Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(118)

“The only business that I let you be involved in is legitimate. I’ve tried not to let anything to do with the Bratva touch you. I’m not going to change that now.”

She smirked, pulling the collar of her blouse to the right, revealing one of the two stars he’d inked onto her chest. A symbol of both the life he revered and the lengths he would go to to protect her.

“Too late.”

“Lauren—”

“Explain it to me, Mish,” she interrupted. “If Klaus wasn’t upset—and it wasn’t like he was in the dark about it all—then why were you so angry?”

“Don’t forget that it was supposed to be me in that chair. Had Niklaus never come to New York that weekend, circumstances would be completely different now.”

“You keep thinking of it that way, but the way I see it, Luka helped you in a way that you’re not seeing. Yes, he did reprehensible acts against Klaus—I’m not excusing that—but ultimately, he’d been the one to free him. He called you and told you where to find him. Without him, you would have never known that you had a brother. Since then, Luka has done so much, even more for you. I like to think he was making up for the past.”

It wasn’t like the Albanians’ appearance here had come as a surprise. It wasn’t even a surprise when they asked for him to hand over Luka, knowing that it would have been an act of war if they’d just taken him. For months, ever since the last day of their honeymoon, Mishca had agonized over the truth that he had learned through a single phone call about the one person who he thought he could trust in the Bratva. He had contemplated over and over again what he would do because, despite his personal feelings, an example had to be made.

People in their circles had a terrible habit of gossiping, even if the majority of them were grown men. If word had gotten around that Mishca had accepted someone who had tried so boldly to slight him in the past, especially with what the Albanians had planned to do to him, then that would have made him look weak. He already had one—now two— glaring weaknesses. He didn’t want them to continue to pile up.

But even then, he’d grown to love Luka like a brother, an annoying younger brother actually, and hadn’t wanted to see Luka suffer the way he knew he would. Ultimately, he’d made the only decision he could. One that would preserve face in the view of their organization, and one that he believed would ultimately help Luka in the long-term.

He knew all too well the danger of having a past that was bearing down on you.

“He should have come to me,” Mishca said finally as he pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind for the time being.

Her knowing smile was sad as she asked, “And would your reaction have been any different?”

That, too, was something he’d thought about constantly. Would he have done anything differently had Luka told him as opposed to an outside source?

He went with the truth, or at least what felt like it. “I don’t know. The point is moot.”

“But it’s not. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Alex is angry with you. More angry than she was when she found out about Anya and Viktor.”

She hadn’t been angry at first, Mishca remembered. She’d looked broken, hurt in a way that had made his heart clench.

“That’s never who I wanted for Alex anyway.”

Scoffing, Lauren rolled her eyes. “Seriously? I’m sure Ross was overjoyed the first time he met you.”

Smiling slightly, Mishca shrugged one shoulder. “Different times.”

“Luka loves her and she loves him. You can’t fight that any more than Ross could have fought you and me. Right now, the only thing Alex is thinking about is how it’s your fault Luka isn’t here.”

Mishca shook his head, as stubborn as he’d always been. “They would have come for him regardless.”

“But you made a choice to hand him over. She watched you willingly let them drag him out. Hell, if I didn’t love you as much as I do, I would be more angry with you than I am.”

“If I recall, you didn’t let me sleep in our bedroom for a week…”

“True, and probably would have been longer if the baby didn’t act like having your hand resting on my stomach was the only thing that helped him sleep at night.” She waved her hand in the air. “That’s besides the point. If you want your sister to come home, and I mean actually come back to stay instead of going out of her way to avoid you every time she’s in New York, then you need to make this right.”

He sighed. “What would you have me do?”

“Go get him.”

“You would have me go to war against the Albanians?”

“If it were you over there, I would have done worse, and you know it. You’re only lucky that Klaus refused to take the job when I asked him to do it.”

His eyes narrowed dangerously, but his displeasure was lost on her—or ignored—as she matched his glare with one of her own.

“Fix this,” Lauren said quietly, “or Sacha will have to grow up without his auntie and uncle because Daddy’s being a dick.”

“Uncle?”

Now she smiled, a genuine one. “They’re inevitable, Mish. Always have been.”

Sighing, he pulled her into his arms, kissing her lightly. “I’ve already taken care of it.”