Page 78 of Brutal Vows

Teamwork makes the dreamwork…but this, this is a very delicate operation, needing stealth, the one thing I’m good at and used to.

“No. This stays between us.” I need to be a hard ass here and not give them an inch. “Until the dust has settled and definitely until Chertnikov has been neutralized. Maybe forever.”

It’s quiet between the three of us, then Stephano gives a dry chuckle. “There’s no such thing as a forever secret. Gabi is proof of that.”

“True, but at least I can control it for now, until the right time comes to tell those who need to know. As it is, this alliance with Petrov is so new.”

“But his sister’s baby, in your care, will cement it.”

Never again will a man manipulate my body so he could have a baby to hold as collateral over my head. In any man’s world, a baby could be collateral, but in our world, a child could become a weapon in the hands of the wrong men. Milana’s words still haunt me.

“I’m not playing those fucking games,” I spell out, my voice clipped. “This baby girl will not be a fucking Bratva or Mafia pawn.” And there will be no more children in this marriage. I will not chain Milana to me more than what she needs to be.

Benedict and Stephano exchange glances, as much as they can, and Steph visibly deflates as Ben drags his hand down his face with a sigh.

“Okay,” Steph caves in. “We play by your rules but know I don’t like this one bit.”

“I second that,” Benedict says. “But she’s your wife. It’s your life, so your call. What if it blows up in your face in Russia? How do we get you out?”

You don’t.

I don’t think about it. I’ll tally the risks and mitigate them as much as possible, but I’m heading to a country I don’t know, with a language I don’t speak, and a wife who’s had a child with a Bratva Pakhan’s son. A wife who might not think straight when things go wrong, her baby at stake. Milana might be Bratva, but she’s a princess. I bet she’s never pulled a trigger in her life. Fuck it. I might need to teach my wife how to hold a gun and shoot to kill at close range without thinking. Bare minimum stuff.

“Then I’ve tried.” If things go south, I’ll make sure nobody survives, because the last thing I want is for Milana and Annushka to land in Chertnikov’s hands—alive. It doesn’t bear thinking of… Do I have it in me to kill the woman I’m falling for to protect her from a fate a million times worse? “I’ll deal with it.”

“Fuck it.” Benedict jolts up again, his body wrought with tension as he stalks the room. “I don’t get it. Why are you even doing this? It’s an arranged marriage. You were forced into it.”

“It’s not up for discussion.”

I meet Stephano’s gaze through the screen, and with the slightest shake of his head, he signals that he gets it. His marriage to Gigi was arranged, too—between them, for her protection, so not in the way I was forced into it—but he already had feelings for her, and when that came into play…

I smirk.

Stephano smirks back. “Bro’s got it hard, Ben. He’s a fucking goner for his wife.”

My twin just called it and my stomach clenches as my heart seems to skip a beat. Yeah. I’m a fucking goner, even if I’m still getting my head around the swarm of emotions that has been circling me ever since Milana walked down the aisle and our gazes locked. The shock of it all. The shock of her. Us, together last night, the way she opened to me, for me…where I want this marriage’s trajectory to go⁠—

“Jesus,” Benedict grunts. “So there’s no point in trying to talk some sense into you?”

Stephano laughs. “Sense has left the fucking building, dude. Let Luca do what he needs to do to be the man she needs. That’s the only way fuckers like us have half a chance.”

Benedict drops back in his seat, resigned. “Best we get going with a to-do list so we can figure out logistics and all that shit together. We’re going to need time⁠—”

“We don’t have any, so put Chiara Bellini and that Bible on hold.”

“Yeah, fuck knows, I’ve no choice. Maybe I’ll pick up some useful Russian along the way.”

“Sounds like a plan, learning Russian,” Stephano quips. “I feel it’s going to come in handy.”

“Yeah. Whatever. Let me go break the news to Matty,” I say as I stand. “You boys can brainstorm in the meantime.”

“Right,” they chime as one.

“Keep it together, Luca,” Steph says as he nudges me on with a hand on the screen. “When shit goes down, keeping your cool is the one thing you’ve finetuned to perfection.”

Right. Keeping my cool, keeping my shit together when the world implodes is how my twin sees me? Who knew, but it somehow makes me pull taller. I can do this. We can pull this off.

With a wave, I stalk off. I only have a quick elevator ride down and an equally quick ride up to Matteo’s apartment to get my head in the right place to deal with the Don.