The Brothers Karamazov Romane & Geschichten

"You're about to walk into a room full of people who know exactly who you are and who you're married to, and they're going to look at you a certain way. You shouldn't have to do that alone." I stared at him. "That's unexpectedly thoughtful." "You keep expecting me to be different than I am." "You'll have to forgive me. The last man I trusted turned out to be in bed with my sister." Something moved through his expression, quick and sharp. "Stepsister," he said, and the echo of Isabella's own correction turned it into something dry and dark. Despite everything, I almost laughed.

"Lorenzo... I’ve been hit by a car... right where you dropped me off... I think it’s the Russians..." Lorenzo’s impatient voice crackled through the speaker, accompanied by the sound of the ocean breeze. It was a death sentence. "Elena! Why do you keep forcing me to choose? With a lie this pathetic?" "Do you have any idea how much you look like a sickening clown right now, desperate for attention?" The call went dead. When I tried to redial, his phone was already turned off. Through my blurred vision, I saw several tattooed men jump out of the van. I recognized the ink—stars on the knees. They were Bratva. The rival Ivanov family.

And vaguely familiar in a way that made my stomach turn over. Then he stepped under the chandelier, and the light hit his face. The sharp jaw. The scar cutting through his left eyebrow. Those cold, flat green eyes scanning the room like he owned every person in it. My champagne glass nearly slipped from my hand. "No." "What?" Holly leaned in, smelling blood. "That's Liam." The name tasted like battery acid. "That's my brother." Holly blinked. "Your brother? The one in Europe? The disaster?" "He's not supposed to be here." My voice came out strangled. "He's supposed to be gone. I thought mother paid him to stay gone."

Iver and April had decided to have a talk with him when he comes back and Iver wanted to properly give him a genuine apology for all he had said to him. When he arrived however, he was being supported by Knox. They thought he was hurt at first but then, they realized he was just drunk, really drunk. The last time the two saw their brother drunk was when he was seventeen and had lost to an opponent in a wrestling match. He already had a few injuries before the match and so, he believed it wasn't fair and had asked for a re-match but he was thrown out. He had branched by a bar and gotten drunk, he was so drunk that he collapsed and slept off on the side of the road until a neighbour saw him an

“I know. You were always kind. Kinder than I deserved.” He nodded, then left. I sank against the counter, drained. In two days, both Stone brothers had walked back into my life. The storm was only beginning. “Mommy?” Ethan appeared in the doorway, eyes serious. “Are you sad?” I wiped my face quickly. “Just tired. Are you hungry?” He slipped his small hand into mine. “The man who was here—he looked like Daddy.” My chest tightened. “They’re brothers. Sometimes brothers look alike.” “Like me and Eva,” he said.

It was his brother Saul’s car. A sudden suspicion hit Lucas. Who was inside this car with Saul? Lucas reached out his hand, grabbed the rear door handle to yank it open…

The moment the coffin closed above me, I was enveloped in endless darkness. I could hear the metallic lock clanging outside and my mother's icy voice, berating, "Open your eyes and look carefully at what death really is, Joe! Let’s see if you’ll talk about death so lightly in the future." My big brother, Joe Hastings, slammed the coffin frantically. "Let Janine out, Mom! She has asthma. Let her out and we can talk things out."

“You’ve proven… resilient. More than I anticipated when I terminated your previous role. Darian’s little project with you has not gone unnoticed.” I kept my voice steady. “If this is about the Mercer file, we—” “This is about family,” he interrupted smoothly. “Bigger secrets than office games or childish rivalries between my son and nephew.” A cold smile touched his lips. “Are you prepared for what happens when the past stops staying buried, girl?”

Middle warm. Because today, we were all in Mom's house again. Both brothers together. And tomorrow, we would be together again. And the day after that. And the day after that. Two brothers. Three houses. One girl in the middle. One family. ---

A man calls out from beside him. I turn to the man, and I find out it was the man who had spoken nicely to me. He was Dimitri's brother? I heard that Dimitri had a brother, Ivanov who was twice as ruthless as him. Could that brother be this soft spoken giant? Dimitri and his brother have a staring contest for a few minutes before Dimitri nods his head and withdraws his gun. I know I'm supposed to be grateful I get to live but I almost wanted to die. What awaited me outside the walls of my father's house?