Page 67 of Paved in Hate

“Yeah,” I say again.

“I’m assuming you all are going to make a plan and kill those fuckers, right?” She glances at Katya. “Sorry. I know they’re your brothers.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’d pull the trigger myself if Vitaly would let me.”

I smile down at my wife and kiss the tip of her nose. “Not a chance in hell, baby, but I love that you’d want to.”

“My dad’s a real jackass,” Emily says, “so I completely understand your desire to shoot a family member.” She rolls her eyes and adds, “Roman won’t let me pull the trigger either.”

I run my eyes over her pregnant body. “Yeah, can’t imagine why not.”

“Well I’m not pregnant and you won’t let me shoot anybody,” Katya says.

I give her a wink and lightly tap the ass I’ll never be able to get enough of. “Keep telling yourself that,ptichka.”

She smiles up at me, and I fucking melt for my wife. God, how the hell I went from ruthless Bratva killer to whipped man in love so damn quickly I’ll never know.

“Emily!”

We all look to the door at the sound of Roman’s worried voice. Emily immediately calls to him to let him know she’s okay.

“Here we go,” Danil mutters. “Want me to get Matvey so we don’t have to do this twice?”

“Yeah, once is going to be bad enough,” I say.

Lev nods his agreement and then goes to get his wife while Danil goes in search of Matvey and Simona. Might as well get everyone in here for this.

“What’s going on?” Roman’s eyes immediately run over his wife, searching for any signs of distress.

“I’m fine, babe,” she tells him, reaching a hand out for him and then standing so she can sit on his lap. When she gives me a quick smile, I know she’s also done it to try and secure his ass in place. He won’t jump up if she’s in his lap. He’d never do anything to risk hurting his wife or son. She wraps an arm around his shoulders and leans into him while he kisses her cheek and rests a protective hand on her belly.

A few minutes later the others walk in. Lev and Danil keep their wives close while Matvey scans the room, opting to stand off to the side, leaning against the wall. His hood is down, but his arms are crossed over his chest, and he already looks wary. His dark eyes meet mine, and I have to force myself to hold his gaze. This is going to fucking kill him, and I wish like hell I could take this from him, but I can’t. We’re in this together to the end, and if that means we walk through hell together, then so fucking be it.

“Tell me,” he says, and the pain in his gravelly voice makes it clear he already knows something is up. When I don’t immediately speak, he adds, “Just fucking tell me.”

“She’s alive.” I quickly spit the words out, knowing that’s what he fears most, and when he hears it, his shoulders slump in relief, but the pain doesn’t leave his eyes. “She’s alive,” I repeat because I know it’s what he needs to hold onto right now. “And we know where she is.”

He pushes off from the wall and takes a step closer. “What?” He looks at all of us. “Where the fuck is she?”

“Matvey,” Lev says, trying to calm him down. “We’re going to get her, brother, but we can’t do it without a plan.”

Matvey turns his eyes back to mine. “Where the fuck is she?”

“I’ll tell you, but first I need to know you’re not going to run off and do anything stupid. We can’t fuck this up. I know you know that, but you’re not thinking clearly right now.” He ignores everything I’ve just said and shakes his head at me.

“Where the fuck is she, Vitaly?”

I can’t ignore the raw pain in his voice. I can’t fucking do it to him, so I say, “She’s Konstantin’s pet.”

He flinches like I’ve just sucker-punched him. “What?” He looks from me to Katya. “She’s with your brother? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“She didn’t know,” I tell him. “She had no idea what Alina looked like.”

“Then how’d you figure it out?”

I don’t want to answer his question, but I know he’s not going to leave it alone until he hears it all, so I tell him about Katya’s nightmares and about her drawings and how I woke up and saw them.

“I want to see them.” His eyes dart around the room, searching for the sketchpad before meeting mine again. “Let me fucking see them.”

---