The Better Brother: An Age Gap, Bratva Romance

by Kai Lesy

“My brother lost you. Be my Queen at his wedding… and let him watch while I ruin you for anyone else.”


My ex dumped me for a stick-thin socialite.
So I made a The next man who touched me would earn the privilege.

Then HE happened.

A stranger with cold eyes.
Filthy mouth. And lethal hands.

He dragged me into the bathroom of my Prague flight.
Fisted my hair.
Bit my throat.
Burned filthy Russian promises straight into my soul.

Then I learned his name.

Matvei Volkov.
Bratva kingpin.
Chicago’s deadliest shadow.
And my ex-fiancé’s estranged half-brother.

His offer?
Stand on his arm at my ex’s wedding.
Wear his diamonds.
Help him get revenge.
Walk away with enough money to build the life I’ve always wanted.

It should have been easy.

Until blood spills.
Enemies close in.
And two pink lines change everything. Twins.

And Matvei’s done pretending.
Now he says I’m his.
And God help anyone who tries to take me from him.


For readers who silver fox mafia bosses, a fierce heroine, and forbidden romance with the ex’s older brother. A curvy heroine finally worshipped the way she deserves. A dangerously possessive Bratva alpha who doesn’t know how to let go. Explosive family betrayal, high-stakes drama, and a man who would burn the world down to keep what’s his.

Genres: Romance, Dark Romance, Mafia Romance, Dark, Contemporary, Romantic Suspense, Erotica

284 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 27, 2026

About the author

International Bestselling Romance Author.
Amazon US Top 30 Author.

Kai Lesy thrives on abundance SO naturally menage and reverse harems with a multiple over-the-top alphas is her jam.

Outside of writing her next masterpiece, Kai loves baking an obnoxious amount of cookies, playing with her French bull dog, Hugo, and writing about herself in the third person - because it feels fancy.

All books FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

Lucky Lady Reverse Harem Series
1. Single Mom's SEALs
2. Tapped Out Single Mom
3. Three Daddies Under the Mistletoe
4. Christmas with my Best Friend's Brothers
5. Cowboy Daddies
6. Christmas with my Three Best Friends
7. Playing Pretend with my Brother's Best Friends
8. SEAL'd with a Kiss
9. Snow and the Seven Protectors
10. Her Royal Treatmen

Her Glow Up Reverse Harem Series
1. Single Mom's Glow Up
2. Single Mom's Sparkle
3. Baby Makes Seven

Over the Top Galactic Protectors SciFi Series
1. Claimed by Brothers
2. Barbarian Daddies
3. Twins for the Barbarians
4. Triplets for the Barbarians

Dirty Daddies Series
1. Savage Protector
2. Quadruple Daddy
3. Protecting the Nanny

Reviews

[Snafuzled]

Tapping out on this one. The FMC is annoying the hell out of me. She’s a smart lawyer (good for her!), who makes dumb decision after dumb decision (Boo). I’m just not in the mood to read ‘Smart girls gone dumb’ at the moment.

Maybe I’ll pick it up again one day (doubtful). 🤷‍♀️

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

FMC too stubborn

The basis of the story line was great, but I almost stopped several times because the FMC was so irritatingly stubborn. Refusing to stay with matvei so he could keep her safe because she has some twisted belief that staying with him puts her on the path to become a controlled abuse victim. It was annoying and everytime she didn’t listen, she got hurt, but still wanted to be ridiculous and do whatever she wanted. TBH I had the potential to be great but in the end I was just relieved it was over.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caught in Between

Sonya was engaged to Samson, a man she realized too late could never love her and lived his life for power on the wrong side of the law. Sonya, an attorney for abused and desperate women leaned on her adopted sister Kelly who is a law enforcement officer.

Deciding to take a vacation away from her ex, she meets a gorgeous man at the airport who sits beside her on the fight to Europe. He comforts her, in more ways than one, to distract her from the turbulence of the aircraft.

