by K. J. Dahlen
“And what kind of people are we?” Mikial asked.
Nikoli hesitated for a moment then answered the question put to him, “You are the kind of people that despite having nothing of their own, you give the little bit of extra to people around you. You make them feel safe. You stand up for the little person on the streets, yet you’re tough when you need to be.”
“So what?” Sazon shrugged. “Ja ne ponimaju. I don’t understand why you care.”
“I want that for my team, Sergi Constantine, the leader of the Bratva for most of Russia has given me permission to build my own team and I want the five of you on it. I think we could really go places together.”
Nikoli narrowed his eyes at the men around him listening to his recollection of how he met the 5 brothers who were now accomplished men of the Bratva. “Apparently, they were under the same assumptions as you all. They said we were mafia and thieves. Killers.”
The MC men all stared at him.
Sergi spoke up again, “We convinced them that we were no longer the Bratva of old and we wanted them to help make the organization stronger and they had the courage and honor we were looking for.”
Zeta held Misha’s hand as she asked, “So what happened?”
Sergi looked over at Nikoli and nodded.
Nikoli folded his hands together on the table. “We helped to set the gang leader and his men up…” He paused. “The brothers then burned their warehouse down with all the gang in it.”
Zeta gasped.
“So, did they agree to go into Bratva?” Maxim asked.
Sergi nodded. “It still took some convincing but da, they came.”
“We then trained them and sent them to school. They were allowed to choose their own interest in learning.”
“So where are they now?” Zeta asked.
“In America. All, with their own businesses and now, with their own wives and children.”
“So they work for you?” Maxim asked.
Sergi looked over at him. “With us, not for. These men are the kind we needed to represent us. Not like Ivan or his ilk. We have been weeding out the bad ones for years. Obviously, Ivan knew this and hid all his transgressions.” He stood. “You will see with the coming trail. Ivan is not the first transgressor we have captured.”
“Yes…you send out that hit squad of yours,” Zhora piped in with a raised brow. “The Enforcers.”
Nikoli turned to glare at him. “Those men have taken out slave rings, drug cartels and much more. They are not sent for just thievery or some small crime. They also are honorable men. But…” He nodded. “If you do meet them, then your world is over. They make very sure of that.”
“Wow…” Zeta exclaimed. “So, the Bratva has legal dealings in the world?”
Sergi looked annoyed by this question. “We still do some illegal transactions. However, we hurt no innocents. No women or children.” He clenched his fists. “To think Ivan has been shipping our Russian women and children out as sex slaves?” He took a deep breath and looked as if he might yell or shout. He did neither, as he let out a breath and growled. “Justice will be served.” He tossed his napkin down and headed to the front of the plane.
Zeta’s eyes were round. “He is a fierce man, isn’t he?”
Misha nodded. “He has been the force for years to clean the Bratva up. Have it serve the people of our homeland. Not the other way around.”
Maxim looked around at his men…the Iron Bears MC, formed from an injustice done many years ago to each of them and their families.
They all nodded their heads, convinced that justice would be served…Finally.
Hours later, the plane landed in Moscow.
There was a delegation there to meet them and the prisoners were taken away under guard.
The Iron Bears were transported to a secure facility.
Sergi, Misha, Zeta and Anya were driven away in a limo.
Zeta frowned and asked about the others.
“They have to be secured until the trial,” Sergi told her.
“What do you mean secured?”
“My dear this is protocol,” he explained. “We don’t want any of Ivan’s men getting to them before they can testify against him.”
“Then why am I not with them?”
“We’re able to protect you,” Misha assured her. “Your brother and his friends knew this and agreed with this step.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before now?” she insisted.
“Your brother didn’t want you to fuss about this,” Sergi replied. “He knew you would but he told me to tell you he would see you in three days at the tribunal.”
“Three days?” she exclaimed.
“The High Council has members all over Russia. We have to give them all time to get to the city.”
Zeta sat back against the seat and held her daughter close to her. She eyed Sergi and turned her gaze to Misha. She didn’t like the way it sounded. A secure facility. Prisons were called that in some parts of the world. Misha, she trusted but she wasn’t so sure about the rest of the Bratva. For now, she would hold her peace and wait the three days. For now…
When they arrived at a mansion, the car stopped and the driver opened the door. Sergi, Misha and Zeta got out.
Misha reached back into the car, plucked Anya from the backseat, and carried her inside.
A woman met them inside and she greeted Sergi with a warm smile. Turning to Zeta, she introduced herself, “Hi there, my name is Anita. I’m Sergi’s wife.”
“I’m Zeta and this is my daughter, Anya.”
Misha smiled at Anita. “They both belong to me.”
Anita clapped her hands as if she were thrilled with the news and hugged Zeta warmly. “Welcome.”
