10. Mikhail

10

MIKHAIL

It's been a week since I last used the lock on Lucia's door and so far, it seems she's kept her promise of staying in the house.

I've been trying to make it home for dinner each night so that she doesn't spend the entire day alone. I could think of nothing better, but Lucia is my opposite, which means she craves company and conversation.

Two things I could definitely live without.

But unfortunately for Lucia, tonight will have to be different.

Alexei has called a meeting at the family's penthouse and as much as I hate skipping out on dinner with Lucia, I also have a responsibility to my brothers.

No doubt Alexei will want an update on my bride-to-be, and I'm hoping that there will be some news regarding Alfonzo Morano.

If there's time, I'll try to pick up some dessert from Angelo 's on the way home.

Seeing as she no longer has her weekly dinners with her father, it's the least I can do to try and bring a small sense of normalcy to her life while she's under house arrest.

I don't want her to think that I haven't acknowledged the sacrifice she's been making by staying at home.

I've been at the office since six A.M., and the last fourteen hours have been brutal. I knew taking over a company on my own would be tough, but I thought Alexei would have kept it in better shape than this.

Perhaps it's just another way for him to test me. Either way, it's grueling work but after six months of being CEO, I finally feel like I'm making progress.

When I step out of the elevator at my family's penthouse an hour later, I find the downstairs living area completely empty, which means my brothers must be upstairs in Alexei's office.

Despite this being our family's penthouse, We now mostly use it for meetings.

Ever since Alexei took up permanent residence at our family's mansion in Forest Hills, he spends most of his time out in Queens with his wife and son.

Dimitri, Danil, and I all have our own places in the city, so this penthouse sits empty most of the time.

I make my way upstairs where the faint sounds of my brothers' voices filter down the hall toward me. I try to get a read on their tone, but it's too quiet for me to tell if this will be a productive meeting or a fist fight.

Either way, I'm going to need a drink in my hand before we get started.

"Nice of you to finally join us." Dimitri smirks as I enter the office.

He's sitting behind the large mahogany desk that used to belong to our father.

When I was a kid, I used to imagine myself sitting behind it, so eager to follow in his footsteps. I idolized my father, but ever since I learned of his affair with Igor Ivanov's wife, my memories of him have become tainted by his betrayal.

When I think of him, I don't picture a successful businessman, a loving father, or a doting husband.

I just see a lying traitor.

"I've been busy." I shake off the thoughts of my father. "Unlike you."

"Oh, I'd like to see you handle newborn twins, brat . I'd choose running a company over changing a hundred dirty diapers any day."

"Gross," Danil mutters.

I glance at my youngest brother and huff a laugh.

He's stretched out on the couch with his eyes shut, no doubt trying to push through a hangover.

"I thought you're meant to be filled with joy and endless happiness?" I ask Dimitri as I head straight for the drinks cabinet.

"That's how they get you to do it," Dimitri explains, pointing at Alexei. "This fucker made it look so easy."

"For one, Leo is a dream baby, and two, there is only one of him. You and Zara were doomed from the start." Alexei laughs.

Dimitri shoots him a glare, and I chuckle under my breath as I pour us all a drink.

Dimitri huffs. "Appreciate the vote of confidence."

"Can we get this over with already?" Danil groans. "I think I might actually be dying."

"Drink up. It'll make you feel better." I thrust a glass of vodka into his hand.

He moves to sit up and wrinkles his nose at the clear liquid before tipping his head back and downing it in one .

"Fuck." He hands me back the glass. "I wonder why we drink this sometimes."

I clap my brother on the shoulder and turn my attention to my older brothers. "So, is there any news on Alfonzo?"

I don't miss the look that Dimitri and Alexei share, and I'm instantly on alert.

"We're not here to discuss Alfonzo." Dimitri glances again at Alexei.

"So, why are we here?" Danil asks.

Again, my two older brothers share a look that has me bristling.

What the hell have they kept from us this time?"

"It's about this situation with our father."

"You mean his affair?"

Alexei's jaw clenches but he nods.

"What about it?"

"Some new information came to light," Dimitri says.

"Well, then, spit it out."

Danil stiffens beside me.

Out of all of us, the news of our father's affair has affected him the most. He was only fifteen when they died, and he was still quite sheltered from the realities of our world.

To him, our father was simply that, a father. Whereas to me at least, he was manipulative and blood thirsty. A true bratva Pahkan.

That didn't mean he wasn't still a good father and what looked like the perfect husband, but Danil never truly saw the darker side of him that I did.

Though it seems there was a side of him that none of us saw.

"The affair between our father and Katya Ivanov resulted in a child," Alexei explains. "A son. "

I feel as if the ground has given out from underneath me.

The glass in my hand slips through my fingers and goes crashing to the floor, the vodka sinking into the cream carpet as I stare at Alexei.

Danil's eyes are wide. "But…But he never said anything… How is this possible? I don't understand."

"Our father fucked another woman, that's how," I snap at Danil. "Do you need a fucking sex ed lesson or something?"

"Mikhail," Dimitri warns, but I ignore him.

"Why am I not surprised." I run my hands through my hair.

