Amy
She feels Dimitri stir next to her, then gets out of bed. Tossing and turning all night, Amy had not been able to sleep at all after they were intimate, but he fell asleep almost immediately as if his dreams did not bother him.
She watched him as he walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and stared at nothing, running his fingers through his long hair as if he was deep in thought. His long hair would probably need to be trimmed soon as it reached past his shoulder blades. He turned around to look at her ‘sleeping’ frame, then headed to his walk-in. She got out of bed and walked over to him, his back was facing her while he put on his jockeys and black suit pants. Walking towards him, she slipped her arms around his waist, laying her head on his back.
“Did I wake you?” he asks quietly, and she lightly shakes her head. “I couldn’t sleep,” She inhaled his Armani scent again and held him closer to h
DimitriHe opens the Bentayga door for Amaranthe. It has been three months since Viktor stepped down as Pakhan of New York, and with everything being silent, Dimitri started getting restless. They were sending his parents off at the airport today, Viktor Baranov had been faithful to his word about leaving New York for his homeland. He and Amaranthe would move into the country home by next week and Sergei has taken control of more than half of Chicago. An accomplishment he entrusted his Brigadier would be more than competent to execute. “Mama, don’t be sad! Dimitri and I will visit!” His wife held his mother in her arms as the older woman was inconsolable.Viktor walked over to him and put an arm on his shoulder, “I am proud of you. You made those in Chicago tremble at the Baranov name, I leave the legacy to you.” He says and Dimitri returns the gesture. Viktor has become softer in his old age, and Dimitri wondered how it w
Amy“Dimitri, stop fussing, I’m fine!” Amy shouts at her husband for tucking her blankets in around her again. She had caught the flu from a fellow musician and had been in bed all week. “Are you taking your antibiotic as prescribed? You have not gotten better at all. I should get that doctor fired.” He muttered under his breath and Amy shook her head. “Dimitri!” she croaks out, and he frowned at her. “I may fuss over my wife. Especially when the medication her doctor administered does not work!” He says firmly as he gets up and reaches for his phone. “I’ll call the doctor.”Amy jumps out of bed and immediately regretted it. She saw spots of white and stumbled forward. Dimitri rushes over to her and caught her, holding her against his bare chest. “You are still weak and need to eat, moye solntse. Even if you are not hungry.” He says as he lays her down and she
As soon as they touched down in Venice, Michael and Alexei led their charge out to the waiting Maybach. Dimitri Baranov had influence everywhere. Amy realized this when she set eyes on the luxury car. She would tutor for about 4 weeks in various cities, not 2 weeks as she had originally thought. Dimitri had been livid when she told him.Their first destination was Venice’s Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia. Then Milan’s Conservatorio di Milano in her second week. Florence’s Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini would follow and would ultimately conclude in Palermo for Olivewood’s School of Music. She would do her lessons in the Opera House there.She made Olivewood her last stop because she knew Dimitri would want to accompany her. The trouble in Russia was intensifying, and Viktor needed his help. Her husband could be ruthless when he put on his Pakhan persona. She had encountered this when she saw him on
Amy breathes in the freshly brewed coffee smell of Arianna’s and beams. This was her home, the home she came to love. She glances over at the servers and noticed she did not recognize them at all. She frowns as she wanders over to the counter and asks one server for Arianna. They said she would be out shortly. She skims the diner and her eyes settled on a familiar family, although the little girl was not so little anymore. Isabella Ricci saw her first, suddenly her eyes lit up. “AMY!” she exclaimed and dashed over to her, arms outstretched. Amy wrapped her in a big hug. “Bella!” Eve ran after her daughter, but then made eye contact with Amy and her expression softened. “Amy-Lou,” Eve sighed and joined in the hug. “I missed you guys,” Amy murmured in Italian. The language had come back to her as if she never stopped speaking it.“Amy?” she hears Arianna’s soft voice behind her, and she turns, setting Isabe
It was her third day in Olivewood, and something already irritated her. “Alexei, please. You and Michael scare my students. Let me show up at the Opera House first and then you can enter. Give me 5 minutes.” Amy begs her bodyguards. Her students had come to her in confidence, saying Alexei scared them when he stood around in the mornings. She had to make them comfortable again, so she promised to communicate with her bodyguards. “We cannot do that, Mrs. Baranova. The boss will have our heads.” Michael says curtly, and Alexei nods in agreement. If anything happened to her again, Dimitri would execute them. Amy sighs, “Fine. I will call my husband and sort this out.” She responds and draws out her phone, dialing her husbands’ number. “Amaranthe,” he answered on the fourth ring. That was odd, “My love, I would like Michael and Alexei to ease up with their hovering. They are scaring my students. I need them to give me at least
