The Dark Side: A Mafia Romance Thriller (Morozov Mafia Series Book 1)

7. Drive

Adrik stood over the body on the floor. The spotlight was on him, casting him in shadows. Alexei stood just outside the light, waiting while the others were sent out.

Being betrayed by allies was one thing.

Being betrayed by family was another matter.

Adrik didn”t know why he was surprised. In this business, anyone could betray you, but he had thought his in-laws were more intelligent than that.

”You want me to bring your wife in?”

Adrik didn”t care for Katia. He”d been married to her for ten years, but no love existed between them. He imagined her trying to kill him, but to go after their daughter didn”t seem right. She was cruel, not heartless.

”Not yet.”

Alexei was unsatisfied with that answer. He liked swift justice. But the problem with it was that the level of justice needed to match the level of disrespect.

Adrik stared at the body beside him. The blood stopped spreading. He shifted his foot right beside it, nearly touching it.

”The Stephanovs own the dock.”

”I know.”

”If we lose them, we”ll lose our port.”

Adrik circled the body as if it held the answers in the mutilation of its corpse.

”Adrik,” Alexei called, aggravated.

Adrik lifted his head. ”I think I know the implications, brother. I was forced to marry her at eighteen because of it.”

”Let”s tell Dad.”

”If we tell him, he”ll kill her.”

”So? You don”t give a shit about the bitch.”

Adrik couldn”t fight him on that point. ”She”s the mother of my child.”

Alexei sneered. ”Does that give her amnesty?”

Adrik kneeled beside the body, a finger stretching to touch the blood. It was cold now. He drew it across the ground, creating an unnatural line. He recalled the early morning when he had brought Helina back. His wife had been delirious, that much had been clear. ”As much as I hate her, I don”t see her trying to kill her child.”

This was a piece of a puzzle, and puzzles were his favorite pastime. He envisioned Tampa in the pool of blood; the unnatural line was the port that the Stephanov family owned. It showed they would lose the lower half of Tampa if he attacked, including the water levy, which would cut their import by a third.

But if he managed to overtake the Stephanovs, he”d gain much more.

Do I have that sort of power?

”How many men do we have on the ground?”

Alexei answered, ”Sixty thousand.”

”And how many do they?”

”Forty-five, give or take. But it was never about us being stronger. They have more playing cards than we do.”

Adrik could see all his cards—the casino, the governor, the hospitals, and the airport. It was a never-ending web of money laundering, drug smuggling, and trafficking that could get tangled if not adequately cared for. It was enough to give him a headache.

Adrik could feel the weight of exhaustion. After finally getting his answer, sleep was sneaking in.

He stood, approaching his brother. They were similar in height and stance. But Alexei was thicker and had more power in his punch, while Adrik had a nicer face. But they still held the family”s eyes. Blue like water. He gently tapped Alexei”s cheek. ”Good work. Restart the product line before we have addicts pounding on our doors.”

”What are you going to do?”

Adrik walked away. ”I”m going for a drive.”

Jolie sat on her couch. Ming was snug in her lap, purring, and it was a pleasant sound in the quiet. The remote was in her other hand, but she had yet to turn on the TV. She feared she wouldn”t hear if someone came through her door.

Strangers had entered her apartment and cleaned while she was at work. Now, Jolie was eyeing the lock as if it betrayed her. There was a knife on the coffee table, but it was laughable. What was she going to do with it? She”d never harmed a creature in her life.

The laptop sat next to her, closed and warm from use. She had done the worst thing.

She googled.

Adrik Morozov was the son of the Russian Mafia Kingpin, Yakov Morozov. He was the youngest of six and the current heir to the Morozov kingdom.

There wasn”t anything lengthy on Adrik. But his father undoubtedly had a long rap sheet in Russia, including war crimes, sedition, kidnapping, extortion, mass murder, and fraud. No doubt Adrik had partaken in some of those things, or at least knew about it.

There was no pretending that Adrik wasn”t a criminal. It didn”t matter how nice-looking he was. Attractive people could still be dangerous.

