Expose' (Born Bratva Book 3) (16 page)

Kodiak

My brother Nikita makes his way toward me, coming from my bedroom where he has evidently been looking for me. Judging by his gait and the serious expression on his face, something’s up.

“What is it, Nikita?”

“We’ve got problems, man. After that clean-up job Natasha did for Dad, she got pulled over.”

“How’d you find out?”

“She texted me before the cop had her out of the car.”

There’s only one reason he would be so agitated at the thought of Natasha dealing with a routine traffic stop. “Fucking hell, man,” I say quietly. “Are the bodies still in the car?”

“I don’t know. That’s the problem. Dad’s having that crematory furnace put in, said it was easier for her if she didn’t have to heave bodies in the incinerator, but the job’s not complete. If they find three dead bodies in the back of her SUV—well, I don’t think I need to explain any further.”

“Son of a bitch! Let’s go,” I say as we fall into step down the hall. My brother has a lot on the line right now. Natasha is his woman – even if they’re not exactly together. They’ve been in love with each other since they were kids in school.

Nikita is Glazov’s first born. He’s also the sovietnik or councilor, the lawyer. He’s damn good at what he does, and part of being good at what he does means getting on the scene as quickly as possible when there are issues with anyone in our cell of Bratva. It’s the reason my father has an emergency text set up on each phone, just the push of a button informs the
councilor
there’s a problem. Timing is everything, especially where dead bodies are concerned, and particularly at times like this when his woman is standing on the side of the road being questioned by a cop.

His face is set in stone as he intently eyes the road ahead of him; he looks so much like my father, it’s scary. He acts just like him, too. I’m trying to put his mind at ease as we speed down River Road to get her out of this mess before it gets out of control. “I’m sure the bodies have been disposed of by now.”

I’m surprised when he answers me. “Natasha never does things the same way, yet she has a system, if that makes any sense.”

“You’re saying she doesn’t dispose of the bodies the same way every time?”

“Exactly. I make a point of not talking to her about her cleaning practices.”

“Well, you’re her lawyer, so you do have client/attorney privilege.”

For the first time his face softens and he takes a second to take his eyes off the road and look at me. “It isn’t that. Natasha’s very independent; if I probe too much it would send the message to her that I don’t think she can do her job. Haven’t you noticed she avoids me now that she’s working for Dad?”

“Hey, you can always do what I did to Logan and lock her ass in the dungeon.” My brother laughs and it sounds good to hear it.

“After she kicks my ass? She can fight better than most men can. There’s no way I’m crossing that little hell cat.” He grins in spite of the fucked up shit we’re driving into.

“Yeah, you’ve got a point. Maybe a softer approach would be good. Why don’t you have Dad talk to her? I’m sure with his seal of approval on you two as a couple – finally -- things would go better. She’ll listen to dad. The main reason she’s avoiding you and won’t date you is because she kind of works with you now—you know how she is about professionalism.”

“We don’t date, Natasha and I just
are
—we always have been. From the day we laid eyes on each other as kids, we knew. There may have been a pinky promise about getting married when we grew up.”

Before I can even give him shit about the pinky promise, I realize what he’s telling me, and I can’t help but sputter, “Are – Jesus, man, are you telling me that neither of you has ever been with anyone else?”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“Damn, dude, we’ve got to get Dad to talk to her, to help you with your raging case of blue balls.”

“Too late for that. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been tempted to slam her ass against the wall and fuck her senseless, but, yeah, you’re right. We need to get Dad involved. He has a way of getting what he wants and he wants us together.”

“Ahh, the ol’ Glazov domination trait. Hey, there’s no reason it can’t work. She’s already considered family and with her forensic training, she’s the best when it comes to cleaning up after us. Hell, she’s the reason half of us aren’t in prison right now. Dad trusts her, too, and that is huge.”

“Alright, brother, we’re here,” Nikita says before taking a deep breath. “Just let me do the talking and keep that temper of yours in check. This is nothing more than a traffic stop and we don’t want it escalating.”

I never get tired of watching my brother in action. He’s in his element when he’s conducting any kind of business. Whether he’s in a court room, an interrogation room, or talking to someone in his elaborate office, he is the epitome of professionalism and absolute control. He’s everything I’m not and I’ve always admired him for it.

I’m relieved when he doesn’t prevent me from getting out with him after we pull over onto the shoulder of the road behind the police cruiser.

“Officer,” Nikita takes a second to look at the cop’s badge and continues. “Officer Barkley, my name’s Nikita Glazov, is there something I can help you with?”

“Glazov, as in Alexander Glazov?”

“Yes, sir, that would be my father.”

