[BRATVA]
Sergei wasn’t a patient man.
Not today anyway.
Especially given the way he was looking at Aleksandr, waiting for the man to choose. He was so close to making the choice for Aleksandr, already getting up when Alek stopped him.
“Fine. No fighting. What do you want?” Alek asked, and Sergei raised a brow at the man’s pissy tone. He didn’t like it, but also, he had Katya to pick up from work, so that was nothing for a whole other day anyway.
“Your arm,” Sergei said, sitting back down.
Alek looked at Sergei for a long moment, like he hadn’t heard the man well.
It was absurd, really, given the fact that Sergei was just smiling at him while asking the most absurd of things. It made no sense, and Alek felt he wanted to call the bluff. Because there was just no way that was what Sergei wanted from him.
What the fuck was wrong with the alpha?
“My what now?” Aleksandr asked, stalling.
“If I have to say it again, I’ll jack it off and take it home with me,” Sergei said, as he pulled out his phone to check the time.
He didn’t wear his watch this time.
It was in his pocket since Katya had returned anyway.
Twenty-seven minutes before he’d go clean up and go to Romanov Steel.
Twenty-seven minutes.
Damn, time was moving fast.
“You can’t be serious,” Alek said, stepping back from his seat.
Expectedly, Kenzo stepped to stand in front of Alek, his protective stance something that could have been heartwarming if Sergei wasn’t busy and running on a timer at the moment anyway.
“Listen, Daniil… I honestly don’t give a shit what you think. I only have twenty-six minutes to get this done.
“So either give me the arm or I’ll take it off. It’s that simple. If that’s hard, how about a merciful option then?” Sergei said, and Alek stared.
What was mercy when it was an offer from the one man who knew nothing about mercy?
What was mercy when Sergei was here after everything Alek had done to Katya and even continued to do?
The thing is, Alek was terrified of Rastenkin, sure, but Sergei was different.
He was Sergei.
That made him far more dangerous than Rastenkin could ever be.
“Why are you doing this?” Alek dared to ask, much to Sergei’s exhaustion.
He didn’t feel like giving any explanations right now, and Alek was making this harder than it was supposed to be.
“I have a long list, but I’m on a timer. I don’t want to be late for my Solnyshka, man…
“Can’t you help a fellow man in love? What happened to bro code?” Sergei sighed exasperatedly, and Alek couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Sergei Moskowsky.
Bro code.
What the fuck had the world turned into?
Kenzo didn’t step back.
If anything, he waited for Sergei to attack Alek so he could defend the man. It was the only rational thing to do, especially where a man like Sergei was involved.
None of this would be right, but then time and history were things that Sergei Moskowsky had never played about.
“Then give me one of the reasons,” Alek bargained, as if that would make this any easier for him.
Oh, how he was screwed.
“You have hair, and I don’t. It’s a lucky day for you since I don’t want to carry your big head while going back home. Solnyshka would be horrified, and I can’t do that to him,” Sergei reasoned.
Aleksandr sighed.
Again.
“To get to him, you have to go through me,” Kenzo said, making Sergei just smile.
“Don’t you want the merciful option, Aleksandr?” Sergei asked, turning his head to the side so he could talk to Alek directly instead of the man who had been protecting him for the longest time.
“We both know there is no mercy when it comes to you,” Alek said, and Sergei snorted.
“Touche, but trust me this time, yeah? It’s really a merciful option,” Sergei insisted, and Alek groaned exhaustedly.
“Fine. What is the merciful option?” Alek asked while Kenzo protested.
“You can’t trust him.”
“He can trust me… Today anyway,” Sergei said, offended that Kenzo didn’t see him as a trustworthy person.
How cruel could they be to him when he was just being jolly because he’d gotten his Solnyshka back?
“Anyway, since I only have twenty minutes left, let’s get this over with. The merciful option is this: Kenzo breaks your less dominant arm and makes sure it never functions.
