Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Alek
Looking at Jack’s dead body on the floor, all I feel is anger. He tried to hurt Katya. Tried to take what’s mine.
And he died for it.
I can’t say I’m completely mad. Jack was always a piece of fucking work so he won’t be missed by me. But the problem is: he is going to be missed by my other men. If they find out about this, it won’t look good for Katya.
Dimitri’s sister killing one of my men. They’ll think she did it on purpose. I have to get her out of here without anyone knowing.
She’s clinging to me. Her hands clenched in my shirt.
Her head on my shoulder. I never thought she would find comfort with me.
I guess it only took killing a man to make it happen.
I am no saint. I’ve had darkness inside of me for a very long time.
I don’t believe you can be a mafia man without some sort of darkness inside of you.
“It’s going to be ok,” I murmur into her hair. It feels nice holding her. Normally with women in the past, we’d fuck and then call it a day. Nothing serious. But with Katya, in a short amount of time, it’s become serious. It all started because I wanted revenge on her brother.
And now…
Now I’m not sure what we are. But it’s something different. Something that I know will be life changing. It already is.
“I killed him,” she whispers.
“It was an accident.”
“How can you be so nice to me? I just killed a man. One of your men.”
“From what you told me, he wanted to hurt you. You were just defending yourself.”
“You’re not going to hurt me for this?” Her voice sounds so weak and pathetic that makes me feel fucking guilty for some reason. Well, I know the reason. I just don’t want to go there.
“No. But we have to clean you up and get you out of here. I’ll have one of my most discreet men deal with Jack’s body. Now, we have to go before people come looking for us. Let’s wash your hands.”
I help Katya stand up. She’s shaking so badly that she can’t even move. I walk her over to the sink and wash the blood off her hands for her. She can’t even look at me. Her eyes keep darting back to Jack’s body and away like she still can’t believe what she did.
“I remember when I killed for the first time,” I murmur, watching the blood from her hands go down the drain.
“What?”
“I was only thirteen. My father, he was in the mafia before me. He was a hard man. Expected a lot out of me. He wanted me to be tough so he took me to this warehouse where he had a man sitting in a chair, bound by rope. My father had kidnapped him because the man had stolen from him. Around a hundred thousand dollars. A lot of money but barely anything to my wealthy father. But that didn’t matter.
He was angry. He told me that people needed to learn lessons in life for the bad deeds they’ve done.
And then he put a gun in my hand and told me to shoot. Kill the man.”
She goes still. I turn the faucet off and wipe her hands with a paper towel. The blood stain on her dress will be harder to explain away so I take off my jacket and wrap it around her shoulders. It hides the stain but if someone were to look hard enough, they’d find it.
“And you killed him,” she says, finally turning to face me.
“I did. I shot him without hesitation because I wanted to make my father proud.”
“Was he proud?”
I go silent for a moment, reliving that day in my head. How my father turned away from me like I hadn’t done enough. How even killing a man wasn’t enough for him.
“No,” I say gruffly. “He wasn’t proud. He still expected more from me. But from that day, I got used to darkness. And I’ve been in it ever since.”
“Is that why you took me? Because you believe in revenge? Believe in doing what’s right?”
“Yes.”
“But kidnapping someone to get revenge on someone else is not doing the right thing.”
“In the mafia world it is. I know you’ve been sheltered for some time now. You don’t know what it’s like. But that’s how this mafia world works. It’s how your brother operates.”
She shudders and wraps her arms around herself. The urge to protect her hits me. To see her safe. How ironic I feel this way for the woman I kidnapped.
“I know my brother has done bad things,” she whispers. “I haven’t seen it. But I know it.”
“Then you know what mafia men do. I’m going to deal with Jack’s body. Have one of my men take care of this. I need to get you out of the hotel now before any of my men find out about this. Let’s go.”
I place my arm around her shoulders as an excuse to pull her in closer to me. Katya feels right being in my arms like this.
I call Sam, my most discreet man, and tell him to meet me at the women’s restroom. “He’s on his way,” I say to Katya when I end the call.
“You’re really not mad at me for killing Jack?” She looks so frightened and alone and young that I feel terrible for her. I never thought this would happen.
“I’m not.” It’s the truth. I’m glad Jack is gone, even though I’m not glad Katya was the one to make it happen.
She’s been through trauma in her life from her father killing her mother.
