“The music.” She raised her eyebrow so I elaborated. “You hadn’t answered so I called Keenan to get your schedule for the day. He was still there. You could hear the music from outside the door and he said it had been playing for a while.”
Her eyes widened. “You remembered our conversation in the car.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
Her surprise and slight tint to her cheeks made me wonder if that was really something special. I looked at Kamilia for confirmation and she just gave me a sloppy smile.
We finished our dessert talking about nothing in particular and mostly work. It got to be around nine and Kamilia kicked us out. I had to call for one of the guys to come pick us up. Taking a cigarette outside, Rosaria stood next to me as we waited.
“You killed him, didn’t you?”
I nodded, knowing who she was talking about.
“The family?”
“I’m taking care of them. Though, they have the five mil
Getting out, I definitely needed a coffee. It was Sunday so I’d hoped we could finally relax after getting the new keycards downstairs. I realized I needed to talk with her about what she knew about our world. What weapons she specialized in. What she knew about her brother and how deep his pockets were. Not to mention I needed to dig deep into my own guys. The fact that Vlad was paid off had been disturbing but it could have been anyone. At this rate, if I didn’t get some kind of caffeine in me, I was going to be completely useless.I got dressed and I headed back down the stairs. Rosaria held out a mug for me and I took it. Sniffing it, I was surprised it was coffee. She had already turned back to the food she was making.“Thanks.”“You seem like you needed it.”I chuckled softly. “I do.”Rosaria didn’t turn except to plate what looked like blini. She pulled some smoked salmon, sour cream, hon
I wiped down the back of my neck with a towel. Really, I hadn’t meant it to go that long. I’d decided to tell my security team what happened to Vladimir. Not all of them were sworn in but they knew my job and why people were out to get me most times. That level of trust was hard to come by and I looked at each one of them, giving them an ultimatum. Either they would be officially sworn in or I would provide them a glowing recommendation letter to their next place of business with three months of severance pay.When I was thinking about Keenan and swearing him in to protect Rosaria, I realized that I wasn’t about to split my trust between my family and my guys. Most of these men had been with me for over ten years. The new guys looked up to them but I needed them to know I was serious. The consequences for betrayal were far worse and there was more on the line. There was a sense of loyalty and weight to your actions. One that should never be bought and if it
*** Rosaria’s POV ***I stared at Marek for a moment, wondering if he really said what he did. His face was so serious as he watched me. He was the most dressed down I’d ever seen him and it had been shocking at first. Marek was so laid back about it though, I had to remind myself that I was in his home now. This past week I’d been alone and I hadn’t really gotten a feel for his normal routine, or his normal dress.Now, dressed so casually, he was asking something as huge as giving me Enzo or my father to me. Would I love Enzo’s head on a platter? Absolutely. My father? Definitely. Did I think they were worth it at this point? I didn’t know. My father was going to die. If it wasn’t going to be his heart, it was going to be Enzo. His days were numbered and I think we were on the lower end of those days now.Enzo was a different story. Enzo was a maniac. Enzo would be just craziness to live like a cockroach.
The shock that rippled through me could only be reflected by the shock on Marek’s face. Except his dropped into worry. He didn’t say anything though as he watched me. I didn’t know what to do. Embarrassment flooded through me and I tried to move out of Marek’s reach. This was not who I was. I did not cry. I went through torture session after torture session without making a sound. I’d taken the abuse at castle thinking I had no other place I could go. I’d clung onto the fact that I could somehow survive in this world despite being told otherwise.I was not someone who had a soul or a heart. I couldn’t. Not in this lifetime. Yet here I was, one after the other, falling down my face because someone actually cared for once. Looking up, I wiped my eyes hard with the palm of my hand. The slight pain slowed my heart beat down and helped settle me.“Búsinka…it’s okay…” Marek’s voice now sounded like sandpaper to me and I shook my head.“No. I don’t have a soul. I lost it a long time ago. I
The music switched songs and I closed my eyes, listening to the soft piano play. I’d had the water fill the bath at a temperature just shy of boiling. It helped when any of my thoughts wandered to Marek and I splashed my face with it. Now, it was a more comfortable warmth and no longer helped me forget.Marek was power but it wasn’t raw. It was honed, curated, and entirely controlled. Everything about him, his body, screamed powerful. Just the memory of being caged under him, feeling the force of his anger, was enough to send my heart into palpitations. He was beautiful, stunning, and exquisite. There was more to Marek than just his looks though.Somehow the darkness of our world hadn’t tainted him completely. He could kill and I had a feeling Vlad did not receive a quick death. If he really was the backbone of the Baranov Bratva, then there would be no way he was clean from that. However, his heart still beat and bled. He still thought of others as people, not tools.Marek cared. Orig
