Sinful Bride (Belaya Bratva 3)

“You are going to the surgeon,” I answered. “Shove that in the hole to stop the bleeding.”

Pavel was pale and breathing heavily as he did so, and we gathered another shirt to tie off a tourniquet of sorts above the wound. “Get him the fuck out of here,” I told the men that had gathered to help him up. I couldn’t lose my brigadiers. They were what made my fucking Bratva function, and hell, it was hard to find good men that I could depend on.

Case in point, fucking Konstantin and his men.

Pavel looked back at me as they picked him up, sweat shining on his forehead and grimacing from the pain. “Yuri didn’t make it.”

Fuck.

I gave him a nod and resumed my path, coming upon Yuri’s body near an overturned car. Crouching, I closed his eyes with my fingers and whispered a prayer for his soul. “He isn’t to be burned,” I told Oleg, who would oversee the clean-up. “Make sure his body gets back to his family.”

“Yes, Pakhan,” he murmured, sadness on his face as he looked at his friend. “I will take care of him.”

I stared at the fallen brigadier a moment more, my heart heavy from Anatoly and now Yuri. They had been loyal men until the end, and their deaths were just another stain on my fucking soul.

It was my fault and my fault alone that they were dead, and I would carry that guilt for the rest of my life.

I rose to my feet and looked around the area. I had sustained heavy losses, but we had come out on top.

Now all I had to do was fight the asshole who had inserted himself into my shit and threatened my wife.

Konstantin had come through in the end. If Hampton hadn’t gotten the FBI involved yet, then I had a chance to get him before he did. I didn’t know what I would find in his apartment, but whatever it was, Konstantin had thought that it would be far more damaging than the FBI agent showing up today and that worried me greatly.

Turning back to the house, I realized I needed to get Naomi out of there. The young Bratva member still stood by the door, giving me a single nod as I approached, which meant that Naomi wasn’t injured.

A small sigh of relief threaded through me. She had done her part. Naomi had brought my enemies to me, and I had gotten the upper hand, but hers was still out there. I could just ignore him, let him think that I didn’t give a shit about him or his threats, but then again, Naomi couldn’t be free until Hampton was dead.

I wanted to give her that freedom. I wanted us to go into our future with no one between us, no one that could threaten our family.

I wanted her to feel safe.

So, I stepped into the house, taking a moment to pull my shit together. The first hurdle was complete, and while I didn’t like that we had lost men on both sides today, it had to be done. Konstantin and his men had made their choices, and I had made mine.

I sure as hell didn’t know if I had enough to even regroup for the next hurdle to come.