Yuri (Bratva Blood Brothers Book 1) Read online

  “The problem is that we don’t have it either.” Yuri pointed out.

  “I have it. That might be one of the reasons Carlos is looking for me.”

  “There is more than one reason?”

  “There could be. I thought I was safe here. I never thought he would come this close to you.”

  Yuri paused and thinking a moment, then he reasoned out loud, “I wonder why he did come here today? This is a little out of his range, isn’t it?”

  “It might have something to do with the photo you were searching the police files for.”

  Yuri turned to frown at her. “What would he have anything to do with this?”

  “He might have been one of Carlos’s kids too.”

  “What?” Yuri shouted. “How do you know this?”

  “I can’t tell you that.” She got to her feet and went over to stand in front of the window.

  Yuri followed her and gasped her shoulders to turn her around to face him. “Why can’t you tell me?”

  “Because I don’t want to ok?” she shouted. “I really need to talk to him before I tell you about him. He has no idea who he really is and I need to talk to him before I say anything to you.”

  Just then, the door opened and Nikoli and Kosta came in but neither Yuri nor Raven noticed. They were too busy glaring at one another.

  “Just who do you think this young man is?” Yuri demanded.

  “I don’t know but I do know he isn’t who he believes he is.”

  “And who does he think he is, young lady?” Nikoli asked.

  Raven turned her head to stare at the older man. “He thinks he’s my brother,” she finally admitted.

  Chapter Six

  “Your brother?” Nikoli frowned.

  Raven turned to Yuri. “Please I have to go home and talk to him first. He deserves to hear this from me.”

  Yuri shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that. Not with Carlos roaming the city. If he found you or your brother unprotected, he would seek his revenge on you.”

  “Why would Carlos want to hurt either of them?” Nikoli demanded.

  “Ten years ago, Carlos had Raven steal our medallion. She didn’t turn it over to him and that’s the only thing that’s stopped him from taking our place with the Council,” Yuri informed them.

  “What?” Both Nikoli and Kosta shouted.

  Nikoli stomped up to her and raised his hand to slap her but Yuri held him back. Nikoli turned to him and snarled, “Why did you stop me? She’s nothing more than a thief.”

  “Oh, I think she’s more than just a thief,” Yuri informed the other man. “I think she has much more to tell us if we care to listen first and ask questions later.”

  Nikoli turned back to Raven. “Where is the medallion? I demand that you return it immediately.”

  Raven shrugged. “I never wanted the damn thing anyway. I kept it to keep it away from Carlos. He didn’t deserve it and I didn’t know you all well enough to give it back.”

  “Where is it now?” Nikoli demanded.

  “It’s safe,” Raven assured them. “But I need to speak to my brother before I say anything else.”

  “Then let my men bring him here,” Yuri ordered.

  Raven shook her head. “He won’t come here with anyone but me.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere,” Nikoli insisted. “We don’t have any answers yet, and I don’t trust you to return.”

  Raven shook her head. “I’d give you my word but I doubt you’d take it.”

  “You’d be right about that,” Nikoli confirmed her statement.

  Raven drew herself inward. Turning to face the window, she asked, “Then how do you want to play this out?”

  “Tell us what we wish to know and we might let you go to your brother,” Nikoli compromised.

  Raven shook her head. “I need to speak to my brother first. Then I’ll tell you anything and everything I know.”

  “Write a note to your brother and my men can deliver it. Then they can bring him here.” Yuri offered. “Then you can tell us what we want to know and everyone is happy.”

  “And if Carlos sees your man bringing my brother here?” Raven played devil’s advocate. “He’d take my brother hostage and force me to turn over the medallion. Then he’d kill me and my brother in retaliation.” Shaking her head, “We’d all lose then.”

  Nikoli frowned. “What is it you aren’t telling us, child?”

  Raven turned away without saying a word.

  Yuri growled and grabbed her shoulders glaring at her. “Write your damn note. I’ll send three men to get him. Carlos won’t dare attack three of my men. They will bring your brother here and you can speak to him then.”