Matvei is a powerful man and head of Bratva, and more to the point, the brother of her ex, Samson. Sonya is drawn to the magnetic and often warm man who comes from a world she has opposed her entire life. Hoping that when he says he is trying to leave violence behind that he really means it.

This is a complicated story, with intrigue and betrayal as well as love that neither Sonya or Matvei ever expected to have. When Sonya finds herself pregnant to the Bratva Don, she is torn between the new love she found and her previous life helping desperate women in trouble.

This is a very well written book, the characters seem real, with the danger and drama woven into every chapter. This is a mildly spicy romantic suspense, and I thought it was well done enough for a five star review.

[🐝 Shaz 🐝 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a okay read . Enough to keep my interest. Quite a bit happening. I liked both characters. Though Sonya was a bit too trusting of people. Which got her in trouble.
Good job she had her silver fox to look after her.
Some quite unhinged people in this story.
I like a good epilogue, and this book gave me one.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Better Brother doesn’t just enter your life — it detonates like a family feud wrapped in a tailored suit, dripping with vengeance, obsession, and the kind of emotional chaos that makes your spine do interpretive dance.

This book is messy in the best way — the kind of feral, forbidden, “oh babe, this is going to ruin your week and you’ll thank it” romance that grabs your feelings by the throat and refuses to let go. It starts with heartbreak, humiliation, and an ex who deserves to be launched into the sun. Our heroine is done — absolutely done — with men who treat her like a placeholder. She swears the next man who gets close will have to earn it.

And then Matvei Volkov appears like a walking catastrophe with cheekbones sharp enough to commit crimes and a presence that feels like danger wrapped in silk. He’s cold, controlled, lethal, and radiates the kind of intensity that makes your soul sit up straight. And when she learns he’s the estranged half‑brother of her ex? Oh babe, that’s when the emotional fireworks start.

Matvei doesn’t ask — he declares. He wants her on his arm at the wedding, wants her wearing diamonds that glitter like threats, wants her beside him while he settles old scores. It’s supposed to be a deal, a performance, a revenge fantasy with a payout at the end. But nothing stays simple when a man like Matvei gets involved. He’s older, sharper, more dangerous, and absolutely incapable of pretending he doesn’t care.

The wedding becomes a battlefield. The family tension is thick enough to spread on toast. And the moment blood hits the ground, everything spirals into the kind of chaos that makes you mutter “oh sweetheart, you should’ve run the moment he looked at you.”

But she didn’t.
And now she’s in deep — deeper than she ever planned — especially when two pink lines appear and the world tilts. Twins. A future she never expected. A man who refuses to let her face any of it alone. Matvei stops playing games. He stops pretending. He stops holding back. He becomes the kind of feral, possessive, emotionally unhinged protector who would burn down continents just to keep her safe.

It’s forbidden.
It’s dramatic.
It’s addictive.
It’s the kind of romance that feels like standing too close to a bonfire — dangerous, overwhelming, and impossible to walk away from.

This story is pure chaos wrapped in devotion, betrayal wrapped in longing, and a heroine finally worshipped the way she deserves. It’s messy, it’s wild, it’s high‑stakes, and it’s absolutely drenched in the kind of emotional intensity that makes your heart do backflips.

A solid 4‑star feral, forbidden, family‑exploding, age‑gap Bratva romance that delivers drama, danger, and devotion in one gloriously unhinged package.

[Teigan · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF page 79/276.

Sex is not the answer to everything and I hate books that are repetitive so I'm not even going to force myself to finish this one. 

I had far too many issues with this book so I'll list them out to make it easier.

1. She's constantly thinking about her size while her ex called her fat over text and the dress shop ladies imply she's large. Look, I'm not usually a fan of this trope because I don't like weight and related stereotypes being dragged up while I'm reading. If a book is talking about being a twig or being larger than everyone else more than a few times I'm usually out. It's not something I care for and I don't like the constant judging for a woman's weight.

So that's partly on me but I ignored this issue as it's something I thought I could get over. 

