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“If you hurt Alina again, I will break your bones one by one, fix them ever so slowly, just to break them all over again.” He growls as we storm past the ballroom, a car stopping in front of us.
“She—”
“Fuck that. She’ll do whatever she wants. A single scratch on her and I’ll rid you of the burden that walking is, permanently.”
“And if you threaten—”
“I’m not Sergei. I do not care if you die. But touch what’s mine, and I’ll ruin everything that’s yours.”
He opens the door for me and spins on his heels, not sparing me a glance and strides away.
What the hell has my life become? Three Russians.
Each with their own brand of crazy.
SEVENTEEN
Sergei
Negotiations didn't last for long, Dimitri and Viktor—Roman and Alec’s sperm donors—were just like Vasily.
They loved the power and the control that came with it. I could only get so far with their help when my father started trading with them.
Three Bratva men with similar mindsets is a recipe for disaster. The trading gave my father a free pass to come and go as he pleased.
He started visiting when I was fifteen, after almost five years of me living in England.
The first time he visited unannounced, he tried to smile his way into my fear, calling it ‘hardening me for the world.’ He said I needed to be strong to become Pakhan.
He didn’t hit me that night, or the one after. But every visit after that came with the same thought.
Maybe this is the night he finally does.
His visits were getting frequent, almost twice a month. I didn’t talk much to begin with, but the subtle changes in my behaviour weren’t subtle enough to go unnoticed by Roman.
My father didn’t visit for an entire year after that. I’m guessing Roman was behind it. He’s always been protective of me. Even though I didn’t want him to.
I thought my father had finally given up. That I was finally free.
And on nights when, nightmares would haunt me, Roman and Aleksandr were there, always there.
I started smiling more, openly laughing at Roman’s weirdly odd—but natural for him—ways.
We’d make teams—Alina and me versus Roman and Alec—and play fight. Roman fought like a storm, relentless and furious.
Alec, on the other hand, seemed to have a talent for losing, especially every time Alina was his opponent. He’d howl, first loud, then louder, only to hear her laugh.
Roman would dramatically explode, tackling Alec for losing again just to make him pay, and in the mess, Alina and I would topple over, laughing so hard we could barely breathe.
I was bullied a lot, even here in the UK. So Roman and Alec deliberately failed classes just to end up in the same one as me.
When I confronted them, Roman merely shrugged. “Nobody bullies you but me, Moscow Princess.”
I might’ve punched him for calling me a princess, but it made me smile.
It didn’t last long, because after they left my penthouse, my father visited me that night.
I was sixteen, no longer a kid and he was desperate. I had moved out only a month ago. The app I created was a huge success and I was no longer dependant on Roman and Alec for money.
