Page 15 of Bratva, Baby

Knowing where she is only lessens my fury a little; at least I can retrieve her.

Ava

Ivan is standing by my window with a gun as if he’s waiting for someone.

He had agreed to take me home when I saw him at the front door instead of the expected guard.

I was so grateful to be home, I invited him inside for a cup of coffee, and now here we are, sitting in the kitchen in total silence because Ivan has yet to say a word.

Trying to break the thick silence, I ask Ivan the one thing that has been on my mind since he helped me. “Why did you help me leave your boss's apartment?” I inquire, not really expecting an answer.

Coming to sit down across from me, he grunts, “You need to be kept safe, and the bratva world is not meant for you.”. His words cause me to pause. Is Ivan just a teddy bear of a man?

Not fully satisfied with his answer, I continue, “Why do you think I don’t belong in the bratva world, Ivan?”

“Because, solnyshko, as dark as you may dress, you are the embodiment of sunshine. I rarely see you without being upbeat; even when you are angry and riled up, you are still upbeat.”

My cheeks heat at his words, and as I sit here in my kitchen, I size Ivan up. He really is sweet, even if he is just quiet. I know I need to get over Andrei; he’s dangerous. But is it any smarter getting under Ivan? At least Ivan isn’t the boss of Bratva and isn’t acting like he owns me.

I know it’s the first thing in the morning, but all I want to do is get over Andrei, so I decide to make the first move by scooting closer to Ivan at the table and placing my hand on top of his.

I ask him, “Ivan, are you interested in me? Is that why you wanted to help me?” I never thought I would see this burly man's cheeks flush, but they do now.

“Yes, Solnyshko, I want you.” He says in a gravelly voice. Next thing I know, his hand is pulling me toward him, and I am straddling his lap. As his hand lightly cups my breast through Andrei’s shirt, my front door busts inward, and Andrei stomps into my kitchen looking furious.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing, Ivan. She. Is. Mine.” He roars.

Before I can react and tell Andrei that I am not his, I am dragged off of Ivan’s lap, and Andrei pulls his gun, pointing it at Ivan's temple.

“NO!” I scream before I can stop myself.

“Why, little bird, are you thinking of him as more than your guard? Don’t think there won’t be consequences for this stunt of yours.” Andrei says darkly.

I didn’t even notice that other men had gathered in my kitchen, Ivan sitting in the chair with a gun to his head. Why did I think Andrei would just let me leave?

“Pyotr, take Ivan to the warehouse and get him set up. Ava and I will be by after we have this much-needed talk.” He sounds so ominous in giving his orders, yet his tone causes liquid heat to pool in my panties. Why am I like this ?

As Pyotr and a couple of other men lead a struggling Ivan out of my home, I stand in my kitchen, stock still, as if standing still enough will allow me to go unnoticed. But I should have known better than trying to go unnoticed around Andrei, he always sees me.

“Now, ptichka, Ivan will have a lesson to learn regarding touching what’s mine. And I realize you weren’t awake for my last lesson, but this lesson isn't one you will soon forget. I have told you before, but now I am showing you. I. Do. Not. Share, little bird.”

Before I can react to what Andrei is saying, he nods to someone over my shoulder, and a bag is shoved over my head as my arms are wrenched behind my back; a zip tie securing my arms behind me.

I try to start screaming, but Andrei speaks up at my intake of breath.

“Screaming will only bring harm to those who try to come and help you, so that I wouldn’t advise it. ”

In the darkness of the burlap sack over my head, I can’t see the look on his face, only hear how serious he sounds, so I decide to remain quiet as they begin to walk me out of my home and toward what I assume is Andrei’s SUV. I guess his expensive SUV makes sense now.

Since I can’t see my surroundings, my sense of time is thrown off. After sitting in the car with my arms zip-tied behind my back for an undetermined amount of time, the car finally stops, and I hear the doors open .

I am dragged from the car, into a building, where the burlap sack is pulled from my head, and I see Ivan—chained to a chair, also with a burlap sack over his head.

“Now, Ivan, do you want to explain to me what the fuck you were doing when you helped Ava leave my apartment this morning? Or, how about you tell me why you had your filthy fucking hands on her body?” Andrei growls at Ivan, fury showing on his face.

It is at this moment that I realize how much I fucked up.

“I’m sor-” I try saying, but Andrei cuts me off.

“Don’t fucking start, Ava. This is only the beginning.”

