Page 13 of Scarlet Promise (Yegorov Bratva #4)

Chapter Nine

ALINA

The moment Ilya left, I wanted nothing more than to chase after Demyan.

I didn’t, because honestly, I don’t know what I’d have done. Maimed him, probably. Besides, as I passed his study, I could hear Erin ripping into him and him shouting back. I knew where that was going to end. Them naked and doing the deed on the floor of the study or up in their room.

I needed to calm myself.

And lose myself in the tingling heat still inside me from Ilya’s kiss.

I hug Albert while we lie on the bed, checking him to make sure he’s okay from Demyan shaking him off.

His melting eyes look at me.

“I know,” I whisper. “You’re okay. He didn’t hurt you.”

Maybe I should tell Albert off for biting Demyan, but I can’t make myself. He’s not a big dog, and he didn’t do more than lightly puncture skin. I saw the wound when Demyan tried to apologize, to make it up to the dog.

Albert’s not violent at all. But he is protective, and I love that he tried to protect Ilya.

I drop kisses on his head. “Did you do it because you couldn’t stop that bad Radimir from taking me?”

Albert whines, a sorrowful sound.

He’s a good dog, the best, and I tell him so.

Then I add, “Besides, I’m safe now.”

Albert huffs out a breath.

“I’m glad you’re here with me, Albert.”

My guard’s somewhere in the house, probably downstairs since he didn’t follow me up. Demyan probably put him on Ilya watch.

Honestly, sometimes I could strangle him. He’s stubborn. An ass, he’s beyond reasonable. My throat closes and vision blurs as the anger ticks up again.

To try and calm myself, I touch a finger to my lips, tracing where our mouths met.

I hate this. Hate everything about it. I almost call Isla, but I don’t. She’ll have her hands full with Maize, and I don’t want to interrupt that. Besides, I have a niggling suspicion she’d pack her up, drive over here, and hand out some choice words in Demyan’s direction.

Not because she has a death wish, but because she’s never seen Demyan in full destruction mode. She’s never seen the violent, dark side of my brother.

Yes, there was my wedding, but it was so chaotic, so many screaming, running people that she didn’t see Demyan’s reaction.

But I know what he’s like.

He’d never do anything to her. But with the kind of mood he’s in, he may lose his temper, something he’s doing a lot lately. Or worse, show her just how darkly powerful and deadly he is through his treatment of me.

Demyan doesn’t have to kill or hurt or threaten to do that. I’ve seen him. It’s like a switch, and once it flips and the urbanity falls away, the bratva pakhan will rise. My friends don’t need that.

Or maybe he won’t.

Maybe I’m just overexaggerating. But there’s a difference in knowing and understanding who someone is. Just like me having a bodyguard is different to understanding just what that bodyguard will do to a threat.

A reason why I wanted out of this world.

“And yet you ended up back in it,” I tell myself.

But Ilya is Ilya. I know he can be just as dangerous as my brother, but he’s also exactly what it says on the tin.

He doesn’t keep me under lock and key. If I told Gus, my driver, that I wanted to drive around, Ilya might have me watched from a distance, but he trusts me more than Demyan does.

He treats me like a woman, not a child.

He lets me have freedom to choose.

Bottom line, I want Ilya.

The door to Demyan and Erin’s room opens and closes, and Demyan strides across the floor. He pauses outside my room, and then he disappears down the stairs.

“Coward.” I get up and look at Albert. “I don’t know about you, but I’m having this out with my brother. Now.”

I leave it up to Albert to come with me or stay here, and I hurry downstairs before I lose my nerve.

When I reach his study, I don’t knock. I just go in.

“Al—”

“Why the fuck did you do that, Demyan?” I glare at him. “Why did you try and beat Ilya up?”

He stares at me in shock. “I wasn’t aware I failed.”

“Ilya got some damage in on you, too. The fight wasn’t fair though. You attacked him. He’s your closest friend. Why the hell did you do it?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snarls. “I was defending your honor.”

“My…” I stop, shake my head. “And what you did to Albert?”

He holds up his hand. There are two small marks from Albert’s teeth. “He. Bit. Me.”

“He’s not an attack dog. He’s gentle.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“He was defending Ilya,” I spit out and cross my arms.

“I said sorry to the damn dog,” he snaps. “What more do you want? You’re lucky I didn’t take him to the pound.”

His words are like a knife.

“Demyan!”

“If he tried that on Nadya or Sasha?—”

“He wouldn’t. He adores your children. And I know this dog would defend them. He’s such a mild-mannered creature. You would bring the demon from a saint.”

“Yeah, well, explain why I was defending you to the dog, okay?” he mutters.

“I don’t need defending. Not me or my honor.” I look my brother up and down, my fury threatening to choke me. “The only thing you’re concerned about is your precious ego.”

“My ego has nothing to do with this.”