"What happened to the kid?" Danil asks.

Alexei shakes his head, sadness clear in his eyes. "Initially, it was recorded as a stillbirth, but it turned out that the child survived."

"Igor was the one to cover it up," Dimitri adds. "If there was no record of a living child, it meant he was free to do with him as he pleased."

"We have another brother… Fuck. Is this a good or bad thing?" Danil asks.

"We're still trying to work that out," Alexei replies.

I barely hear them. I feel as if I'm underwater, my lungs crying out for air as I forget to breathe.

I have another brother .

"How long have you known about this?" My voice is barely above a whisper.

Their answering silence is deafening.

I'm on my feet in an instant, my hands balled into fists that I'm eager to slam into Alexei's jaw if he doesn't start explaining himself. "How long have you fucking known ? "

"I planned to tell you when I got back from Russia a few months ago."

"You've known about this for months ? Are you fucking serious, Alexei?" My body is vibrating as I stare down my oldest brother. "I thought you would have learned your lesson after you kept our father's affair a secret."

"Dimitri and I decided that the less people that knew, the better."

"We're not just people , we're you're brothers !" I yell. "And that means all of us, not just Dimitri."

I run my hands through my hair as I pace back and forth.

This is the second time they've kept a huge piece of information secret, information that regards my own fucking father. It makes me wonder what else they're keeping from me.

This is just more confirmation that Alexei and Dimitri don't see me as a senior member of this family.

And I'm fucking done.

"This shit stops now. Danil and I aren't teenagers anymore. We deserve to be included in every decision, every conversation that happens regarding this bratva. It's not fair that you're leaving me out of major discussions when I'm sacrificing so much for this family. I'm marrying Massimo Conti's daughter, for fuck's sake! Doesn't that prove that I've stepped up? What more do you fucking want, Alexei?"

"This." He folds his arms over his chest. "I've been waiting for you to stand up and demand more from me. It shows me that you're ready. So, once you and Lucia are married, I'll make sure you're given more responsibility."

I wasn't expecting Alexei to accept my demands on the spot, but I'm grateful for the respect he's finally showing me. It's something I've craved my entire life, and not just since our father died and he took over as head of the family.

For so long, it was always Alexei and Dimitri making decisions, and I always felt like I was on the outside.

And now I'm finally being given the opportunity to show them what I can do.

But instead of feeling a sense of relief, I feel torn.

On one hand, I still want to get Lucia to walk away from this marriage. But if it's going to cost me my brothers' respect, then perhaps I'm better off saying ‘I do' to the spoiled mafia princess.

"Do we have any idea where he is?" Danil asks, interrupting my train of thought.

Dimitri shakes his head. "We're still trying to track him down."

Alexei looks right at me. "That's part of the reason why we didn't say anything. He might have survived at birth, but there's no telling what Igor did with him."

I nod. "If he knows that the child was our father's, there's no way he let him live. He would have posed a huge threat to Igor."

"That's what I'm thinking."

Danil looks at the three of us in turn. "Why don't we just ask Igor? He obviously knew about the affair and the child, considering that he went to all the trouble of making it look like a stillbirth."

How can my youngest brother be so na?ve? Is this what Alexei and Dimitri saw in me too?

He seriously thinks we can just ring the guy up and demand answers?

Alexei shakes his head. "If you thought Mario Gilanto played dirty, Igor Ivanov is ten times worse. The last thing we want to do is alert him to the fact that we're digging around for information."

I frown. "What about Katya?"

"What about her?" Alexei turns to look at me.

"She might have some answers."

Alexei nods. "Maybe. But though she might not be married to Igor anymore, that doesn't mean she's free of him. She might be unwilling to talk."

"Surely, it's worth a try?"

Alexei shrugs."If you want to run with it, then be my guest."

I dip my chin in a silent thanks.

My brothers and I talk for another half an hour before I finally make my excuses to leave. I need some alone time to decompress all of this new information before I head home to Lucia.

"Mikhail!" Alexei halts me in my tracks as I head across the living space toward the elevator. "There's one other thing I need to discuss with you."

I hold back a groan as I turn to face him.

"What is it?"

"I spoke to Massimo this morning." Alexei tucks his hands into his pockets and presses his lips together in a firm line, which means whatever he's about to tell me isn't good.

"About the attack on Lucia?"

"No, about the wedding."

"What about it?" My mouth goes dry.

"The attack has only made Massimo want to push the wedding forward. He wants our families officially bound in order to secure protection for Lucia."

"How much time do I have?"

"One week. The ceremony will be held at Massimo's place next Friday. "

Fuck .

"Fine." I rub my hand over my jaw.

Alexei squeezes my shoulder once before turning his back on me and heading back up to his office.

I stare after him, trying to ignore the panic building up inside my chest.

It seems I'm running out of time, and I'm no closer to getting Lucia to back out of this marriage than I was two weeks ago. If anything, the last week of sharing dinners has only brought us closer together, and I only have myself to blame for that.

I can't waste another day. It seems I've lost sight of my goal, but this meeting with my brothers was the wake-up call I needed.

Tonight, I'm going to show Lucia another side to me.

A side that she won't find so appealing.