Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
As we retook our seats, he looked at me seriously. “Know why I don’t go by my Club name that much?”
Blade. The man was famous for his use of them. “I’m guessing it has something to do with Nell?”
“Damn right, it does. The second her little body was placed in my arms after she came into the world, I felt like I couldn’t breathe with how much it felt like I had to protect her from everything and everyone.”
Leaning back, he stared at a photo of his wife holding a young Nell and Hunter. “Being in the Club isn’t an easy life, but I made sure it never touched her or her mom. When Hannah died, it felt like that weight and need to protect increased a thousandfold, and using my Club name would’ve opened her up to the brutal reality of this life.”
I remembered Nell telling me how her mom had died when she was little in a car accident. And if I thought about how I’d feel if I lost her and had to protect the boys, I could understand what he was saying.
“You did a good job, but it changed when she was almost twenty-one. Why?”
Smirking, he huffed out a laugh. “Don’t need to tell you my baby’s a curious girl, and she was hearing lies about us when she went out. I knew I needed to open the Club to her—to a limited degree.” He glared warningly at me, making sure I knew I wasn’t to tell her anything further. “So I went about doing it. Now she doesn’t have to listen to bullshit, and she also feels more like a part of us.”
I knew I’d never be able to discuss the finer details of the Bratva and things that happened in it, but I’d be lying if I said the thought of not telling her the full truth when she asked for it didn’t eat away at me.
Obviously over our heart-to-heart, Bruce straightened in his seat, back to business mode. “Now, if you’ll focus back on what’s happening here, I’ll call church, and you can fill us in.”
Shaking it off, knowing that I’d be seeing her as soon as this was over, I got my head back in the game and prepared to update the MC on everything going on. Explaining who Vadim and Valka were would be like dropping a bomb on them.
And that, ironically, made me a happy man.
Thirty minutes later…
“So you’re telling us we have two unhinged Russians on the loose?” one of the members called Ice asked, breaking the silence that had fallen after I’d finished talking.
“That’s what you’re focusing on? Not the fact the fucker who killed our men and a Russian fucking priest is so far in the wind, he may as well be a ghost?” Road snapped in disbelief, looking at his brother like he was crazy.
“Both of you, shut the fuck up,” Bruce clipped. “Unhinged or not, those Russians are what we need right now. You can’t fight someone if you can’t see them, can you?”
“They’re the best at what needs to be done,” I assured the men in the room, getting some nods and some glares for my efforts. “We’ll need some of you to go with them.”
The men who’d previously glared now looked at me with respect at the unexpected inclusion.
“When do you need them by?” Bruce muttered, looking around the table at his men, visibly weighing up strengths and weaknesses.
“As soon as possible. We have a meeting with them both tomorrow that you’re invited to, and I suggest you bring who you choose with you.”
“I’ll need to get Pop-Pop on lockdown at the Club. He’s an easy target because of his age, so the safer he is, the better. Plus, Nell would lose her mind if anything happened to him.”
Knowing Bruce was right, I bit my tongue against offering to put him in one of our homes. The Club’s compound was relatively safe now that they’d stepped up security in it, but if that changed I’d make the offer.
“Sounds like a wise idea.”
Nodding, he ended the meeting, and the men filed out one-by-one, leaving us alone with Hunter.
Leaning forward onto his elbows on the table, Bruce twisted his head slightly and cracked his neck.
“I hate shit like this. If you’ve got a problem with someone, you don’t hide after you kill a man. You shout it out and fight like a man,” he growled, and then lifted his head to look at me.
“Which is why I’m telling you to your face, I’ve got a fucking problem with you. If you fuck up, Fedorov, I won’t kill you and hide. I’ll dance in your blood.”
I saw Hunter rub the back of his neck out of the corner of my eye, but I didn’t take my eyes off the man glaring at me.