Page 37 of Deadly Knight (The Bratva’s Elite #2)

Anastasia finishes preparing her drink and asks, “Want anything, Katya? I’ll exchange food for an explanation of who you are and what is going on here?” Despite her words, her tone remains polite, her smile well practiced as she stares at Vanessa.

“Jesus, Ana,” Vanessa mutters.

“If I tell you, maybe you can take my side and get me out of here.”

Like Zeno, Anastasia just stares for a moment before laughing as she heads to the fridge. “Oh, man, Dimitri’s fucked, isn’t he?” She opens the fridge. “I make a mean omelette, if that’d interest you.”

Vanessa gags, nudging me towards the counter. Assuming she wants to be closer to Zeno and get me away from the door, I slide onto one of the barstools tucked into the island.

“When Ana says ‘mean’, it’s actually because it’s pure cruelty. She’s a health nut and enjoys forcing her diet upon us all. At least you won’t complain of being malnourished while here.”

Anastasia flicks her fingers at Vanessa before pulling out an egg carton, milk, a green pepper, and a small onion. “Not my fault you all eat like shit. Bodies need to be taken care of.”

Vanessa’s smirk slides in my direction. “Ana’s a ballerina, so exercise and diet are important to her.”

“A ballerina? Like, a real-life one?”

“Well, if I’m not real, then I have no idea what I am. Yes, I’ve been doing it for years. It’s whatever.”

“It’s not whatever,” Vanessa interjects. “She’s being humble.”

Anastasia gets to cutting the onion, and the air prickles with the telltale sting often accompanying the vegetable.

Zeno leans over the counter, musing, “You know who you’d get along with fantastically?

Nero. He consumes more alcohol than you’ve probably ever had in your life, and his idea of eating healthy are ciambelle al mosto because they’re made with grape juice. ”

Anastasia’s nose scrunches. “And a whole lot of everything else the body doesn’t need.

Donuts are a nightmare to my workout routine.

” Zeno laughs, about to say something when Anastasia slams the knife down a bit harder and looks towards me.

“Enough about me and my career. I’m making food, so I think an explanation of what is going on is owed. ”

I glance at Zeno and then Vanessa, realizing I wouldn’t know where to begin, considering they’re all virtual strangers. Kind enough, but strangers nonetheless.

Vanessa waves her hand. “I know everything, so say as much or as little as you want.”

“Um.” I shift on the barstool, focusing on Anastasia now cutting the pepper. “Well, Dimitri and I dated as teenagers, when he attended my school. He helped me at a party one night, drove me home, and we kinda became friends from then on. Eventually more.”

Anastasia stops slicing. “Dimitri once had a heart? Damn.”

Vanessa snorts around the coffee mug she stole from Zeno, who’s been silent and listening. “Oh, he had a heart, and you’re looking at her.”

“Why didn’t I know about this? I mean, I guess back then I didn’t know Dimitri as well, but to hide an entire relationship…”

“He never brought me around,” I supply. “Only when the place was empty, which was pretty rare. He kept me away from everything to do with the Bratva.”

She tsks her teeth. “That makes sense, knowing the assholes who were around here.”

“His father never approved of the relationship?—”

Anastasia snorts. “Unsurprising.”

“—and tried to pay me off on the day of our graduation. I turned the money down. So he…” I trail off, the words dying in my mouth as my hand floats to my arm, fingers curling until my nails are brushing my skin.

No matter how many times I’ve said it aloud to Ava, this is different.

We’re not in the confines of an office under strict confidentiality rules.

Regardless of what Vanessa claims, everyone here is a stranger.

“Ivan had them attacked, to say the least,” Vanessa fills in. “The details aren’t important.”

I throw a grateful look her way while Anastasia stops chopping entirely. The two share a silent conversation before Anastasia shrugs and the knife whacks into the cutting board again.

“Afterward, I couldn’t do it anymore.” This part, I skim over, the truth of everything that was in my head for me and Dimitri only.

“I hated breaking up with him, but I was scared what continuing would mean. If his father did that , what else would he eventually do to keep us apart? So I ended it and ran away to Canada. Being in Russia…it felt like too much. This is where it happened, and getting better didn’t seem possible where all the memories are.

I also wanted Dimitri to heal away from me, to not have the reminder.

Figured if we were both apart, we’d be okay. ”

“Don’t think it worked how you wanted it to,” Vanessa chimes.

Anastasia whistles. “Damn. Dimitri’s tirade makes more sense. It’s less about betraying the organization and more about Katya. Alright, so what’s the story of you being here today?”

Vanessa snorts, reaching for Zeno’s mug again. “Dimitri’s a possessive asshole.”

Zeno smirks, snagging his cup before Vanessa manages a sip. “He’s keeping her safe. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Ivan,” Vanessa replies quietly, providing the answer caught up in my throat.

“He targeted her, knowing it’d bring Dimitri out.

Lev finally got a hit on his cell when he switched it on, leaving it at an abandoned house to draw Dimitri away while Ivan went after her.

