Page 59 of Thorns of Death

A light pang in my chest vibrated through me. I didn’t like to think about the past. It was how I kept my sadness at bay. But I missed Maxim. A lot. Even though over the last few years, I felt like he was already gone. When Maxim lost the love of his life, he’d pulled away. It pushed me closer to Illias, depending on him even more. After all, I was only in my early teens. Yet now I wondered if maybe we should have paid more attention to Maxim.

Illias’s eyes narrowed on the woman. “Where are you going?”

My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. Was he freaking growling?

“Put me down,” she demanded, glaring at him. I stifled a chuckle. Looked like she wouldn’t be taking Illias’s shit.

“No.”

“We’re inside. I can walk now.” My eyes darted to her feet and noticed she had no shoes on, and by the looks of it, she was wearing my brother’s coat.

Illias, in his usual way, ignored her and returned his attention to me. “Isla, meet Tatiana. My wife.” My eyes widened in shock.

“Oh my God,” I sputtered. “I’m so happy for you, brother. When did you get married? Where?” Then I narrowed my eyes. “Why wasn’t I invited?”

“We got married right before my plane took off.” My brother’s explanation made no sense. “You would have been invited, but it was an emergency.”

Disappointment washed over me.

“I could have dropped everything and come to you.” My voice cracked with hurt; I couldn’t help it. He was all the family I had, and for some reason, I didn’t like that he left me out.

My brother pulled me into a bear hug, which turned a bit awkward since he refused to let go of his new wife.Tatiana. I liked the name.

“Don’t worry,” she said, attempting to soften the blow. “He kind of kidnapped me, then forced me to marry him, so it truly was an emergency.”

I blinked in confusion as she smiled smugly. My brother just groaned.

“You kidnapped her?” I hissed, panic twisting inside me. “Oh my gosh, we’re going to go to jail.” Jesus, why wasn’t Tatiana freaking out. I narrowed my eyes on my brother, then offered my new sister-in-law an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry. We can still fix this. Illias didn’t mean it.” I glared at my brother just for good measure. “It’s probably because you’re so… s-so… beautiful?”

She waved her hand nonchalantly, seemingly amused by my reaction, as though it was just a minor inconvenience. Maybe the world had gone mad. It had started to feel that way with that crazed, stalker woman, after all.

“Don’t worry about it. My brother kidnapped Branka last summer. In the middle of her walking down the aisle to marry someone else.” My eyebrows shot to my hairline. Who in the fuck was Branka? “Happens more often than you think.”

Huh?

Either my brother married someone slightly crazy, or there was some serious shit about to unravel. Awkward silence followed while my eyes darted between them. She didn’t seem concerned at all while my brother seemed slightly annoyed at his new wife’s explanation.

Okay, maybe there were a few things I could learn from Tatiana, starting with how to get under my brother’s skin like that. And even more importantly, what was my brother involved with exactly? Clearly kidnapping a woman was a breeze to him.

Reina’s words rushed to my mind. Illias Konstantin was the Pakhan. The head of the Russian mafia. I studied my brother and saw what had been there all along. The darkness. The ruthlessness. But there was also such fierce protectiveness. And it all reminded me of one other man.

Enrico Marchetti.

“It’s nice to meet you though,” Tatiana added, smiling warmly. “I hope you won’t leave because I’m here. I hate being stuck in Russia in the winter.”

Well, we had at least one thing in common.

Illias pecked me on the cheek before his wife could say anything else. “We’ll talk to you tomorrow, sestra.” I had so many questions. How could he possibly get away with kidnapping a woman? And why did she seem so… okay with it? I opened my mouth, but before a single syllable could leave me, he cut me off. “Tomorrow,” he repeated.

My eyes darted to Tatiana and she smiled mischievously. “Tomorrow,” she mouthed.

“Um, oh… okay.”

I remained glued to my spot, watching them disappear up the stairs, heading to Illias’s wing of the house.

And all the while I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to unravel. It remained to be seen whether for good or bad.

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