Jolie heard the vibration of her phone, but she didn”t reach for it. Her mother was calling. She spoke to her mother every day at 7 p.m. It was now nearly eight and no doubt causing panic, but she didn”t know what to tell her mother. She didn”t want her to worry, but the moment her mother heard her voice, she would know something was wrong. She always did.

At the last vibration, Jolie reached for it, and then there was a knock on the door.

She stood, the cat screeching as it flew, jumping on the computer before darting under the bed. ”Sorry, Ming.”

Another small knock.

Jolie tossed the remote on the couch and approached the door. ”Who is it?” she called out, afraid to put her face against the peephole. Wasn”t that the part in movies where they have a gun, and the person gets shot in the head?

Another soft knock.

Jolie snatched her phone and pre-dialed 911 before she unlocked the door and peeled it open just an inch. Dressed in a bulky black hoodie, Adrik”s gorgeous blue eyes greeted her, unsmiling, unfriendly, and totally intimidating. Jolie almost pressed send on her phone, but curiosity got the best of her. ”What do you want?”

Adrik put a finger on his lips and put his hand on the door, pushing it gently, asking for permission. He glanced at the phone with the large three numbers reflecting. He waited till she was ready.

Jolie couldn”t find any maliciousness in his gaze, but she wasn”t naive either. Or she hoped she wasn”t. He wasn”t so different from her ex-boyfriend, using his looks to get him what ordinary people couldn”t. But Jolie allowed Adrik to take the phone from her as he entered the apartment.

Behind him, three people entered in black suits, with odd equipment in their hands. One had a microphone, another was listening on headphones, and another held a metal stick that made a static noise and beeped.

Adrik grabbed the remote off the couch and put on YouTube. He looked back at her quizzically, studying her, before he typed in a song.

Whitney Houston, ”I Want to Dance with Somebody.”

Jolie narrowed her eyes as the music got louder and louder.

There was no way he just guessed that”s my favorite song.

”What are you doing?”

He put a finger back on his lips, passing off the remote and her cell phone to one of his people.

Five little trinkets were tossed on the table: a pen, a USB, and three dime-sized metal discs.

”What the—”

Adrik held a hand up. The soldiers tossed the listening devices in a bag and walked out. He locked the door before he turned back around to her.

”What are those?” she screamed over the loud music.

He took the remote up and turned it off.

”Listening devices. The cops bugged you.”

The audacity of police officers coming into her house while at work or during the interview blew her mind. She felt betrayed and dirty. She sat at the kitchen table with her head in her hands, trying to make sense of all this.

Adrik pulled off his sweatshirt, which pulled his undershirt just enough to show her his compact abs and tattoos. She darted her eyes away, feeling the heat in her cheeks. He sat down with a small, secretive smile as if he knew what he had done.

Jolie couldn”t understand him. He acted all businesslike the two times she met him, and now, here in her apartment, he was a young college guy hanging out. She didn”t like the difference and didn”t know which one he was.

Jolie slapped her hand on the table. ”Why are you here?”

Adrik didn”t know if he should be honest or lie. Because the truth was, he didn”t understand why he was here. ”Why didn”t you tell the cops?”

”Because you threatened my life.”

He narrowed his dark brows. ”No, I didn”t.”

”Well,” she said, balking, ”you would”ve. I saved us both some time.”

Adrik glanced over her shoulder. It was the first time he noticed the alarming amount of panda things on her counter. He looked around, and everywhere, there was a black-and-white bear looking back at him. He spotted the collection of stuffed animals next to her bed, piled in a way that seemed like trophies, instead of play items for little girls.

”My friend”s coming over,” Jolie rushed out.

”You don”t have any friends,” he told her, straightening, meeting her gaze again.

”My boyfriend—”

He chuckled, finding her more amusing as the minutes went on.

Jolie felt the insult and retaliated with, ”Does your wife know you”re here?”

His brows rose in surprise. He hadn”t worn his ring in months. Either the FBI agent made her aware, or with the computer on the couch, she found his secret from there.