Zeta took her daughter from Misha and turned to Anita. She was still worried about her brother and the men. Staying at some prison while she was in a mansion. The more she saw of this place the madder she got. “Can you just show me where we’ll be staying? I’m sure Misha and Sergi has some things to do.”
At her tone, Anita looked from her to Misha and Sergi then back to Zeta. “Of course, I can show you to Misha’s rooms.”
‘I’ll do that Anita,” Misha insisted. “You can say hello to your husband.” He grabbed Zeta’s elbow and led her away. He didn’t say anything for a moment then opened a door at the top of the steps. He ushered Zeta inside and when he closed the door, he glared at her. “I don’t know what game you are playing but do not disrespect me in my own house.”
“I’m sorry.” She hung her head. “I didn’t mean any disrespect. I’m just unsure of what’s going on here.” She let Anya down on the floor and looked at Misha.
“What don’t you know about?” Misha asked.
“I didn’t know my brother and his friends would be jailed until this was over. They have seen enough of prison. I would have went with them had I know. But no one told me!”
He lifted his phone out of his pocket and tapped in a number. When the call was answered, he handed her the cell.
She spoke to her brother. He told her they were in nice rooms with all the amenities. When she hung up the call, she flushed with embarrassment. “I’m sorry.” Zeta bit at her lip.
“Sweetheart, I would never lie to you or put your life or your brother’s life in danger. This is for their own good.”
She moved closer to him. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she whispered, “I realize that. I was wrong and I’m sorry for ever doubting you. It’s just that it was kept from me and how am I to know where they really went?”
“Sweetheart, I know you don’t trust easy and after all you have lived through, I don’t blame you. People are going to doubt everything you, your brother and his friends have to say. You have to be prepared for the worst. They will also point out that you are in a position to use me for your own gain. I know that is not the case but you will hear things to that effect.”
“You know that isn’t true don’t you? I don’t love you for what you
can give me. I love you for you.”
“My dear, I do know that.” He smiled at her.
“Then I will go into this with my head held high. You are my home and that’s all that matters.” She told him. “In fact, I will sign away any right they think I’m after. I can take care of myself. My parents made sure of that. I’ve always worked and earned my own money. I don’t need yours and I don’t want any power you might have. I told your father as far as I was concerned, you could be dirt farmer with a dream to grow corn and I would be happy and I meant that.”
Misha glanced at her. “You would really sign away anything I have to offer you?”
“In a heartbeat. I don’t want what you have, I want what you are.”
“That’s all I needed to hear.” Misha crushed her mouth under his.
He took her breath away. When he pulled back, she said, “Let me go apologize to Anita and Sergi?”
He nodded. “Da and I will get little Anya to her own bed in the next room.”
She bit at her lip. “Please just give me the chance to get used to…all this….” She waved her hands around the very large, very lavish bedroom.
He tilted his head at her. “This?” he asked while looking confused.
Nodding, she sighed. “You are used to this wealth. I am not.” She raised her head. “It is like some dream. Too good to be true. I am not in a fairytale. There were no happy ever afters in my life or my parent’s lives.”
Misha let out a sigh and grasped her arms. “You deserve to be a princess in a fairytale. You deserve the world on a golden platter, Little Zeta.”
She rolled her eyes.
He laughed. “Go little princess, because your prince has ideas on how to worship you when you return.”
She flushed and giggled. “Oh then, I will hurry!”
Misha laughed as she left the room.
Three days later, Zeta sat in a courtroom of sorts. There was a high bench in front of her facing her way. There were two tables and an armed guard on either side of the high bench. Armed guards were placed at strategic places all over the room and each man sitting there had been checked for weapons.
The room was packed and her brother and his friends all sat behind her a row or two back. Sergi and Misha were sitting at the table in front of her.
Ivan and his attorney were sitting at the other table. Ivan was in chains and they were bolted to the floor. He wasn’t going anywhere. He did turn his head to sneer at Zeta and the men behind her.
But Zeta pretended not to see him. Her brother and his friends stared ahead of him as if to ignore him.
A panel of Judges walked into the room and everyone rose to their feet. When they took their seats so did everyone else. One Judge began the proceedings by saying, “We are here to determine the guilt or innocence of a man named Ivan Kolvastan on charges of murder, duplicity, wrongful imprisonment and a number of other more heinous crimes against the citizens of Russia. The worst of these crimes is in stealing human beings and selling them into the sex trade as slaves. What do you say to these charges?”
The man next to Ivan stood up and addressed the High Council, “Members of the Bratva High Council, my client pleads not guilty, but the reason is that you have the wrong man. He is not Ivan Kolvastan.”
Sergi interrupted the attorney. “Mr. Polovic if you read the statement of charges for your client, you will find we have the correct name on the papers. Mr. Kolvastan is in truth, Ivan Slavik and the Council knows this for a fact. It has been proven by a DNA match to his father and grandfather.”
The attorney dropped to his seat and began reading the papers given to him by the High Council.