“And what’s your relation to her?” The cop takes a minute to look up from the ticket he’s writing to study Nikita’s face.

“I’m her lawyer.”

“Well, that was quick,” he says with a sneer in Natasha’s direction. When my brother doesn’t offer up any information on how he was notified, Barkley goes back to writing the ticket. A traffic ticket is one thing, that car getting towed and three dead bodies being discovered in it is something else.

“No need to overreact, Mr.
Glazov.”
The snide tone he uses to say our last name is making me wonder just what he’s up to. Is that contempt I’m hearing in his voice or something else?

Yeah, it’s only a ticket now that her lawyer is here.
My brother reaches out, taking the ticket when the cop tears it off to hand it to Natasha. Evidently she enjoys seeing her man in action, too, because right now she’s got a shit eating grin on her face. The cop gets in his car and signs off on his car radio, informing them he’s done with this stop and is heading out find his next victim, or the local donut shop, I presume.

“Please tell me there aren’t three dead bodies in that car.” Nikita growls under his breath. Natasha sighs dramatically and rolls her eyes.

“The crematory furnace isn’t hooked up yet, dear boy.”

“The fucking incinerator is though.” My brother shocks me when he grabs Natasha and hugs her so tightly that I’m certain he’s going to break her in half. He finally pulls her back and eyes her as he speaks. “We’ll follow you back and get these guys in the incinerator. Baby, you don’t know how lucky you are that cop didn’t find those bodies.”

“It has nothing to do with luck. He cops never would have found them unless they impounded the car and searched it – and I mean
really
searched it -- and even then it would have taken a few days before anyone really noticed them.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see,” she throws a teasing wink at him over her shoulder as she sashays away, giving Nikita quite a show as she sways her curvy ass from side to side. She’s a great girl and tough as nails. It’s easy to see why my brother is in love with her.

I look at my brother as I strap on my seat belt. “I wonder where she hid those bodies.”

“God only knows, little brother. God only knows.”

Kodiak

By the way Natasha is being so careful to not exceed the speed limit, I know those dead bodies are in her SUV.

“Does the woman always drive like a grandma?” I ask impatiently as we plod along behind her.

Nikita glances over at me before replying grimly, “Only when dead bodies are involved, brother.”

I’m still wracking my brain, wondering where she hid those bodies. The only thing I can come up with is that maybe they’re hidden where the spare tire is, though I can’t imagine there being enough room there.

“Still trying to figure it out?” Nikita asks with a chuckle as he turns onto the road leading to the warehouse. He knows me well enough to know that once I get something in my head I won’t quit until I have it figured out.

“Yes, Nikita,” I say with a grin, “Your woman has my curiosity piqued. I’m captivated by her wit.”

“Yeah, well, don’t be too fucking captivated, she’s taken, though I’ll be the first to admit she has that effect on people. Let’s get out and see how she managed to pull this one off.”

We hurry over to where Natasha stands behind her SUV, smiling at us expectantly like she can’t wait to reveal what we’re all dying to know.

“Are you ready, boys?” She doesn’t give us time to answer before she reaches under the back bumper and pulls out a hidden metal slab on rollers as if it’s a drawer. Neatly arranged side by side are six heavy duty dark garbage bags.

Six? But weren’t there three--
“You cut them up!?” I’m shocked that this woman who looks like a suburban soccer mom would have the stomach to do something so heinous.

She answers me like we’re discussing the paint job on a car or the weather. “Yeah, I had thought about dumping them in the river. I mixed up the body parts so they couldn’t be identified. Usually the water and wildlife do the job of disposing of any remains.” She makes her way over to a garage door and unlocks it, wheeling a gurney out.

“So that’s how you haul heavy bodies around,” I say, openly admiring her DIY skills.
A fucking body drawer. Who knew?

“Yeah, though I did have some of the guards with me to help with the heavy lifting this time.”

“Grab a couple of bags, Kodiak, and let’s get these bodies disposed of,” Nikita says quietly.

“Chivalry isn’t dead,” Natasha quips with a glance in Nikita’s direction as we heave the bags on the gurney and push the heavily laden gurney in. He just grunts in response, but I see a small smile tilt the corners of his mouth.

We weave our way to the back of the warehouse and stop in front of the incinerator, which looks like a big-ass wood burning stove. In a matter of moments the machine is fired up and the body parts are nothing but a memory.

“I can get the rest of this,” Natasha assures us. She reaches up to peck Nikita’s cheek and whispers a soft thank you. He shoots her a heated look and leans down to murmur something in her ear.

We all know we had a near miss today that would have been catastrophic if it had ended differently. In our line of work, one mistake could mean the downfall of an empire that’s taken generations to build.