2. Sex being the answer to everything. She meets him on a plane and while she's having a panic attack he's like "we're having sex in the plane bathroom during a storm unless you say no" - that's a stranger?! You just met him?! Maybe ask for consent before dragging her to the bathroom?? Also during a storm while you're on a plane?!

Then they agree to have sex again but she panics after realising who he is so she leaves. The next day? He's at her hotel room and invites himself into her shower with her?! Excuse me?? Why is she not asking how tf he found her or setting boundaries??

Then the part where I DNFd? She's on the phone to a woman leaving her domestic abuse situation before ending the call and walking home with her food shopping. Suddenly she's shot at and the MMC is there with his lieutenant "protecting her". At first she doesn't even question why they were there so fast or who was shooting her or why they were. (She does after a few pages) Then they have sex because she's traumatised.

Either way, she's panicked = they're having sex.

3. The format of the pages and paragraphs?? Someone explain to me why it starts off as one line per paragraph then after a few chapters it's giant chunks of paragraphs that take up an entire kindle screen?? Stick to one and use it, really annoys me when authors just change things like that.

4. This isn't really a complaint about the book but I am confused how this author wrote over 20 books in just over a year. With the repetitiveness of this book and the publishing dates all being too close I was worried this might be AI. I don't want to throw rumours around while I have no solid proof but with how bad this book was it's suspicious. Hopefully, it's not because I hate AI and refuse to accept any forms of it.

I'll leave it at that for now as that all but sums everything up.

[Librada O · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hated the female protagonist. IMHO she was unlikeable. I am surprised I even finished this because I grew to loathe every time she was on the page.

[Yume · Rating 1 out of 5]

⭐️.75 /🌶️.5 DNF

This started out good but the more I read the FMC was so annoying. She was in danger and she just kept refusing his help but when Sonya and her sister are almost killed she remembers him and try to contact him. I thought you could do this all on your own Sonya.

All he wants is for her to be safe especially since she’s pregnant with twins. It’s dangerous with one, image now with two and you still want to be stubborn and not let him help you. Is it mean of me to say that I hope something happens to her, so she gets her head out of her ass. But I won’t get my hopes up since she’s so stubborn that If something does that won’t help his case.

She’s just so stubborn that she’s willing to put her kids in danger.

So I stopped reading at page 183, 60% in cuz I can’t continue with this storyline.

[❤️Court - Villains Do It Better❤️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf. Badly written

[Inés Molina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it.

Sometimes a girl just needs a bit of mafia romance in her life and I stumbled into this one. Instant attraction with your ex's older brother, yes please. She was having a panic attack on the plane and he took her to the bathroom to distract her. Color me distracted Mr. Matvei. They had so much chemistry. There was action, drama, and spice. I enjoyed this story.

[Elizabeth Neal]

Thoughts:

1. Vise is spelled both correctly and incorrectly on the same page/same scene.
2. We only need to be told once that Sonya was adopted. Constantly referring to her parents and sister as her adopted/adoptive parents (or dad/mom) and sister is insulting. It diminishes that they are her family. The moms were best friends, for Pete's sake. These people adopted her and treated her like their own. Constantly referring to them as anything other than her parents or sister is unnecessary. Btw, this qualifier isn't always done as a thought. It's also done out loud, in front of said relation. If I was them, I'd be hurt. A lot.
3. Genevieve...called it.
4. First, Roman is the son, then he's the dad. (His (Dmitri's) son, Romance, ia younger and sharper... THEN Roman, finally understanding there is no escape, lunges toward me with a guttural cry in an attempt to save his son.)
5. Evgeny and Kelly get their own story, I hope. Their possibility is definitely implied.

[Rebecca Merlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Mafia. Not the best at all….in my opinion.
Boring. Stupid. 😵‍💫🙄🥱

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sonja had her heart broken by her ex and instead of dwelling on it she decides on vacation for herself and ends up having an encounter with a man she just met Matvei Volkov. At the time she has no idea that Matvei is her ex's estranged brother. When she figures it out she gets as far away from him as possible. Matvei though hasn't forgotten her and seeks her out making her a deal she can't refuse, problem is she should stay away but they have a connection neither can resist.


