Bratva Bride (Bratva Series Book 1)

All I could feel was pain.

All I could see was smoke.

All I could hear was an incessant ringing in my ears.

I blinked, trying to get my eyes to focus, but it was like I was stuck in a haze. Nothing was coming through right. I could taste blood on my tongue, and I knew that at least on some level I had internal injuries.

Don’t worry about that now. Worry about it later.

I heard someone calling my name over and over again. Could see them standing over me but my senses still weren’t working properly. All I saw was a blur. All I could hear was ringing. That damn ringing.

A sharp slap to my face knocked my head to the side. That momentary sting somehow managed to snap me back to reality.

Who the fuck just slapped me?!

“Illayana!”

My eyes began to focus on the figure standing above me, the blurry-ness slowly starting to fade until Aleksandr’s worried face came into view. I blinked rapidly, fighting the last bit of obscurity from my eyesight.

“Did you just fucking slap me?” I rasped, my voice rough and thick.

Relief flooded his face as he leaned forward and wrapped me in his embrace. He sat me up, squeezing my body tightly.

“Can’t . . . breathe,” I choked.

His hold immediately loosened but he kept his arms around me as he leaned back to study my face. “Don’t do that again. You scared the fucking shit out of me.”

I scanned my surroundings, taking in all the destruction and chaos around me. Smoke and the scent of blood tainted the air, nearly overcoming all my senses. Bodies littered the ground, their limbs grotesquely contoured from being hurled into the air by the blast.

Bile rose in my throat from the sight and stench of all those bodies, and I had to work hard to keep it all down. People I knew, people I had just spoken to only moments ago, lying dead all around me. I had grown up familiar with death, had seen more dead bodies as a child than most people see in a lifetime. But this? This was fucked.

Now isn’t the time to get squeamish, Illayana! Pull your shit together!

Fire blazed from our house, the entire front section crumbling as Cosa Nostra and Bratva men worked together to try and put it out while others fought against masked invaders.

I looked around, panic setting in when I couldn’t find my father, brothers or Arturo.

‘Where are they?’ My eyes darted rapidly around my surroundings, searching for them.

Oh God, please let them be okay.

The longer I went without seeing them, the worse my panic got. My heart started to beat faster and faster, my breathing turned erratic.

‘Sestra,’ Aleksandr said sternly, gripping my shoulders and shaking me lightly. “Snap the fuck out of it before I slap it out of you. Again.”

I narrowed my eyes and wretched my body out of his grasp. “Do it and you’ll be fucking sorry,” I snarled.

His eyes twinkled. “Ahhh, there she is. You had me scared there for a minute. Thought you were turning into one of those useless, hysterical women.”

“Where…are…they?” I spat.

“They’re fine, jeez.” He rolled his eyes. “We turned the warehouse into a makeshift infirmary. Anybody with injuries is being put there for now. Arturo is one of them. He’s fine!” He quickly interjected. “Just a little banged up from shielding you from the blast. Lukyan and Nikolai are in charge of guarding the warehouse, making sure no one gets to it. We’ve called in every doc who’s on our payroll within a thirty-mile radius to come and treat them.”

“And Father?”

He gave me a stern look. “Where do you think he is?”

If I knew my father, he’d be in the thick of the chaos. And he’d be in a rage.

“What the fuck happened?”

“We were hit with some high-powered explosive device. Father sent me to find you immediately after the explosion and get you to safety. I have no idea how many we’re up against here.”

I could see a few of our soldiers fighting with the attackers, but the majority of our men were working on getting the fire under control before it spread any further.

A rage unlike anything I had ever felt before blasted through me as I watched one of the attacker’s knife an Italian soldier.

Who the fuck do these people think they are?!

I rose to my feet, my body aching with protest, but I ignored it. Ignored the pain and just focused on all the rage building inside me.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it.” Aleksandr gripped my arms, holding me in place. “Where do you think you’re going?”

I scowled, shaking him off. “Where do you think?! There’s still enemies on our grounds. I’m not just gonna sit here and watch our men die!”

I grabbed the knife from my ankle holster and used it to cut the bottom half of my dress off. A twinge of guilt hit me right in the gut as the fabric fell to the blood-stained grass, but I couldn’t think about that right now. There was no way I would have the manoeuvrability I needed to take down these fuckers with a skin-tight, floor length dress on.

“Na-uh. No fucking way. Father told me to get you out of here. If this is Nero, there’s a good chance they’re here for you.”

I scoffed. “Let them fucking come,” I growled, plucking my heels from my feet and snapping the heel off each one. The last thing I needed was sinking into the damn grass when I was fighting.

Aleksandr watched as I slipped them back onto my feet, his face set in a mask of disapproval.

I went to move, but he placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “I swear to the damn devil, Aleksandr, if you don’t let go of me right now, you’ll be the one on the receiving end of all this rage I have inside me right now.”

He arched an eyebrow.

I growled in frustration. I was almost at the point where I wanted to rip out my bloody hair. “If you’re so fucking worried then come with me! Cover my back.”

He opened his mouth to respond when an ear-piercing scream had us both turning around. A few metres ahead of us, Lucian was being dragged away by his hair, kicking and screaming.

No!

I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t. I bolted for him, shoving Aleksandr to the side and pushing my legs as hard as they could go. Lucian was fighting hard, thrashing his little limbs and screaming at the top of his lungs. He managed to get out of the attacker’s grip and I yelled for him.

“Lucian!”

His head snapped to me, relief and fear all over his face as he started running towards me, his attacker a mere inch behind him. I steadied my grip on my knife and prepared to throw.

