Page 115 of The Bratva Sinner

He sighs. “You’ve made a mess.”

“I know. I need you to understand everything before you tell me what you think. Not the version Nikolai gave you. Mine.”

“Then give it to me.”

He’s pissed that I didn’t call him earlier. We both know I should have. I didn’t want to rely on my big brother to save my ass.

I tell him everything. About her father’s debt. Arlind’s claim on her. I tell him about the women leaving my houses, the suppliers pulling back, and the slow, methodical squeeze Arlind has put on my operation.

When I finish, it’s silent. I can hear him breathing, but I check to make sure we’re still connected.

“You married her because you thought that would make this problem go away.”

“I did.”

“Before you knew her, her background or her history.”

I hear all the things he isn’t saying. I know Nikolai has talked with Sergei. He told me to do it, but I was too proud.

“Sergei, I married her. I paid someone to make sure there weren’t any hurt feelings.”

“I’m guessing burning their shit down might have hurt some feelings.”

“He started it.”

He snorts. I couldn’t resist. Humor is my default. I know what Sergei will say. He’s pissed. He’s been pissed. Putting off calling him only made him more pissed.

He exhales slowly. “I have my own situation right now. The Rossi family is testing boundaries again. New generation thinks they can renegotiate terms his grandfather set twenty years ago. I’ve been managing that for six weeks.”

“I’m not asking you to drop that.”

“I know you’re not.” Another pause. “I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to answer me honestly. Not the way you answer Nikolai when you want him to stop talking. Honestly. And no fucking jokes.”

I wait.

“Is she worth it?” he asks. “This woman. Is she worth what she’s costing you? What she might cost me?”

It’s the same question Cinder asked. And I have the same answer.

“Yes. She’s worth all of it.”

“You’re certain,” he says.

“I’ve never been more certain of anything. And I know what that sounds like. I know I’ve known her less than two months. I know the timing is insane, and the circumstances are worse. I know she’s nineteen, and I’m thirty-six, and she came to me with nothing and nowhere to go. I know all of it, Sergei. And you’re sitting there in your house with your wife and kids, and I know it didn’t start out the way a typical relationship does. So don’t lecture me about moving too fast.”

“You know a lot of things, but I’m not hearing you say you love her. Because you can be infatuated with someone and not have it last.”

“I would burn Miami to the ground before I let them have her.”

“I know what that feels like,” he says quietly.

He did things for Sofia that nearly cost him everything. There were months where I genuinely didn’t know if my brother would survive the choices he made for that woman. I watched him take on enemies with twice his firepower because someone threatened what was his.

He won.

He always wins. That’s the thing about Sergei. He wins, and then he builds something permanent on top of the wreckage.

That’s why I’m calling him now. Maybe I should have done this earlier, but what’s done is done.