Chapter 26 - Elena

"Who is this?" the old woman asks.

I look around. There are four women in the room; three are my size, and the older one is skinnier. There are also four babies in the room, and one of the women looks like she might be pregnant.

"This is Arseny's girl, Elena Sokolov," Luka says. "We need to keep her safe. Someone is after her."

"You bring this woman to my house. Where is your brother? I want to knock some sense into his head. Going for a Sokolov, has he no taste." I'm surprised by her biting words. The pregnant redhead looks at the other two and then stands.

"Mama Milov, if Arseny loves her…"

"Not now, Penny." She turns to me. "What gives you the right to date my son? Your family are worse than scum."

"Mama Milov," Penny says, stepping forward. "I'm sure Arseny knows what he's doing, and Elena is a sweet girl. You can't judge everyone based on their family. Come and sit, Elena."

I join them on the sofas. There are twins asleep in a camping cot to the side while two little toddlers play in the middle.

"Cute kids," I say, trying to be conversational. I can hear the men talking in the next room. I wish they'd talk to me.

"Thanks. This is Samuel, and this is Jade. The twins are Kiran and Pierrick—or rather, KJ and PK for short." Hannah looks at me. "Their father is Luka. Samuel's father is Kervyn, and Jade's father is Danil."

"My brothers always say that having kids makes you soft," I comment. "But your kids are very cute."

"I wouldn't say they make you soft. They certainly make you tougher," Penny says as she hands me a cup of coffee.

"Penny, you shouldn't be drinking so much caffeine," Mrs. Milov says as she comes back in. "How did you seduce my son?" she asks, turning on me.

I look at her, surprised. "I… didn't. Your son seduced me, I think."

"You think, or you're trying to cover up something?" Mrs. Milov says.

"Look, I don't want any trouble. I can go," I set the coffee down.

"You can't go until everything's sorted out with the boys," Asher says. I'd been introduced to all of them by Luka and told to sit tight, but I want to find Arseny. I take out my phone and try him again.

Still nothing.

"You need to stop stressing. It'll do you no good. The man is an expert with knives. I doubt anything will happen to him," Asher continues.

I'm uncomfortable being here.

"Perhaps if you had kept to yourself, this wouldn't have happened," Mrs. Milov says. "My son wouldn't feel the need to run away and hide from you and his brothers."

"He isn't running away from me." I stand up and snarl, "He is the love of my damn life, and I would kill for him. Just as he would kill for me. If he's not answering, something is wrong, and I don't appreciate insinuating I don't care or that I'm here for nefarious reasons."

Everyone looks taken aback. Mrs. Milov nods her head. "Very well."

She walks out of the room, and Penny smiles at me. "Now you've earned her respect. Well done."

I look at her, confused. "What? I just… You Milovs are confusing. I need to speak to Kervyn."

"Wait…" Penny starts to say, but I barge into the next room. "Mr. Milov," I say, and all three brothers look at me. "I'd really appreciate it if you don't keep me waiting any longer."

Kervyn raises an eyebrow and looks at Danil before he looks at me. "I'd heard you were negotiating for your father. I didn't realize he sat you at the table."

"He has, but this has nothing to do with that. I'm not here to negotiate. I am looking for Arseny. It is imperative that I warn him."

They look at each other, and Danil Milov steps forward. "Why would you want to warn my brother about something your family plans on doing? How do we know this isn't just a setup?"

"I love Arseny. Ask your brother Luka." They both look at him and back at me. "I was trying to figure out who in my family was targeting your family, and specifically targeting Arseny. I wanted to protect him."

"Are you saying it's not your father"s call?" Kervyn asks. "Because orders are filtered down."

"My father doesn't know about it. My father is a straight shooter. I assure you of that. My father isn't afraid of showing his hand. Darius, on the other hand, has always been a sneaky brat. I see it even more clearly now than I did before." I put my hands on my hips. "Tell me where Arseny is so I can make sure he's okay."

I stare at them, but none of them move, so I zero in on Luka. "Where is he?"

Luka looks at Kervyn, who shakes his head before he says, "We gotta tell her. She may be small, but she's bloody dangerous." He turns to me. "We don't know where he is. He's been missing since he went to that meeting. We found his car at an abandoned warehouse, but there was no trace of him. His phone was in the car, and that's why you can't get a hold of him."

"And now we don't know how to track him," Kervyn finally admits.

"You can't, but I can," I say as I take out my phone. They all look at me, surprised. "What? Do you think I can't track my cousin"s phone? I bet you I can take you right there."

"You're not taking us anywhere," Kervyn says. "You give the address, and we go get Arseny."

"I don't think so," I retort. "Either you take me with you, or you can stay here while I go."

Kervyn looks at Danil incredulously and then back at me. "Fine, but you stay in the car."

