Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
ERIK
T hree men kneel before me, black blindfolds covering their eyes. They’re trembling. Crying. Their tears seep out under the blindfold and run down to their lips, which are blubbering.
They all look pathetic.
Pathetic men who attempted to steal from me and are now paying the price.
The warehouse I own is old and crumbling. It’s a place no one would want to enter. That’s why I love it. Wind rips through the broken windows, which will help muffle the noise of the gunshots.
I stare down at these trembling, scared men and tug on my cufflinks. My crisp white suit is a favorite of mine. I have to wear something for style when it comes to executing someone. There’s just no other way.
“Ready to go, boss?” my man, James, asks me.
“Not yet.” I crouch down so I’m eye-level with the men. Granted, they can’t see me through the blindfolds.
But I know they can hear me.
“Do you know why you’re here?”
Not one answers me.
“Do you know why you’re here?” I repeat. “I’m going to keep asking until I get an answer.”
“B-b-because you caught us,” one man blubbers. He’s the youngest.
“See? It’s not hard to answer. And your friends could learn a thing or two about showing me respect.” I grab the back of the head of the oldest and slam his face into the ground.
He cries as his nose cracks, and blood seeps into the cement.
My only response is to laugh.
The man sits back up on his heels, crying harder. His nose is a bloody mess. Good. That’s what a fucking thief deserves.
I was minding my own business at one of my clubs when I discovered the three in my office, trying to crack open my safe.
“You know the funniest part?” I walk between the men, my footsteps loud on the cement floor, as they continue to shake. “I don’t even hold any valuables in that safe. There was nothing in that safe except for a couple hundred bucks. Nothing else. I don’t keep anything valuable in any of the safes at my clubs. Because I know people get ideas.” I bend down and grab the hair of the middle man—not the youngest and not the oldest. He whimpers.
“I know people think they can steal from me,” I say into his ear. “That’s why I love to outwit them. Give them nothing.” I let go of his hair and shove him forward. Since his hands are tied behind his back, he can’t catch himself as he falls onto his face.
“I’m a business man.” I stand back up and walk around to face them. “I don’t make it easy for anyone to fucking steal from me. So the fact that you thought you could do that hurts me. It really does. I’m so much smarter than you think I am. I’m Erik Koslov. Show some fucking respect.”
I hold out my hand, and James places my gun in my palm.
Then I shoot each man in the head, just once, executioner style.
Their bodies slump to the ground with a satisfying crunch.
I slip my gun back into my jacket pocket. Glancing down at my white suit, I see it’s untouched. No blood got on it.
I like to tempt fate with my white suit. It gives me a bit of a thrill when everything else in life fucking bores me to tears.
Nothing is exciting when no one challenges me. I can have any woman I want. Every man is afraid of me.
Well, except for these fucking bozos who tried to steal from me.
The truth is, killing them has been the most fun I’ve had in a while.
“Good job, boss,” James says, nodding at the bodies. “I’ll call Charlie to come clean them up.”
“You know what? I think I want a part of that.”
“But, sir, you can’t be caught disposing of a body. You could get in trouble. The police know your name.”
“Oh, I know they know my name. That’s why I want to do this. I want a little bit of fun.”
I slip my hands under the arms of the youngest one and drag his body toward the door. A blood smear is left behind on the ground. Charlie can clean that part up.
I stop near the entrance and spy a rusty chainsaw in the corner. Hmm. That could be fun.
I pick it up and give it a rev. Miraculously, it works.
“Boss, your suit.”
I laugh as I cut through the man’s body. Blood sprays everywhere, including landing on my white, crisp suit. But I don’t fucking care. I just saw through the rest of his body, cutting him into pieces. Once I’m done, there’s not a limb attached to any part of him.
I set the chainsaw down and turn to James. “That was fun.”
“You’re fucking crazy, boss,” he says with a laugh.
“I know.” I right my jacket. “But I’ve had enough. Call Charlie to finish up the rest. I need to change.”
It’s all covered in blood now. The red looks extra crimson against the white.
“Where you going?” James asks.
“I have a wedding to plan.”
Sergei Belov approached me at my private, exclusive bar. Only members could get in.
A lot of the Bratva men in the city are members.
I know Sergei. Everyone knows Sergei. From his thin, pinched lips to his constant frown, he isn’t exactly a fun man to work with.
But he’s a man who commands respect. He’s been in the game much longer than me, with his sixty years to my thirty-five. He built out a space within the Bratva world, and I want a piece of it.