**WARNING' The following chapters contain scenes of a violent nature!**Amy waits for Michael to give her the all-clear before she could enter her home. Today had been emotionally draining for her. All she needed right now was a hot bath and her bed. Striding straight towards her room, she runs herself a hot bath and collects her bath towel and robe. She was still ignoring Dimitri’s calls and had not kept true to their every 2-hour promise. Her husband had a lot of explaining to do if she had misread the signs. Giving an exasperated sigh and sliding under the water, she put him out of her mind and closed her eyes.Insistent knocking could be heard on the bathroom door a few moments later and Amy shot out from under the water. “Yes?” she shouts, annoyance clear in her voice. “Apologies, ma’am,” It was Michael, “But I have Mr Baranov on the line, and he would very much like to speak with you.” He finished i
Amy smells something and wakes up. The Enforcer was glaring at her as if she disgusted him. “You better have a different answer when I return.” He spat out and pulled her up, only to throw her against the wall. She whimpers and curls into a ball, holding her abdomen. The baby would never survive the torture. If that were merely the beginning, she would lose her little bean. Tears stream down her face when she came to this conclusion. Her firstborn, dead because she opted to anger her husband by going out with Antonio. This was all her fault.The room floods with light again and she inched closer to the wall. She peered up slightly and noticed that this was not the Enforcer, but a woman. The woman got down on her haunches and Amy turned her head away from her.“Amy, look at me.” The person commanded in a hoarse voice, which oddly sounded familiar. As she turns her head, a flicker of something registers in her mind. But this familiar face looked d
Six mob leaders from all over Russia entered the Baranov Mansion in Moscow. Coupled with their personal security and the whores he had to provide them with, the tension could be cut with a knife. Dimitri scans the room in disgust and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. These were the individuals he had to persuade he could lead. His father stripped them of all their titles during his reign, and they had taken it back slowly. All while Viktor Baranov decided to take over a city that was Famiglia territory. “Ah, the young Pakhan of New York.” Came the voice of Goran Abramov, Pakhan of St. Petersburg. He had never seen eye to eye with Viktor, and Dimitri knew he was dying to take his place. Dimitri scoffs at him, “I may be young, but we both know I have slain more, Goran.” He says, then turns to walk away.He did not want to anger anyone here tonight. So before things escalated, he cleared his throat and called for everyone’s attention. &
I watch as Anastasiya walks away from me, and I feel my heart break even more. Deciding to reveal my secret to her had proved futile because she told me exactly what I feared she would. She took Ayden’s side, which is exactly what I would have done if Damon’s fiancee had to do this to him. I was Anastasiya’s best friend, but Ayden was her brother. There was no way I could make her choose between us. Sighing, I turn around and decide to head towards the exit. I do not think I could get through this day. Ana had told me to come clean to Ayden, but he would surely kill me and Matteo. Why did he have to kiss me?! How could I have been so stupid! I walk down the corridors and spot a familiar figure heading my way and froze. Ayden was walking with another girl with long blonde curls. She was an older girl from New Orleans and belonged to the Benedetti family, a Mafia Princess if there ever was one. Poised and proper. I slipped into the classroom next to my
Killian was sitting opposite me, trying to convince me to change my mind.“Please reconsider, Anastasiya. I am sure we can make this work.” He said as we’re sitting in St Leonard’s cafeteria. I had decided to take my father up on his offer of choosing someone of my own free will. Killian and I would never work, not after finding out about his man whore ways.“I’m sorry, Killian, but I have seen and heard things about you. We would never work out, not with your wandering eye and cheating ways.” I tell him and stand up from the cafeteria table, “You’re free now to fuck around with whoever you want to, just not with me.” Then I turn to leave.The last thing I needed was to be disrespected by a boy in a lower tier than my Bratva line.I started adopting more of my brother’s attitude and confidence over the last few days. Seeing how people respected him when he walked into a room made me realize
We have just left the hospital after seeing my mother. Her MRI showed nothing serious was wrong, but the blow to her head heavily concussed her. I have to admit that seeing her pale and bleeding had scared me half to death. My mother had always been a fighter, she was the toughest woman I knew and worthy of the title of Bratva Queen. She was quiet when she needed to be and fiercely protective of those she loved.Which was why I understood her decision to not tell me about Dakota and Matteo.After I met her on the stairs, I realized that I had forgotten my phone on the counter downstairs. I got the end tail of her conversation with a man I trusted above anyone.“It wasn’t supposed to happen, Ama. I think of Ayden as my brother as well. I would never do anything reckless to hurt him-”“But you have, Matteo. You betrayed him today by kissing Dakota.”My heart stopped at that moment. What had I just walke
