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I can’t move.
My body begins to tremble.
When I open my mouth again, my voice comes out shaky, and unsure.
“Why do you want me?” I ask. “I thought the Russians and the Italians were at peace. The men in my family are no longer involved, so whatever it is you think they have done, they haven’t. They are innocent, and so am I.”
My words are laced with fear as I rasp them out.
Jaws tighten as fingers curl into fists. The men look at each other, soft murmurs of Russian words passed between them.
And when they look back at me…
I can barely breathe.
This is bad.
So. Very. Bad.
Please God, don’t let me die the same way Mama did.
One opens his mouth to speak, but before I can hear what he has to say, the world around me begins to blur. My visiondarkens at the edges, and the room spins. Again, my body betrays me.
I’m falling, falling, falling.
The last thing I hear is their voices, low and unintelligible, as my consciousness slips away.
The darkness claims me again.
Chapter Five
Nikolai
The Bratva is a world which has been built on blood, loyalty, and ruthless violence. It is not a world for the weak, or the soft-hearted.
The Bratva is a world where power is the only currency that matters, where loyalty to the family—my family—is paramount, and where enemies are disposed of swiftly, with absolutelyzerohesitation.
The Bratva is a world where nothing stands in the way of ambition.
And make no mistake, the Bratva doesn’t play by the rules of the outside world.
In our world, it’s kill or be killed, betray or be betrayed.
I was born into this world, born into a legacy that has been carved from the darkest depths of human nature.
As the eldest sons of the Pakhan, the leader of this ruthless empire, my brother and I have been trained from birth to take over together once our father steps down.
There has never been a question ofif,onlywhen.
My brother, Mikhail, and I, were born to be rulers. And we have never questioned our fate.
We’ve trained together, fought together, bled together. We’ve survived the very worst of the worst together, and we’ve emerged stronger, smarter, and more dangerous.
Together, we’re the perfect pair; two halves of the same whole, two minds that think alike, two bodies that move in sync. There is nobody I trust more than him, and there never will be.
Mikhail and I have always known what is expected of us.
To becomePakhans.