Page 57 of Obsession of the Bratva

I exhaled slowly. “Jesus Christ.”

Kliment’s expression didn’t change. “You want to explain things now?”

I laughed once without humor.

“I was wondering when we’d get here.”

“Get where?”

I looked at my brother. “To the point where I stop pretending this has nothing to do with me.”

The warehouse suddenly felt quieter, and Jarek straightened. Kliment remained still, waiting and listening. The way he always did. Viktor hovered somewhere behind us as well, just as much a part of this conversation as everyone else. I looked at the destroyed inventory. The damaged walls. The lingering smoke. And I knew I had to take some steps now. Last time this had happened, I had not decided on what I was going to do next about this situation, but now it felt as if I was running out of time. I didn’t know how, but Manny and Adrian knew where Vera was, and they were letting me know that they knew.

“You guys already know this is about Vera Stavros.”

“Yes, we know,” Jarek replied, a smile on his face. “The very woman you dated and fell in love with, then kidnapped her and got shit faced drunk at a seedy bar from where we had to rescue you, and then told us how you have no idea what exactly you are planning to do with her.”

“Yes, her,” I replied. I wanted to give a smart retort to Jarek, but I was at a loss for words. If there was anyone at fault here, it was me. I should have planned things better.

“So, what’s the situation now?” Kliment asked.

“Nothing has changed, except for a few revelations,” I said with a sigh, not knowing how to explain things.

“What do you mean?” Jarek asked, sitting down on an empty stool placed nearby. Kliment took the stool beside him.

I was too annoyed to sit down, so I continued pacing.

“It has come to my attention that Vera lied to me about cheating on me.”

“What?” Three shocked voices came to me at once, and I glanced between them, shaking my head.

“Sorry,” Viktor said, sitting down as well.

“Yes. Her father apparently forced her into a match with Adrian, and she had no choice, which led to her breaking up with me. She lied to me so I would hate her and let her go.”

“Oh, good god,” Jarek shook his head. “Why did she listen to her father? What does he have on her?”

“This was something she did not tell me.” I knew I sounded like an idiot for saying that out loud, but I trusted Vera enough to know she sure had her reasons. If she could have told me, she would have told me. However, it still didn’t stop me from feeling pissed at her, which was partly the reason I had been staying away.

If she couldn’t trust me enough to tell me the whole truth, I had to make some hard decisions as well.

“And now Manny Stavros and Adrian Petrov have found out you have her. Even if they might not have proof, they probably have eyes on you, and they are going to wage a war to get her back. Have you decided how exactly you are going to handle this situation, Nico?” Kliment asked, always the logical one.

“I haven’t.”

Viktor and my brothers studied me, all of them silent.

“I think you’re missing something,” Jarek suddenly said, appearing serious, which was rare.

I blinked. “What?”

“Let’s assume Manny discovered somebody took his daughter from the wedding. If he doesn’t even know you exist in Vera’s life, why would he suspect you? The Romanovs have never interacted with Stavros in any capacity, and we are too big for him to take down just for the sake of it.”

“That is a reasonable assessment,” Kliment nodded.

I opened my mouth and then stopped because I had no answers for this.

“Right now, we are assuming that Manny Stavros didn’t know about Nico,” Viktor chimed in, and all of us turned to look at him. “But what if he knew?”