Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Once he was done, he gestured to the seats and returned to his own on the other side of the large, dark wood desk.
“Zdravstvuyte, my sons. It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to be seen, Otets,” I returned. Both Dmitri and I spoke Russian fluently, but we rarely used it since a majority of our dealings were with non-Russian speaking people.
“Likewise,” Dmitri muttered, stretching his long legs out in front of him, something he would only dare do with no one else around to see him acting so informally.
Steepling his fingers, my father placed his chin on them and looked between us. “We have many troubles just now, as you know, and the person responsible is proving hard to find.”
“My trip with Jaeger from the Road Kings didn’t provide much.” I was telling him something we already knew. If it had been any other way, he’d have been helping us get revenge on whoever we’d found.
“We received information and followed it, using Vadim,” both sucked in a breath at the name. “But the trails were cold.”
“Vadim is here?” Dmitri asked, leaning forward in his seat now and twisting his neck to look at me.
Nodding, I kept my face blank. “He was here on other business, but once I told him about our troubles, he decided this took priority.”
Vadim was my best friend who lived in St. Petersburg. He was one of the best trackers I’d ever met, but he was also well known for his ruthless tactics for getting information from people.
Sitting back in his chair, my father thought this over and then nodded. “This is good, this is good. He will be here for long?”
“As long as we need him.”
“Good, good,” he muttered, repeating himself. “I have also called Valka to assist. She arrives in two days.”
This got the same reaction as my news, except I joined Dmitri in the sharp inhale now.
My brother ended his by groaning and tipping his head back. “She’s fucking crazy, Dad. Between her and Vadim, we’ll be deported from the country.”
Part of this was correct—our cousin Valka was crazy. She was also fucking good at what she was going to be doing for us. So, although I was dreading her arrival, I also saw the wisdom in her being here.
“She’s my sister’s daughter,” Dad shrugged. “Her mother is crazy, too, so it’s no surprise she is the way she is. We will send her with Vadim and some men to get information. Taras, you meet with Bruce and his men, and request two to go with each of them.”
This was proof of the alliance and respect he held for the MC. The Fedorov Bratva weren’t known for working like this with anyone outside of a blood alliance or bonding alliance, like the one my marriage had brought us with the Azarovs.
“I need to meet with him about other matters, so I will tell him.”
Both my father and brother looked at me, no doubt hearing the additional tension at the thought of revealing the truth about his grandsons to Bruce.
Adjusting his position in his chair so that he was angled more in my direction, my father rubbed his finger over his bottom lip, his eyes scanning me.
“Is there something else we must know?”
Taking in a deep breath, I let it out slowly. “Yes, nine days ago, his daughter, Penelope, gave birth to two boys—”
“Ah, yes, the bomb. Are they well? He must be going out of his mind.”
I glanced at my brother and saw that he was looking at me with a slight smile on his face now, having already guessed where this was going. He knew how much time I’d spent at the hospital, and now it made sense.
“They are. Both boys are healthy, and Nell is recovering well.”
“This is good. With our current problem, I hope he’s aware they must have someone watching them. We have enough in the Bratva if they need more. You may offer that to Bruce when you meet with him later. Our alliance makes them family, and family looks after each other.”
Lowering his head so that he was looking at his shoes, Dmitri muttered, “Oh, they’re family all right.”
Keeping my eyes on Dad, I chewed on my lower lip for a moment and then laid it out.
“The boys are mine. I was in a relationship with Nell when you and Azarov agreed to the alliance. As you might remember, I told you I could not go through with the marriage as I had an… emotional conflict,” I ground out.
“It was her. At the time, the coalition with the Road Kings was in its infancy, and we didn’t have a common enemy targeting us both, so it was of no use to tell you. You also said to me that the bonding with the Azarovs was a duty to the family that couldn’t be ignored, but we agreed on a way around it.”