Page 143 of Bratva Menace

He nodded, rocking back and forth in his chair. “Send me the details. I’ll put it into my programs and be on the lookout.”

I inclined my head. “Appreciate it.”

My siblings had been nothing but supportive of my quest in finding Lyla. They’d all witnessed her kill her own brother in order to save me and Father. That negated any negative feelings they might have originally had after learning her identity. Like Father had assumed, Aleksandr and Nikolai understood. They didn’t hold Lyla responsible for what her father did. And could even understand why Lev would want revenge.

Any of us would have done the same in his place.

Illayana? Well…she took a little longer to come around. She’d been so young when Mother was killed, and although she knew Lyla was in no way responsible for it, it was hard for her to differentiate. Hard for her to let go of the past. Illayana had eventually agreed to help me in my search, like my other siblings had, but she made it noted it was under protest.

I think the phone call she’d had with Lyla during my captivity had affected her mood about the whole situation, though she refused to admit it.

Leaning back, I adjusted Ivana so she laid flat on my chest, and looked around the room, my mind a jumbled mess. “I just don’t know why she’s running from me,” I admitted, my thoughts running wild.

Nikolai pursed his lips. “She’s in pain, Lukyan. She lost her brother. Someone who was incredibly close to her. And from what you’ve told us about their relationship, he was the only one who was there for her. It will be hard for her to deal with his death, let alone come to terms with the fact that she was the one who killed him. Imagine how you’d feel if you had to kill one of us to save her. You’d be tormented.”

He was right. Of course, I knew that. Had even told myself the same thing on numerous occasions. Didn’t help in dealing with it, though.

I exhaled heavily. “I just want to be there for her.”

“And you will be,” he said with conviction. “Just don’t give up. Find her and let her know you’ll be there for her, no matter what. That’s all she needs.”

I tossed one of the twins’ soft toys sitting beside me at him. “When did you get so wise?”

He caught it effortlessly and threw it to the side. “I’ve always been wise. You’ve just never paid attention before.”

I grunted. “Hardy, har, har.” I went quiet for a moment before speaking again. “I gotta say, it still surprises me how supportive you’re all being about this. I could have sworn you’d all tell me I was crazy for wanting her.”

He gave me a sad look. “I hate that you’d think that of us. All we’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy, Lukyan, and it doesn’t take a genius to see that she makes you happy. I’ve never seen you care so much about someone before. Be so focused on their happiness and well-being. To be honest, when we heard you’d been kidnapped, we kinda knew you’d come back completely in love with her.”

“You did?” I frowned. “How?”

“She’s everything you’ve ever wanted. Beautiful. Smart. Confident. Brave. She has the same type of personality you have. I always thought you’d need someone opposite to you. Someone to calm your crazy, but that was stupid of me to think. You need someone who matches you. Challenges you. Someone who can keep up with you. Someone even crazier than you are, and, well, she’s definitely that. Only someone absolutely fucking nuts would walk into a room full of enemies and trick you into marrying her.”

I smiled at the memory, and all the rest that followed. “Yeah. That was pretty fucking nuts.” I chuckled. My gaze moved to the ring still on my left finger. I hadn’t taken it off. Never would, if I had the choice, and I hoped she was still wearing hers.

Nikolai looked past me at the sound of footsteps. From the way his face lit up like a fucking Christmas tree, I didn’t need to turn around to see who was coming down the stairs. There was only one person who could illicit that kind of infatuated look on his face.

“Don’t worry,” he said quickly. “I’ll send her identity to the rest of the family, and get them all searching for her. We’ll find her.”

I truly, truly hoped so.

Tatiana walked into the lounge room, her blonde hair down and falling past her shoulders. She was wearing a black silk robe, tied at the waist, with a pair of fluffy pink slippers on her feet.

Nikolai smiled, love and light in his eyes. “Hey, Mama,” he whispered lovingly. “Did you get a good rest?”

“The best.” She moaned, stretching her arms above her head. “How did they go?”

“Good. Aleksei finished his whole bottle and just fell asleep. Ivana took a little longer to settle.”

“But don’t worry, Uncle Lukyan came to the rescue.” I winked. “She’s konked out. Hey, T.”

“Hey Lukyan.” She smiled. “Did you find her?”

I shook my head, that anger beating inside my head again. The fact that I was holding a tiny little baby in my arms helped to alleviate some of it, but it was still there, like an unrelenting pressure in my brain. “I’m hoping that will change soon, though. Here you go.” I got up and went to hand Ivana off, then paused, maneuvering her sleeping form so I could pull out my phone. “Actually, can you take a photo of us?”

Tatiana smiled, taking the device. “Sure.” She held it up and took a few pictures. “You’re not going to post these online, are you?”

“No. I know your rule. No pictures of the babies on social media.” Both Nik and Tati were very strict on that rule. The Bratva had many enemies. They didn’t want to risk anything happening. No one outside of the family even knew she’d given birth yet, or that she’d had twins. We were all being very secretive about the whole thing to ensure the twins’ safety.