  “They can try but if they lead Carlos to my brother, he won’t make it back here. Carlos doesn’t care who he has to kill to get what he wants.” She walked over to the desk and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. Quickly writing a note, she folded it. She wrote an address on the outside of the paper and handed it to Yuri.

  Yuri opened the letter and read the words she wrote. He frowned because the message didn’t make sense to him. “Is this some sort of code?” He handed the letter to Nikoli.

  Nikoli seemed just as confused by the message.

  “Gold star to you, Mr. Anatoly,” she said sarcastically.

  Nikoli reached out and slapped her before anyone could stop him. “I’ve about had enough of your sass young lady.”

  She just glared at him and turned her back on the whole bunch of them. She stared out the window and could see the lights come on all over the city.

  Yuri shook his head and spoke quietly to Kosta. Handing him the note, he watched as the other man left the room.

  Nikoli walked over to the bar and poured a couple of drinks. Handing one to Yuri, they watched her as they sipped their drink.

  “What do you think she knows that’s so important she won’t tell us?” Nikoli asked in Russian.

  Yuri wished he knew. This had been a very strange day. Some of the things they’d learned bothered him a great deal but he had a feeling there was more to come and not all of it would be pleasant. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling this day is far from over.”

  “I have a feeling you could be right about that, my friend.” Nikoli slammed the rest of his drink down his throat and poured another.

  An hour later, Yuri’s phone rang. When he answered it, he listened for a moment then handed it to Raven. When she answered it, she spoke for a moment then handed it back to Yuri. When she was done, she went back to the window and stared outside.

  A short time later, she saw a dark SUV pull into the front of the hotel. Instead of stopping at the entrance, the SUV pulled into the private parking area. As Raven watched, another SUV pulled in behind the first one and she saw Carlos Lopez step out of the second vehicle. She watched as he marched up to the entrance and came inside.

  Without turning around she told Yuri, “You’re about to get company. Carlos is here.”

  Yuri placed his glass on the table and together, he and Nikoli waited for the knock on the door. He pulled his phone out and called his man Kosta. He didn’t want Kosta and the brother to be seen by Carlos.

  Moments later, the knock came and Yuri called out, “Come in.”

  The door opened and Stephanou ushered Carlos into the room. Carlos looked around, first at Yuri then to Nikoli and finally he noticed Raven. He curled his lip at Raven but turned to address Yuri and Nikoli, “Gentlemen, my name is Carlos Lopez and I want to inform you that I am calling for a place at the Council. I plan to prove that your Bratva is no longer in possession of the medallion and that I possess it now.”

  “Prove it.” Yuri demanded. “Show us that you possess the medallion and we will consider your request.”

  Carlos smiled carefully. “I don’t have to prove anything to you, only to the rest of the Council.”

  Raven took careful steps toward Yuri. When she stood in front of him, she unbuckled her belt. With her eyes on C
arlos, she flipped the belt around and moved the back plate. When it popped open, she reached inside and grabbed the round metal disk inside. She handed it to Yuri and went back to her place by the window.

  Yuri was stunned and when he opened his fingers, the chain dropped down between them. He then placed the medallion around his neck.

  Carlos’s face flushed dark red when he realized the medallion was now around Yuri’s neck. He turned to glare at Raven. His hand went to the inside of his jacket and he brought out a gun. Before he could cock the piece, Stephanou rushed over and pushed him against the wall. His arm pushed into Carlos’s throat.

  Yuri grabbed the gun out of his hand and pointed it at Carlos. “Don’t you come into my hotel and threaten a member of my staff.” He growled at the other man. “I could kill you right now and no one would say a word against me. The police would call it self-defense and no one would mourn your death.”

  “You’re a dead woman, you bitch!” Carlos croaked out. The arm across his throat barely let him breath. “Even if he does kill me, the others will hunt you down and take you out. You betrayed me and no one who does that lives.”