He walks over to the wall and grabs an axe that is leaning against it. Ivan isn’t aware of how much danger he is in due to the sack, so I open my mouth to try to say something, but Andrei shoots me a glare, promptly causing me to close it.

I don’t know what Andrei has planned, but I know it doesn’t look too good for Ivan right now, and it’s all my fault.

“You thought to touch what belongs to me, Ivan. Not only will I not let that stand, I can’t let it stand.

You get it, right?” But he doesn't give Ivan enough time to reply before he continues speaking.

“You see, if I let this behavior float on by, Ava will never grasp what I mean when I tell her she is mine.” He sounds so calm despite the anger written across his features.

As he finishes speaking, he pulls the axe back and brings it down on Ivan’s wrist, effectively removing his hand from his body. Ivan’s screams fill the room of the warehouse where we are.

I scream. I have never seen so much blood before as it gushes from the stump that now replaces Ivan’s hand.

I wretch, almost losing the little coffee I drank earlier before Andrei showed up. I want to turn away from this, but I feel like not knowing would be even worse.

As Ivan stares at his stump, tears running down his cheeks, he screams so loudly it feels like my eardrums will rupture.

“Shhh… Ivan, this is only the beginning.” He raises the axe again and brings it down on the other wrist; blood spurts from the nub. Tears stream down my face.

“You lose your hands because you deemed yourself worthy of touching her,” Andrei says, then he brings the ax out to the side and swings it downward, hitting right above Ivan’s ankle, cutting off his foot.

Ivan is screaming for mercy, but it falls on deaf ears.

I want to cry for mercy, but I know now that he won’t listen.

He repeats the motion for the other foot, so now he has neither hands nor feet.

“You lose your feet for taking her away from me.” He snarls in Ivan’s blubbering face. Ivan passes out before he can raise the axe for a new target .

“Well, he lasted longer than I thought he would. I thought I was going to lose him after the first arm.” He says, turning toward me. I am terrified, but the gleam in his eyes tells me he isn’t finished with this ‘lesson’.

“Don’t come near me,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “You’re fucking crazy.”

“I warned you that I don’t share, and I have told you what that meant multiple times. It isn’t my fault that you took my warnings with a grain of salt.” He says, coming closer to me despite my protests.

“Don’t come any closer,” I say, backing into something hard. Looking over my shoulder, I see it is one of Andrei’s men. Instead of grabbing me, though, he just stands there. The intimidation tactic works, and I turn back to face Andrei, who has stopped right in front of me.

Looking past me, he tells the man, “Administer the adrenaline while I talk to my flighty ptichka.”

I want to watch what he is doing to Ivan, but Andrei grabs my chin, “You don’t need to care about what is happening to him. His fate is set in motion already.”

Dropping his hand, he turns around in time for Ivan to gasp awake. I’ve only read about this kind of thing in books, but this is not an experience I wish to repeat.

“Ah, Ivan, glad you could rejoin the land of the living. See, I wasn’t finished when you passed out, and I can’t have that.” Andrei says, walking back over to grab the axe. Now I understand why Ivan said he didn’t think I belonged in the bratva world. This is brutal.

Andrei begins again, but this time bringing the axe down about six inches above the nub of his left leg, then repeating the same motion for the right side.

“Now, before you bleed out completely, you lose your life because you took what was mine.”

Everything goes black, and I pass out.

Andrei

I look over at the sound of Ava collapsing to the floor; I don’t rush over to her since it would only traumatize her more with what I’m about to do. Grabbing the axe, I look at the slumped-over Ivan. His breaths are shallow and coming less often; he won’t be in this world long.

I bring the axe up and continue to bring it down on his legs again, this time on his knees, severing the pieces from the rest of him.

I continue the motion until he stops blubbering and the rise and fall of his chest stops.

He’s dead. He will serve as a message to anyone else who thinks of aiding her in leaving me.

Having accomplished my goal, I look over to Timofy, who stands near Ava but doesn’t touch her. This kind of message sinks in quickly; he won’t be an issue where my little bird is concerned.

Walking over to Ava, I lean down and pick up her limp body. I may have needed to teach her a lesson as well, but that doesn’t make her any less mine to care for. For a moment there, I thought she was going to vomit, but she seemed to hold firm, all the way until it came to Ivan losing his life.

Now I know where her tolerance is; she handled the situation a lot better than I thought she would, but not once did she turn to run, though.