Bratva Prince (Bratva Series Book 2)

My hands gripped the steering wheel hard as I raced down the highway, trying to get to Crave Café before Rayna left. Drea sat in the passenger seat, throwing me weird looks that I didn’t have time to decipher right now, while Dayton sat in the back.

When I’d first gotten the call, excitement had burst inside me. Finding Rayna and Dominik had been one of our top priorities, but no matter how hard we looked we just had no idea where they were hiding. We’d get hits from Nik’s facial recognition software every now and then, but by the time we showed up at the location she was always long gone.

She never stayed in one place too long, always making sure to leave before we had the chance to catch up with her. Dominik hadn’t been sighted once, which was strange. If he was still in Vegas, a camera somewhere should have picked him up, but there was nothing. Not even a whisper of his presence.

Which meant he was either laying really, really low, or he was gone.

If he left Vegas, it would make tracking him ten times harder.

The opportunity to finally catch Rayna was too important to pass up, and that meant I had no choice but to take Drea with me.

I would have much preferred to take her back home, but I simply didn’t have the time. I couldn’t risk Rayna leaving before I got the chance to come back.

So here she was, riding shotgun while I went on an important mission for the Bratva. For my family.

If my father ever found out, he’d have me in the ring so fast I’d get whiplash.

“Are you gonna tell me what’s going on? You squeeze that steering wheel any harder and it’s gonna pop in your hands,” Drea said, staring at me with those pretty amber eyes that saw way too much.

My blood heated at the memory of her pinned beneath me, of her pussy squeezing my cock so hard I saw stars.

She was fucking perfect. Wild. Free. She had a sexual appetite that matched my own, and that was a damn hard thing to come by.

I’d tried the belt on Mila once but she’d called on her safe word instantly. Of course, I understood. It took an immense amount of trust to let someone do that to you. To let yourself be so vulnerable around another person.

I’ll admit I’d expected Drea to do the same, and it surprised the hell out of me when she didn’t. The woman was fucking fearless.

I’d broken so many of my rules with her already. I couldn’t even bring myself to care at this point. I’d never allowed myself to fuck a woman without protection, regardless of what contraception she might have been on. And yet, one word from Drea and I couldn’t get inside her fast enough.

It was like a compulsion. I needed to know what she felt like. I wanted to feel her pussy rippling around me with nothing between us.

It was…heavenly. Those sweet little moans she made. The way she moved against me, grinding herself on me like she couldn’t get enough. The way she said my name, rolling the ‘R’ with that hot, Spanish accent—fuck.

Just thinking about it all made me so hard I had to readjust myself.

How was I supposed to marry another woman and just forget about her? Never see her again? The thought alone made me angry enough to fucking kill someone.

For the first time in my life, I was frustrated with the obligations of the Bratva. It made me frown.

I loved my life. Even though it was hard, brutal and bloody, I fucking loved it. I’d never once felt the desire to pack up and leave. Not that I ever would. I would never abandon my family.

Still, the fact that I had the thought at all was concerning.

“Well?” Drea prompted. “What’s going on? Why are you driving around the place like you’re in a Mario Kart race with that sour look on your face?”

I frowned, glancing her way. “I do not have a sour look on my face.”

“Uh, you kinda do,” Dayton piped up from the backseat. I glared at him through the rearview mirror.

His hands flew up in surrender. “What? You do! It’s your ‘I’m about to kill someone’ face. I know. I’ve seen it before.”

I grunted, my focus back on the road.

“Come on, Big Guy, tell me what’s happened. Who was that on the phone earlier? Why are you so pent up after we worked so hard to rid you of all that tension?”

Dayton gagged. “Please, God. Don’t remind me.”

“Ignore him,” Drea said, throwing him a scowl. “Come on.”

I was conflicted. On one hand, I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to open up to her and share all the shit that had been going on lately, all the stress I was under. But on the other hand, I knew I couldn’t. This was family business. Bratva business. I couldn’t go sharing private details with someone who was still technically the enemy.

So I gave her the basics. I told her Rayna was someone who betrayed us and handed Illayana over to Nero.

Considering she’d been betrayed the same way by her people, she understood and didn’t dive any further into it.

