied until Natalia simply accepts that I know what's best for her.

"When are you going to tell her?" Shura asks, eyeing me skeptically.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who predicts Natalia won't make this easy. "Tonight," I decided on the spur of the moment. "But first, I'll need to get her in a good mood."

"I'd suggest you make yourself scarce then," he mutters.

Flipping him off, I sit down behind my desk. "Invite Mila and Katya over for dinner. And arrange for Aunt Annie to surprise her. We're going to have a dinner party."

Shura looks like I've just told him I'm running away to join the circus. "A dinner party? Now? "

I tell myself that this makes sense. An apple rots from the inside out. If I want to get a handle on things, I need to start with Natalia.

I nod. "She's happiest and most compliant when she's surrounded by her friends and family."

Shura sighs. "Ah, the subtle art of manipulation."

Blunt honesty and directness haven't worked for me so far.

Might as well give this a shot.