Seducing the Badman (Russian Bratva #2) (21 page)

“They took Emiliya off of the plane, and the pilot continued his flight here. I only woke up as we were landing,” I explain, watching the color drain from Yakov’s face. I too feel fucking sick.

“The attendant and the pilot?”

“No longer a problem. Both were part of our family. A traitor and a pussy. Disgusting,” I say, ending the conversation about that.

I feel guilty. Not for killing the two people who helped take Emiliya from me, of course. I should have been more on my guard; but to be honest—I was excited. It was happening, I was making plans with my sweet Emiliya for our future.
A future we will probably not have now.

“South Africa…” Yakov murmurs.

Then every single muscle in his face tightens and he turns to me with fire in his eyes.

“Nothing makes sense,” Yakov murmurs.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

Yakov is staring out of the window and shaking his head in what I can only assume is confusion.

Then he speaks

“The last time you were here you mentioned Dimitri had disappeared and I was curious. This should not have happened. No man should disappear; and then none of his men are talking? I asked around, I wanted to know where he was. I broke into his office looking for clues, trying to figure out where he could be. At the time, I didn’t think it was anything…” his voice trails off and I impatiently wait.

I knew Dimitri was gone, but Maxim was trying to find him. I didn’t know Yakov had entered the search as well. This not only makes Dimitri look bad, but Maxim as well. Who can I trust, the answer is simple—no one.

“He was looking at properties in South Africa. I thought he may have wanted a little vacation house, maybe a future place to retire. You know, after Maryia’s death, he hasn’t been the same. I thought perhaps he just needed to get away for a while,” he says almost softly. Then his head inclines to the side.

“Do you think he’s capable?” he asks.

I nod once before I answer. “I think any man is capable of anything. We have seen shit in this life, Yakov. We have seen good men do despicable things, and we have seen despicable men do good things. If you would have asked me two years ago if Gregori was capable of turning his back on his brothers, on
Maxim
? I would have said, no way in hell,” I explain, hitting home my reasoning with the example of Gregori. He manipulated and used Haleigh.

“I have a pilot. He is not connected, but he is discreet. We rest tonight and prepare. Tomorrow, we go with Pasha and his security, along with mine, to South Africa. I want Ashley back. I want my sister back. I want who ever fucking took Ashley and my sister to fucking suffer, at my hand.”

I don’t utter another word to him as he begins calling together security. I take the moment to call Pasha and explain. I also call Maxim to check on Haleigh and the baby, and to update him on the goings on here in the U.S.

I feel him out. I have to keep him informed, but I do not trust him yet. I will know soon enough if he is with Dimitri or not. If he defends him, or if he tries to turn me away from the search, that will be all the proof I need. Wisely, Maxim does not defend Dimitri. He has already watched one person he considered a friend deceive him. He tells me that there is no loyalty; every man is a suspect, and that includes Dimitri. Then I call Kirill to inform him that I will not be in California as anticipated.

We are not fools in this world.

Sex, greed, money, and power can change a man in mere seconds. If your core is weak, then you are weak. Dimitri has been fucking crumbling for months. We have all seen it coming. Nobody would believe he could hurt women, women who belonged to his own brothers; but at this point, it appears as though he has.

Yakov and I arrive at his place, and if I gave a fuck, I would probably think it was badass. I don’t give a fuck, though. I only care about one thing in life, and that is to have my Emiliya back, unharmed. I do not want to even think about the horrors she could be enduring at the hands of the monster who has her. She has seen enough, has been hurt enough, she doesn’t need this to top it off.

“I have one question. The guard who was with your sister in Paris?” I ask Yakov as he takes two shot glasses and fills them with vodka.

“I dealt with him,
personally
,” he says, arching a brow at me.

I nod.

I want more, but he doesn’t seem willing to give me any information. We each take a shot, then another. Before I realize it, we are each six shots in.

“The guard. He always lusted for Emiliya. Scared her, mostly, but he never did anything while our father was around. Too scared, or some shit. He thought once Ivan was out of the picture, Emmy would go wild and crazy with her newfound freedoms. My Emiliya wouldn’t have, even if she could have. She was raised to be fearful of our father and his wide reach. Never would she step out of line. Never would she give herself away to any man other than her husband,” Yakov says, his voice quiet and lethal. He takes another shot and walks toward the big windows that overlook the city.

“Our father put an expectation on her virginity, and a high price tag. She knew if she was not perfect and pure on her wedding day, then there would be hell to pay. When she called me crying from Paris, I knew what had happened. I talked father into transferring him before I left to help her. I never told him why. I knew he would take the assault out on Emiliya, instead of the guard. The bastard never made the plane to his new destination,” he explains.

I turn my head, unable to look anywhere near him. Rage is building inside of me and trying to claw its way out. This was not Yakov’s fault, this was Ivan and the guards’ fault. They are both dead.
I should be glad
.

“Do you know why I chose you, Radimir, the
real
reason?” he asks, stepping back with a sway.

“Because of the way I dealt with Klavdia,” I state. He shakes his head with a smile.