So, I was glad when he sat down across from me.
I was even more glad when he told me he wanted to create an alliance.
“How so?” I asked, steepling my fingers together and staring across the table at him. I’ve been told my stare is one of my best qualities as a Bratva man—intimidating yet handsome. It draws people in, which I can use to then fuck them over.
There are a lot of rumors about me. How I eat babies or how I saw puppies and put them in a blender. None of that’s fucking true, of course. I only ever go after men who try to fuck me over.
I never go after innocent people.
Unless, of course, I have to. Sometimes, you have to use people to get other people to stay in line. It’s how I’ve grown my business. It’s how I’ve gained power.
First, I gained loyalty from my closest men.
Then, I showed how fucking terrifying I can be if you don’t comply.
But Sergei is a different beast. He has his own business. He has no reason to be loyal to me.
But that evening, he told me, “I’m getting old, and I have no desire to go to war with anyone. You’re making your way in this city. I want a part of it. We should combine our forces and become the most powerful duo in this entire fucking city. No one would ever think of touching us.”
“I do like that idea. But you know, Sergei, that forming an alliance means we need to trust each other. How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you’re not just trying to take me down from within?”
“Because you can have my daughter.”
I perked up. “Interesting.”
“In marriage, of course. I won’t debase her to be your mistress. If you marry my daughter, you’ll know you can trust me.”
“You must obviously care about her.”
His lips somehow thinned even more. “Obviously.”
“I don’t even know this daughter of yours.”
“Her name is Anya. She’s twenty. Perfectly good age for marrying. She’s young and beautiful. She can give you children. If you marry her, we can form an alliance. I know I’ll be able to trust you, and you’ll be able to trust me.”
“You would give your daughter away just like that?” I snapped my fingers.
“A woman’s place in our world is to marry well, and who better than you? It would give our family even more prestige. What do you say?”
“I say I haven’t seen what she looks like.”
Sighing, Sergei pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of the most beautiful redhead I’d ever seen.
Porcelain skin with a smattering of freckles. Piercing blue eyes. A face I would never tire of looking at.
“So?” Sergei put his phone away. “What do you think?”
“She really looks like that? All the time?”
“I mean, I don’t watch her when she’s asleep, but yes, when she’s awake, she looks like that. So, Erik, do we have a deal?”
Listen, I wasn’t one for settling down when it came to women. I’d had my fair share. Between my looks and my power, women tended to throw themselves at me.
I didn’t have any love for Anya. But if she could get me more power and look fucking beautiful on top of it, why not? It wasn’t a bad trade.
I held my hand out. “Deal.”
Sergei shook on it, and that was that.
I leave the warehouse, whistling to myself. In less than a week, I’ll be married. I’ll have more power than any other man in this entire city. And I’ll have a beautiful woman at my side.
I just have to hope Anya isn’t some harpy. Sergei insisted I wait until the wedding day to meet her. Most Bratva fathers are paranoid about their daughter’s reputation. He probably wants to make sure Anya is as pure as she can be on our wedding day. If we met before, rumors could circulate among our people.
And I don’t want anyone talking bad about my wife. That would be a direct reflection on me.
As I reach my car, a man steps out of the shadows. “Please tell me that’s jam and not what I think it is.”
I don’t startle as I turn to face the man. “Ah, Dante. Making your annoying presence known, I see.”
Dante Moretti smiles back at me. It’s not a kind smile. It’s a “fuck you” smile. “Just wanted to come and talk to you.”
“About what?”
“About how you’re not going to win, Erik. How I’m going to become the most powerful man in this city.” He’s around my age, which just puts us even more at odds with each other.
“Too bad you’re not already there.”
Dante Moretti is part of the Italian Mafia. Well, in fact, he’s in charge of a lot of it, making him fairly equal in power to me.
But equal isn’t what either of us wants.
If we’re not in charge, neither of us is happy.
“You’re taking a risk coming to see me in the middle of the night with no backup,” I say.
“Who says I don’t have backup? I’m not here to start an all-out war. This is a warning, Erik. Don’t come onto my territory ever again. You thought you could steal one of my gun shipments, but you’re not going to get another chance. If you come at me again, I will end you.”
“Why not just end me now and get it over with?”
“Because where’s the fun in that?” He smiles once more before breaking out into a whistle as he walks away.
I only scoff and get into my car. Some fucking Italian isn’t going to ruin my night.
Not when I was having so much fun.
ANYA
Planning an escape isn’t easy when our entire mansion is guarded by heavily armed men. My father doesn’t like to take chances when it comes to us.