It meant she was interested enough to find out, which meant Adrik wasn”t wrong in assuming she was attracted to him, as much as she tried to hide it.

”We”re separated.”

”Oh.” Jolie shifted in her seat. The information gave her more hope than she wanted it to. Jolie stood. ”I”m gonna ask you to leave.”

Adrik snatched her hand as she passed for the door. A gentle touch that felt smooth against her skin. But it was unwelcome, and she yanked her arm away.

”You got anything to drink?” Adrik stood and stepped around her, reaching for a cabinet.

”I don”t drink.”

Adrik stalled and leaned against the counter. ”You don”t drink,” he repeated, the sentence coming off odd on his lips.

”I have milk.” She didn”t wait for a response, stepping by him to reach into the cabinet. She grabbed two glasses and got the milk from the fridge. After she poured it, she handed it to him. Then she held her own before she put ample distance between them, staying in the living room because the kitchen was not nearly big enough to stop her from smelling his intoxicating cologne.

Adrik drank his milk, swallowed, and licked his lips. The movement sent terribly erotic images through her head, and she twisted away, another foot between them. Any further, she”d be across the freaking apartment.

”My wife”s family made the hit,” Adrik revealed, placing the cup on the table.

She knitted her brows. ”Your wife? But that”s her daughter, right?”

”I don”t think she was a part of it.”

”Wow. That”s pretty messed up.” She could see the upset on his face even as he tried to suppress it. He was hurt, and that made him a little less scary. She approached the table and sat down. ”Your daughter is so cute. How is she?”

Adrik smirked, enjoying how she was losing her fear. ”She wants to see you again.”

”That”s sweet.”

But it”s never going to happen,Jolie thought.

”What do you think about becoming my daughter”s tutor?”

A snicker was muffled as she took a drink of her milk. ”Yeah, right.”

”I”d pay a six-figure salary.”

Jolie gapped openly at him when she realized he was serious. Her reply was quick but honest. ”No.”

”Why?”

”Because you”re a mobster!”

Adrik chuckled, admiring her direct personality. It was something his wife didn”t possess. ”My daughter isn”t.”

”She will be.”

The thought was poison, and it darkened him. Adrik didn”t like Helina”s future. He didn”t want the mafia lifestyle for her. Maybe if she had been born a boy, it would have been different, but as it were, all he saw for her now was unhappiness. ”You teach underprivileged kids. The statistic that they are either dead by eighteen or a drug dealer is high. So, why give them the effort?”

”Because there is always hope. But your daughter has no hope.”

It was a terrible thing to say, and Adrik felt the simmering rage inside begin to boil again. It wasn”t rage against Jolie. It was anger toward the fact that she was right.

”You”ll move into the house,” he continued.

”What? I said no!”

”What life do you have here, Jolie? Honestly. Your panda collection can come with you. Or your pathetic amount of stuffed animals.”

”My stuffed animals are special, okay? My students have bought them for me over the years.”

Adrik knew she was lying. She”d only been a teacher for a month.

”Aside from you being in the mob,” she stressed, ”I have a life, okay? It may not be as insane as yours, but some of us don”t believe in carrying our own guns—”

”Oh, don”t tell me you”re a Democrat?”

”Yes, how horrible to want the world to be a better place!”

”Democrats want to take your control because they think you”re too stupid to fix your own problems.”

”Republicans want to steal my God-given right to decide what”s going on in my body.”

Adrik held a hand up. ”I”m not touching that.”

”Yeah, because you”re a man, so stay out of it.”

He cackled, watching her with an amused smirk. He enjoyed the small smile tempting her lips, but she covered it by drinking her milk. He bowed his head and focused on the crown tattoo on his finger. It reminded him of his place, who he was, and who he belonged to. It reminded him that he shouldn”t be here.

Adrik slipped his hands into the pockets of his black slacks. He observed her, and she shrank under his scrutiny. He liked making her fidget because she wasn”t doing it out of fear. She was fighting her attraction for him, and that fed into his ego more than he liked to admit. Jolie stood suddenly, moved to the cabinet next to him, and snatched a bag of chips. He wondered if she ate when she was nervous. He knew about her daily routine at Crunch Fitness, but it didn”t mean she was a healthy eater.

