The Bratva’s Bounty (Volkov Bratva #3)

5. Lev

Chapter 5

Lev

I fucked up.

I shouldn't have called her stupid bluff. I shouldn't have screwed around and found out.

Strings of curses in Russian spilled from my scowling mouth as I held the small towel Nicole threw at me after bashing my face in with a wooden plank.

"Seriously, what happened? You look like you lost a fight with a wall," Alexei, my younger brother, inquired as he inspected my crooked nose after removing the blood-saturated cloth. "You're usually not this grumpy either, so something went wrong."

Grumbling under my breath, I glared burning holes into the wall ahead of me. "Nothing, just a bad day in the field." No one knew much about my latest assignment besides that it was a locate and retrieval of a woman.

Yeah, like hell I would admit to them now that a little tiny Asian woman got the best of me. I'll just wrap up this damn assignment and be done with it. Nicole was still as much of a mystery to me after two weeks than before.

Yet, I couldn't bring myself to retrieve her and put her back in her parents' care, if it could even be called that. Something wasn't right with this whole situation, but I still hadn't figured that out either .

Personally, I haven't had much time to dig into her parents as I'd like because most of my day went toward tailing Nicole. Well, recently, most of my day has been focused on tolerating her yapping. For someone supposedly reserved, she sure could run her damn mouth and talk the ears off of people.

Honestly, Nicole was nothing as I anticipated thus far—but whether it was in a bad way or a good way was yet to be determined. I half expected some demure girl, but lo and behold, I got a fucking grenade that blew up in my face today.

I should be pissed and in a rage. Woman or not, if someone struck me, then it made them fair game to me. Only time I never retaliated was if my assailant was literally a child or some feeble woman who'd die from a single strike from me. Yet, I found myself unable to feel anything ill toward Nicole, even though she wasn't acting in self-defense or out of petty revenge. She fucking whacked me in the face with a piece of wood because I simply annoyed her and underestimated her. Now, she could have very well done something not so drastic, but I couldn't help the feeling of amusing shock at her bold audacity.

Seriously, who the fuck thinks, 'Oh, this person isn't listening to me, so I'll just smack them with a bat' basically. No one soft and innocent would jump from zero to a hundred like that without damn good reason. And no, my disregarding her words would not constitute as a damn good reason. I would make that jump, but I'm me, so that's fine. I mean, what can I say? I'm an amped-up man with too much to vent on the world. Nicole, though, damn woman gotta be crazy.

Sure, I deserved something thrown at my face for being an asshole to her warning, but certainly not something literally to my face like that. Still, couldn't be mad at her, which is the reason why I was pissed because I should be. Crazy enough, I wanted to see what more damage she could do when pushed.

Yeah, call me a crazy and stupid asshole because I am, but I've never met a woman who was brave enough to stand her ground against me like that after knowing exactly who I am. Not counting my sister-in-law and my new best friend because they were mafia women. From what I'm aware, Nicole wasn't involved in the mafia. Also, even though she stood up against me, I could still see the slight fear in her eyes. Yet, she didn't let that fear take over.

Nicole could have run, freeze up, or tried to appeal to my greater side for mercy—that's what people tend to do after realizing they'd fucked up against me. But not Nicole, though. Damn little hell fire was ready to face the consequences of her actions despite her fear. Then, there was also something else in her eyes; she had this look as if she dared me to doubt her more. For a sweet girl, I think she had a pretty violent bone in her cute little body.

"You rarely have a bad day in the field bratok , so what happened?" This time, my eyes moved over to my little brother, watching as he pulled on a pair of gloves and grabbed a wad of gauze. "Also, not every day you come to my office because of a little injury like this."

I expected him to dive right in and reset my nose, but nope. He stood there with his free hand on his hips, looking at me inquisitively. "Have you ever had someone scared of you but not? Like you can clearly see the fear in their eyes, yet they have this fire to them as well?"

Cracking a small, smug smirk, Alexei chortled out a chuckle before looking over my shoulder with a fond distance to his eyes. "Yeah, a long time ago, yeah. But it sounds like you've met your match. I feel bad for the dude who ends up with you," Alexei remarked with a cheeky gleam in his eyes before he stepped up to me and grabbed at my nose.

"Excuse you? Dude? I'll have you know I like chicks a little too much. Why the hell would you assume it's a man?" I grumbled with narrowing eyes as I braced myself for what was to come.

"Because no woman is crazy enough to put up with your insane and violent ass unless she's an insane criminal," Alexei replied before snapping my nose bridge back into place with a sudden jerk.

" Blyat' !" I cursed with a sharp inhale. "I'm starting to wonder how insane she actually is if she had the guts to whack me in the face like this," I muttered with a soft scowl of displeasure.

"Wait, a girl did this to you? Now you have to tell me, consider it payment for fixing your ugly face to make it semi-decent again." Never a good thing when your psychopathic brother is interested in your life. "But wait, you said you got hurt in the field… Wait, please don't tell me she's some cop or something. Seriously, Arseny's already gonna get himself in a hell of a bind with his little cop crush."

