Page 89

I scoffed as I parked at the mansion.

I don’t think I need to go as far as Victor did, though.

He’d completely renovated the front of his house so Wren wouldn’t have to see the spot where Paul, his assistant, had almost been killed. Victor had taken out the staircase and redone it all so his wife wouldn’t have to see the location where Smithson tried to kill her, where she’d shot him dead.

I entered the mansion and found my brothers and cousins outside, on the patio. Drinks had been poured. Lev was enjoying the rare cigar, and some plates of food were still out from whoever had wanted to eat what Selma and the other cooks had prepared.

“Here comes the latest example,” Alexei said with a roll of his eyes.

“Me?” I pointed to myself as I sat. Maksim offered me a drink, but I declined. Per the texts that I’d gotten from Adrik, Alexei, Wren, and Louisa, in a new group thread, it sounded like I might be needed to go hunt down someone later tonight. I had to be clearheaded for that.

See. I can balance this. I was with Brady while she was working. Now she’s with him when I might be busy later. And then we’ll be all together after this spell of activity is over.

“He’s accusing you of being the latest example of how much the Bratva is changing,” Maksim said.

I shrugged. “I’ll accept that accusation proudly.”

“Damn. Never thought I’d see it happen,” Alexei teased. “You, settling down?”

“You find the right one and you’ll be wishing you’d settled earlier.”

“Spoken like a man in love.” Adrik smiled at me. “The youngest one has fallen.”

“He’s the last one to fall,” Alexei added with a smirk.

I started to wonder if he was jinxing himself, saying that so often. Or maybe he felt like he had to repeat it to ward it from happening.

“I never thought that I’d want to be a one-woman man either, but I can’t lie. I am thrilled that Louisa and Brady want a life with me. I never believed it would be possible. That I could meet my match. With all the billions of people in this world, I could find my soulmate.”

Alexei groaned.

Adrik chuckled before sipping his drink. “It’s true, though. When you meet the one…”

“Like you should talk,” Alexei said. “You had Elena here for how long before you thought about taking her for yourself?”

“Who says that was intentional?” Adrik growled. “I resisted as long as I could.”

Alexei scowled and looked off to the side. “Well, count me out. There’s enough changes in the Bratva. Uncle Dimitri dying. All these babies around the place.” He glanced at me. “Brady’s a good boy, though.”

I nodded, glad he could be fair enough to admit it. And to recognize it. He was a gruff asshole, but honest.

“And the hits lately,” Adrik said. “One placed on me already.” He shook his head, seeming pensive. “That’s always a risk, but I hadn’t counted on it so soon.”

“Because none of us could’ve counted on that asshole rising from the dead and coming back to try to fuck with us,” Lev said of his father, whom he’d disowned his whole life.

“Elena’s been struggling with it,” Adrik said. “She’ll always be the”—he sighed—“the most delicate of them all.”

That was putting it lightly. Elena was a civilian, an outsider to the Bratva life. So, naturally, it was a drastic change to her life. Mila and Carina were the exceptions, familiar with the criminal underworld due to their ties with the Cartels. But even Wren was an insider. As a former federal agent, she was aware of how criminal families operated. Louisa, like Elena, was a true outsider. A stranger to this world. Yet, I had faith she was adapting much easier than Elena had. Louisa’s innocence would never change, but she still had needed to adapt.

“I wasn’t even hit,” Adrik mused aloud, “but it was the concept that someone would place an order for my assassination that rocked her.”

“It didn’t help that she saw Paul shot, either,” Viktor said.

“No, it didn’t help,” Adrik agreed.

“We’ll never shy from danger,” Maksim said, “yet it is different now.”

Adrik studied him. “Having a wife and a child has changed the entire meaning of my life. Everything I do, I do for the family. When I refer to Elena and Luka, though…”