Silas Korba....
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'Yev!' For a moment Vasily Ravensthal's face was soft and wondering, then his face hardened until it was a mask of marble,
'Gde ty brat?' (Where are you, brother?) Raven laughed harshly at his brother's ominous tone,
'Nash otets ne vospityval durakov ... Krome odnogo ...'
(Our father did not raise fools... Except one...)
Vasily's eyes shifted betraying, to his brother at least, a feeling of guilt and lingering grief,
'Lina dolzhna byla znat' luchshe, Yev. Dlya neye nikogda ne budet schastlivoy zhizni.'
(Lina should have known better, Yev. There was never going to be a happy life for her.)
Raven's face held nothing but disdain and disgust,
'Yesli eto zastavlyayet tebya spat' luchshe, trakhni sebya. YA nikogda ne proshchu nashemu ottsu za to, chto on skazal, chto khochet trakhat'sya, potomu chto yemu stalo trudno nablyudat', kak eti ublyudki trakhayut Linu, prezhde chem on sam pererezal yey gorlo. On mertv dlya menya, a ty reshil ostat'sya i pozvolit' etoy zhizni unichtozhit' brata, kotorogo ya lyubil.'
(If that makes you sleep better, fuck you. I will never forgive our father for saying he wanted to fuck because he'd gotten hard watching those bastards rape Lina before he slit her throat himself. He is dead to me and you chose to stay and allow that life to destroy the brother I loved.)
Vasily roared out of the chair to stand shaking in rage in front of the tv reflecting the picture of his grown brother,
'YA ubil nashego ottsa sam za to, chto on sdelal s nashey sestroy! Ne sudi menya, starshiy brat! YA ne begal ot nashego ottsa, kak trus, ya zhdal, poka ne smogu vyvesti yego! YA udostoverilsya, chto on znal, chto on umer za to, chto on sdelal s Linoy!'
(I killed our father myself for what he did to our sister! Don't you judge me, big brother! I didn't run from our father like a coward, I waited until I was in a position to take him out! I made sure he knew he died for what he did to Lina!)
Raven's stony face did not change despite his brother's passionate statement of revenge against their father, if anything his face showed pity and sadness for his brother,
'Yesli vy dumayete, chto stat' pokhozhim na nego i vzyat' na sebya rol' Pakhana - eto to, chto Lina khotela dlya vas ili menya, vy ne pomnite tu zhe sestru, kotoruyu ya znal. Ona by nikogda ne khotela, chtoby ty tak sebya iskazil. Imenno ona pomogla mne nayti vykhod, kogda otets skazal: prisoyedinyaysya ili umri. Eto byla ne ta zhizn', kotoruyu ona khotela dlya nas oboikh. YA ne bezhal, ya pochtil yeye pamyat', ostaviv, kak ona khotela, chtoby ya sdelal. Eto byl tvoy vybor ostat'sya, Vas.'
(If you think becoming like him and taking on his role as Pakhan is what Lina wanted for you or me, you don't remember the same sister I knew. She never would have wanted you to corrupt yourself that way. She's the one who helped me find an exit when father said join or die. It was not the life she wanted for either of us. I did not run, I honoured her memory by leaving as she wanted me to do. It was your choice to stay, Vas.)
Vasily stumbled back from his brother's flat, non judgemental statements. He snapped at his two enforcers to stand outside on the porch,
'YA iskal tebya pyat' let, Yev. YA khotel imet' delo s nashim ottsom vmeste. YA vsegda khotel, chtoby moy brat vernulsya i vernul sem'yu, kotoruyu pokinul. Vy govorite, chto ne podumayete o vozvrashchenii domoy?'
(I have been looking for you for over five years, Yev. I wanted to deal with our father together. I have always wanted my brother to return and regain the family I have left. Are you saying you will not consider coming home?)
Vasily's face held sorrow. Raven smiled gently at his brother for the first time,
'YA budu obshchat'sya s toboy, Vas. No vozvrashchayetes' v Peterburg? Net, ya ne mogu etogo sdelat'. U menya yest' sem'ya, deti seychas. V kontse kontsov ya khotel by uvidet' vas snova, khotya. Poznakom'te vas so svoimi plemyannikami i plemyannitsami, yesli vy mozhete prinyat' moyu zhizn' takoy, kakaya ona yest' seychas...'
(I will communicate with you, Vas. But coming back to St. Petersburg? No. I cannot do that. I have a family, children now. Eventually I would like to see you again though. Introduce you to your nephews and nieces, if you can accept my life as it is now...)
Vasily's face broke into a massive wicked smile,
'YA dyadya? Plemyanniki i plemyannitsy? Chert! Skol'ko u tebya detey?' (I am an uncle? Nephews and nieces? Damn! How many children do you have?)
Raven chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck,
'Sem'. Chetyre mal'chika, tri devochki. Septuplets, tri mesyatsa.'
(Seven. Four boys, three girls. Septuplets, three months old.)
Vasily's looked at his brother in wonder while several of the Blackbournes shifted in disgruntlement behind him. Septuplets was an understandable word even in Russian,
'Vy schastlivchik!' (You lucky bastard!) Raven's face was a touch arrogant and cocky,
'YA.' (I am.) Vasily roared with laughter. This was the brother he remembered! Raven's face became serious,
'Teper' ya prizrak, Vas. Tak chto obshcheniye ne budet legkim. YA rabotayu v otdel'nom filiale Akademii, s kotorym u vas yest' kontrakt.'
(I am a ghost now, Vas. So communicating will not be easy. I work in a separate branch of the Academy you have a contract with.) Vasily was stunned for a second time,
'Vy byli tak blizki uzhe god, i ya nikogda ne znal...' (You have been so close for a year now and I never knew...) Raven noticed the icy looks he was receiving from several of the Blackbourne team behind his brother,
'Svyazhites' s predsedatelem Akademii. On dast vam bezopasnyy marshrut svyazi so mnoy. Teper' u menya yest' dela s komandoy pozadi vas.'