With a roll of my eyes, I snatch the wad of gauze from him to hold against my leaking nose. "No, she's not some cop or anything like that, just another assignment. I just underestimated her, that's all. I've got it all handled, and she probably won't be a problem for much longer. So, don't go running your mouth to Kolya or the others. I'm pulling the patient-doctor privacy privilege shit on this one." Unless my life was in immediate danger, I knew Alexei would respect my wishes because he took his career as a doctor rather seriously enough.

I'd never go for a cop or anyone in law enforcement or politics—that was just asking for shit to go down. I honestly don't know what the hell went on in my youngest brother's—Arseny—mind with this stupid little crush of his. Well, pretty sure I could easily get the answer from Alexei because the two of them shared everything with each other and understood each other in and out. Of course, that'd be a cheap shot to ask Alexei because, of course, he'd know his own identical twin inside and out—they're practically the same person. No matter, Arseny was a grown-ass adult who could make his own bad decisions if he so wished; as long as it didn't bite our family in the ass, then I saw no harm in him having some kind of fun.

With a wary look, Alexei eyed me for a good moment before plopping back down behind his desk after discarding his gloves. "Lev, you've never let an assignment get the best of you like this, nor have you ever underestimated many people. Are you going soft now?" The little shithead teased with a cocky little smirk as he leaned back in his chair with his fingers laced and elbows propped on his legs.

Gritting my teeth, I scowled deeply at Alexei with a growl and chucked the saturated gauze at him. Alexei chuckled and easily dodged it by leaning to the side. "It's about time you simmer down and stop being a terror to everyone in the city," Alexei remarked with a cheeky smirk.

"I'm not going soft, you little psychopath. I just didn't expect her to have that spunk to her after doing all my research on her. But like I said, she won't be a problem much longer. I' m done playing around with her." Screw it. I'll just corner her at the next chance and have a nice chat with her before possibly snatching her back to her parents.

"Done playing around with who?"

Fucking great.

Internally groaning, I looked over to the office door as it shut. "Nothing, Kolya," I grumbled in response to my oldest brother, the Pakhan of our bratva.

"Lev, what the fuck did you do?" Nikolai—who we all call Kolya—sighed exasperatedly before rubbing his temple.

Feigning hurt, I scoffed softly in response while averting my eyes. "Why do you always assume I did something?" Well, to be fair, my track record wasn't the best, so I didn't blame him.

"Because you're here in Alexei's office, talking to him in a civil manner," Nikolai noted with a pointed look.

"Well, what are you doing here?" I turned the tables back on him with a quick smirk as I took in his ruffled form.

"To get medical care, why else would I be in a doctor's office," Nikolai snapped back with a soft, playful glare as he went over to the couch in Alexei's office and plopped down on it with a wince.

"No, no, let me rephrase that for you. You are here in Alexei's office, not just any doctor's office, nor are you at your little med ward at the estate. So, something is up." Now it was my turn to be the little shithead younger brother just to give Nikolai some grief.

"Tell me who you're done playing around with, and I'll answer you properly." Nikolai bargained with a cocky smirk.

"A woman, now your turn." Okay, now I was being an annoying smartass, and I knew it.

"Don't make me break that nose again, Lev," Nikolai playfully—not really—threatened with a slight tick of his upper lip.

"Ey! Just because I'm a doctor doesn't give you idiots permission to bang each other up every chance you get." Alexei chimed in with a glare at both of us. "I like cutting people up, not fixing them."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, ya like to hold the power of life in your hand blah blah blah," I said dismissively with a wave of my hand, earning a chuck of a pen at me by Alexei.

Yeah, the little psychopath—yes, he is a psychopath, clinically diagnosed, too—became a doctor because he enjoyed having the power of having someone's life in his hands, literally. As a surgeon, he literally controlled everyone's life the moment they were on his operating table. At least, that was the main reason for his career choice. The other was to patch together broken people because it made him feel like God. By patching people up, I mean rearranging their insides, replacing their insides, basically making them a functioning human being again.

"Kolya, don't bleed all over my couch. Get on the exam table." Alexei sneered, pointing over to where I was currently sitting.

Rolling his eyes, Nikolai grumbled something under his breath before slowly getting up and going over to me with a strained face. "Scoot," he demanded with a shove to my shoulder.

"You know, the word 'please' exists," I smugly replied with a shit-eating grin.

Nikolai's chest rose and fell with his deep breath while his jaw tightened momentarily. "Please move your fat ass over before I lay it on the ground," he said through gritted teeth.

"Say it nicely without threatening me, and I might consider," I remarked with a widening smirk while resisting the urge to flip my older brother off to push his buttons some more.

"Lev, I swear I will stick Angel on you if you don't fucking move over this instant." Well, someone's clearly having a bad day from the snappy tone.

On the other hand, he brought something up to me. "Wait a minute. Why aren't you having your nurse or a wife patch you up if you need medical attention? I mean, you're always running your mouth about how soft her hands are and how gentle and caring she is. So, why aren't you with her instead? Hm?" I had a pretty good guess as to why he was here seeking help from our brother instead of his spunky bride, but I wanted to poke at the angry wolf some more .