“I hope you’re going to kill her,” she stated firmly, eyes hard.

“Not at first. But she’ll die. Eventually.” I parked the car in the same alley behind Crave Café as last time.

The Cleaners had done a phenomenal job cleaning up the mess I’d made. You couldn’t even tell someone had died here. The only evidence remaining of Peroxide was the dark stain of his blood on the concrete and even then, you couldn’t really tell it was blood.

“Good.” A dark smile crossed her face. “Can I watch?”

My lips curled into a devilish smirk. Of course the woman would want to watch. Vindictive little thing. As much as I would have loved that, I couldn’t allow it. Father would likely be there during the interrogation if I managed to catch Rayna.

There was no reason to justify having Drea there. None that I could think of right now, anyway.

Instead of answering, I leaned forward, running my tongue over her bottom lip. Fuck. She had the softest lips I’d ever felt. Full, plump and attached to the most fuckable mouth in the world.

Drea’s breath hitched slightly, her eyes flaring with desire.

“Stay here,” I rumbled over her lips before I opened the door, stepping out of the car.

“Wait, what?” Drea exclaimed, leaning to the side to look at me. “I don’t get to come?”

“Sorry, malyshka,” I said, pulling out my Beretta, checking the clip and chamber before tucking it behind my back. “I need you to stay here. I can’t focus on doing what I have to do if I’m worried you’ll run down the street the first chance you get.”

Her jaw dropped in outrage. “Are you serious? If I wanted to do that, I would have done it back at the Rage Room. Besides, I gave you my word I wouldn’t bolt.”

“And I believe you. To a degree.” I slammed the door shut and held the key fob up in the air so she could see it.

Her eyes widened. She lunged for her door handle, but I locked it before she got the chance to open it. “Aleksandr! Don’t you dare leave me in here! ¡Hijo de puta!” You son of a bitch! She screeched. Her voice carried out through the small crack in the window I’d allowed so they wouldn’t suffocate in there.

“I’ll be back soon,” I yelled as I rounded the hood of the car, heading for the entrance into the alley.

“You’re seriously going to lock me in your car and leave me here when I’ve got your cum dripping down my leg?!”

I turned, amusement shooting through me. I stared through the front windscreen, Drea glaring back, and Dayton’s face flushed with embarrassment at her words.

“Be a good girl, Drea. I’d hate to have to punish you,” I taunted.

That was a bold-faced lie. Just the thought of punishing her made me hard as a rock.

The scowl Drea threw my way said she was going to make my life a living hell for leaving her locked in the car.

Bring it on, malyshka. I loved to play.

I stared through the window of Crave Café, watching Rayna as she sipped on her coffee, laughing at something her male companion said.

She sat at the back in a corner booth wearing a floral red summer dress, her brown hair up in a ponytail. A few tables away sat two men dressed in dark clothing, their faces hard and impassive. One kept an eye on Rayna while the other continuously scanned the room, looking for danger.

Despite not playing an active role in the Bratva, Rayna still had a guard detail. She knew how to fight like all of us. Sergei Volkov couldn’t be known for having weak grandchildren, after all. But she wasn’t as vigorous about her training as we were.

My cousin liked to bitch and moan about how she would have made a good Enforcer if only my father had given her a chance, but the truth of the matter was, she simply wasn’t built for it. She cared more about going viral on Tik Tok than she ever did about the Bratva.

Her entire life revolved around social media, around finding out what the next biggest trend was and jumping on it as quickly as possible.

My father had decided to give her a chance once. He let her tag along to a merch drop with The Latin Kings, who were in the middle of a brutal turf war with the 18^th Street Gang. They wanted enough hardware to wipe them off the map. Machine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, handguns—the works.

The deal was made. All we had to do was show up with the merchandise, count their cash and part ways. A super simple job with almost zero chance of anything going wrong.

Of course, that was until Rayna decided to whip out her phone and try to take a group selfie of us all, cash and guns clearly on display. She’d held the phone up in the air, posing with those stupid duck lips like we were her girlfriends at the bar on a girls’ night out instead of in the middle of important fucking business.

Her idiocy had cost us not only that deal, but The Latin Kings as a client. They didn’t want anything to do with us after that. Not that I could blame them.