“Down!” I yelled, pulling my arm back and taking aim.

Lucian dropped to the ground without hesitation. As soon as he was clear, I hurled my knife at the attacker, the blade piercing the man’s chest with blazing speed.

He screamed in agony as he fell to the ground, his hands grasping at the knife in his chest before he went still.

Lucian tried to get to his feet, his legs shaking so badly he would have tumbled back down if Aleksandr hadn’t been there to catch him.

“Lucian…Lucian.” I ran my hands over his tiny body, looking for any sign of injury. “Are you okay?”

He nodded his head. “I’m f-fine,” he stuttered.

Anger pulsed through me at the look of fear on his face, at the sight of blood on him.

“We need to get him out of here!” I hissed, looking at Aleksandr.

He scanned the area, looking for the best route out of the chaos. I saw Alessandro and Vincenzo fending off several attackers, their bodies placed firmly in front of Isabella, protecting her. Alessandro saw us, saw Lucian in Aleksandr’s arms and tried moving towards us, but his attackers kept preventing him from advancing.

“There.” I pointed to them. “Give him to me. You’re better to defend.”

He nodded, handing Lucian over. I grunted and adjusted his weight evenly. He sure was heavy for a nine-year-old. He wrapped his arms around my neck and legs around my torso as Aleksandr took point.

“Stay close.”

I hugged Lucian closer to my body, determined to do everything I could to protect him. People ran all around us. Some just trying to find a safe place to hold up until it was all over, some trying to fight our attackers. The pure mayhem was indescribable.

Relief flashed over Alessandro’s face when he caught sight of Lucian and I slowly making our way over to him.

Everything’s going to be okay, Lucian. I won’t let anything happen to you.

We stayed low, manoeuvring around the broken furniture and dead bodies as quickly as we could.

Suddenly, we were falling. Everything happened so quickly. Too quickly. My brain was slow to process what was going on as Lucian and I fell to the ground. At the very last second, I managed to twist my body so I took the brunt of the fall, with Lucian landing on top of me.

Something squeezed my ankle and I looked down to see a man who I had presumed dead gripping my ankle ferociously.

Fuck!

He started scrambling up my body and before I could even think about what I was doing, I gripped Lucian and flung his body over my head and out of the way just before the man climbed on top of me completely.

His hands wrapped around my throat instantly, applying an unbelievable amount of pressure.

I struggled, punching him as hard as I could in the abdomen, but he barely flinched. My vision started to blur, darkness slowly crept in as I pounded at his chest over and over again. But it was no use. He was too big, too strong. He had caught me by surprise and now I was paying the price.

My head spun as I tried gasping for breath, my fingers clawing at his hands uselessly.

This is it. This is how I’m going to die.

My eyes started to droop, life literally draining out of me and all I could do was lie there and take it. Triumph flashed in his dark eyes when he realised I had given up, that there was no fight left in me.

I was so far gone my brain barely registered Lucian’s war cry as he came running towards us, knife raised into the air. My attacker was too interested in watching the life drain from my eyes to notice. By the time he did, it was too late.

Lucian rammed the knife into the man’s throat with a grunt, blood spurting out of the wound and all over his little suit. Lucian growled, baring his teeth like an animal as he shoved the blade in deeper.

The man’s wide eyes shifted to Lucian, bewildered as he let go of my throat and gripped his own. A rush of air entered my lungs and I took a deep breath in, savouring the ability to fucking breathe again.

Lucian used the full force of his body to ram into my attacker, pushing him off me. The man tumbled to the ground, gurgling and choking on his own blood before he went completely still.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched his eyes close forever. Lucian put his little hands on mine and tried to help me stand.

“Are you okay, new big sister?” he asked, his hands and voice trembling.

Without hesitating, I threw my arms around him and wrapped him up into a tight bear hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I peppered his face with kisses, loving the sound of his laughter as he tried to squirm away from my affection.

My eyes found Aleksandr just as he snapped a man’s neck and the body fell lifelessly to the ground. He stood still, taking several deep breaths, his eyes burning with rage before making his way over to Lucian and I. Five bodies lay at his feet, each one as dead and broken as the next.

So, that’s why he didn’t come to my rescue. The fuckers had thrown five men at him – and they still lost.

His suit was torn, blood dripping down his face from a cut on his forehead but other than that he seemed relatively fine.

“Are you alright?” he asked, concerned.

I smiled and gave Lucian another big smooch on the cheek. “I am, thanks to this superstar.”

Alessandro, Isabella and Vincenzo ran towards us the first chance they got, scooping Lucian up and hugging him tightly.

“Il mio ragazzo. Stai bene? Sei ferito? Dov’è la tua guardia? Dov’è Tomasso?” My boy. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where’s your guard? Where’s Tomasso? Alessandro spoke fast, the words flying from his mouth as he held his son.

“Morto. La mia nuova sorella maggiore mi ha salvato. Dead. My new big sister saved me.

They all turned to look at me, gratitude radiating from them.

“Actually, he saved me.” I pointed at the dead man with the knife sticking out of his throat.

“Oh, mio ragazzo! Mio prezioso bambino!” Oh, my boy! My precious little boy!Isabella shrieked, pulling Lucian from Alessandro’s grip and wrapping him up tight in her own embrace.

“Madre, sto.” Mother, stop.Lucian whined, trying to escape his mother’s clutches. His face turned bright red, embarrassed at the level of affection being displayed.

Alessandro stared at his son, pride wafting off him in waves. He smiled, tousling his hair. “Ben fatto, figlio mio.” Well done, my son. He looked around, scanning our surroundings and furrowed his brows. “Where’s Theodora?”