Chapter 43
ROMAN
I finish straightening my tie in the mirror, then reach for the cufflinks on the bathroom counter in front of me.
Fuck.
It’s a lot better these days. But there are still ways I twist or turn that make the hole between my fifth and sixth ribs on the left side fucking ache.
On the plus side, the bullet went right through me. That’s the only plus side about getting fucking shot…well, that and living, I guess.
The last four weeks have been, for lack of a better phrase, fucking insane.
I spent a full week in the hospital. Then it was a whirlwind of physical therapy, at-home nurses, and trying to sort out the political clusterfuck that Pavel threw up all over my goddamn feet.
None of us was in great shape when we arrived at the hospital that night.
I was shot, Val was shot—though, mercifully, it was just a grazing glance across his sternum—and Stepan was shot, twice.
Just to keep things interesting, we were also all blown halfway across the street by the force of the bomb.
The ringing in my ears is mostly gone now. So are the burns on my back from the force of the blast. But those shots in the movies of the guy calmly walking toward the camera while something blows the fuck up behind him?
Lies, trust me. Those motherfuckers would be crispy and deaf in the real world.
Stepan ended up staying in the hospital for two weeks longer than me. He’s going to be okay, but he’ll have a limp for a bit. I joked with him the other day that his dreams of playing for Manchester United might be dead in the water.
He told me to go fuck myself, so, yeah—he’s feeling better.
So is Pavel.
But that’s another story.
I’m scowling at my damn cufflink when Val comes up behind me and slaps a newspaper down on the counter. He looks at me sternly and jabs a finger at it.
My gaze drops, and my lips curl into a grin.
It appears Connor Leary's body has been found stuck in a rain runoff drain, bloated and missing a limb. I’m in the middle of feeling moderately bad about the Metro North maintenance employees who found him when Val whips me around to face him.
“I know that was you,” he growls.
I say nothing. He peers at me. “You see what they found carved all over him?”
“Hmm, yeah. Wild.”
Val’s jaw sets. “I didn’t ask you to fight my demons for me,” he says tightly.
My eyes lock with his, and my lips curl up at the corners.
“I know.”
He glares at me. I just smile back. And slowly, I watch the clouds clear from his eyes as he starts to grin back at me.
“Fuck you.”
“You’re welcome,” I moan as he sinks against me, sliding his fingers into the back of my hair and crushing his mouth to mine.
His tongue slips past my lips to dance with mine as he grinds his erection against me.
“You’re not angry?” I murmur, kissing him back.
“No, wreckage,” he groans. His hand slides down and cups my throbbing dick. Slowly, he starts to pull my belt open as he drops to his knees. He looks up into my eyes as he slides my pants down, freeing my achingly hard erection.
“I’m not angry at all.”
His big, tattooed fingers wrap around my cock, stroking me.
“We—I can’t be late to this—” I gasp.
“Too bad. You’re gonna be late.”
“You’re late.”
I tense as I feel Val bite back a chuckle, his hand covertly swatting my ass.
Stepan eyes me, his brow furrowing.
“Please… Try to be more punctual going forward.”
He turns to Val and grins, sticking out his hand to shake Val's firmly. “Always good to see you, Mr. Bancroft.”
Val nods, then turns to glance around the room.
The top five Nikitin avtoritets are already here, and I got a text from Bane a minute ago, when Val was making me even more late by making out with me in the guest bathroom down the hall, that he and his dad will be here momentarily.
“I… I can wait outside.”
My hand finds his just as Stepan shakes his head.
“No, I think it’s fine if you’re here.”
Val glances at me. I squeeze his hand. “Stay. I like having you at my side.”
He snorts. “Shit. Never thought I’d be some gangster's arm candy, but here we are.”
Stepan chuckles as I roll my eyes. “You can wait over there. Just try not to…”
“Be my usual charming, irresistible self?” Val shrugs, glancing at the group of older, gruff, stony-faced captains. “No promises.” He slaps my ass again. “Go get ‘em, wreckage.”
He winks at me and then saunters over to the captains as I sigh and turn back to Stepan. “He really can wait outside, you know.”
