Page 7 of Prince of Control (Bratva Heirs #1)

Chapter Three

Baron

I head downstairs to find everyone waiting for me.

Right. In another quick revision of plans, I decide to bring them all in on this with me.

If I’m keeping a secret from my bride, I’d rather not also keep it from my team. My best friends. I need their support.

“Meeting in half an hour in the dungeon,” I say. The dungeon is soundproof and operates with fingerprint locks. People in the rest of the house–mainly, my reluctant bride–can’t hear anything we do or say down there. “Are Alex and Feliks back from practice?”

Leo checks the camera monitors on his phone. “They’re walking up right now.”

“Good. Tell them about the meeting. Oh–also–Melinda Tracy is banned from Baranov House this year. Make sure everyone knows.”

Anders’ head snaps over at the mention of one of our frequent dungeon visitors. She’s a Type A personality who uses pain to relax. I think Anders has a thing for her, but since she usually comes to me to inflict pain, she hasn’t noticed yet. “Because of her dad?”

I nod. Her dad was just announced as the running candidate for Vice President. If he wins, Melinda will bring the Secret Service crawling all over campus, and I can’t have them anywhere near our business.

I pull my phone out to text Lili, my sister, to join us. She’ll need to know, too.

I didn’t want Lili to know about or see the dungeon. When I thought she was going to move in here with us, I was going to close it down. If it were up to me, she’d be here in Baranov House where I could protect her, but she somehow talked our parents into her freedom.

I fucking hate it, but I had Leo put a tracking strip in her dorm keycard and her phone and install extra security cameras around her dorm room, so we can make sure she’s safe.

Since I didn’t shut down the dungeon, her finding out about it was probably inevitable. She’d hear about it around campus eventually and would pester me or the twins–whom she’s close to–until we let her in on it, anyway.

I head to the kitchen to eat a quick meal.

After we streamlined and broadened our revenue-generating ventures at Baranov House, I hired a cook in addition to the cleaning crew.

Emma, a young single mom from Whisper, comes in five days a week to buy groceries and make dinners.

She likes the job because she can bring her three-year-old daughter, May, with her.

I like the reminder that everything lying around this house has to appear benign enough to be seen by outsiders, including a three-year-old.

Thirty minutes later, we assemble in the lounge area of the dungeon, where plush leather sofas, love seats, and captain’s chairs can be angled to either watch the action or for conversation around some low tables.

Right now, they’re grouped for conversation.

“You guys are absolute perverts.” Lili walks down the stairs with Zoe, eyes wide.

I wince. She didn’t need to know this about me. “You can’t tell anyone what you’re seeing here tonight,” I warn after giving her a quick hug.

“Please,” she scoffs. “The Gulag is literally all anyone in the freshman dorm talks about, especially when they hear my last name. Everyone wants to know what’s downstairs and why I’m not living here. There’s already a rumor that there’s some super drama between us, and we hate each other.”

I flick my brows. I built the intrigue of The Gulag around campus gossip, so I don’t mind it. “Don’t disabuse them of any stories. The wild rumors are what bring people through the door.”

Lili shakes her head as she looks at me. “You’re just like Dad.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. I know you’re still in orientation, but this week, I need to see you in our gym for self-defense training,” I say.

She looks at me blankly, and I realize she doesn’t know about the rigorous training I require the house members to maintain. Everyone here has had extensive Krav Maga training, and we spar weekly in the house gym.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ll send you the schedule,” Leo says. “You can spar with me.”

Lili looks annoyed with me. She thought she’d have more freedom at college than I’m going to give her.

“How was orientation week?” I ask, remembering how a normal brother would act.

I already know where she’s been and what she’s done because I’ve tracked her every move.

It helps with the nightmares to feel like I have control of every possible outcome.

Now I have Lara to add to my worry list. “Fun,” she says lightly.

Lili lived through the same trauma I did, but it hasn’t affected her the same way.

Maybe she was too little to have that danger impelled into every cell.

Or maybe she has too much trust in my being able to protect her from anything.

I believe her because she looks bright. Happy. That’s good because I would want to solve any problems she has or kill anyone who hurts her, but she would hate me for it. “I made friends. My roommate’s cool. It’s good. So what’s the big emergency?”

“I’m getting married.”

Lili gapes at me the same way the rest of them did when I brought Lara into the house. I explain the situation to everyone, including the part about Lara’s father lying to Anatoli Rostov about us being betrothed since birth, and Lara not knowing that was a lie.

“So basically, I have to keep her safe, but she thinks I’m the enemy.”