Aleksei was replying to the person on the other end. “They knew we were running a skeleton crew today. How many?”I turned to Aleksei and listened but I couldn’t hear the voice on the other end.“How many hostages?” He nodded. “Is pakkun there?” A pause. “Shit. Alright.” Aleksei ran a hand through his hair. “No. No, I don’t think so. That would be stupid. Just reroute Marek to the Genova building. I’ll have another crew handle the Capital building. Yes. No. Yes. Yes, zasranets, thank you for that unhelpful bit of information.”Sighing, I felt a bit of relief that whatever was happening, Marek wasn’t in the thick of it. The fact that someone was going after him today right when he came back seemed crazy. He did say a bunch of the security guys would be sworn in and trained but having them all go at the same time seemed silly to me.“Yeah. I know. Okay. I need to know who is in charge at Capital. What? Someone put Jerry in charge? Are you shitting me?” Aleksei rubbed his face. “My tak ob
“It’s the Cabrera Cartel. They’ve been fighting with the Columbians who are our ally. They have dumb numbers.” Everyone turned back around once I pulled my shirt down and I had to hold in a snort.I nodded. “Where are the hostages?”“Being held within the offices. Most everyone has been evacuated to the higher floors, the police are sitting outside the front and making a big stink but they won’t go in knowing it’s our building. They don’t have jurisdiction.”Humming, I looked over the plans. “So they have emptied out the first floor. Posting up on floor two through fifteen. Hostages are on fifteen and then there are multiple floors of evacuated workers up to the…”“Thirtieth floor. All the security guys from level sixteen up have amassed to cover the twenty-ninth floor. Making sure no one goes higher.”Rubbing my face, I shook my head. “Nu eto der'movoye shou.” [Well, this is a shit show.]A few of the guys chuckled.“We need to get atamansha up to the fifteenth floor. She can take ou
“How long are we going to have to stay here?” A thick Spanish accent filled the room and I ducked into a cubicle under a desk.“Until boss says we are done. We will get a golden payday from this and we can go on vacation after this. So quit complaining.”I heard a huff but a few of the guys were stalking around the room. Peaking over the top of the cubicles, I got eyes on them. They weren’t even as decked out in as much gear as the guys who had tried to nab me. There was even one guy in a Hawaiian shirt, smoking, as he sat in an office chair next to the elevators. I counted and ducked back down.“Seven. Little armor. Eyes on hostages.” I whispered before moving from my spot back further away.I could handle this two ways. I could just stand up and start throwing. Hope to catch them off guard enough to put them down before they could pull their weapons. The problemy was that the further they were, the percentage of
*** Five Years Later *** I rubbed my shoulders before lifting my glasses up and rubbing my eyes. There was a knock on the door and Ria pushed the door open with her back. She was holding a tray and stepped into my office. Setting it down on the edge, she put her hand on her hip. “You didn’t break for lunch. Again.” “I know. I’m sorry. Your brother sent a few more things for me to look at and I got engrossed in it.” Shaking her head, I reached out for her and pulled her into my lap. “How did the appointment go?” “Fine.” My eyebrow rose. “Just fine?” “Well, we figured out the issue. If that’s what you want to know.” “And?” I looked at her over my glasses. Ria had been struggling with her equilibrium lately. It started with when she was carrying something heavy, usually Alek. He was somehow in the ninety-nine percentile for his height but fairly middle of the road for his weight. Still, he would jump at Ria like he was two instead of five. Then, it started to get bad e
We pulled up to the airport in record time. Keenan dodged more than one cop and ran every red light on the way. Throwing open the doors, Lec and I made sure to do a quick sweep before letting Keenan and Ria out just in case he needed to take off with her.“Well, well. It took you long enough.”Lorenzo rolled up on us, smiling as he leaned forward in his wheelchair. There was a guy next to him and he stepped forward, grabbing our luggage as we took it out. Reaching in, I helped Ria step out of the car. She smiled and hugged Lorenzo, kissing him on the cheek.“I’m surprised you agreed. Having to leave all your women behind.” Ria chuckled but it sounded far more malicious than happy.“Yeah, yeah. I had to sell Terrance too. But I plan on getting one just like her. Terrance 2.0 wherever we end up.”I shook my head. “We are supposed to not stand out, Lorenzo.”“See here, cognato, I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart. For my little sister.”Lorenzo handed me a folder and I opened
The speed limit wasn’t even a suggestion at this point. We didn’t have time to wait. I’d managed to get First Class tickets out of the country that would be just under the three hours but we needed to leave as soon as we could. Pulling up to the penthouse, I double parked next to the elevators. Ria was already unbuckling but she’d been quiet the entire ride from the house.Getting out, I slammed the car door shut. I’d speak to her when we got onto the plane. When I felt like we were safer than walking into a building filled with my brother’s men. Stepping into the elevator, I pulled Ria to me. Holding onto her tightly, I tightened my hand on the gun I’d grabbed from the glove box.The elevator dinged and I raised the gun, only to see Keenan in regular clothes. His eyes widened and he put his hands up immediately. I took a breath and nodded to him, dropping the gun.“Keenan? What…?”Keenan flashed Ria a smile. “I’m coming with you.”Ria looked from him to me. “But…you have family…and…”
