Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(62)

“What does that mean?” she asked, genuinely wanting to know. Normally his dark musings dealt with Mishca being the reason he was a mercenary, but now it was Luka?

“It’s Christmas, Niklaus. Can’t you act like you’re happy for the next hour at least?” Mishca asked as he approached, slipping his phone into his jacket pocket. “You’re with family. You should act like it.”

Klaus, scoffing, tossed the cap of the bottle he was holding at Mishca’s face. “Fuck knows I can’t stand your ass, Russian.”

“Right. You do realize that you’re Russian too, yes? And yes, I’m well aware that it should have been me in your place the day you were taken and tortured. Anything else you would like to lay at my feet?” he asked dryly, sitting across from them. “Maybe when you got shot in Kiev after one of your missions went south and one of your guys got taken? Was that my fault, too?”

Alex didn’t know for sure, but there was something wrong, more than what they were actually saying. She didn’t realize just how close to the truth she had been when she’d brought up Klaus and mistaken identity.

“And what has that ever gotten me?” Klaus asked as he dropped his legs to the floor, setting the bottle down next. He hadn’t pulled a weapon, but there was something particularly dangerous about the way he was looking at Mishca now.

“I could have left you in that building,” Mishca said. “Don’t forget you asked me to kill you, end your misery. I never turned my back on you once, Niklaus. You left. You fell down the rabbit hole on your own. And I’m getting sick of you laying all your shit on me.”

Alex was too shocked to do anything more than sit there and stare at the pair of them. She hadn’t known half of what Mishca was revealing about Niklaus. But she saw it, the moment she was sure Klaus was about to launch across the table and attack Mishca, but as he got to his feet, Mishca doing the same, Lauren was there in the middle of them.

“Not tonight,” she said slowly, looking back and forth between the pair of them. “You can beat the shit out of each other tomorrow.”

Mishca pulled her behind him despite her resisting, but that only managed to piss Klaus off more.

“Fucking classic coming from you, Russian. Despite whatever you think of me, I wouldn’t hurt her. Current condition or not.”

“Why is that, Niklaus? It’s not because of me.”

Neither of them heard the elevator as they stared bloody murder at each other, and while Alex was sure Lauren could handle the two of them, she was more than a little happy to see Luka as he walked into apartment, looking lost.

“No, you’re right about that. I’m done with you. Take your offer and your position and shove it up your ass.”

“Because that’s what you’re most interested in? I’ve been willing to make amends for shit I had no control over, but f*cking my wife is not on the table.”

“Oh, f*ck you. If I wanted to f*ck your wife, then I would.”

Lauren’s cheeks flushed with color, and for the first time since this argument started, there was rage in Mishca’s eyes.

“Careful.”

“Or what, Russian?” Klaus’ smile grew as his stance relaxed. “Is that what you think about when you know we’re alone together? Whether I have Lauren on her back? Or maybe on her knees—”

Mishca didn’t think, he just swung, the sound of his knuckles hitting Klaus’ face impossibly loud.

Luka grabbed the back of Lauren’s dress and tugged her back out of the way of any flying fists as he got in the middle of the foray. He eventually got them apart, and if Alex thought Klaus was angry with Mishca, the moment he realized who stood between him and his target, she could practically feel the fury bleeding out of him.

“This is about her, no?” Luka asked, never taking his eyes off Klaus, at least until Alex stepped in their direction. “Don’t,” he told her. “Stay right there.”

“Say her name.”

Luka turned back to Klaus. “Sarah. That was her name. I didn’t forget.” He kept his hands at his side as he spoke of something only the three of them seemed to understand. “If you want to take it out on someone, then take it out on me. I was there. I did nothing to stop it.”

Klaus was vibrating with rage, so bad that his hands were shaking, but as Luka’s words sunk in, he had his gun out, the barrel tucked beneath Luka’s chin.

“Klaus!” Alex shouted his name.

“No,” Luka said, pointing at her again. He didn’t even seemed fazed by the gun. “I’ve got this. Klaus, it was six years ago. I know what today means to you, and I know what seeing me today does to you. But Jetmir, remember? We chopped him up and threw him over a bridge, yeah?”

Luka had waited a beat before he put his hand on Klaus’ arm, waiting until he willingly dropped it before he pulled his own away.

“Let’s take a walk.”

Stowing his gun, Klaus ignored him, giving him his back as he came back over to where Alex was standing and took a seat on the couch, reaching for the bottle that he’d left behind. Alex, very quickly, grabbed it and kept it close.

He sighed. “I can’t kill the Russian. I can’t beat the shit out of him. And now I can’t even have my drink? Remind me next time to I decline an invitation to these “family” functions, to stick with my gut.”