(Contact the Academy Chairman. He will give you a secure communication route to me. Now I have business with the team behind you.) Vasily turned to look at the Blackbournes quickly before agreeing with his brother,
'YA budu. YA skoro pogovoryu s toboy snova, brat. Do tekh por.'
(I will. I will speak with you again soon, brother. Until then.) The two brothers exchanged a poignant look before Vasily turned to the tense Blackbournes,
'Thank you, teammates of my brother, for your time. Goodnight.' Vasily snapped a Russian command into his smart watch and left through the front door. For the two minutes it took to hear the heavy shutting of two car doors and an expensive engine announcing the departure of Vasily Ravensthal, the room was silent.
After a minute of total silence, Sean gestured for Victor to check the external security markers and for Silas to check the doors and windows of the room were not being shadowed by Bratva. Once he was certain they were secure he spoke to Raven who was still sitting quietly in the frame of their television,
'Why did you tell him about the septuplets? The last thing Sang needs is the Russian mafia showing up on her doorstep!' Raven laughed in derision,
'We take care of little spitfire and she takes care of us,' there was cursing from North and Gabe and grumbled disagreement from the rest of the Blackbournes. Raven shrugged,
'You left her. Note said move on. She did. Tomas are not stupid like you. But before you stomp, you should know little spitfire is boss. What Sang wants, she can have. She takes shit from no one. Not the elders. Not the Academy board. Not from Tomas. And for certain, not from you,' Raven glared at the Blackbourne team before muttering in Russian and moving off of the chair behind the desk and out of the frame.
A slight but feminine woman with chameleon blonde hair and light green eyes sat down and looked with hard eyes into the monitor at the Blackbourne team. Their breathing hitched. It had been eleven months since they'd seen their beautiful bird and they were speechless in the face of her hard expression,
'Hello Blackbournes. I have several questions for you,'
Sean spoke sincerely, 'We'll answer anything you ask honestly,' the rest of the team waited for her questions,
'Why didn't you talk to me about whatever threat Volto made against me?'
Sean looked for Owen or North to answer their bird as, despite the fact he didn't want to be the one to explain a decision he hadn't agreed with, neither did he want to tell her that four of them had disagreed, it seemed disloyal to the other five. Owen spoke,
'It was a foolish decision, Sang. You should know four of the team did not agree with my plan,' while he didn't want to reignite division in the team, he felt Sang should know the whole truth,
'But if I am very honest it was my decision that I forced on the team and only myself and North knew what was in the goodbye letter I left you. I made a terrible mistake out of fear,' Owen paused getting his thoughts together,
'We received a note and a photograph from Volto telling us to leave you. The photo was of you sleeping in my bed, he held a knife to your throat and a gun to your head. We couldn't even protect you in our own home. I was afraid he'd kill you and I would be powerless to stop him... I know it's not a good enough reason, but I panicked and pushed the team to vote in an emotive situation...' Owen's voice gave out as his eyes begged Sang to try to understand,
'Who voted against the decision? Raise your hands, please,' Slowly Sean, Victor, Kota and Gabe raised their hands. Kota jumped in,
'You should know that decision deeply divided this team. Silas and Luke and Nathan too would have changed their votes if they'd known of the letter left telling you to give up on our relationship. It nearly destroyed our team. Some of us were fully prepared to leave the team over that letter as it was not voted and agreed to let you go...'
Sang stared back at Kota, the expression on her face was inscrutable.
The team were shocked at her control, the Sang they had known was nervous under extreme situations and soft toward them emotionally in a confrontation. This angry, unforgiving woman was not the girl they remembered. North rushed to speak,
'We only wanted to protect you from harm but we all know that it was a bad decision. One I will regret for the rest of my life, baby. I am so sorry...' Sang stared at him harshly,
''Sorry' is a sentiment that helps your conscience, it is not really meant for me at all,' Sang picks up an empty plate on her desk,
'Do you see this plate?' The nine men looked confused,
'Yes...'
Sang dropped it onto the desk hard, it broke into several pieces,
'Will 'sorry' fix this plate?'
All nine whispered back sadly,
'No...'
Sang eyeballed each of them with hard eyes,
'Can the plate be fixed?'
Everyone but Silas, Victor and Sean said,
'No...'
'Yes!' Silas, Victor and Sean contradicted their brothers.
Sang gave the three a small smile,
'Explain to your brothers how it can be fixed please,'
Silas spoke for the three of them,
'It can be glued back together, maybe with new decoration or pieces of ceramics,'
Sang smiled at him a bit bigger,
'Exactly,'
She looked over the camera on her laptop to an area invisible to the Blackbourne team further into the office she was sat in,
'Is that enough, sissy, or did you have more questions today to ask your ex's?'
The Blackbourne team was mystified; who was Sang speaking with and why were they her ex's.
Victor stiffened figuring the puzzle out first. Before he could voice his suspicion a second chameleon haired, green eyes female slid into the seat and hugged her sister,
'Hello boys,' Sang addressed them directly for the first time.
Eight Blackbourne men stared in stunned silence before exclaiming,
'You have a twin!'
Victor just smiled in utter happiness,
'Hello, Sang. I've been soo looking forward to meeting you, Iris...'
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This is a short chapter again, sorry folks, but there is a lot to be digested and thought about... 😶
And of course the twin bombshell for the Blackbourne team... Although Vic sure seems happy about it 😉
Just so you know there are still secrets yet to be exposed... Mak is hiding loads... 😏
As always comment and vote if you enjoyed💫
Next chapter is out Friday 💋