Bratva Bride (Bratva Series Book 1)

Nero shook off the surprise of the explosion quickly and clicked his fingers repeatedly at his men. “Go check it out,” he barked, and half of them bolted out of the room.

The other half that remained exchanged looks of confusion, fear and worry.

I strengthened my stance and stared them down with the air of the Bratva warrior I was. “If you leave now, you’ve got a chance of making it out of here alive. But I can guarantee you, anyone still in this room when my father gets here will experience the most excruciating death he can think of. And my father has a very vivid imagination.” I smiled, the thought bringing me joy.

“Don’t listen to her,” Nero thundered, fists clenched at his side. “Even if that’s your father out there, there’s no way he’ll make it past my men. No fucking way. We’ve got all his guns, what’s he gonna do? Come at us with sticks and batons?”

Gunfire echoed outside the door, followed quickly by screams of pain and cries for help.

“Did you really think my father wouldn’t get his guns back?” I laughed at his idiocy. “You really should have done your research before you fucked with us.”

Nero glanced nervously around the room. “My men will kill them all. The Bratva is no match for them.”

“Even you don’t really believe that.”

Nero pulled out a gun and aimed it right at my head. “What’s to stop me from killing you right here, right now, huh? Splattering your brains all over the goddamn walls?”

“Absolutely fucking nothing,” I shrugged. “But we both know if you do that, my father will make you regret it.” I tilted my head, Wanda Maximoff style. “I’m curious, could you handle years of torture, Nero? Because that’s what my father will do to you. He won’t kill you. He’ll keep you alive so he can make you suffer day after day after day. My brothers will get in on the fun, too. And then of course, there’s Arturo. Granted, I haven’t seen him in action yet, but based on what I know about him, I think he’d be just as creative in making you suffer as my father. Maybe even more so.”

His hand shook slightly and terror filled his eyes. The action made his men shuffle their feet, as if they wanted to bolt from the room and get as far away as they could. He was losing his men and their confidence in him.

“They’re gonna do that shit regardless.”

That was the worst thing for him to say. If his men hadn’t lost faith in him before, they sure as shit did now.

More gunfire rained inside the house, grunts and groans, screams and cries loud enough for all to hear. Almost all at once, Nero’s men scurried, running for the exit. But it was too late.

The door was kicked in with such powerful brute force that it ripped off the hinges and smacked one of them in the face, knocking him down.

And then there he was. My husband, a look of pure menace on his face. Darkness vibrated from him, tainting the air with a promise of violence, death and destruction. There was something different about him, something I’d never seen from him before. An evil lurking behind those beautiful multi-coloured eyes. An evil that demanded retribution.

He was glorious, a Greek God in human form. Blood dripped down his face, on his clothes, his knuckles, over nearly every inch of him. He looked…terrifying, like the devil in a Brioni suit.

The fact that I was insanely turned on by just the sight of him made me realise I was a lot more fucked up in the head than I thought.

Oh well.

Nero moved fast, faster than I ever thought he was capable of. He spun, wrapped an arm around my throat and put his gun to my head, right against my temple. “Nobody fucking move.”

Arturo froze, Nikolai and Lukyan behind him doing the same, their guns aimed directly at us. Nero’s men moved towards them, either to try and escape or take their weapons, who knows. In unison, my brothers diverted their aim to them, warning them not to move while Arturo kept his gun pointed at Nero, who was hiding behind me like the little bitch he was.

My eyes locked with Arturo’s. “Hi, husband,” I said sweetly, giving him a smile. I was happy to see him, even if I did have a gun digging into my temple.

He narrowed his eyes, his glare promising punishment. “You didn’t stay at home like I told you too, kotenok.”

“Wellllll, if we’re being technical, you didn’t tell me. You told Christian and Luca.”

Nero jostled me so hard that my head whipped back and forth, making me wince. “Shut up! All of you! Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re all gonna back up now, nice and slow, and let me pass. Otherwise I’ll blow her head clean off.”

Arturo sneered, his rage palpable. “No.” And then he fired, shooting Nero directly in the head. There was no hesitation, no second guessing his decision, no indication that he was even going to take the shot. He just fired. It was a skilled shot, one that showed exactly how good he was with that gun.

Blood splattered on my cheek and Nero fell away, his lifeless body hitting the ground with a solid thud.

Arturo swerved, aiming his gun at Nero’s men. “On the ground.”

They didn’t hesitate. One of them even had the courage to speak as he went down to his knees.

“Listen, we didn’t want any part in this.” His words held the traces of a Spanish accent. A Los Zeta. “This was all Nero’s idea, his revenge. It had nothing to do with us.”

“Kotenok, come here,” Arturo ordered, never taking his eyes off the group of men, his gun steady in the air.

I walked to his side and looked up at him. “Yes, husband?” I was placating him, trying to smooth over the shit storm I knew was coming my way at having ignored his request for me to stay at home. My hope was that if I didn’t fight him too much, he would go easy on me.