  Yuri struck him in the mouth with the gun. Then he looked at Stephanou and said, “Take him down to the cells in the basement. Maybe he’ll reconsider his position after a night or two behind bars.”

  “My friends know I came here tonight. They’ll come after me. You won’t be safe and neither will she!” Carlos screamed out as Stephanou dragged him through the door and down the back stairs.

  Yuri turned to glare at Raven. “You had the medallion this whole time?”

  Raven shrugged. “The only place I knew it would be safe was with me. I couldn’t let anyone else find it.”

  “Thank you for returning it.” Yuri nodded at her. “Now it is my turn to keep it safe.” Holding his hand out to her he said, “Come along, your brother is waiting for you upstairs.”

  Raven joined his and together with Nikoli, they went upstairs to the penthouse. When they all got to the apartment, Yuri opened the door and they went inside.

  A young man turned to watch them and when he did, Nikoli gasped.

  The young man turned curious eyes to the older man and the two of them searched each other’s face for along moment.

  Yuri, Kosta and Gregor looked over at Nikoli then turned to the young man. They all saw the same thing. The young man looked a lot like Nikoli. They were both tall and had dark hair. Both men shared the same contours of the face, the high cheekbones the angular nose, the same high forehead, and the same strong jaw. The only difference was their eye color. Nikoli’s eyes were dark while the younger man’s eyes were a brilliant blue color.

  “Who are you?” Nikoli whispered.

  The younger man turned to Raven with a pleading look in his eyes.

  She went toward him and led him to the couch. “I think we should sit down and talk. I have a story I need to share with you all.”

  Then men all sat. Kost and Gregor guarded the door.

  “This is a story I’ve never told anyone before so you’ll have to forgive me if I start at the beginning.” She held Nicky’s hands tightly within her own. “When I was just a baby, my mom and I lived with my grandmother most of the time. It was my grandma that took care of me most of the time. My mother couldn’t be bothered. She was too busy trying to find a better life for herself. Every once in a while, she would move us away from my grandma’s. When she did that, we stayed in a trailer park over in Lake Charles. When I was almost five, my mom moved us back over to the trailer. She and my grandma had had a huge fight and mom was pretty mad at her. We moved over there and one day, she came home with a tiny baby boy. He couldn’t have been more than a day or two old. She told me he was my brother and that it was my job to take care of him.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know any better being only five, so I did what I was told. I took care of the baby. She called him Nicky. For a while, after she brought him home, she was in an ugly mood, so I kept us as far away from her as I could. She wouldn’t let me go outside and she kept herself hidden from the world for a long time. The phone would ring and she never would answer it. My grandma came over but she wouldn’t let her come inside. Neighbors would come over but she wouldn’t let them in either.”

  The men all nodded as they listened.

  “Then one day, when Nicky was three, she took the both of us over to my grandma’s house. She told my grandma she needed a safe place for us to stay for a few days while she figured stuff out. Grandma said we could stay and mom left. We never saw her again. Grandma home schooled us the best she could because she didn’t trust the trouble mom was in. She didn’t know what mom had done but she knew there was a reason mom wasn’t coming back. We lived in fear for the next four years. Then when I was twelve, four men came to grandma’s door. Nicky and I hid but we could hear everything that happened. Grandma was crying and the men were yelling, they kept asking her where Mom was but Grandma didn’t know. She tried to tell them but they wouldn’t listen, then she stopped talking and the men left. Nicky and I stayed hidden for a long time after it got quiet. When we finally came out, the police were there and grandma was covered up. They took us away that day. We went into the foster system because the police couldn’t find mom.”

  “What was your mother’s name?” Nikoli finally asked. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off the young man Raven called her brother.

  Raven hung her head. “Her name was Andria Waterson.”

  Yuri gasped, as did Kosta and Gregor.

  Nikoli turned dark angry eyes on Raven and he curled his lip. Then he turned back to Nicky. “Is this the baby she brought home with her? Is this my son?”