"No deal. This is my cousin. I can talk him down from doing something stupid." I look at my phone. "Just as I thought, he's at one of our hideouts. Come on, I'll take you there."

We get into Kervyn's car. I sit in the front next to him, and I set my maps up. "It's on the outskirts of town. It's called the Long Street House. He's probably summoned my family there."

"Why would he summon your family there?" Kervyn asks.

"Because he wants to prove himself by capturing the guy who kidnapped me," I explain. "He thinks he'll get in my dad's good graces if he enacts revenge for him."

"But your dad doesn't know anything about this?" Kervyn asks again.

"No, he probably doesn't."

"Probably doesn't or doesn't?" Danil asks as he takes out his gun and checks it's loaded.

"Please don't kill anyone," I say seriously. "That's my family I'm leading you to."

"As long as they haven't killed or hurt Arseny, and they let him go to us, then this will all be over," Kervyn explains.

I look back at Luka, who smiles reassuringly. "I'm sure he's giving them hell."

We drive for half an hour. Half an hour of fretting about whether Arseny is alive or dead. Whether he's being tortured or just being held hostage. I wonder what my father will do. Will he be proud of Darius? Will he commend him? Or will he be disappointed for doing something that wasn't on his orders? I'd like to think it was the last one.

"There up ahead. That's my father"s car. That's them standing outside." I point. "Please don't just start shooting people."

"We don't just shoot people," Kervyn says tersely.

His tires squeal when he suddenly breaks. My family turns around to look at them. They draw their guns while Kervyn and his two brothers get out of the car and draw their weapons, too.

I climb out of the car, and my father's jaw drops. "Elena, what are you doing with these Milov men? Have you betrayed your family?"

"It's not me who betrayed our family, but Darius has, Father," I say, walking toward him, away from the car. "Darius has been ordering hits using your name and causing tension and war between the families."

Darius looks at me. "Shut up, you blood traitor."

"You will not speak to my daughter like that," my father snaps. "What do you mean, ordering hits?"

"Uncle Emery, she's been sleeping with this Milov for weeks now. You can't trust anything that comes out of her mouth." Darius takes a step toward me, pulling out his gun. "She will say anything to save him."

"I want to save him, yes. But I want to save him without betraying my family."

"Let my brother go, Sokolov. We can sort this out man to man," Kervyn calls.

"Lower your guns first, Milov," my father demands.

I can see Arseny wriggling behind my cousin. He has a dark bruise on his face, and his mouth is bloody. "Give it up, Darius, you're busted. You bought the butchers under my father"s name to do a power play against the Milovs. You're the one who started all this."

"I have done nothing but what is best for this family my entire life, you little wench. What do you know about it?" He raises his gun to me. "Now, are you going to stand there and be a blood traitor, or will you choose your family"s side?"

"I choose my side," I shout. "Arseny and I are in love and want to be together. I know that's not what everyone wants to hear, but that's what's gonna happen."

Darius cocks his gun. "Then die a traitor."

Suddenly, Arseny frees his arms and lunges forward to tackle Darius as he fires off a shot at me. I actually feel it whizz by, and my heart races.

Arseny is restricted by the chair still attached to his legs as Darius pushes him off and gets up, pointing the gun at me again. I see my father move his weapon to aim at Darius. "No one shoots at Elena."

He pulls the trigger, and Darius goes down. My father looks at the scene sadly while I go to Arseny. I whip the knife out from under my skirt, still covered in Darius' blood. I cut through the cable ties, holding his legs to the chair, and help him stand so I can hug him.

"You're an idiot for coming," he says, kissing my forehead.

"You're an idiot for thinking my father would meet with you after you kidnapped me," I shoot back.

Kervyn clears his throat, and we look at them. They've lowered their guns, and my family has lowered theirs. I can see the sadness etched in Sevan's face as he looks at his dead brother. He shouldn't have had to see this.

But this is what the family is about, and you cannot escape it.

I turn to my father. "What now?" I ask.

"Now your little boyfriend better make a real appointment to come give me his proposal to see you." He looks at Kervyn. "I assume you are happy with that."

"Arseny must prove himself to you. Elena has already proved herself worthy to me," Kervyn holsters his gun. "Arseny, come home for now. Let's get you cleaned up."

Arseny kisses my head again, and Luka steps forward to help him get to the car. He looks back at me as he climbs in the front with a groan before he waves goodbye.

I raise my hand to wave goodbye before I look down at Darius. "I'll call The Goose to clean up this mess. We'll link it to a gang shooting. That way, we can still bury him." I look at Sevan. "Are you okay?"

"I can't believe he betrayed us," he says. "It's so disappointing. I always looked up to him."

"I know, honey," I say, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. "Let's go home."