Arranged Bratva Love

Andrei

I stare across the room, hearing the sounds of pleasured moans. Leo is on my right, Terrance, my left. All my men are stationed around the room, and the women were providing enough distractions to the customers.

Ivan was no longer in my territory, but I still had a job to do, and as I glance down at my watch, I see he is late. I don’t like when people are late.

Sipping at my whiskey, I hold my cell phone within my grasp. The temptation to look at Adelaide is strong. The doctor told me she had made a full recovery. With her listening to his advice and resting, the wounds had healed nicely.

The doctor had told me there were some lasting effects from the pregnancy, but they would go away in time, once her body realized she was no longer pregnant. I’d not allowed him to tell her she’d been pregnant. There was a lot she didn’t know, and for now I wanted to keep her in the dark.

I was aware of the texts Nathan had sent her, which I didn’t like, but there was nothing I could do to stop them. They had been friends some time now. She had no idea he was a hired hit man.

I was starting to feel that Adelaide was a fucking magnet to problems. It was turning into a task just to keep her alive.

The man I’d been waiting for, entered. He wasn’t wearing his leather cut, as he told me he wouldn’t. Evil Savages MC wouldn’t be seen here. Not in a Bratva brothel.

Rage, the VP, was the man I needed to see, to come to some arrangement. Ive had already taken Lottie into his territory, and I had a feeling Ivan was preparing his plans for her. The man looked positively vicious. I’m surprised he’s not the prez of the Evil Savages MC. My men had done their workup on him, and he wasn’t one to be messed with. Rage wasn’t his name out of coincidence. It was said he was a man with a very short temper, and the moment you set him off, even the Devil himself quivered in fear.

He was large. Scary-looking motherfucker.

But then, so was I.

Rage sat down at the table, and I already knew he’d assessed the room and figured exactly how to escape if this went south.

Neither of us spoke. Each of us were watching each other, trying to decipher what the other was up to. I knew what I wanted, but as for Rage, I needed to know his agenda, and fast. Was he going to be a team player, or would he become another problem?

I snap my fingers at Leo and my guard leaves and heads toward the bar.

“Drink?” I asked. I didn’t have all day to sit around and chat.

“Whiskey,” Rage said.This is property © NôvelDrama.Org.

His voice was gruff.

Leo came back with two drinks, placing them both on the table. Rage didn’t reach for his and neither did I. The whiskey here wasn’t as good as the stuff I had back at home. I didn’t want to think of home as that took my thoughts to Adelaide.

“Let’s cut to the fucking chase rather than measuring our dicks,” Rage said. “You want something from me. What?”

“I want Demon’s head.”

“Not going to happen. Try again.”

“Do you think what he’s doing with the club will allow you all to live?” I asked.

Rage laughed. “I’m in your territory right now and I’m still breathing.”

“For now, you’re alive because I will it, but at any moment with the snap of my fingers, your life would be mine.” I hold my fingers up and snap them.

“You think I’m afraid of you, pretty boy?” Rage asked.

“I think you should be.” I point at my body. “All of this, it’s fucking fake, and that’s why you’re showing me respect right now. It’s why you’re not wearing your colors, and why you agreed to meet with me. Some of my men believe you would rather work with me than against me.”

“I should have known there were rats in the club.”

“Do rats make sure your club survives?” I asked. “Because from where I’m sitting, Evil Savages MC’s days are numbered.”

Rage sits back, stares at me for a few moments, and then reaches for his drink. “I’d heard about you, you know. Before you got all big and powerful.”

There’s no need to ask about what. I’m quite aware of my reputation. I’d lived it so I know exactly what is said about me.

“You ran from your father.”

This did make me smile.

“They say you weren’t his kid, that he beat you within an inch of your life. That you can take a great deal of beatings. People think you can’t be killed,” Rage said.

“Do you believe the stories they make up to scare little kids?” I asked.

“I know what I see, and you’re a man who is one scary motherfucker. I have to wonder why you decided to talk to me rather than Demon. He’s my prez. I follow him.”

“But you don’t agree with him. When the rumor of Ivan Volkov’s death got to your club, you didn’t agree with attacking my territory. Trust me, Rage, I can wipe your club out without a care in the world, but that’s bad business. I have no interest in a war between us. I’m aware of how big your club is, how far it’s spread.” I could kill them all, and it would certainly provide me some good sport for a while, but I wasn’t interested in that.

Killing the club off wouldn’t work. Not for me. I had a feeling I would need them down the road. Cutting off good men and potential alliances wasn’t good. Ivan knew that, and so did I. Even when my father beat me, I watched him work. He was a shrewd businessman and refused to take revenge if it would affect the Bratva.

The same goes here. Demon was one poisonous cog, but Rage would make a better prez. I just needed to remove the rusty cog.

“So, you know you wouldn’t win,” Rage said.