Ivan growled and turned to glare at the line of men sitting behind Zeta, especially Zhora. The Judges of the High Council double-checked the papers they had in front of them and changed the name Ivan had been using for a very long time.
“Ivan Slavik, how do you plead to the pending charges against you?”
“Not guilty.” Ivan got to his feet. “If I am being charged with crimes against the state of Russia, I demand that you prove each and every one of them.”
Sergi got to his feet and addressed the Judges, “Member of the High Council, this matter was brought to our attention, when my son Misha found a young woman, drugged and left for dead in a ditch on the side of the road just outside New York City in the United States. When she told us, who she was and how she’d gotten there, we then met her brother and some of the men he’d shared the last fifteen years behind the bars with. In a prison run illegally by Ivan, we verified this and believed their story. They proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, everything they told us about why they were being held and who held them. What we found both sickened and appalled us. Ivan was supposed to be a representative of the Bratva, but instead he was using the Bratva position he held as a means of murder and blackmail perpetrated on his own people. He was kidnapping women and children off the streets and selling them all over the world as slaves.”
The room filled with murmurs and mutterings at such heinous charges.
“We found detailed records kept by Mr. Slavik as to who he sold his victims to and for how much. In the past week since we heard this story, we have recovered one hundred forty two women and children, we have arrested over a hundred people using this illegal service and have found over twenty eight unmarked graves of victims he murdered. We have not recovered some sixty one victims yet, but we hope we can at least try to find out what happened to them.”
The council all stared at Ivan.
His attorney looked flustered as he rifled through papers in front of him.
“Working with other organizations such as ours, we hope to bring all of his victims home to their families. And not only restored the people’s pride in their motherland but restore the Bratva name to its good standing.”
During Sergi’s speech, Ivan began to wilt and everyone else began to sit up a little straighter in their chairs. Ivan’s attorney stared straight ahead at the judges and wouldn’t even look at his client anymore.
“Do we know what started this whole mess?” one of the judges asked.
“Indeed we do,” Sergi told them. “On a trip one day fifteen years ago, Ivan spotted a young girl, she was working beside her father and her brother in the fields. He stopped and tried to abduct her but didn’t get very far. The girl was only nine years old at the time and when her brother who was seventeen tried to stop him, Ivan dragged him off to his own prison. He then went back and began blackmailing the family for a thousand rubles a month to make sure the brother got food and water while he stayed with Ivan. Ivan sentenced him to four years behind bars. Things escalated from there. Ivan thinks he is judge and jury to whoever displeases him. He made his people fear the Bratva name. He broke the laws of man and God in the name of the Bratva he was supposed to be representing. And that members of the High Council, is not something we can ever tolerate.”
“Very well,” the lead member stated. “Do you still wish to plead Not Guilty to the charges Mr. Slavik?”
Ivan didn’t answer them either way.
The High Council began listening to testimony and over the next week or so, the charges grew to include other charges as well.
When all was said and done… Ivan stood before the Council a condemned man. They didn’t even have to pass sentence. He knew he was beat, as did everyone who’d listened to the testimony.
Zeta sat there and listened to it every day until her brain was numb. She couldn’t believe such evil really existed in this world. She only knew a tip of what Ivan had done, until all his secrets were laid out at their feet.
The judges of the High Council condemned him to death. He would have twenty four hours to make his peace with God before going to hell in a hail of bullets from a firing squad.
It was over. When the gavel slammed down on the bench, Zeta felt her heart crack open. She felt Misha’s arms surround her and bring her close to his chest. Tears flooded her cheeks and she soaked his white
cotton shirt. Her arms went around his waist and she held on tight to the man who had saved her. He had saved her life and her soul and now both belonged to him.
She looked up at the man and smiled as she whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you too little princess.” Misha kissed her soundly.
Later that night, Misha showed her how much he loved her in a way that took her breath away and floored her.
He brought her dinner himself. Then he fed her forkfuls of Russian dishes she hadn’t eaten since she was a child. Finally, brought in dessert. When she fussed at how he was treating her like royalty, he silenced her with a huge spoonful of a cherry dessert Maxim had told him was her favorite.
In fact, he had gathered many of the foods, her mother used to make back when they had been happy before Ivan ruined their happiness.
Then he gave her a warm bath where he attended to her every need. He toweled her dry and then brushed out her lovely red locks.
Finally, he completed the whole evening by making love to her for hours.
Misha reached down and pulled up the sheet to cover them. He stared down at the sleepy satisfied woman in his arms and smiled. He wanted to offer her the world and he had started that wish tonight. He watched as she fell deeper into sleep then he reached into her nightstand drawer for something he bought for her, a week ago. Here in Russia, at an old jewelry shop, where his dad had purchased Anita’s ring.
Misha slipped the golden band with three diamonds on her finger and kissed it in place. Pulling her head onto his chest, he closed his eyes and found his home in her arms.