The Brother (Whip 5) ✔️

Chapter 11

STEFAN

I winced as I got up, my ribs smarting from one of the two punches that idiot Hanks had managed to throw at me before I got him under control.

But that one seemed to have counted. I ignored it though, my mind working a hundred miles per hour as I thought about what to do and say to explain this whole mess.

Sure, Hanks had started it first but I sure as hell had finished it and I feared the consequences, seeing as we were foreigners in a country that didn't really like US citizens when we were law-abiding let alone when we were not.

"Let me do the talking." Sasha suddenly said as he slowly stood up, swaying a bit on his feet but managing to stay on them this time around.

He approached the police officer who had gotten out of the car, talking to him quickly in Russian.

The man looked at me and then at Hanks lying in the ground, before telling Sasha something.

Sasha shook his head and then motioned toward the wound on his forehead, before pointing toward the camera that stood just at the entrance to the building.

The police officer nodded and said something else which made Sasha's face scrunch up in exasperation.

"Sasha!?" Someone suddenly exclaimed, and we all turned to see another police officer standing just a bit away, his eyes wide in shock as he stared at the redhead.

"Ivan..." Sasha whispered, taking a step back, his face a picture of surprise. In the next moment, he was pulled into a bear hug as the man ran up to him.

He was a huge man, even taller than me, with auburn hair that was cut short to the temple, and there was a certain something about him that oddly reminded me of Sasha.

Were they related? I wondered as I stood aside, watching them.

They stood embraced for a long time, the big man shaking slightly as he clutched Sasha's back, and I concluded that they were either actually related or had known each other very well before Sasha moved.

Once they finally separated, the man wiped his eyes with the back of his hand before starting to talk in quick Russian. Sasha said something that made him glance at me for a second before doing the same with Hanks who was being helped to his feet by the other officer.

Two ambulance vehicles arrived soon after. Hanks was loaded into one, while the other stopped right next to Sasha and his friend/family member.

Sasha sat on the bench as an EMT approached him to assess his injury and he motioned for me to come closer.

I did as asked, stopping next to Sasha, and rubbing a few gentle circles across his back as the EMT cleaned his cut.

"Everything okay?" I asked as I glanced toward the two officers who were now conversing quietly a few feet away from us.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I took care of it." He said, his voice a bit shaky as he stared at the man who had embraced him.

"You know him?" I asked although I already knew that he did but didn't want to seem presumptuous.

Sasha nodded as he whispered, "He's my uncle."

One of my eyebrows raised and I opened my mouth to ask more, but something about the way Sasha looked at that moment told me that he had already said everything he wanted.

"Okay. Here is the deal." The man, Sasha's uncle said as he approached us, switching to English, although quite accented, but I still understood and appreciated it.

"You are free to go, but you'll both need to give statements about what exactly happened. We are gonna check the camera at the entrance to the alley and if what you said is true then you have nothing to worry about."

I nodded as did Sasha and once he was let go by the EMT, me having refused their services, we were separated by the officers.

I sat on the bench Sasha had previously occupied and begun.

*

SASHA

"And that's when Stefan came. He pulled him off me and they got into a fight. I think Hanks punched him a few times and Stefan punched him back a few more until I pulled him off him. But he only did it to defend me, I promise uncle." I said as I recounted what happened, my hands shaking slightly as the scene replayed inside my head.

I could still feel Hanks's disgusting hands all over me which turned my stomach, and I barely held myself off barfing.

"It's okay Sasha. I believe you." My uncle said as he rubbed a hand across my shoulder in a soothing manner, his face troubled and a bit angry.

"What now?" I asked as I hugged myself closer, starting to shiver having gotten used to US weather and finding the Moscow chill hard to swallow.

"You are free to go, and I'll call you if there is anything more you need to do or say. But I highly doubt it seeing as everything was caught on camera."

"What about him? Hanks? What will happen to him?"

My uncle sighed as he said, "He will get treatment at the hospital and then be arrested and formally charged with assault and attempted rape. He'll probably demand extradition to the US but if he'll get it that's up to forces higher than me."

I nodded, relieved to hear that he would probably not get out of this.

"I can't believe it's really you," Ivan said suddenly pulling me out of my thoughts. I turned to see him smiling as his eyes filled.

"I missed you too, uncle," I said as I took his hand into mine.

"Where have you been> Have you heard anything about your..."

"He's fine. We are both fine and living in New York."

"You found Misha? Is he okay?" Ivan asked, his smile growing. He had been the only one besides me that had tried to find Misha, but we weren't aware that my brother had left the country long before the time we gave up the search.

Afterward, I fought with my parents and left for London, and I haven't gotten the courage to call him since, feeling ashamed to have left without a goodbye after everything he had done for me and Misha.

"I'm so sorry, Ivan. I should have called, I should have... I am so sorry."

"It's okay. I forgive you, Sasha."

I started crying then and he pulled me into a hug, the embrace feeling like coming home at last.

"Do you talk to them?" I asked once I had calmed down, nothing having to say it for my uncle to know who I was referring to.

My uncle frowned, his face stormy as it usually tended to become when my father was mentioned. He never loved him and didn't try to hide it. His opinion about my father and his backward ways always clashed with my uncle's more open-minded views of things.

"Just your mom." He said eventually. I paused at the mention of my mother, my heart aching to hear more of her despite the anger still coursing through my veins.

"You should call her while you're here. I know she'd be happy to hear from you and Misha. She has been worried sick since you two disappeared."

I nodded, having thought the same since pretty much exiting the plane, but the thought of possibly seeing my father again made me pause.

"I'll think about it, I promise."