“Hello?” I murmured groggily.
I was greeted by not one, but two familiar voices. My brothers. On a three-way call.
“Hey, Em,” Luka said.
“Did we wake you?” Stefan asked.
My heart immediately started pounding. I quickly got up and snuck out of the bedroom, not wanting to wake Ford, and settled on the couch in the living room.
“It’s almost five in the morning,” I pointed out. “Of course, you woke me.”
“Sorry,” Stefan said, but he didn’t sound very sorry at all.
“It’s urgent,” Luka added.
Something bad must have happened. It was the only reason they’d be calling at this hour.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, panic and morning sickness churning in my gut. “Don’t try to sugarcoat it. Just tell me.”
Munchkin came out of the bedroom, padding across the living room before hopping up on the couch next to me. Thank God for my dog. He always knew when I needed extra support.
“I had a…visitor tonight,” Stefan said carefully. “From Russia.”
My heart started pounding even harder. “Oh no. What happened?”
“Don’t worry, he’s gone now,” Luka said. “Stefan had some words with him.”
I pulled Munchkin into my lap, hugging him to my chest. “Oh shit.”
“Yeah,” Stefan said. “This is a hard line for me, and those fuckers have crossed it. Nobody messes with my family.”
“Not that,” I said. “I mean yes that, but…I have something else to tell you.”
Quickly, I caught him up on what had happened to me at the bar, and how I’d sworn Luka to secrecy. It only served to piss off Stefan even more.
“I shouldn’t have kept it from you,” I told him. “I fucked up. I hadn’t even considered that the Bratva might send someone to put the heat on you, too.”
“That asshole came to my house,” Stefan said, his voice edged with fury.
I could hear the anger in his voice. My oldest brother was violently protective of Tori, and now that they had the baby, I would have been shocked if anyone from the Bratva made it back from a visit without some painful souvenirs of Stefan’s displeasure.
“God, if anything had happened to you guys, I could never forgive myself. I’m so sorry,” I said. I felt awful.
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault we’re in this mess. It’s fucking dad’s fault,” Stefan growled. “Bottom line is, protecting this family comes first, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they leave us all alone. For good. I couldn’t live with myself if Tori or the baby became targets.”
“Or Brooklyn and Little Kibbles,” Luka added.
“LittleKibbles?” I asked. “Did you guys get another dog?”
“That’s just what we call the baby to the dog,” Luka said. “We’ve been telling him he’s going to have a new brother or sister soon.”
It was just ridiculous enough to make all of us chuckle a little. But I also realized that now was the time to tell my brothers about the secret I had been keeping from them. Because so much had changed, and with the Russians breathing down our necks, Stefan and Luka needed to know exactly what all of us were protecting.
I took a deep breath. I had so hoped that this moment would be completely different. That it would be like the happy moments my sisters-in-law had gotten, all champagne and excitement.
But there wasn’t time for that now.
“Or…my pregnancy,” I said. “I can’t let anything happen to my little dude either.”
