Page 128 of Bratva Menace

I squeezed my hands into tight fists to refrain from punching him in the fucking teeth. “I don’t want to hear it, Lev.”

“Well, too bad, ’cause you’re gonna hear it. I told you so, Lyla. I fucking told you so. But do you ever listen to me? No.”

“I listen to you all the time, you bastard.”

“Not recently, you haven’t.”

Unable to keep the sadness in my soul at bay any longer, my shoulders slumped, tears stinging the backs of my eyes.

“Oh, Lyla.” Compassion filled my brother’s voice. He came over to me, wrapping me up in his arms. “I hate seeing you so upset. It breaks my heart.”

This was the Lev I loved. The Lev who actually gave a shit about me. The loving, caring big brother I’d grown up with.

“He just left,” I whispered sadly. My emotions, already low from the events of the past twenty-four hours, plummeted even further. “After everything we’ve been through, he just left, Lev. Like I didn’t matter at all.”

“It’ll be okay. It will all be okay, I promise,” he said, trying to reassure me. “I’ll make sure he dies nice and slow for you.”

That shocked me out of my depressed thoughts. “What?” I breathed. I pushed back out of his embrace. “No, I don’t want you to kill him, Lev!”

“You don’t?” he questioned, frown on his face. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“I want you to help me get him back.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Lyla,” he hissed, stomping away. “You can’t be serious. You still want that fucker? You just said he abandoned you!”

“Yeah, well, there were extenuating circumstances. He’s got a lot of family shit going on at the moment⁠—”

He swiped a hand through the air angrily. “Stop making excuses for him. They’re all the same, those Volkovs. Nothing but backstabbing, murderous bastards.”

There was no point touching that, so I skipped right over it. “I know where he is. He’s at his grandfather’s estate. I can’t break in there on my own. Not without getting caught. I need your help. Please, big brother.”

Lev looked at me, his eyes simmering with calculation. “I’ll help you,” he began, and I almost fainted from relief. “But you have to help me in return.”

I knew what he was referring to, but still, I had to ask. “With what?”

“Dimitri.” An evil, vindictive smile graced his lips. “I want his head. You agree to bring that to me, and I’ll help you get your precious Lukyan back.” He said precious with derision, like the word was almost sickening to him.

I couldn’t. Lukyan would never forgive me for that. He may never forgive me once he found out I played a part in trying to kill his father, even if it was only gathering intel.

Lev took my silence as compliance and nodded, satisfaction sweeping across his face. “Lucky for you, I’ve already been planning an infiltration. Given your traitorous act, I was forced to come up with a new plan. I won’t get everything I want, but at least I will get Dimitri. I just have to wait for the signal, and we’ll be going in.”

“Signal?” I frowned. “What signal? And from who?”

A loud, droning noise hit the air. Lev tensed, and for the first time in years, he genuinely smiled. He pulled something out from around his neck, hidden in his shirt. It was some sort of pendant, circular in design, attached to a black rope. It was lit up like a Christmas tree, blaring that annoying fucking noise throughout the room.

“What the fuck is that?” I asked, confused.

The smile never left his face.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

LUKYAN VOLKOV

Ikicked the soldier guarding the door to my grandfather’s office right in the chest. He went flying, his back smashing into the door, causing it to swing open. The soldier landed in a heap on the floor, and I stepped in.

“Hi, Grandfather.”

Sergei was sitting on a big leather chair that faced the window along the far wall. His head turned toward me, and he sighed. “You’re definitely your father’s son.”