Father didn’t trust her, but he gave her a chance because she’s family, and she threw it back in his face with that stupid stunt.

From that point on, she wasn’t allowed to have anything to do with Bratva business.

I glimpsed Matt at the counter, that same bored expression on his face I’d seen the last time as he served customer after customer. I couldn’t go inside. The second Rayna or her guards saw me, all hell would break loose.

Our contacts in the LVPD made it easy to cover our tracks, but even they would have a hard time covering for a shootout in the middle of a bloody café.

I needed to draw Rayna outside. Preferably without her guards.

Matt’s gaze swept over me as he waited for the customer in front of him to decide what he wanted. His eyes snapped back to me, brows lowered in a frown.

I gestured with two fingers for him to come outside.

He took a quick look around before turning back to face me, pointing a finger at his chest and giving me a questioning look as if to say, ‘Me?’

Yeah, you, dumbass. I nodded, beckoning him again.

He handed his customer off to another coworker and came outside, the bell above the door dinging as it opened and closed. “You got here quickly.” He wiped his hands on the apron around his waist, looking back into the café. “She’s right there, in the corner. That’s her, right?”

“Yes.” I pulled him out of view of the window just in case Rayna happened to glance outside. I held up the roll of $100 bills I’d promised him, snatching it back when he went to grab it. “How would you like to earn some more cash?” I made sure to slip into my ‘Doug’ persona, putting on my Boston accent.

His eyes narrowed. “I’m not sucking your dick, dude, no matter how much you pay me.”

“What? No. All I want is for you to lure her outside.”

“Outside? How am I meant to do that?”

“Tell her there’s someone that wants to talk to her. Describe him as an older guy. Dark hair. Blue eyes. Russian accent.”

He frowned. “Who is that?”

“Doesn’t matter who it is. Just say he wants to talk to her outside. Alone. Stress the alone part, okay? Is there a back door that leads to the alley behind the café?”

“Yeah.”

“Take her out there. I’ll be waiting in the alley. As soon as she steps out, shut and lock the door. I’ll take it from there.”

He glanced nervously inside. “I-I dunno man. This all seems a little too G.I. Joe for me.”

He was hesitating. I had to sway him my way.

I pulled out the extra $5,000 I kept with me for emergencies and held it up next to the other roll of hundreds.

His eyes widened.

“$5,000, and it’s all yours if you—”

“Get her outside. I heard ya, I heard ya.” He yanked the money from my grasp, tucking it away in his pocket. Seriousness washed over him. “Describe the guy again.”

I ran through Dominik’s description again, going into as much detail as I could in the hopes that when he relayed it to Rayna, she would recognise it as her father.

“Leave it to me.” He marched back inside, every ounce of nervousness in his body gone, replaced with steely-eyed determination.

I took one last glance at Rayna and the man she was with. Who was he? He wore plain clothing and had long, scraggly hair that ran past his shoulders. His face was hard, his eyes simmering with anger.

Was this the man she met with every time she came here?

I went back around to the alley, confident the kid could get the job done. He did seem nervous at first, but the prospect of all that cash seemed to strengthen his resolve, which was exactly what I needed.

Once Drea saw me coming back down the alley she perked up, her whole body coming to life. She pressed her lips to the gap in the window, ready to spout something off that was no doubt riddled with attitude, but stopped once she got a look at my face.

I wasn’t sure what she saw, but it was enough to make even her pause.

“You look positively predatory right now,” she commented as I leaned up against the side of the car, crossing my arms over my chest. “Is she on the way? Do I get to watch after all? Come on, let me out so I can have some fun too. You know I can help you, right?”

I shook my head, chuckling softly at the whiny tone in her voice. I had no doubt she could help. She moved with an almost predatory grace, light on her feet and her movements fluid, like liquid. Her small stature made her quick and lethal. She would be invaluable backup. But this was something I had to do on my own. For the Bratva. For Illayana.

“Sorry, malyshka. This is something I need to do alone.”

She huffed, clearly irritated, but didn’t argue further.

There were several doors in front of me, each one leading to one of the businesses at the front of the street. I wasn’t sure which one belonged to Crave Café, so I kept a close eye on all of them as I waited.