Of course, he doesn’t care if he hurts us himself. It’s all about image for him. He can’t lose his precious daughters. Think of the scandal!
“How are we going to do this?” Nadia whispers as we converge in her room for the night. For the past couple of days, I’ve paid attention to the comings and goings of our guards. It’s a tight schedule, so escaping from the house will be impossible.
“Tomorrow, I pick out my wedding dress. Chances are, Father will only send one guard with us. We have money stashed away. You keep it on you since Father will be less likely to suspect you of anything. The moment we get an opportunity to leave the shop, we get into the nearest taxi, have them take us to the train station, and go to Connecticut. Mom has some family there we could stay with. Her sister.”
Whom Nadia and I have never met. Father likes to keep us isolated from other family members. Once Mom died, he cut off all ties to her side of the family.
“What’s her name again?”
“June. Aunt June.” I pause. “I think? I don’t know. Let’s just hope she’ll take us in, and then we can find somewhere else to go.”
“This isn’t a well thought out plan, Anya.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
She ducks her chin, her cheeks turning red. “No.”
“I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just that Father has such a tight hold over us. I can’t exactly plan all of this out in detail without him getting suspicious. We’re going to have to wing some of it if we want to escape.” I sit down next to her on her bed and clasp her hands in mine, forcing her to look at me.
“If I get married,” I tell her, “then that’s it. You’re on your own here. I’ll try my best to protect you if I have to get married. I can ask Erik if you can live with us. But we both know the stories about him. We both know he’s evil. He’s probably going to … hurt me.” I gulp.
Nadia gasps, clinging to me tighter. “Don’t say that.”
“He probably will. You’ll be left alone with Father. All of the anger he takes out on me, he might take out on you. I’m not saying this to scare you, Nadia. I’m saying this because you need to understand why it’s important we leave. Why we have to try.”
“I understand. You think I’m na?ve and stupid, but Anya, I understand a lot more than you give me credit for.”
I stare at my younger sister. She’s so beautiful and shy and perfect. She doesn’t deserve to have a father like ours.
“I know you do,” I finally say. “I just needed to say it. I think I need to make sure I understand it, too. We’re both going to get screwed over by my marriage to Erik. I can feel it in my bones. I know it. I just know it. So, we have to try and escape. It’s our only chance of freedom. Our only chance to remain together.”
In a sudden motion, Nadia throws her arms around me, and I hug her back just as tight.
“We’re going to be together,” she says. “I have to believe it.”
“And I want you to keep believing.” I let her go. “Tomorrow. We’ve got to do this tomorrow.”
Even though there’s fear in her eyes, she nods because that’s what sisters do.
We stick together.
The wedding boutique is honestly beautiful.
If I wasn’t so afraid right now, I would love to try on dresses. I would love to feel beautiful and desired and loved.
But Erik isn’t marrying me for any of those things. He’s marrying me for political gain. He doesn’t even know me, and I don’t know him.
Nadia and I got lucky that our father only sent one guard with us—George. He’s middle-aged, but he’s still fast and nimble and good with a gun. We have to be careful with him. George has worked for my father for years. If anyone’s loyal, it’s him.
“I’ll be right over here,” George says, going to stand by the front entrance.
That leaves Nadia and me alone for the moment.
A sales assistant walks over to us. “Hi! Looking for something specific today?”
“Well, I’m getting married.”
“How wonderful.”
“In just four days.”
She blinks. Her perfectly coifed blonde hair and perfectly manicured eyebrows show she’s a woman who cares about her appearance. She fits into a place like this.
Whereas I feel out of place. It’s not because I don’t love feminine things—I do. It’s because a wedding boutique is the last place I want to be. It’s a sign of my impending doom.
“Then we need to find you a dress fast,” she says.
I look at her nametag. Amanda. “Thank you.”
“Do you want something lacy? Short or long sleeved? Any ideas?”
“None. I’m open to trying whatever on.” Anything that keeps me here long enough to find a way to escape without George noticing.
“All right.” Amanda eyes me over. “Just looking at you, I already have some ideas. This way.”
She hands me dress after dress to try on. They’re all beautiful, yet the idea of trying these dresses on chills me to my core.
Nadia keeps looking around the boutique, biting her lip. She only bites her lip when she’s nervous.
“Stop it,” I whisper to her. “We can’t let George think anything is wrong.”
She releases her lip from her teeth with a nod.