  “I think he might be,” she admitted.

  Nicky got to his feet and back away from Nikoli. Sweat beaded at his temples and he shook his head. Turning to Raven, he whispered, “But I’m your brother. I’m not his son. I’m your brother. I’ve always been your brother!”

  Raven got to her feet and wrapped her arms around him. “You will always be my brother. I loved you yesterday, I love you today, and I’ll love you more tomorrow,” she whispered in his ear. Tears ran down her face. “That will never change for any reason. But I have reason to doubt what mom did. She was never pregnant before you came to us. She was gone for about three months before she brought you back with her and she was very secretive after she came back.”

  “That doesn’t make him my father!” Nicky exclaimed stubbornly.

  Raven chuckled. “Have you looked in a mirror lately?” she asked him. “You are a younger version of him.”

  “You have your mother’s eyes,” Nikoli told him. “My sweet Bethany had the same color eyes.”

  Nicky turned to look at him. “Who are you exactly?”

  Nikoli got to his feet. “My name is Nikoli Gregor Silvanoc.”

  Raven felt her brother tremble in her arms. She tightened her arms around him and whispered, “Tell him,” she encouraged him.

  Nicky stared at her for a moment then turned to face Nikoli. “We’ve had many names but I was told my real name is Nicholas Gregory Waterson. The woman I thought was my mother called me that until I was three.”

  Raven nodded. “When mom left us at grandma’s, she told us our names were different. She told us to call ourselves Raven and Nicky Casseni. She didn’t want anyone to be able to trace us back to her. She too, changed her name. She told her mother her new name was Andi Brighman. She said she would change it every three months or so and that she would try to tell us where she was.”

  “And did she contact you again?” Yuri asked.

  Raven shook her head. “We never heard from her again.”

  “Then you don’t know where she is?” Kosta wanted to know.

  “Oh, I know exactly where she is,” Raven replied. “I found her about a year ago.”

  “Where is she?” Nikoli growled.

  “What happened to my real mother?” Nicky asked suddenly. “All these years, I thought Andria was my mom
but now I know she isn’t. What happened to her?”

  “That is a very sordid tale,” Nikoli told him.

  “Long story short…” Raven didn’t think he had to know all the details, just enough right now to get him through the worst part of this mess. They could fill in the blanks at a later date. “She died giving birth to you. Andria stole you when you were hours old. Your father has been looking for you this whole time.”

  Nicky went back to the sofa and sat down with a heavy sigh, then he looked at Nikoli and asked, “Are you really my father?”

  “Da, I think perhaps I am.” Nikoli nodded. “Are you going to be okay with that?”

  “I don’t honestly know. It’s just been Raven and I my whole life. She’s always taken care of me and kept me out of trouble. I don’t know how to be someone’s son.”

  “Before this goes any further, I think we should hear the rest of their story.” Yuri reminded everyone. “We need to hear about their time with Carlos. He might become a bigger problem than we realize.”

  Raven came back to the sofa and sat down. “I was twelve and Nicky was eight by the time we went to stay with Carlos and his wife Rachel. He had handpicked Nicky and I to go live with him. It wasn’t because he loved us or anything. It was because we didn’t have any other family. We had no one to care if we lived or died.” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and continued her story, “Carlos taught us from day one, that we were going to learn a trade from him and we were going to learn it well. He taught us how to steal. Nicky learned to pick pockets and I learned how to break into homes and businesses. Being small, I could fit into small places, I could get through air vents and such. He taught me how to use a grapple hook and how to climb up the side of buildings. He taught Nicky how to lift a wallet, so the victim never felt it. He taught us both how to open a safe and what to steal that would bring him the most money.”

  “He would use us against each other as well,” Nicky took over the story telling. “He would tell me that Raven was getting to the age where she could go to work for a friend of his, Big Jimmy. He said she was getting to be a woman now and she needed to up her game. He couldn’t use her to break in to homes anymore, she was getting too big. He would tell me he was going to sell her in another year or so.”