There were several things that could go wrong. Matt could fail in his attempt to lure Rayna outside. She could become suspicious and bolt. Someone could come down the alley and witness me kidnapping her.

I had to hope none of those things happened. I needed one fucking thing to go right. Just one. That wasn’t a huge ask, was it?

A few minutes passed before the door to my left opened, Rayna stepping out. Her eyes widened when she saw me, her whole body stiffening in fear and shock. She spun on her heels and lunged for the door at the same time Matt slammed it closed, locking it behind him.

She cursed, yanking on the handle in distress as she banged on the door repeatedly, demanding someone open it. When nobody did, she decided to cut her losses and bolt for the exit.

I took a giant step to the right, blocking her path.

She stumbled to a stop, her eyes wide with panic. “A-Aleksandr.” She put her hands up in front of her, palms facing me as she took a step back.

I smiled darkly. “Hello, Rayna.”

“Look, I don’t know what Illayana told you—”

“That’s the last time you say my sister’s name,” I said, moving closer.

She took another step back, swallowing nervously. “Cousin—”

“Don’t try and play the ‘family’ card. It’s too late for that.” I matched her movements, tracking each of her steps as she tried to back away from me. “Did you really think you’d get away with it?”

“I-I’m not trying to get away with anything, Aleksandr. Honestly. I didn’t—”

“Shut your mouth before I shut it for you. No more lies, Rayna.”

Her lips clamped shut, a hateful sneer streaking across her face. “I’m not going with you. You’ll have to kill me first.”

“Do you really think you have any say over what’s about to happen?” I backed her into a corner, giving her nowhere to go. Her back pressed against the dirty, filthy brick wall, her eyes darting left to right looking for an escape.

One she would never find.

“Aleksandr, just wait. Listen to me—no, wait, stop!” I grabbed her by her hair, making my grip as painful as possible as I dragged her over to the car.

She fought hard, flailing her limbs and lashing out against me. She screamed next, a loud, high-pitched, ‘help I’m being kidnapped’ kind of scream that would attract attention if someone heard it.

I pulled out a knife and held it to her lips, the blade cutting into her skin. “Make another sound and I’ll cut out your fucking tongue.”

She whimpered, her scream dying off in her throat. “A-Aleksandr, cousin, please. Don’t do this,” she begged as I hauled her by her hair, stopping at the boot of the car.

I opened the trunk and shoved her inside, copping an elbow to the cheek that made me grunt. I punched her in the face, hearing her nose crack beneath my knuckles, and she passed out, her body slumping.

Should have done that to start with.

I rubbed my cheekbone, a little annoyed with the sharp burst of pain now streaking across my face. But honestly? I would have been more annoyed if she didn’t put up any fight at all.

A Volkov should never go down easily.

I blew out a breath, a small weight lifting off my shoulders. With Rayna now locked securely in the boot of my car, it brought us one step closer to Dominik. To finding out exactly what their goal was in handing Illayana over to Nero. To getting to the bottom of this whole fucking mess.

Even weeks later, we still had no idea what their reason was for betraying us, what they wanted. They’d just dumped Illayana in Nero’s hands and bolted. There had to be a reason, a plan they had we just weren’t seeing.

It made me nervous. Dominik was a conniving bastard, just like Sergei. Whatever plan he had wouldn’t end well for us, I was sure of it.

I took a step towards the drivers’ side door, eager to get home and finally get the answers we needed, when the back door to Crave Café suddenly opened, one of Rayna’s guards stepping out.

There was a brief second of hesitation, both of us staring at each other before we reacted. The guard pulled out his gun and I ducked, taking cover behind the car. A stream of bullets impacted the side of the car, the sound of metal crunching on metal echoing through the alley.

I stayed low, shuffling forward on my feet and pulling out my gun.

Girlish screams came from inside the car as bullets rained down. I frowned. I never would have pegged Drea as the type to scream in the face of danger.

I peeked over the hood of the car, catching a glimpse of the guard reloading. Through the windscreen I could see Drea frantically trying to get out, ramming her elbow into the window over and over again. In the back seat, Dayton was screaming.

I rolled my eyes. I should have known it was him.

The car itself was an armoured vehicle, with bullet proof glass and run flat tyres. The safest place for them was actually inside it, even if it was being shot at.