I’m sure this won’t help matters. The last thing I want is for Katya to return to her room. I want her with me, out in the open.
Her expression softens. It’s the first time she’s ever looked at me this way and I can’t deny that it feels good.
A knock on the door makes Katya tense all over.
“Alek?” It’s Sam’s voice.
“I got this,” I murmur to Katya before heading over to the door. “Sam? Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
I unlock the door and motion him inside. He goes still for a moment when he sees Jack’s body. “Deal with this. Make sure no one finds out. Not just us mafia men. But everyone. No bystanders. No police.”
“How did this happen?
“I killed him,” I say. “He was getting handsy with Katya. I pushed him and he fell. It wasn’t planned.”
“Understood.”
Katya looks at me sharply, probably wondering why I lied for her. Took the fall for her. That’s what husbands do. They protect their wives and Katya is mine now. The urge to protect her is inside of me and I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon.
“We’ll leave you to this,” I say, taking Katya’s hand and leading her out of the room. But the moment we step out of the bathroom, we run into Nina and Susanna.
“What are you two doing?” I snap. They both freeze for a moment before their usual haughtiness takes over.
“Using the restroom,” Nina says it like it’s obvious.
“We want to touch up our makeup,” Susanna adds, also like it’s obvious.
“The restroom is busted,” I explain. “Has a leak in it. Find another restroom to use.”
Susanna eyes Katya over. “Then where has she been all this time? You’re standing outside this restroom. If there was a leak, you wouldn’t be standing outside this restroom right now.”
Susanna is too observant. Katya has been gone for at least thirty minutes from the party. If there really had been a leak, Katya would have chosen a different restroom.
I know I can’t reason with Susanna so I try a different tactic. “Don’t argue with me,” I snap. “I know you ruined Katya’s dress.”
“I did not,” she gasps.
“She didn’t,” Nina agrees, shooting Katya a pointed look, which Katya ignores.
“I know you did,” I repeat. “No use in arguing with me about it. I am not happy with either of you right now. So don’t test me. Go find a different restroom.”
“She’s a gold digger,” Susanna spits out. “Why else is she marrying you after only knowing you for two days?”
“Katya is not a gold digger. She comes from money herself. Now, what do you have to say to that?”
Susanna snaps her mouth closed but shoots a glare Katya’s way.
“Stop causing trouble,” I say to them. “I love you both like you’re my own daughters. I know this is all so new. A lot of change. But Katya is my wife now. Accept it.”
“No,” Nina says point blank. “We don’t agree with this marriage. Something is wrong here. You just won’t tell us what.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything. Now, find another restroom.” I take Katya’s arm and tug her away but in the process my jacket falls off her shoulders, revealing her wedding dress… revealing the blood stain on her wedding dress.
Both Nina and Susanna see it.
“What’s that?” Nina asks.
“Is she so stupid that she got her period blood on her wedding dress?” Susanna mocks.
Katya clenches her eyes shut and moves in closer to me.
“She cut herself,” I explain. “It was an accident. Now, move along, girls.”
Susanna looks between me and Katya before storming over to the restroom. She tries the door, only to find it locked. “What is going on here?”
“I told you. There’s a leak. Now, move along.”
Susanna ignores me and knocks on the door, over and over and over again. “Hello?”
“No one is in there,” I say.
“But I saw you and Katya leave the restroom together. So who locked the door? Mmm?”
Damn Susanna. Sometimes she is too smart for her own good.
She continues to knock but Sam doesn’t answer. He knows better than to. “I’m going to get someone from the hotel to open this door.” She heads for the lobby but I grab her arms, stopping her.
“Listen to me this time, Susanna,” I warn. “Just stay out of this. For your own protection. Understood?”
Anger flashes in her eyes. “I don’t understand anything. I don’t understand why you married this freak. I don’t understand why you couldn’t be a part of our family.”
“I am a part of your family. But like I said, your mom and I are just friends.”
“I wasn’t talking about my mom,” she snaps, pulling away from me. “Why couldn’t you have waited a few more years?”
I frown. “Waited for what?”
She huffs. “For me.”
It dawns me one what Susanna is saying. Does she… like me as more than a father figure?
No, that can’t be. But the way she’s looking at me with so much hurt right now…
“Susanna, you’re like a daughter to me and you always will be. Besides, you’re only sixteen.”
“And that whore is only twenty-one.”