Stepan chuckles and shakes his head. “No, I find him quite amusing.”
“He…gets under your skin like that.”
He smiles and pats my shoulder. “It would appear so.”
He leans on his cane as he turns and walks with me across the room.
“The cane's a nice look, by the way.”
Stepan makes a sour face.
“I’m serious.” I glance at him, grinning. “Very distinguished. Trying to make a good impression?”
“Da,” he grunts. “I’m hoping the fresh-faced young king finds it in his heart to keep his old friend Stepan around as his number two.”
I look him in the eye. “I can only do this if you’re my number two.”
“Well, I am considering numerous other offers,” he says, deadpan. “I’ll keep you abreast of the situation.”
“Asshole,” I mutter, chuckling.
He grins, but then his brow pinches. “If we continue as planned…” He lifts a shoulder. “Pavel has many enemies in Russia. I don’t know how long he’ll live once he begins his exile—”
“Yes, which is why they refer to this as the find out phase.” I smile grimly. “You know, the part that comes after fuck around?”
Stepan smiles and nods. “Just thought I’d mention it.” He frowns. “And your sister? How is she…”
“Taking it?” I shrug. “Good days and bad. She gets it, obviously. But Evelina…”
“Always had it a bit easier than you did,” Stepan says, sighing. He pats my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Roman. For the way I let him speak to you, and treat you—”
“It wasn’t your fight, Stepan.”
“Perhaps it was.”
“Well, you saved Val’s life,” I reply, smiling. “Let’s call it even.”
He grins. Just then, the door to the conference room in Pavel’s house opens. Bane and his father enter first, followed by three Antonov avtoritets I knew they were bringing along.
I shake my friend's hand firmly before I turn to his father.
“Mr. Antonov—”
“Come now, Roman,” he chuckles. “You’re not in high school anymore and trying to pretend you didn’t just steal a bottle of vodka from my freezer. Let’s drop the Mr. Antonov bit. Just Nikolai is fine.” He claps me on the shoulder. “After all, you’re going to be king after today, yes?”
I smile back at him. “Well…Nikolai…I need to apologize for—”
“You don’t,” he says gently. He nods past me. “Let’s get to this, shall we?”
I let him walk over to the table first and hang back with Bane.
“Look, I know we talked about this already, but…” I frown. “If there’s any weird shit here, just tell me. What happened was fucked up—”
Bane smirks that slightly mysterious smile of his, his dark eyes flashing as he runs a tattooed hand through his hair. “All good, brother. We’re always good.” He rolls his eyes. “The fuck are you even asking me that for?”
He brings me in for a tight hug before he pulls back and we all take our seats. Val isn’t part of the Bratva, so it would be inappropriate for him to sit at the table with us. Instead, he sits right behind me, and I swear I can feel him checking out my ass, even though my chair has a back.
Beside me, Stepan glances at me, then stands with the help of his cane.
“My friends,” he begins. “Thank you all for being here. The purpose of this meeting, of course, is to ensure every party is aware what’s transpired the last few weeks.
” He sighs heavily. “As you know by now, Nikolai…” He nods across the table at him and sighs “The bomb at the safe house that night was intended to kill you. Pavel had previously had his mercenaries wire the place up, and the bomb was under Pavel’s desk.
All he had to do was turn on the timing switch, which was set to five minutes, and then walk outside for a cigar, knowing that you don’t smoke them,” he finishes grimly.
Nikolai nods, his eyes narrowed. “Except I ended up following him outside anyway, because his deal with this gaming commissioner about the casino license was too good to be true, and I smelled a fed trap.”
“Well, you were correct, my friend,” Stepan grunts.
“The gaming commissioner who wanted to work out a bribe with Pavel was indeed a federal agent, working on a sting operation.” Stepan frowns.
“I hate to say it, but I believe Pavel’s intent to kill you that night wasn’t just to put an end to your objections to the casino. ”
“The partnership agreement,” Nikolai sighs heavily. “It was in the fine print.”
Stepan nods solemnly. “Da. In the event of one party’s death, the estate is forced to sell that party’s shares of the agreement to the surviving partner, at original cost.”