Leo nods as if it all makes perfect sense. Alex and Feliks are like stone men, absorbing it all without expression, awaiting orders. There’s no battle I could fight that I wouldn’t want them beside me. Anders and Phoenix look doubtful. Based on their frowns, the women clearly don’t like it.

“What if you just told her?” Lili asks.

“Yeah. You’re not the enemy. She should know that,” Zoe says.

“I can’t. If her dad didn’t tell her, it’s because he needs this to look real, or he doesn’t trust her not to go running back to Brash Rostov.”

“True,” Leo says. “You think she’s in love with him?”

I shrug, keeping my face blank of the spike of irritation that notion causes. If she’s in love with him, she’ll be even harder to protect and in even more danger than her dad suspects.

Thank fuck, Adrian’s gut told him to get her away from him as quickly as possible.

“I need to find out. Anya, if I give you her phone tonight, can you set something up, so I can track her and all her calls and messages?”

Lili makes a sputtering noise. “You can’t do that. It’s an invasion of her privacy.”

“I’ve been charged with keeping her safe. I will do whatever’s necessary.”

It’s not that there’s now an ugly jealousy twining its way around my throat at the idea of my lovely bride being in love with another man.

Not at all.

“I just need her phone for twenty minutes,” Anya promises.

“Perfect. I’ll bring it to you after she goes to sleep.” I look at my sister. “Lili, I need you to corroborate the story. Dad arranged my marriage years ago. We both have known it all along.”

Lili rolls her eyes and blows out her breath, but nods. “When is the wedding? Seems like I should come since I am your sister. Shouldn’t I be a bridesmaid or something?”

“I want to be a bridesmaid!” Zoe perks up. Anya snorts.

“It’s just a trip to the courthouse after classes.” I glance at Anya. “Speaking of which–”

“Here’s the class schedule.” Anya hands me a printout with Lara’s classes. I take a quick scan of them. They are mostly in the linguistics department. It seems my bride is a modern languages major. I guess that explains why she attended college in Paris.

I take a photo of the schedule and text it to everyone. “Keep an eye out for her. Let me know if you see her with anyone who looks like trouble. I’ll find a photo of Brash and send it to you.”

Alex clears his throat like he wants to say something. I raise my brows.

“I don’t know if this is the right time, but…”

My control issues snap into place. If there’s a leak in my systems, our security, our enterprises, I need to know about it. “Tell me.”

“I overheard some of the guys on the team talking before practice. They didn’t know Feliks and I were there.”

Blyad’. “What’d they say?”

“I didn’t catch it all, but I definitely heard, take Baranov House down this year .”

Feliks nods his agreement. “We made the Titan House parties look lame last year.” Titan House is a male-only society house. Half of the football team are members, and the rest of the members are legacy–their membership insured through bloodlines that go back to the school’s origins.

Before Baranov House took over Thornecroft’s social landscape, they ruled the school with alpha male-oriented elite parties that attracted the most popular sorority girls.

I nod. I can handle whatever they bring. I expected trouble and have planned for it. “Okay. Try to figure out how they will hit us. I’ll grease all the right wheels before our party.”

“So back to this wedding. Do you have a ring?” Lili demands.

I wince. A ring. That would be a good plan for a wedding ceremony. Especially one we’re trying to make look legit.

I mean, it will be legit. By tomorrow night, Lara Turgeneva will be my wife.

Dark satisfaction floods me at that knowledge, but I tamp it down. Legally binding Lara to me is just the first move in this battle. There are too many unknown variables for me to celebrate my victory just yet.

“I’ll get a ring. And I’m going to be at the ceremony,” Lili says firmly. “How do I pay for it? Should I use Dad’s Amex?”

“No.” I reach in my pocket and pull my Gold Card out of my phone case to hand to her.

Lili inspects it and shakes her head. “You have your own Gold Card. I… don’t even want to know what’s going on over here.”

“No, you don’t,” Leo says, just as protective of my little sister as I am.

“I’ll pick you up for the ceremony,” I tell her.

“I’m coming too,” Leo says.

“Me too,” Zoe says.

Anya raises her hand, like we’re doing a head count. Phoenix and Anders also raise their hands.

“We’ll have football practice,” Alex says apologetically, tipping his head toward his younger but even larger brother.

“No worries,” I say. “It wasn’t really supposed to be a thing.”

“Isn’t it though?” Lili challenges me. “You’re getting married. And I know you’re doing your stoic, hard-to-read thing, but it seems to me like…” she pauses and raises her eyebrows, letting anticipation build.

“Like what?” I cut in when it drags on too long.

“Like you’re into it.”