Fantastic chemistry. I really liked Matvei a lot and Sonja is a great match for him, really entertaining.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

I got almost to the end hoping they would have something interesting happen, but nope. I won't go into Sonya as more reviewers made the points for me. Her stupidity would make me question her ability to even get into law school let alone be the great lawyer they purport her to be. Every situation she got herself into was one of her own making because she wants to be independent even though someone is trying to kill her.

Which brings me to my main contention, the main driver of this book was that Samson wanted to destroy his brother. So Sonyas involvement in this story is simply coincidental as she gave him no advantage whatsoever until she happened to meet his brother one day. He supposedly was with her for years, proposed, then dumped her via text for someone he said fit him better because she's fat. Then after she sleeps with his brother he somehow knows about it and makes an attempt on her life which later is just part of Samsons attempt to hurt his brother, but why would he think a woman he just met would cause him hurt if she died??? This seems like a writing prompt where the story went sideways. Again there is no reason why he dated and then dumped Sonya. It serves to purpose at all.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

This book started out good but then the inevitable, predictable pregnancy happens. There are also things that don’t line up, like the author didn’t proofread their work. So I’m done with it 52% in.

[MsRHReviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age gap, mafia, bad ex, silver fox... it ticks lots of boxes!

I was about to accidently spoil a part of this ending, but I will instead say this: This is one of the few books, if not the only one, I read where the mafia decides to take a turn in a particular direction at the end.

Sonya is a lawyer who helps abused women get away from their abusive husbands, no matter how powerful.

Matvei is the pakhan to the Russian mafia in Chicago, a killer, a dangerous man.

I have to give respect to Sonya's character. Throughout the entire book, she remained strong and determined to be her own person, even when she was starting to get serious with Matvei. He wanted her under his roof to keep her safe, not caring if other women were in danger because Sonya was inaccessible. Sonya stood firm, even if it put her life that much more in danger to be out and about, but she was not about to lose herself and become a prisoner of sorts just because she fell into bed with the Russian mafia.

Matvei is used to getting what he wants, I'm sure, and while it was hard, he finally learned to view Sonya as an equal partner. When he didn't, she essentially put him in his place.

I feel they were both overly stubborn at times, but a lawyer and a pakhan are found to have very strong personalities!

I enjoyed that in the end, no one's morals or attitudes really changed. They were all who they were before, but better versions of themselves, and they learned to blend together more seamlessly. There's action, conflict, a bit of mystery, supporting family, smexy scenes for those who love those, and I'd say everything is pretty evenly written (not too much of one thing and not enough of another).

If you're feeling up to a mafia, age gap, MF read where the guy will burn the world down for the FMC, this one should satisfy you.

NOTE: If you read the first epilogue, you'll find an inconsistency. In the main book, Sonya learns her parents died due to being tied to the Irish mafia. Vague memories surge back up of gunfire. In the first epilogue, she's told by a family member she didn't know that it was a car accident. 

[Susan D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

What can I say! An entertaining, undemanding, satisfying read. A solid story of betrayal, love, tenderness, excitement, intrigue, violence and danger.

Matvei is the powerful head of the Russian Bratva. He is ruthless, unyielding and merciless in protecting those he loves, and whatever belongs to him. He is attracted to and falls deeply in love with Sonya. Sonya is a strong, intelligent woman. She is a lawyer devoted to representing women who are in abusive relationships. Sonya is drawn to Matvei’s warm and affectionate nature and becomes devoted to him despite seeing his darker side - the initial chemistry and spice between them deepens into passionate and tender love.

This is a well written book filled with colourful, fully drawn characters that add to the excitement and drama. A thoroughly enjoyable piece of escapism with two extremely satisfying epilogues that give us a glimpse of their lives a few years into the future.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

book 1&3 too many similarities

This author lacks creativity. Book 3 was actually the first I read since they are standalone. Then I went back and read book 1.