This made me smile. “They did say you were a dreamer. I would win. As you say, I can’t be killed.”

“Those are the scary stories people tell their kids to be afraid of you. I’m not afraid of you, Andrei. You’re a man just like me, and I have no interest in hearing your bullshit.”

He stands up, just as I knew he would, and I wait as he takes two steps. Picking up my whiskey, I mutter over the glass, “We have Lottie.”

I make sure to use the nickname he’s always used for her. The tension in his back rises. He’s pissed off. Good. So am I.

Rage turned and stormed back to me. His hand swiped the glass off the table. Cheap whiskey spilled to the floor.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Hasn’t Demon told you we’ve taken her? That’s a surprise because he does know she’s missing.”

Rage’s jaw clenched.

“I guess he sees her as collateral damage.” I tut. “I thought you liked her.” Not romantically. Rage cared about Lottie as if she was his own daughter.

“She is no part of the club. You have no right to take her.”

I drain the cheap-ass whiskey, swigging it back, hating the bitter taste as it slides down my throat. I’m not the kind of man who likes cheap things.

Standing up, I put my hands flat to the table, and glare right in his face. Both of us are hanging on by a thread, wanting to reach for our guns to take the other out, but we’re also prepared to see what happens next.

“We have taken her, and if you want to see her alive, then I suggest you come to a decision and fast. Demon doesn’t give a flying fuck about her. We’ve already reached out. Showed him what we know.”

“I don’t believe you. Demon wouldn’t allow that.”

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the single photo we’d taken of Lottie, tied up, crying. We’d forced her to scream for this picture. Her face is scrunched up, and she looks very afraid. I almost feel sick about what we’d done, but it doesn’t last. This is part of the job. Lottie is another cog, one that will have a very good life, if this goes our way.

Throwing the picture on the table, I stand up. “When you realize what’s at stake, give me a call.”

This time I leave, but I don’t look back. Going straight to my car, I climb into the back and wait as Leo and Terrance climb into the main seats. My cell phone goes off and I see Ivan is calling me.

“How did it go?” Ivan asked.

“He’s got the picture. He’s loyal at the moment to Demon but he didn’t like that we have Lottie. He’ll call.”

“Good. So, now onto our next topic of business.”

“Nathan is getting close to Oleg. The fighting rings are proving to be his only way of building a reputation.” Which is already a violation of what Ivan wanted. The fighting rings had to go. Ivan hadn’t allowed them as they served as punishment, not as a way of earning money, at least not in Oleg’s territory.

Ivan had put in different rules for all his brigadiers. Some of us could have fighting rings, others could not. It was to stop certain competition between his men. Ivan had once said that he watched how other Bratvas fell. Men were pitted against each other, rather than rising as one.

“That is not what I was talking about. You and Adelaide need a honeymoon,” Ivan said.

This made me pause.

“There’s no time to take a honeymoon.”

“Every woman deserves to have one.”

“Now is not a good time.”

Ivan laughed. It sounded forced to me. “There is never any time, anywhere, to take a vacation, let alone a honeymoon. Don’t you realize our lives are all limited, Andrei? You need to learn to live a little.”

“I cannot leave. Not with Oleg or Ive, and especially not with Rage.”

“You can and you will. Rage made a quick decision and we’re going to make him pay for it. We will not be jumping through any Evil Savages MC hoops. Lottie is with Ive. At the moment she’s safe, but if they attack, her life will be over.”

This is news.

“They will attack my city,” I said.

“I will be taking over your city while you’re gone. I’ve already made the arrangements, and have all the necessary foods and details on my private island. You and Adelaide will have each other. The staff know not to be seen or heard, unless you want them. Trust me, you and Adelaide need this.”

Running a hand down my face, I want to argue with him, but this wasn’t a suggestion. Ivan was giving me an order. This was the first time he’d done it to me in a long time.

“There will be plenty of time, Ivan,” I said.

“And I’ve said you are to take a honeymoon. Your plane leaves tonight. I hear the forecast is for hot weather, so go and enjoy the sunshine for a little bit. Show me that it’s possible to be happy.”

This makes me even more tense. The life within the Bratva was not fun, but Ivan always seemed to find the positives. He was a ruthless son of a bitch, but I did hear a rumor that there might be someone in his life. Again, it was a rumor. There were always whispers and gossip that followed him. I doubted any of it was true.

If Ivan wanted me to go on a honeymoon, then I didn’t see a reason to put it off. Ivan controlling my territory was a scary fucking thought. I had nothing to hide. My loyalty was to him and him alone, and I would never betray him.

He’d given me the chance to exact my revenge, and I had taken it, gladly. Seeing my father fighting for his last breath was in fact a memory I treasured.

Hanging up the call, I smiled. It was a sick treasure to have, because right beside it was taking my wife’s virginity, and knowing no other man was ever going to touch her.

I was a sick fucking bastard.