Twilight Sins (Kulikov Bratva Book 1)

“Where the fuck is he?” I mutter just loud enough for the earpiece I’m wearing to pick up. “He’s supposed to be here, Nik.”

Nikandr’s voice is staticky through the headphones. “He should be here. He said he’d be here. I read it in the article and confirmed it with two other sources. Akim wanted to prove that security at his club is tight enough that he isn’t afraid to mingle with the patrons.”

“None of that changes the fact that Akim isn’t fucking here,” I growl.

I haven’t seen a single member of the Gustev Bratva since we climbed out of the car and walked up to the crowd of people gathered outside The Rouge Lounge. It’s been twenty minutes of milling around with influencers desperate to get the scoop on the newest hotspot and people who don’t exist except to be seen at the right place with the right people. It’s fucking nauseating.

The only way I’d put up with this is if I got to kill Akim once and for all at the end of it. But the coward hasn’t shown his face once.

“I didn’t say a word to anyone,” Nik says in my ear. “I told Oleg to tighten up security at the house, but that’s it. He doesn’t know why.”

“There’s no way our plan leaked,” I say mostly to myself.

“Maybe Akim changed his mind.”

“After making sure everyone in the city knew he’d be here? No way.” I scan the crowd again, looking for security guards or bouncers I recognize. But they’re nobodies. Civilians. “It’s an embarrassment. He looks scared. Why would he do this unless he…”

My voice drifts, an idea taking root in my brain.

“Yakov? You there?”

Akim told everyone who would listen exactly where he’d be standing tonight, down to the minute. It was like he was advertising his own execution. It was so easy that Nik and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, even with how quickly the plan needed to come together.

And Akim knew I wouldn’t be able to resist.

My veins fill with ice.

“Fuck!”

The girl next to me gasps and tucks into the chest of her boyfriend, who’s shirt is hanging open down to his belly button. I shove past both of them, a string of curse words pouring out of my mouth.

“Where are you going?” Nik asks. “What changed?”

“Everything changed,” I snap. “Get back to the car. Now!”

I can see Nikandr moving in my peripherals, his head bobbing above the crowd. But I break into a run.

“Yakov, what is happening?”

Shit, shit, shit.

“Setup,” I pant, running as fast as I can now. “It’s a fucking setup, Nik. Akim was never going to be here. He announced it because he knew we’d show up. He knew we’d leave Luna and Mariya at home alone.”

There’s a beat before Nik curses. He catches up to me, racing up the opposite side of the street towards the car. I can hear him breathing heavily in the earpiece. “Why would he do this? Why not go after us?”

“My death isn’t enough. He doesn’t want my life. He wants me to suffer.”

Luna. Mariya. My heart clenches.

Love is loss. It’s a weakness. It’s a vulnerability.

Akim knows that and he’s going after the people I love.

I never even told her.

Nikandr hops into the driver’s seat and starts the car just as I make it to the passenger side. My door is still hanging open when he peels away from the curb and tears down the street.

“How did you figure it out?” Nik asks. “Did you see something or⁠—”

“I just know.”

“How?” he presses. “We’re supposed to confirm this shit. That’s what you told me. What if he’s just late and we gave up the opportunity to take him out?”

“I know,” I growl. “Drive the fucking car. Get there now.”

I kept my phone in the car so I wouldn’t be distracted, but when I reach for it now, there are three missed calls from Mariya and a voicemail.

I call her back, but there’s no answer. I call Oleg, but same thing. Endless ringing.

“Where are they?” I grit out.

I fire off a text to Oleg. Akim Gustev is coming for you.

I copy the same message to Mariya with one change. Hide until we get there.

It might already be too late.

“Akim could have been at the mansion minutes after we left. With the thirty-minute drive to the club and the thirty minutes we stood outside… We gave him an entire fucking hour, Nik.”

“Mariya is smart,” Nik says, his voice shaky. “She’ll know what to do.”

“But Luna—” I can’t even say her name. Can’t even think it.

She’s pregnant.

If Akim figures out she’s carrying my child, he won’t just kill her; he’ll destroy her.

My hand is shaking with the need to rip Akim Gustev’s still-beating heart out of his chest when I play the voicemail Mariya left. Her voice rings through the car like she’s sitting in the backseat.

“I don’t need your voicemail, Yakov. I need you! Akim Gustev isn’t at The Rouge Lounge like he said. He’s here. At our house. It was a trap!”

Without a word, Nik slams on the gas.