Page 26 of Forced By the Obsessed Bratva (Yezhov Bratva #8)

Sunlight cut through the curtains in thin rivulets, casting shadows across the floor.

Zoella sat down at the edge of the bed, slumped over, looking at the carpet as the doctor finished writing down her last notes. Her arms had streaks of shallow cuts, small bruises blooming like violets. The soft tremor in her hands would not stop, even when her lips dropped into silence.

I kept my jaw locked and stood beside the window, watching tension lines etch across her back like a map of everything that had gone wrong.

The doctor finished quickly, making some remark about the baby’s vitals being stable, strong.

I felt relieved that both Zoella and the baby were safe, but his words were background noise behind the storm brewing inside me.

As he left, the door slammed behind him unnecessarily loudly.

I entered the room, pacing on purpose.

Zoella’s skin was pale in the light of the he morning, as if blood had been drained from her body. Her cheekbone had a scratch on it, too, pink and new.

I ran my fingers over it softly. Her skin twitched at the contact, and I dropped my hand before I hurt her any more than she already was, turning away.

I couldn’t trust myself to speak.

The air between us crackled.

She was okay. The baby was fine. But the fact didn’t douse the fires burning in my chest; it wasn’t enough. Not after seeing her like that, battered, bruised, afraid, hunted like an animal.

She could have been killed.

My child could have been killed.

“You ran,” I blurted out, finally, continuing the conversation from when I found her. “You knew you were pregnant, yet you chose to run away.”

Her head lifted a little, but she said nothing.

“That was risky,” I said, my voice low and gentle. She’d been through enough, and the last thing I wanted was to scare her. “You’re pregnant. Alone. No security. What were you thinking, kotyonok ?”

“Don’t call me that,” she said harshly, her voice rough.

My jaw clenched. “Then what do you want me to call you? The woman who vanished in the dead of night after drugging her husband and leaving him half-dead on the floor?”

Her eyes flashed. “Don’t play the victim, and you were asleep, not half-dead.”

I inched closer. “You think I care about me right now?”

“Then what?” she hissed. “You care about the baby? About the one I didn’t even know if you would want me to keep?”

Her words cut like a blade.

Her hand trembled as she pushed a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear. She was exhausted. Wounded. Hurt in ways I couldn’t heal, even if I was dying to take away every pain and every dreadful memory she had.

“You took a risk. You put our child in danger. And then what do you want? For me to just pretend it never happened?”

She stood up, her chest heaving. “You don’t get to talk about risk like you weren’t the one I had to escape from in the first place.”

I blinked once.

Then she burst into tears as she went on. “You think I ran away because I was scared to be a mother? A wife to you?”

Her eyes filled up with tears, but she managed to keep them from streaming down her face.

“I ran away because I heard you talk with Damien about Yulia. My sister was murdered, and you knew, all of you knew.”

Her name hit the room.

I did not move.

She stepped closer. “You know who killed her and how she died, didn’t you?”

My throat closed up. “No, I’m still trying to—”

“Then you suspected someone in the family killed her at the very least.” Her voice clicked into gear. “And you still brought me home to that house. You still married me.”

I remained silent.

“I watched my sister become a shadow of herself,” she whispered through a cracked voice. “Piece by piece until there was nothing. Nothing at all.”

“I had no idea. I had an autopsy done secretly, and that was when I found out it was a medically induced heart failure. I realized someone made sure she didn’t leave alive.”

She pressed her hand into her belly. “Now I’m next.”

“No.” My voice cut through the air between us. “You’re not. Not on my watch. Not while I’m alive.”

She flashed a mirthless smile at me. “You saw it. They tried to kill me. I’m on the hit list already.”

“No, you’re not,” I repeated, this time softer. “I won’t allow it.”

The flush in her face didn’t fade, but her breath hitched just a little enough for me to see.

“You want truth?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”

I stepped closer to her, bridging the gap until we were only an inch away from each other.

“Someone in the Bratva poisoned your sister,” I told her. “I didn’t know who. Still don’t. But you’re right, I should have protected her, and I didn’t. I failed her.”

Zoella stared up at me, wordless.

“But I won’t fail you,” I told her. “I’ll track down whoever tried to shoot you. I’ll track down whoever killed her, and I’ll make sure they pay with their lives.”

“And what do you want in return?” she spat, furious. “Obedience? Silence? Control over me?”

I leaned forward. “Your loyalty. You don’t disappear again. You don’t lie to me, and you don’t run.”

She glared as if she had more to say, but fortunately, she didn’t retort or argue any further. She said nothing whatsoever.

And I took that as enough for the moment.

I turned and strode out, each step heavy with the gravity of all that still had to be done.

***

Down the hall, the doors of the study stood wide open. I stepped in without speaking, and they followed behind me. Rurik, Eduard, Isaak, and Damien.

The smoke from Rurik’s cigarette drifted up into the air, mixing with the smell of whiskey..

The door slammed shut behind us.

“Couldn’t this meeting have waited? It’s still morning,” Isaak said, sitting down in the chair across from mine.

“I did not have time to wait,” I said to them. “Because someone’s playing a game. One we didn’t see coming.”

They were silent.

“Yulia’s death was not natural,” I said. “You all know it. You’ve all heard the whispers, but I confirmed it.”

Rurik leaned his weight to one side. Eduard did not move an inch.

“Now Zoella’s been attacked,” I continued. “She was tracked to the house she ran away to. Shot at. Almost killed.”

“You couldn’t find her when you tried, so whoever attacked her had been following her for a while,” Damien said.

I nodded. “I think so.”

Isaak’s brow furrowed. “And you think the two attacks are related?”

I looked at him. “I do.”

Eduard crossed his arms. “You think it’s someone from the family and not a rival?”

“It’s an inside job.” I inclined my head. “Someone on the inside poisoned Yulia. An outsider couldn’t have gotten that close. Now, they tried to kill Zoella, too.”

“Why?” Isaak leaned forward. “What’s the motive? Why would they target the Carter sisters?”

Rurik answered, his voice cold, “That remains a mystery, it seems. It could be the sisters are not the target, but me and Matvey.”

I bobbed my head in agreement. That was the only logical conclusion I’d been able to come up with as well.

“One thing is certain: Whoever’s behind it is declaring war and hiding in the shadows,” I said. “We need to find out who it is.”

Damien nodded. “Then we need to start hunting.”

Isaak drew on his cigarette, exhaling slowly. “What do you want now?”

“I want blood,” I replied.

The room fell silent once more.

None of them argued.

Because they understood me. They understood that I did not make threats.

I made promises.