“No, friend. Because I knew no other man on earth would appreciate the goodness my sister has within her. No other man would think her strong enough to deal with this life. They would keep her dumb and hidden away. I know your past, Radimir. I know more than most people. I know that the shit you’ve been through was evil and you had a hard life. You deserve good, my friend; but Emiliya, she deserves to be worshiped, and only a man who has seen what you’ve seen and done what you’ve done can worship her properly. You are a man that can love her eventually, and can allow her to stand next to you instead of behind you. That is why I chose you, Radimir. Your dealing with Klavdia only proved what I already knew about you.”

I gape at the man. He is younger than I am, and yet he knows so much about me. It is astonishing. Only Sergei and I know the whole truth of my past. It angers me that Sergei would betray my trust and tell this man-boy my business. I open my mouth to say just that, but Yakov beats me to the punch.

“I strong armed him, Radimir. He suggested you for Emiliya and I wanted to know why. I wanted the truth, and I wanted all of the details. He refused for a long time, until the end, until decisions had to be made. His confessions and his stories stay with only me, my friend. I will never tell another living soul,” he promises. Stepping up to me, a mere foot from my body, he places his hand on my shoulder and squeezes before he continues.

“We are family now, Radimir. You are not only my brother by bond of
Bratva,
but you are my brother by marriage. Your children will be my nephews by blood, and together, we will build up this
Bratva
to be strong and good again.” He smirks, looking away and then back at me with a full on smile, “Well, as good as it can be with men like us running the show and needing to make a fucking profit.”

I look at him for a beat before I begin laughing. The mood is a bit lighter from talking about Emiliya’s shit,
my shit
, Ivan’s shit, and Yakov’s shit.

“Let us sleep. Tomorrow we get our fucking women back,” he shouts. I can’t help but feel a bit better, excited even, to take back what is
mine
.

My lover.

My wife.

My Emiliya.

Though Emiliya has only been gone a few hours, it feels like years. I only had her again for a day before she was ripped from me.

Coming to the U.S., to California, it was supposed to be the beginning of a new life for us. A new
Pakhan
for me, but a new start for her, too. Here in the states, nobody knows or cares who Emiliya Chekova is. They don’t care who designed her latest dress; and they don’t give a fuck about her life, her husband, or her
father
.

This was as much a move for protection as it was for her to be able to just breathe.

I know what my woman needs, and she had been suffocated in Russia for far too long. I was ready to watch her shine and become who she is meant to be. Now, I only pray she has not been broken so that she can still be the strong woman I know lives inside of her.

I
CAN PRACTICALLY TASTE
Ashley’s sweet pussy; we are so close.

Six of us piled into the plane that is now headed for South Africa.
This lead has to be correct.
I won’t be able to hold in my rage if she isn’t at Dimitri’s home here. I don’t know where else to look or who else could possibly have her.

I have been working my ass off, killing, threatening, and extorting all of my father’s contacts and enemies on my search for my little blonde haired beauty.

Gregori had fucked her up, but her mind isn’t completely gone yet. She is strong, smart, and sweet. I wanted to save her—yes.

However, I wanted to fuck her while I was saving her. I’m a sick fuck, wanting a woman for my own. A woman who has been abused for far too long. I should give her a choice to go back to where she came from. Ashley has no family, none that were worth anything, anyway. I want to take care of her, though - she is the one for me.

I have never felt the same about another woman in my entire life. Maybe it is our strong bond, from me bringing her back from the brink of death. Maybe it is the way she looks at me, as if I am her fucking hero. I feel ten feet tall when she looks at me like that, like without me she would be lost. I feel the same. Maybe it is the way she calls me Jacob, the American version of Yakov. It sounds like spun sugar as it passes her lips.

Ashley is so innocent in all of this, it is sickening. Her father owed debts to Gregori and Ivan. It had nothing to do with her. It is why I killed him when I first had the chance. Any father who would not die trying to save his daughter from a life of torture at Gregori’s hand did not deserve to live. And now, Dimitri is twisted and angry about
whatever he’s angry about
. Most likely he’s pisssed about whoever took and tortured Maryia. Again, this makes Ashley completely innocent. And Emiliya?
Fuck,
my poor sister.

“We land in thirty minutes. We need to change,” Radimir informs from beside me.

Radimir, the man who has married my sister. Perhaps I should be angry that he did not protect my sister better; but then again, I couldn’t protect Ashley, so I cannot blame him when I am not blameless myself.

We dress in black fatigues and bullet proof vests. We have no clue what we are walking into, but we will not be walking out of there without our women.

“
Kirill Baryshav
, my new Pakhan, will be meeting us there,” Radimir announces. It confuses me.

“Why? We have men from Pasha,” I say.

“I told him why I wouldn’t be in California on time and he offered himself and a few men. Apparently, he has heard of Dimitri, and not good things,” he murmurs.

It would make sense. Kirill has been
Pakhan
in the Unites States much longer than I have. I am not going to get pissed off over extra help. I will take whatever men I can to get my Ashley back.

Once the plane lands, we step outside to find ten black SUV’s lined up, with at least thirty men standing around them. One of them is bigger, badder, and more dominant than the others.
Kirill
. He catches our eyes and walks straight for Radimir and me.

“Chekov, Zalesky,” he says, holding out his hand to shake ours.