Juri threw his head back and laughed. “You can’t leave the bratva. This is your family, Marek.”“I can. The contract we signed when you became head of the bratva allows for me to request leave once in my lifetime.”Ria looked at me, shaking her head. “Marek, it’s…it’s okay. You don’t…”I smiled down at her and brushed her cheek. “The both of us have done our time, zhena. I’ve been thinking, what it would be like for us to live normally. The two of us, raising a family, without the darkness looming over us.”“Request denied. Now, moving on.” Juri waved his hand but Kaz caught his wrist.“That’s now it works, Vor.”Juri yanked his hand out of Kaz’s grip. “Why the hell not? I’m Vor. I decide who comes and who goes. Who can leave and who can’t.”“Right. But there are consequences to saying no when one of us asks. Marek’s contract being the severest one of all of us.”Kam nodded from her lean against the bookshelf. “Da knew that if Marek was forced to leave, forced to invoke the contract,
I stared at the papers in my hand. Ria, somehow, had finagled an early release from the hospital. With the condition that she would come by every week to make sure she was healing properly. Now though, we were facing the black SUV that would take us to my brother. Her hand slipped into mine and she squeezed it. Really, it should have been her that was afraid. Instead, I was the one hesitating.Kam came up behind us. “Come on. I have to go too.”I helped Ria into the back seat with Kam before I walked around and got in the front with Wren. He was one of Juri’s men who did a lot of his driving. Keenan had been the only one to come to the hospital. Lec or Boris hadn’t shown up, which disappointed me a bit. Still, their oath was to the bratva, not to me directly.The ride was quiet and I kept glancing back at Ria. Her elbow was on the windowsill and her chin resting in her hand, looking at the city. I never really thought I would get here. Where I would put someone above the bratva, above
*** Marek’s POV ***I ran my hands through Ria’s hair. She was sleeping soundly next to me in my hospital bed. Kam had warned her multiple times that she was not to walk anywhere. Ria still snuck into my room after the night shift and crawled into bed with me. I’d never kick her out though. I don’t know why they didn’t just put us in the same room.In the past, I never really worried about things. If something bad happened, I just fixed it. End of story. The lack of light in Ria’s eyes made me add her emotional wellbeing, not just physical, to the list. She was still trying to force herself to not feel. Part of it I knew was because she was waiting to hear what Juri had to say. I wish I could tell her she didn’t need to go that far but I knew better. Even I didn’t know what was going happen next.The door opened and I heard an exaggerated groan. “YA klyanus'. Yesli ona budet prodolzhat' v tom zhe dukhe, ona naneset nepopravimyy vred svoim nogam.” [I swear. If she continues like this,
Three of us stepped over the debris of the hole we made of the entrance. After a quick debate, Lorenzo told us he could cover himself and not to worry about him. He deployed the drone he had left and it was hovering above us. Keenan and I were leading while Marek was just behind us.A few shots came from the second floor and I adjusted, looking up and taking quick shots as I moved. If anything, I knew this place like the back of my hand. I knew every squeaky board. Every blind corner, every room and every loud hinge. It was easy to know where the guys were coming from but there were only a few.“They are holed up in the study. Only a few guards left. Most are injured or confused. They aren’t organized and aren’t poised to attack.”I motioned for the guys to follow me as I raced up the stairs. Turning to the left, I walked down the open walkway before I turned down the very last hallway. At the end of this hallway was my father’s study. It was where he brought men after they had done b
I unbuckled the seatbelt and stood up, looking out the windshield. Sure enough, Lorenzo had pulled up against a brick wall that was part of the closest neighbors boundary. Tapping him on the shoulder, I walked to the back between Keenan and Marek. With a flick of a button, the top of the van started to retract back. I pulled down the metal ladder and climbed up.I had a perfect view of the guards house and the gate . My lips pursed and I stepped back down a couple stairs.“This will be fine. Their numbers went up though.”“Cause he’s back.” Lorenzo pulled out a laptop from the door and opened in. “Yeah, it’s nearly empty inside the house.”I nodded and looked over the top of the van again. “Confirmed location?”“In the study. Ferrari is also in there.”Smirking, I shrugged. “Two for one I guess.”“You need to ensure that he doesn’t run.” Marek added and I looked down at him.Frowning, I dropped down and took hold of the bulletproof vest he was putting on. I shook my head.“You’re not
I couldn’t tell if he was angry or if he was just pouting. Either way, Marek refused to look at me the rest of the drive. He did end up falling asleep and I worried we would need to drop him off with Kamilia but he waved us off when I told him the plan. We were quiet as we drove through the city and back up the way to the hell I literally had just escaped.It sent of jolt of nerves through me but I knew if there was a time to do it, now would be that time. Enzo was gone, we confirmed that. With Juri blowing up locations and knocking in doors, the security wasn’t what it normally was. If we waited even a day, Enzo could regroup and come back to bolster Father’s forces. That and with Marek in hand, Juri would probably stop his assault. He wouldn’t have the excuse of trying to find Marek anymore.“Set up where you can be covered and I can see the entrance from the top of the van.”“I know!” Lorenzo snapped at me.“If you don’t want to do this…” I turned my head to him. “It’s okay.”He gr