Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal Book 2) by Bethany-Kris, London Miller

pick up the food menus Violet had set down earlier.
    The girl passed Violet another look. “So you and Kaz, huh?”
    “Uh … yeah.”
    “Glad he finally figured out something about his life.”
     

     
    Kaz hadn’t given much thought to the rooftop greenhouse garden that was listed with the property when he had Rus make the transaction for him. What the fuck would he do with it? But as he walked behind Kolya out onto it, he found a use.
    The moment the door shut behind them, Kaz stopped, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You good, Kolya?”
    “What the fuck do you care?”
    Kaz’s eye twitched as he tried to remind himself that this was his friend, and it wasn’t a good idea to shoot one’s friends. But over the years, he didn’t think he had ever met someone as perpetually upset as Kolya was. It was as if the man only knew how to be angry, at all things all the time. It still amazed him how Maya was able to put up with his shit.
    “Whatever the problem is, Violet had no part of it. So either show her a little more respect, or I’ll give you a reason to.”
    Kolya didn’t respond to warnings as any rational person would; rather he reacted as though it were a challenge. One second, he was still angry, and the next, he was offering a manic smile, looking at Kaz with a brow arched.
    “That so? And how exactly are you trying to teach that lesson, pizda ?”
    Kaz used to react when Kolya called him a pussy. He’d let his anger take over until they were both exhausted and bleeding, but that was back when Kaz was a hothead. Now, he hardly reacted at all.
    “You really want to do this now?”
    “Then what’s your preference? Before or after those goddamn Italians try to come crawling through here to find her?” Kolya took a step forward, his eyes narrowed on Kaz. “I don’t care, Kaz. Whatever fucking happens to her, not my problem, but because you care, Maya will care. You know more than anyone how fragile she can be, and when she takes this shit on, I’ll have to fix it.”
    “Then your problem is with me,” Kaz said after a moment. “Don’t give her shit because you decided to indulge your wife. If you really didn’t want her here, she wouldn’t be.”
    Kolya opened his mouth to speak, but the door opened behind them. Konstantin popped his head out, already smiling at the sight of them.
    “Bad time?”
    “Fuck off.”
    “Good to see you too, brother.”
    No one could truly explain the relationship between the two Boykov brothers. With Kolya as the oldest at the same age as Kaz and Konstantin as the youngest, they were always in some battle of wills whenever Kaz crossed their paths. It almost seemed like Konstantin enjoyed pushing his brother as far as he could before Kolya would snap back, usually with a fist to somewhere on his brother’s body. It was impossible to miss the certain competitive nature between the brothers. Though weren’t most siblings like that?
    Kaz didn’t fully understand why Konstantin was being groomed to take over his father’s position with him being the youngest brother, but then again, many things about other Bratvas were kept quiet.
    Kaz’s own brother, Ruslan, and his preference for men was a good example of that. Vasily kept all of that hush-hush.
    But obviously, given Kolya had been married for two years to Maya, he didn’t have that same issue. Maybe he just hadn’t wanted to be the boss—Kaz didn’t know, and he didn’t ask.
    “I see the girls are getting along just fine down in the kitchen,” Konstantin said, grinning in that way of his.
    Kaz reminded himself again that it was not nice to shoot friends. “You’d better not have made one of your fucking comments to Violet.”
    Konstantin’s eyes flew wide in false innocence. “I would never.”
    Bullshit.
    This man thrived on chaos.
    “I’m warning you,” Kaz said. “Unless you’re looking for a fist to the throat.”
    “They didn’t even see me.”
    That did nothing to make Kaz feel better.