“Or the other option is I rip your arm off and keep it in my trunk before I go home and pick my Solnyshka up. But I would really suggest you let Kenzo numb it because if I carry it, it will be a hassle.
“I don’t want my Solnyshka smelling your blood and getting war flashbacks. You understand me, right?” Sergei said it like it was the simplest of options.
He knew what he was doing was cruel.
He was using the man sworn to protect Aleksandr as the means to hurt Aleksandr. There was no universe in which that would be any better. None.
Yet being armless wasn’t exactly something that Aleksandr wanted to be.
A numb arm could be held in a cast for a long time, while a ripped arm meant so many hospital visits that would end with Aleksandr probably dead before he got his revenge on Sergei.
It was a win-win; that was Sergei’s argument. But what the hell, right?
“Take my arm, let him be,” Kenzo offered, and Sergei laughed at the suggestion.
It was noble.
But Sergei didn’t come this far just to take Kenzo’s arm.
“That’s sweet… but no. I want Aleksandr’s arm, not yours. Also, time is going fast. Fifteen minutes,” Sergei chuckled excitedly. Like this was something he’d wanted to cross off his bucket list.
He knew by now Alek had known where the blood on Sergei was from, and frankly, Sergei didn’t care that much about what Alek thought of him.
He just wanted the arm, and then he would be gone. Without causing any more trouble.
“You can’t just want my arm because you chose to be bald,” Alek tried, and Kenzo facepalmed.
This was some fucked-up reality that Alek didn’t want to be a part of, but then what the hell had he expected?
“I have diamonds. Worth billions. Take them and leave the arm,” Alek offered, not quite willing to part with his arm.
“Ten minutes,” Sergei said before adding:
“I don’t want your precious government diamonds… Man, are we doing this or should I tear the arm?
“That’s unfair too, you know? Giving me your arm when it could ruin my Solnyshka’s day?” Sergei said, like that was a better offer.
Alek wanted to wait it out. It was risky. It was something he shouldn’t have done. Yet he didn’t see another reasonable way out. He just couldn’t give up like that. He was Aleksandr.
“Five minutes,” Sergei said, not relenting once.
“You’re not getting to him,” Kenzo insisted, and Sergei chuckled darkly again.
“I eliminated half your Bratva, and you guys didn’t hear a thing. By the way, did you know that your construction repair team… The ones… err… the ones you hired last week were Moskowsky betas?” Sergei said, getting up.
“What?”
“Three minutes,” Sergei said, getting up.
“They were from Reeves Repairs, not Moskowsky repairs,” Alek insisted.
He’d vetted that team himself. So, why did he feel like he must have skipped something that was far too important instead of focusing on it?
“One of the shops the Shopkeeper manages… one minute,” Sergei said, and Alek stiffened.
He wanted to call the bluff.
Really wanted to.
But Sergei didn’t even know how to crack proper jokes, so why would he play with him like that?
“Forty-seven seconds. Forty-six… thirteen… twelve—”
“Alright, stop. Kenzo will do it,” Alek said, and Kenzo stared at his boss defeatedly.
This was not how their day was supposed to be. It was like they would be fighting a war while incapacitated. It wasn’t fair, truly.
But what had they expected when they had gone after the man Sergei would lay his life down for?
“Daniil…”
“Do it, Kenzo,” Alek rushed when Sergei got up and straightened up.
“I’m sorry,” Kenzo sighed in defeat before he did what Sergei had offered in the name of mercy.
Alek cried in pain as his arm fell limp to his side, and Sergei just smiled at him.
“Thank you for being a good bro. Now I can go shower and pick up my Solnyshka. Don’t worry, I won’t come for the other arm anytime soon.
“Can’t make promises about your head, though. Have a fantastic day, Daniil, and Kenzo!”
Then Sergei left.
bro just walked in and ruined someone’s life without lifting a hand eek… also Alek’s head was too big?? SIRRR?????? wadafakaa Sergei lmfao