"Same reason why you're here," Alexei groaned with a roll of his eyes. "What did you do this time, Kolya?" His eyes drifted over to Nikolai, who shoved me aside and took my spot on the exam table before taking his jacket off to reveal a bloody undershirt.

"Wow, what did you do this time to piss Angel off that much?" I teased with a snicker. It was a joke, of course, and everyone knew that. Angel might be a little devil underneath her caring exterior, but she'd never hurt any of us intentionally, especially her own husband.

"She won't be pissed as long as she doesn't find out about this," Nikolai grumbled, removing his button-up shirt that was nearly torn in half with whatever made the nice gash across his chest.

At least Alexei beat me to the punch this time. Otherwise, my ass probably would be laid out. "Let me guess, she told you to not go do something, then you went and did that said something, and you got injured. Now, if you go to her, not only will you get an earful of 'I fucking told you so' and shit, but you'll also be in the dog house? How close am I?" Alexei gave him a knowing smirk as he sat there, leaning back smugly in his chair.

"If any of you breathe a word about this to Angel, I swear I will make your lives a living hell for the next month. Nothing leaves this office, am I clear?" Yeah, as if going boss mode would scare us. We were too used to him after growing up with him.

That's not to say I didn't respect him and his role as the head honcho because I did during the right times. Obviously, this wasn't one of those times because we were screwing around with each other and being playful. We wouldn't snitch on each other to our prospective partners. Well, in this case, we wouldn't rat Nikolai out to his terrifying mafia wife. Alexei and I didn't have any significant other to be ousted to, so we were safe.

"What happened?" I questioned with genuine interest and worry as I moved myself to a chair.

Leaning back with a wince, Nikolai let out a deep breath before responding, "Just another unhappy customer, that's all. One who was not too happy with, and I quote, 'a damn Russian taking over business that ain't his' and whatnot."

"Oooh! Now, it's my turn to take a guess. So, let me guess, this was a merge customer. Angel said to wait for her or let her take care of it, and of course, you decide not to listen, and it blew up in your face. Right?" My brain worked sometimes, usually when it came to being an asshole.

Nikolai grumbled in response and glared at us before grumbling to Alexei to patch him up before letting his lips go tightly shut. "Although, I'm curious, how the fuck do you expect to hide this from her until you're healed?" I questioned with a snicker, earning a harsh glare from Nikolai. "I mean, with how you two go at it, pregnant or not, she's still gonna jump your bones, touch you, shower with you, other wifely duties and whatnot. And, even when you are healed up, she's still gonna notice the new scar going across your chest. You're not gonna get out of this one, bratok ."

Angel wasn't stupid and blind, so I really don't see how Nikolai would weasel his way out of this one. "Hate to admit it, but Lev is right." Alexei chuckled as he gathered his equipment to stitch our brother up.

"Better prepare yourself to get hung out to dry by your wife." I laughed heartily, wincing with regret when I felt the painful throb from the pressure in my face from the laughing.

Yes, I still found Nikolai's marriage highly amusing because he's the tough bratva boss who feared no one until this tiny little Asian nurse came along and struck fear into him. It's funny because it could have been me instead of him. When we met Angel, it was through an arranged marriage to solidify a truce between our bratva and the Qing Triad before Angel disbanded it after she overthrew her stepmother and took over. I'd initially offered myself to be the one to marry Angel after seeing her kick ass in nothing but her underwear. I mean, who wouldn't want a tough, badass woman as theirs?

Unfortunately, Nikolai had a huge crush on the hot nurse and staked his claim with his little second chance at her. I wasn't complaining about the loss, though, not when Nikolai and Angel were so happy together. Nikolai deserved to be happy after all he's been through. Hell, all of us deserve our happy pieces for our shitty lives.

I got shit, but not as much as my two older brothers, Nikolai and Stepan. Nikolai got the brunt of it, though, being the oldest and all. Our bastard father groomed him since birth basically to take over, and our sperm donor's methods were not kind.

"Enough about me." Nikolai playfully snapped before locking his eyes with me. "What happened with you?" The pinned look and stern tone of his meant I wasn't getting out of this.

"Just a girl I was assigned to locate and retrieve. Underestimated her and got a plank to the face, that's all," I replied begrudgingly with a string of grumbling curses under my breath. "But it doesn't matter. I'll have her taken care of by the end of tomorrow. So, don't mind me any attention."

Yeah, that still didn't stop the snickering from Nikolai. "Your face got broken by a girl? Was she your size, at least?"

Embarrassed, I kept my lips sealed as I pouted in my seat. "No point in talking about it anymore if she's not gonna be a problem no more, and not like anyone else is going to find out about this because none of this shit is leaving this office." I quickly chimed up pointedly with a stern glare.

"And how did she get to the point of striking you? I mean, you've blocked and avoided much worse than some wood to the face," Nikolai pressed with an amused smirk.

Crossing my arms, I slumped in my seat. "Don't want to talk about it." Because it was too damn embarrassing for me to admit it all out loud.

I got one-upped by a girl half my size.

At least she was cute and feisty.