Page 45 of Bratva Prisoner

I look around the room at my brothers, all of whom wear variations of the same expectant look. These are the men I’d diefor, the ones who’ve always had my back, no matter what stupid situation I’ve gotten myself into. But right now, I’d trade them all for five more minutes to work things out with Alyssa.

“Someone leaked our location to the Serpents. They hit the bus terminal with a coordinated attack, six shooters minimum. Professional operation, well-planned.”

“How did they know where to find you?” Grigor asks.

“Good question. Either they’ve been watching the house more closely than we realized, or they have inside information.” I pace to the window, where I check the grounds out of habit. “The timing was too perfect to be a coincidence.”

“What about the woman?” Aleksei’s tone remains neutral, but I catch the underlying concern. “How did she handle herself?”

“Better than expected. No panic, followed orders, kept her head down when it mattered.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

I turn back to face him, meeting his stare. “What did you mean?”

“I meant, how is she handling being dragged into our world? Because from what I just witnessed, she doesn’t seem particularly comfortable with the situation.”

“She’s adjusting.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Akim snorts. “She looked like she wanted to run screaming from the room.”

“Can you blame her?” I snap. “You all show up here unannounced, interrogating her like she’s a suspect instead of a guest.”

“We weren’t interrogating anyone,” Dmitri protests. “We were being polite.”

“Your version of polite would terrify a nun.”

“When do we get to actually spend some time with her?” Nikolai questions. “The women are dying of curiosity.”

“You don’t.”

“Come on, Maksim,” Grigor interjects. “We can’t protect her if we don’t know what we’re dealing with. And based on last night’s attack, protection is going to be an ongoing concern.”

“I can handle her protection.”

“Like you handled it last night?” Aleksei’s question carries just enough edge to make my blood turn hot. “Because from where I’m sitting, you both nearly died.”

“We didn’t die. That’s what matters.”

“What matters is that the Serpents are escalating, and it has something to do with her. This stops being a personal matter the moment they target our family.”

“She’s not family,” I point out

“Isn’t she close enough?” Aleksei asks. “She’s sharing your home.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” I admit.

“It usually is,” Grigor observes. “But complications don’t make feelings less real.”

I scoff and ask, “What feelings? I barely know her.”

“Right,” Akim drawls. “That’s why you’ve been walking around like a lovesick teenager. That’s why you risked your neck to chase her down at a bus terminal. That’s why you’re ready to fight all of us just for asking questions about her.”

“I’m not ready to fight anyone,” I retort with a squeak in my voice.

“Could have fooled me.”

“Enough.” Aleksei’s voice cuts through our bickering. “The point is, she’s important to you, which makes her important to us. We need to know what we’re dealing with so we can plan accordingly.”