It was as if everything was moving in slow motion as I entered the kitchen.Amaranthe turned too quickly and bumped her abdomen on the side of the breakfast nook, then she faltered backwards and started to fall. I ran to catch her, but I was too late… She hit her head on the opposite counter before I could reach her.And she hit it hard.“Alexei!” I scream for her bodyguard, who was nowhere in sight. I told him to be with her at all times, she was too weak to do things on her own now. Amaranthe was always giving him the slip, adamant she could do things on her own.Always trying to hide her weakness away from me, but she didn’t know that I could see right through her.I cradle her in my arms, cradling the back of her head… then I smell it - blood.“ALEXEI! LEV!” I cry out loudly again, feeling completely unhinged now. She knocked her head so hard that she was bleeding, who knows the damage she has
AmarantheSimple things have become more difficult for me to do.Showering takes longer now and I am out of breath by the time I am done washing my hair. Even brushing my hair takes everything out of me.I dare not tell Dimitri how bad the recent cancer treatment has got me, he would surely strangle the newest doctor. Or keep me home.I remember the time I left Dr. Martin’s after she told me it was not cancer they discovered in my mammogram. I felt elated that after a few treatments the growths would have been all but gone and I could move on with my life. But fate did not mean it to be. After Dr Martin removed the growths, the cancer cells spread sporadically; it was as if the growth prevented the cancer cells from growing.I have not heard from Dr. Martin since the cancer was first discovered; I think Dimitri had her killed, but I dare not ask him.I look at myself as I stand naked in my walk-in and sigh. After my do
I watched as Francesco pulled up in his Maybach with two of his bodyguards, and the first thing I noticed was that he had no entourage along with him.Was this his way of showing that he meant me no harm?Even so, this bothered me. Why would he need to show me this?I input my thumbprint on the pad in my phone and the gate opened. Thereafter my men collected their guns and walked them through to my office.I do not know how to handle this. What do I do if I discover my family might be in more danger than I originally anticipated? Amaranthe is too weak to go into hiding by herself.Francesco saunters into my office and glances towards my desk with a disturbed look on his face. His bodyguards follow suit and stand behind him.“Dimitri,” he greets me with a nod and I return the gesture.“Glad you could be here, Francesco,”There was no point in being an asshole right now. If there was something he needed to
Ayden is sitting opposite me, waiting for my next move. He does not yet know that most of the work of a Pakhan is done without the use of his fists. This is the reason we have enforcers. The negotiations my father has done throughout the years and what I have achieved after he died, were all done through our enforcers or via meetings with leaders.This is why I’m currently staring at Francesco’s number.I press dial, willing my anger to come to the forefront, and Francesco answers on the fourth ring.“Bratva Bishop! To what do I owe this surprising call?” He answers in a mock surprised tone, causing me to grate my teeth.“What happened to the Bratva and Cartel keeping out of the other’s way, Francesco? I thought we had a, how did you call it, unwritten rule?” I reply, echoing his sentiment from years ago. Before Sergei’s brother’s deed, we had kept out of the other’s way.I hear him chuckl
There seemed to be another war brewing, and this time it was between Bratva and Cartel members.I looked down at my most trusted man. The man I had trusted with my children, with my wife and with my own life - only to find out he had done the most despicable thing I could ever have imagined,And all under my own roof.Kiara did not need to say more I understood clearly; now I am in the basement where my fists were meeting his jaw repeatedly; the last blow dislocating it completely.“‘Mitri!” Came the voice of Sergei, my brother for all intents and purposes, “Keep him alive, I need to get a few blows in as well.”I know Sergei was itching to get his hands into Boris, but this was my blood debt to take. He violated Kiara while I trusted him inside my home.Looking over at Sergei, I shake my head, “I failed you, brother. I trusted the wrong man to protect your daughter with and now he has taken something from
Dakota Dereon - 16 Years OldThey say the life of a Dereon will always be privileged.Elizabeth and August Dereon are my parents, known as the CEO Power Couple, they instantly tripled everything they touched in profits. My older brother, Damon, was set to follow in their footsteps, while I was to become a Bratva wife.The prospect of being married to anyone in the Bratva would make any woman shiver right down to their bones. Especially if that person was the son of The Bratva Bishop, Dimitri Baranov.But not me.Ayden and I have been close since we were young, we were inseparable, and now our parents have fated us to be married. It was perfect.Until Matteo had to ruin it.It was the evening of my Sweet 16, Ayden had snuck some of his father’s Vodka into the punch bowl, and our parents being exceptionally trusting had kept us unsupervised. An hour later, and everyone was drunk. Ayden had passed out on my bed whe