Doubtful.

Staring directly at the men on their knees, he gripped my chin with his free hand and dragged my face to his, lifting me to my tippy toes. His lips crashed into mine, his tongue licking into my mouth in a searing hot kiss, one that sent tingles straight to my clit.

It was a fiercely dominating kiss, one that screamed possessiveness. Claiming. He was showing these men that I was his and he wouldn’t let their actions go unpunished. He wanted them to see, to watch the control he exerted over me, to know that he owned me.

I moaned and tried to move into him, desperate to feel the hard lines of his body against me, but he kept me in place with the strong grip he had on my chin, not allowing me an inch of movement. It was like I was his puppet, only free to move if and when he wished it.

He bit my bottom lip hard enough to sting and I yelped in surprise. “I’m going to bend you over my knee and spank your ass for leaving the house when you knew you weren’t meant to.”

Pulling back, he smirked down at me, the desire I felt for him evident by my rapid breathing and flushed cheeks.

Lukyan gagged. “Dude. I so did not need to hear that.”

“Yeah, too much information,” Nikolai grunted.

Arturo nipped my bottom lip once more before finally releasing me. I stumbled, breathless, my legs like jello at his intoxicating touch. My skin was hot, my belly was on fire and I desperately wanted to get him alone in a room and let him do wicked, depraved things to me.

“You say it had nothing to do with you and yet, you would have tried to have your way with my woman, take what didn’t belong to you,” Arturo growled, glaring hard at the man who spoke.

“No man, seriously. We wanted no part in is. Honest. Tienes que creerme. No fuimos nosotros, fue todo Nero.” You’ve got to believe me. It wasn’t us, it was all Nero, he rushed in Spanish.

They all nodded eagerly and that’s when I realised the only men left in the room were Los Zetas.

My father strolled in, his Kevlar vest strapped to his chest and a P-90 in his hands. Alessandro was a step behind him, sweat on his brow and blood in his hair.

“Moya doch’.”He pushed his way to me and wrapped me in a tight embrace. His body shook, with fear or adrenaline I had no idea, but when I stepped back he hugged me tighter, not letting me go.

“Otets, ya v poryadke,”Father, I’m fine. I whispered reassuringly, but he just squeezed me tighter and I sighed, letting him nearly squish me to death.

Finally, he let me go, the briefest glimpse of tears in his eyes before he schooled his features and blinked them away. His ferocious gaze scanned the room and he locked onto Nero’s lifeless body.

“Why is that fucker dead?” he growled. “I wanted him alive.”

“He did it.” Lukyan pointed to Arturo and I rolled my eyes.

Fucking tattle tale.

Arturo stood tall, not shrinking under my father’s intense stare. “It was him or her. I chose Illayana.”

My father sighed. “Fair enough.” He tilted his head to the men on their knees. “These guys will have to do. Take them.”

My brothers and a few Bratva men moved to follow his command.

“Wait! Just listen!” The guy who spoke before shouted as he was dragged to his feet. “We weren’t going to touch her! I swear!”

“You honestly expect me to believe that?” Arturo scoffed. He held up his phone. “I watched you fuckers.”

“That wasn’t us! Please, just hear me out!”

“Take them away,” my father grunted, not interested in hearing a single word.

But I was.

“Wait,” I called out, moving towards them.

Arturo blocked my path. “No,” he growled. “You’re not going near them.”

“Just chill out, I wanna ask them something.”

“They were going to rape you, Illayana, while I sat there watching it happen, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. You’re not…going…near them.”

I sighed. “Fine, I can ask it from here, then.”

Lukyan stood in the doorway, one hand wrapped around the dude’s arm, waiting for me. The other men had been taken away but the guy who spoke, the only one who had the nerve to, stared at me with pleading eyes.

“Why are the Los Zetas taking orders from Nero?”

The man glanced away, licking his lips nervously. “I can’t tell you.”

“You realise this is your only chance to save yourself? My father’s not going to give you another chance to tell your story. This is it. I’d take advantage of it.”

He sighed. “He has something that belongs to us.”

“What?”

His lips slammed shut and he shook his head. The message was clear. He wasn’t going to say anything more.

“Take him away,” my father ordered, and Lukyan obeyed.

I blew out a breath, mentally and physically exhausted. I was definitely ready to get the hell out of here.

“Put me down! ¡Hijo de puta! ¡Te mataré!” You son of a bitch! I’ll kill you!A feminine voice screeched in Spanish.

I frowned and walked further into the house. Marching towards me, Aleksandr had a petite dark-haired woman flung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, kicking and screaming as she beat her fists against his back, cursing him in Spanish.

My brows shot up in surprise.

“Glad to see you, brat,” Aleksandr grunted, moving past me and out the front door.

I pointed after him. “Uh, who is that?”