Dimitri saved her and brought her here so Ivan can’t get her again.

That’s what Lev’s doing downstairs—again— still .

Ivan disappeared again, only now there’s no cell to track, so he’s hacking city cameras, scouring footage outside the laundromat Dimitri found him in. ”

While it doesn’t answer everything that happened, I feel my heart physically falter. Ivan set everything up, from Caleb to getting Dimitri away from me. Which means Dimitri would have seen me on my date—a disturbing fact shoved aside until another time when I can better process.

No wonder he’s hiding me here. But…there was nowhere else? Or better yet, if he was going to end up in my life one way or the other, I’d have preferred he meet me in Toronto, explain what’s going on, and allow me to choose how to handle it.

Anastasia stops mixing the eggs and stares for a few seconds. “Damn. Couldn’t have guessed any of that.” She eyes me, regarding my neck, the marks unhidden. “You okay?”

“I’m alive.”

“That’s not what I mean. You okay with being here, all things considered? Doesn’t seem like he gave you much of a choice.”

Ah, someone understands!

“Dimitri’s scared, Ana,” Vanessa murmurs, almost like I’m not supposed to overhear. “Never seen him like this.”

“Still,” I start, fully ready to answer the one question I definitely have an answer to, “no, not really. I worked really hard to get to where I am now—mentally, emotionally, and physically. I appreciate what Dimitri’s doing, but there must have been another way.

At the very least, he could have told me and let me choose.

Have control. He has no idea how much he’s set me back…

and that’s why I want out of here, if someone will help me. ”

Zeno holds up his hands. “I’m not in this. Sorry, signora .”

Anastasia shakes her head, frowning. “There’s nothing you’ll be able to give me that’s better than my life, which is precisely what Dimitri will take if I help you. Sorry.”

Vanessa claims the stool beside me, dipping her head closer.

“No matter whom you bribe, none of us will do what you’re asking, so give up before you grow more disappointed.

I appreciate your need for control, considering the past, and how you feel Dimitri took that from you.

I agree maybe informing you of what was going on could have been better than kidnapping you.

But he’s terrified, Katya, so he’s rationalized this as being the only way to ensure your safety.

Hate to say, but I agree with him too. If Ivan’s using you, he knows what you mean to Dimitri.

Also understanding you might be angry to learn he never left you alone, but it’s a fact none of us, yourself included, can change.

At this point, we have to live with that decision.

Dimitri won’t be able to focus while worrying about you if you were back in Toronto.

Once the threat is gone, you can fight with him to your heart’s content about going home. ”

I frown, staring at the marble island instead of her. After everything, I definitely wouldn’t want Dimitri to get hurt. No matter the confusing feelings I have, his death isn’t the answer.

“Are you trying to guilt me?”

“Is it working?”

“A bit.”

She winks. “Then I’ve succeeded.”

The room breaks into separate conversations after that. Zeno and Vanessa leave to see Lev, who I learn is Anastasia’s twin. Anastasia is silent while she finishes cooking for me, leaving me to study the kitchen, recalling the first time Dimitri brought me here.

“ This house is huge!”

“That’s the definition of a mansion, isn’t it?” He swings me to a stop, backing me into the edge of the marble island. My house isn’t small by any means, but this place certainly makes it seem so.

“You’re not funny.’”

“I’m hilarious.” He positions an arm on either side of me, caging me against the counter before stealing my mouth in a deep kiss, the low moan in the back of his throat reminding me of the room he hasn’t shown me yet.

“Where’s your bedroom?”

He smiles before tugging me out of the kitchen.

A glass plate thudding to the counter snaps my attention away from the far end of the island, where the ghost memory of us remains.

“You okay?” Anastasia slides the plate in front of me, along with a fork and knife.

“Y-yeah.” I blink, twisting away from where my head decided to go. The longer I remain, the more the memories will wash in, especially now that the wall is gone. All my protections crumbled, leaving me to navigate all this alone.

I dig into the omelette. “Thank you.”

She glances up from the sink in the other counter. “It’s the least I can do. Sorry I can’t help in the way you want.”

“Won’t. Different from can’t.”

She laughs. “Fair enough. Won’t , because I value my head too much.

Ever see a headless ballerina? It isn’t a pretty thing.

” She finishes washing the pan before facing me again, leaning against the edge of the metal sink.

“It’ll be okay. The days will pass quickly.

If I know Dimitri, he’ll be in a hurry to return.

In no time, he’ll find his father and this will be over. ”

Vanessa’s return steals her attention, so I continue eating, ducking my head from the commotion as Zeno and another guy, Lev presumably, join the room.

It’s an hour later before Zeno and Lev disappear, Anastasia heads to work, and Vanessa lingers, obviously hesitating leaving me alone.

“They’re a lot, sorry.”

“It’s fine. They’re nice.”

It’s striking how much easier it is to talk to them, especially Vanessa and Anastasia. Easier than being with Nora has ever been.

Almost like they are the people I was always meant to have in my life.