“Doesn’t it?” I snap. “I waited until I was calm enough to come and talk to you. This is me, calm enough.” I suck in air.

“Remember, Demyan, I stayed in that kitchen while you and Ilya talked. I heard you both. I heard what you said, and you’re pathetic.

I don’t know how that happened because I’ve never thought of you that way, but in that moment, that’s what you became. ”

“Watch your tongue,” he warns.

“Why? Are you going to hit me, too?”

Demyan recoils like I’ve punched him, and I want to take the words back. He’d never in his life lift a hand against me. I know how much he loves me, and I love him, too. I just want him to see that this is the wrong path, and he needs to get off it before he does something he can’t undo.

Not with me.

With Ilya.

So I push on.

“How dare you question Ilya’s morals. We both know he’s the most honorable man you know. He thinks that of you, too.” I take a breath. “He’s?—”

“I warned him against teaming up with Santo?—”

“Demyan, what does Santo have to do with this? He listened and made a decision he thought he needed to make. And Santo didn’t kidnap me. Simonov did, along with Melor.”

“Exactly.” Demyan smirks, the retort whipping the air. “His own man kidnapped you. He really has control over his own bratva, huh?”

“He was thrown in. And from the start, Melor played both ends. The men who were loyal to his grandfather didn’t trust him, and Melor had their ear. He poisoned them. The one person Ilya looked to for advice was you. Always you, Demyan, and you?—”

“No, he waited until I was gone to defect and take my sister. He’s dead to me. And you?—”

“Stay the hell out of my life,” I yell at my brother. “You don’t speak for me, and if that’s your attitude, then I don’t know who you are.”

He stalks up to me and roars, “While you’re under my roof, you follow my rules. You obey me . And he’s dead to us both.”

“Do what you want. Ruin your life all you want with your war you’re building from nothing. But do not push me or threaten me. Or tell me who I can pretend doesn’t exist or whatever other twisted little power play you have. Because you keep that up, it won’t only be Ilya you lose.”

“And what the fuck does that mean?” he asks.

“It means,” I say, “if you keep making me choose, I’ll pick Ilya. Every time.”

With that, I turn, run up to my room, and slam the door.

Albert sits up on the bed, and I throw myself down and hold him close. I bury my face in his fur and try not to give in to the tears.

How the hell did my life get so messy? So complicated and idiotic? I never meant to fall in love with Demyan’s best friend.

Doesn’t he get that? Doesn’t he see that I know life would be easier if I hadn’t?

But I did, and now I can’t imagine a life without Ilya in it. I can’t fathom a future without him there.

“Alina?” Erin knocks on my partially shut door.

I could ignore her, and she’d go away. But I love my brother’s wife. She’s his saving grace, the thing that elevates and humbles him, and she loves him with all her heart, just like how he loves her.

“Come in.”

She crosses to me and sits, pulling me in for a long hug. Then she lets me go and strokes Albert’s fur. He turns, pushing at her palm with his nose before curling up for more attention.

“Are you okay, Alina?” she asks. “Really?”

I nod and give her the smallest smile.

“What I don’t get,” I say, “is how he loves you to the point that he’d kill for you, do anything for you, move the planet to make you happy, but he can’t see I want that, too? He can’t see that Ilya makes me happy?”

“He loves you, and he loves Ilya.”

“Then why is he being like this?” I ask.

Erin smiles at me softly. “I think he’s scared of losing both of you. And he worries about you, so much. You’re his world, too, Alina. He dotes on you.”

“But it’s Ilya.”

She sighs. “Maybe that’s why. It makes it so much worse in his eyes.

That you’ll leave, and he’ll leave and never come back.

” She laughs a little. “Can you imagine what he’s going to be like when Nadya is older?

Oh god, Sasha’s going to be like Demyan over his little Poppy.

I mean, he might end up being worse than Demyan. ”

I laugh, too. “Sasha’s sweet. He’s got you.”

“Right now, he’s still a little boy, but he’s got Yegorov blood.”

“His poor, sweet sister.”

“Nadya’ll get over it and probably put her brother and father in their places.” Erin hugs me again. “I promise things will get better. You just need to stay strong and hang in there. And I’ll try and make Demyan see that if he keeps pushing, he’ll only cause more damage and push you away.”

“I know he listens to you ,” I say, my stomach clenching at her words.

Because I’ve never seen Demyan quite like this.

And I don’t want to be the catalyst of trouble in their marriage.

I refuse to be.

“He mostly listens,” Erin says. “But I’ll do my best.”

“Don’t. What I mean is…thank you, but the last thing I want is to cause trouble between you guys. This is between me and Demyan. And you don’t want to be in the crosshairs.”

“I don’t mind. If I can help?—”

“No, Erin,” I say, “you’ve done enough. For your sake, you need to keep out of this, okay?”