Both books the FMC were formerly involved with a brother/ son of the MMC. Both had accidental pregnancy. Both were being undermined by a family member to take over bratva. Both endings have another surprise pregnancy after the first one.

This alone makes me question if I want to read another book by this author. The fact that the whole plot is basically copy paste and it’s in the same series only a book apart.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This whole book was just Meh. The age gap was pointless, I didn't get as much chemistry as I would have wanted, and our heroine is both stupid and stubborn. Not to mention, did he ever actually tell her that he loves her at all? I don't think so.

Having theage gap in there serves no purpose at all. It is barely mentioned once, and doesn't ever get mentioned again or factor in to anything. It certainly wasn't enough to make it a point to be mentioned in the title page.

This is yet another book where I find it very hard to believe our FMC h had anything to do with her ex. Granted, she is pretty stupid (secretly sneak into a rival family house to give legal help that they could easily afford from anyone), but if she is such an intelligent lawyer, there is no way she wouldn't have caught something from him about it while they were together. No way she would have agreed to marry him.

But then she is so stubborn and annoying with Matvei. She keeps pushing and pushing against what she knows he does. He keeps trying to make an effort to change for he, but what does she do? She keeps giving him crap. She needs to change, too. I didn't like her much.

I will go to the next book, but it needs to to be better.

[Sally Jask-eh · Rating 4 out of 5]

the better brother left me wanting more. It started off great with ridiculous happenings in 💀🤌🥵first class to Prauge. Focus was on characters. Sonya wanted a revenge hookup and Matvei’s half brother was her fiancé. Then the mobster violence started, it was okay at first but it got old, I skimmed. Plot twists and kick-ass sister Kelly were cartoonish. But at least it resolves in a single book without cliff hanger. Still enjoyed this steamy mafia romance despite flaws

[Pebbles Lacasse · Rating 5 out of 5]

So dark. So dangerous. So much to offer.

Was so much on the line, how can he walk away from her? How will he keep her safe and still in his life? Is there a way to end the wars between the families in his world? She is strong, but Is she strong enough to survive a life beside him? Danger looms at every corner and there’s no place to hide.

An excellent story I could easily see myself reading twice. An absolute definite must read!

[Jacquelyn G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great beginning

This story started hot and interesting. Although the structure of two sentences per paragraph drove me nuts.
The story did not flow well. There was an interesting "make my brother/ex boyfriend jealous" bit, but that quickly got overshadowed by death threats and overbearing mafia bossiness.
Things started just being said instead of shown. They had naked time like twice on page but talked about it TONS. There was always talk of mafia business, but we didn't really see it.

And I HATE when the mafia person leaves the mafia.. it's LAME in a mafia story.
Also how was Sonya an heir to two families.. the only one that was ever mentioned was her mother marrying her dad from an Irish mafia.
There was a lot of good ideas, but it didn't come out great.
Disappointing for me, so I will not be finishing this series.

[Migeldy Mauri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐️

Classic Ex-finance’s brother trope.
I can't spell their names for the life of me, but this was a fun and quick read.
I'm usually not a fan of the "surprise pregnancy" trope, but this one was well done.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This got an extra star for getting her married name right

[Christi Goodwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable

I really liked the beginning but I saw where the story was headed too soon. No big surprises. This book is for those who enjoy a tame version of mafia love.

[Nell Rosario · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was rough. I seriously struggled to read it. Took me forever. Russian mafia crime romances are not my thing at all. I have realized this after completion of the book.

Also so is he supposed to be like 45 plus having 3 kids under 5 in the epilogue? That’s a wild ride I’d never get on.

[figuranta❤️addicted❤️to❤️books❤️ · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 61%

[Alisa Nielsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a good time, sue me.

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I lost some brain cells reading this one

[Rebecca Delgrosso Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanted to give it 5 but Sonya was too stupid for someone so smart too many damn times.