Jolie stared at the wall, feeling his eyes boring into the back of her head like he was trying to read her very private thoughts. She didn”t want him to see anything. He was sorely mistaken if he thought he could use his good looks to worm his way into her life. She wasn”t shallow. She relied on more than just a smile and pretty face to lure her in.

That”s not what happened with your ex,her conscience reminded her.

She had a knack for getting involved in bad things. Her ex-boyfriend managed to weasel her into doing messed-up stuff that she”d never have thought of alone. She remembered the thrill, the addiction to excitement, and it was apparent at this moment she missed it.

But this is next level.

There was no way she”d be ready to be involved in such a lifestyle as a gangster”s. Not only that, there was no escape. She”d never be able to leave. Isn”t there a mob saying? ”Once you”re in, you can”t get out.”

Or that”s a sign on a haunted house.

”Jolie,” Adrik called softly.

She didn”t turn around. Ming and Tae-Tae took this moment to introduce themselves and meowed at Adrik”s feet. He bent down and petted them, making sweet sounds as he stroked their ears. The movement earned him points she didn”t want to give.

Why does he have to be nice to them?

Adrik stood up and took his cup off the counter to wash it in the sink. She scrutinized him from the side, chewing on a chip, like a mouse ready to flee when the cat moved. He placed the cup in the dish rack and dried his hands with a paper towel. He leaned against the counter and finally met her gaze.

”What?” she provoked after several moments of ultra-uncomfortable silence.

Adrik glanced at her lips, an irrational movement that annoyed him. She was pretty but average. Adrik typically only went after the best of the best. So, what was it that kept him here?

Her personality? Was he at that point in his life where it mattered? She was interesting in an abstract painting sort of way, like if he stared at her long enough, she”d reveal all the answers to his future.

I should leave,he thought, and even glanced toward the door. He wasn”t a little kid anymore. He couldn”t do stupid-ass things, like date an American and think there would be no repercussions.

But if he left, he”d regret it.

”I—” Adrik began, but he stopped himself. He was about to say something inappropriate. He wasn”t sure how she would take it. He doubted she would respond like the strippers he dealt with or the desperate women who clung to him at parties. No, with her, he”d have to be careful.

”I want hope for my daughter.”

Jolie stalled mid-bite, surprised by such a statement. She looked sideways at him, and she could see the anxiousness in his eyes, the desperation that lingered there. What kind of mob boss was he to admit that his world wasn”t fit for his child? She thought they were a tight-knit group, faithful and loyal only to each other.

My expertise comes from movies, so what the hell do I know?

Jolie bowed her head. She felt guilty for wanting to say no. And she felt guilty for wanting to say yes. Not every day does someone come up to you and offer a six-figure salary. She knew nothing other than living paycheck to paycheck, envious of people who could afford to pay their bills in advance. If she took the job he offered, she could send her parents money, buy her father a new car, and, maybe one day, buy them a better home.

But it would be blood money.

She shook her head. ”I can”t.”

Adrik stepped back. There was rarely a time when he didn”t get what he wanted, but he learned disappointment early on. He knew how to hide it.

He took his sweatshirt off the table and rubbed the chair with the wet paper towel. ”Okay.” He backed up for the door.

Her eyes widened, and she stepped toward him. ”Okay? That”s okay?”

”You saved my daughter. We”re even.” With the fabric of his sweater, he twisted the doorknob.

”Even? How does that make us even?”

Adrik looked back at her. ”Because I don”t let people say no to me.” He lingered, letting it sink in that she had defied him and got away with it. Then he stepped out and shut the door.

Jolie stood there for several minutes, hoping—dreading—that he”d come back, but when he didn”t, the last of her strength unraveled. She dropped to her butt, with her head in her hands. ”Holy moly,” she cursed, squeezing her head in disbelief.