“I’m going to try on these dresses. Sit down so George will be less likely to look at you.” I sneak a glance in his direction. He yawns and checks his watch. “See? He’s already bored.”
Nadia places her hands on the stack of dresses in my arms. “I’m just scared.”
“You’re going to be fine. We have to be. Stay strong for me, ok?”
It might be a shitty thing to say to her. Nadia, I know, will do anything for me.
“Ok,” she whispers back, then sits down on one of the plush couches in the middle of the room.
I hurry down a hallway toward the changing room and stop when I see an exit sign above a door at the end. A sign off to the side says it’s for emergencies only and an alarm will go off if opened.
But that’s mine and Nadia’s chance to escape.
I go into the changing room, my body buzzing with ideas and thoughts, and try on the first dress. Right away—I hate it. It’s too poofy and princess-like.
The next one I try on is not for me. It’s a mermaid style and makes me think of prom.
I have a feeling I won’t like any of these dresses because I don’t want to be here at all. I don’t want to marry Erik, a stranger who’s probably going to make my life a living hell. He is known as the boogeyman, after all.
The last dress I try on is …
Perfect.
It’s made out of crepe statin and has lace up the back. It’s sophisticated and sexy, yet elegant and classy.
It looks amazing on my body.
Too bad I won’t get to wear it again because I’m going to leave.
I head back to Nadia in the dress to show her. “What do you think?”
Her eyes light up. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.” For a moment, I let myself imagine what it would be like to be happy and in love doing this.
“Uh, Nadia, would you mind getting Amanda? I need her help getting this off.”
“Of course.” She hurries away.
I glance toward George. “What do you think?”
He nods, then checks his watch. “How much longer are you going to be?”
“You can’t rush this. It’s for my wedding day.”
“Right.” He settles against the wall with a deep sigh.
Amanda walks over with Nadia in tow. “You like the dress?”
“I love it. Would you mind helping me get out of it? Nadia, too.”
Amanda doesn’t hesitate to tell me to lead the way to the dressing room. Once the three of us are inside it, I turn to her.
“We need your help.”
She pauses, her eyes going wide. “Help? With the dress?”
“No. My sister and I need to escape. We’re in danger. Can we leave out the back door?”
“Do you need me to call the police?” she asks, lowering her voice.
“No,” I say quickly. The police would only make things worse. My father isn’t bound by normal laws. He would find a way out of it to force me down the aisle. “We just need to escape. We have money. Can we go out the backdoor without setting off the alarm?”
“Um … yes. There’s a way. Are you running from the man you’re with?”
I think back to George, bored, not wanting to be here. “Yes. He’s a danger to us. Trust me.”
“Ok. Anyway I can help, I’ll do it. You can use the backdoor.”
“Thank you.” I head for the changing room door, but Amanda stops me.
“Uh, you have to pay for the dress if you want it.”
“Right.” I quickly take it off and change back into my summer dress. “Save it for me, would you?” I hope I won’t need it, but in case Nadia and I get caught, I’d rather wear a dress I chose than be forced to wear something I think is hideous.
“Of course.” Amanda tentatively takes the dress back. “Here. Let me open the door.”
We all crowd into the small hallway, and Amanda goes to the back exit, punches in a code, then opens the door. “This way.”
I grab Nadia’s hand. “Ready?”
“Ready.” I can tell she’s trying to be brave, but her voice wavers.
“We got this. There’s no other choice.”
Together, we walk out the back exit.
“Good luck,” Amanda says, shutting the door behind us.
“Is that it?” Nadia asks.
“We’re not free yet. Come on.”
The back exit deposited us in an alleyway, so we run to the main sidewalk. I flag down a taxi.
“Wait!” George’s voice calls out.
Glancing behind me, I see him running in our direction.
“How did he find out?” Nadia asks.
“It doesn’t matter. We need to get in now.” I practically shove her into the back of the taxi and try to get in myself, but George grabs me around the waist.
“Should I drive?” the taxi driver asks.
“No!” Nadia squeaks out, jumping from the taxi.
“Let me go,” I growl, struggling against George’s grasp.
“I’m sorry, Anya,” he says. “But your father would have my head if I let you go. He wants you to get married, and I’m going to see that through.” He clamps his hand on my arm, making it so I can’t leave. Nadia stands beside the taxi uncertainly. After a moment, the taxi drives away.
“You should have kept going,” I tell her. “You had a chance to escape.”
“Not without you.”
I know at this very moment that my future is sealed. Father won’t allow me to leave the house until the wedding.
And Nadia will be dragged into hell right along with me.