I aimed and fired. The guard jumped to the side, narrowly missing a bullet to the head. He rolled along the ground and smacked into the side of the car. I charged him, hitting him in the chest with a flying knee strike.

The guard grunted, crying out in pain as I ground my knee deep into his chest, wedging him between me and the car. I shoved my gun down his throat and fired. Blood splattered over my face, down my neck and across my skin, staining it red.

“Aleksandr! Behind you!”

I vaulted right, just managing to avoid the booted foot that slammed into the car door right where my head was a second ago. I rolled and sprang to my feet, blocking another blow as Rayna’s other guard came at me again.

He was young. Really young. Like a kid fresh out of training. He was tall—well built for someone his age—with dark brown hair and pale skin. He knocked the gun out of my hands with some fancy kung-fu kick, swinging his legs and jumping through the air.

Who was this motherfucker? Jacky Chan?

He flounced around with elaborate punches and kicks, striking out at nothing but air while I just stared at him, my brows lowering deeper and deeper into a frown. It was like he was trying to intimidate me with all those crazy moves and the constant ‘hiyah’ cries he kept screaming over and over again.

He did one last spin, ending with his feet planted firmly on the ground, arms up in a fighting pose, eyes locked on me.

I arched an eyebrow. “You done?”

He gave me a smug smile, arrogance wafting off him. “Yep.”

“Good.” I struck fast, throwing a right punch, my knuckles smashing into his jaw.

His head whipped to the side, his body swaying slightly as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He dropped, thunking to the ground.

If I had time, I’d wake the kid up and give him a lecture about proper fighting etiquette, about how you don’t waste time throwing a bunch of fancy moves around, trying to show off what you can do.

You just attack.

Where did Dominik find this idiot?

I unlocked the car and Drea burst out, a wild, frantic look in her eyes. “Fuck, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I frowned as she ran her hands over me, looking for injuries.

“Oh, good. I’m glad you’re not hurt.”

I didn’t know you cared so much, malyshka.

“Because I want to be the one to hurt you,” she hissed, slapping me across the face.

Oh.

My cheek burned, the imprint of her hand likely spreading out across my skin from the force of the blow.

“That’s for locking me in your car, you jackass. Now hurry up, grab his legs. We gotta get them all in the car and get out of here. The gunshots likely drew attention.” Drea bent down, wrapping her arms underneath the kid-guards’ armpits and hefting him up.

She was right. Besides Rayna’s scream, the sound of the gunshots almost definitely led to someone calling 911. We needed to get out of here quickly and do damage control. Drea’s quick thinking impressed me.

I rotated my jaw, the sting of her slap still throbbing over my face. I narrowed my eyes at her as I picked up the guy’s legs, shuffling him towards the car.

“Dayton! Open the damn door!” Drea yelled, kicking the car.

Dayton opened it, shuffling backwards as we threw both bodies into the car. He gagged when the guard with a hole in his head landed beside him.

“Oh, God. I’m gonna throw up,” he whined.

“Don’t you dare,” I warned, jumping into the driver’s seat.

Once Drea was inside, I turned the car on and sped out of the alleyway, merging onto the busy road so quickly several people honked at me.

I pulled up Nik’s number on the display screen on the dashboard and hit CALL.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“I need you to wipe the cameras at Crave Café again.”

He breathed out an irritated sigh. “Honestly, Zander. Can’t you just kill people in an area not littered with fucking surveillance? It would make my life so much easier. Do you need the Cleaners?”

“No time. Police are probably already on the way. Just monitor the radios and let our contacts at LVPD know about it.”

“Will do. You gonna tell me what happened?”

“I have her.”

Nik was quiet for a moment. “Her her? Rayna?”

“Yes. Let Father know.”

“You got it.” Nik hung up.

I glanced at Drea. She smiled brightly, all sunshine and roses, like the fact that we’d just killed a man and kidnapped two people was something totally in the norm for her.

Being the leader of the cartel, I suspected it was.

In a lot of ways, Drea was perfect for me. She lived and breathed this life, just like me. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. To hurt. To kill. She was just as cutthroat and brutal as I was.

The truth of the matter was, I didn’t want to give her up. Not now, not ever.