Nikolai swears darkly under his breath in Russian, but he keeps himself in check.
I clear my throat. “Nikolai—”
“Roman,” he says quietly, shaking his head. “The son does not need to apologize or atone for the sins of the father. I promise you that.”
“Obviously,” Stepan continues, “Pavel planned to frame the attack and your death as the work of the Obsidian Syndicate.” He shakes his head. “While Vaughn Bancroft declined to be here today, Roman and I are in agreement that his organization was not involved in the attack.”
Nikolai nods solemnly. “I believe you. I will not pursue anything with the Syndicate.” His jaw tightens. “Now, shall we discuss the snake himself?”
He glances at me, a slightly worried look on his face. I just nod.
“Let’s discuss him,” I growl. “Given that my father sat at the Iron Table, the rest of the Table gets some input on what happens next. Nikolai, I’m sorry—”
“Roman.” Nikolai gives me a quiet, understanding look. “You don’t need to apologize for not killing your own father. I already spoke to Kir regarding the Iron Table.” He nods. “Exile to Russia satisfies me.”
The Iron Table did get some input, but ultimately, this was a Nikitin decision. Stepan convinced me that executing Pavel could make him a martyr in any loyalists' eyes, and maybe cast my ascension to the throne in a bad light.
So the man I once called father is being exiled from the Nikitin empire and sent permanently to Russia. He’ll be watched. He will not be able to leave. As far as I’m concerned, he can fucking freeze and rot there.
Nikolai rolls his neck. “Now, I don’t believe we have anything further to discuss?”
“No,” I smile. “I don’t think so.”
“In that case…” He, Bane, and their men stand. I do too, shaking their hands.
Nikolai glances over at my captains. “If you have any sense, this won’t be a hard decision.”
He starts to walk out, but Bane lingers for a second. He shakes my hand and then brings me in for a hug. “You got this, brother. All hail the king.”
Before leaving with his dad, he walks past me to Val, who stands and shakes his hand. Bane leans in and murmurs in his ear. Val shrugs.
“If I ever hurt the fucker, I’ll throw myself out a window. How’s that?”
Bane pats my arm as he heads out. “I fuckin’ like that guy,” he murmurs.
Then, it’s just Val, Stepan, the captains, and me.
“Before the avtoritets and I convene to address any issues we might have with your ascension, is there anything you’d like to say?” Stepan asks.
This is largely a technicality. But there are rules in the Bratva. In this case, the top captains along with Stepan need to vote in a majority for me to take Pavel’s throne, because Pavel, failure of a father, shitbag, and lazy fuck that he is, never officially named me as his successor.
I clear my throat as I turn and let my gaze drag over the table. Then I glance at Val. He grins, points between me and himself, then makes a crude gesture only I can see involving two fingers of one hand and an “O” shape of the other.
Christ, he’s insane.
But I’m insanely in love with him, and it’s that spark of pure “Val” energy that shreds any lingering hesitation I might have as I turn to address the table.
“I was born to lead this empire,” I say boldly.
“I am not my father; I didn’t receive his cruelty or malice.
But I did inherit the parts of him that can lead men, make hard choices, and act when necessary.
Now,” I growl, resting my knuckles on the table.
“To address the elephant in the room.” My eyes narrow.
“This is my empire to rule. And I will rule with this man at my side.” I turn and point a finger at Val.
“If any of you have a problem with me loving a man, quite frankly, you can go fuck yourselves. Any questions?”
The room goes quiet. The five of them glance at each other, then beckon Stepan over. The six of them huddle, muttering quietly in Russian for a moment.
Stepan stands and looks at me. His brow is furrowed, and there’s a tight, dark expression on his face as he slowly walks back to me. He looks me dead in the eye as he rests a heavy hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Roman.”
I blink.
Fucking what?
Stepan exhales again. “I’m afraid I need to trouble you to inquire as to your first order of business…pakhan.”
“Sneaky fucker,” Val mutters.
Stepan grins widely at me, then pulls me into a tight embrace. “It was unanimous,” he murmurs. “And if you were my son,” he continues, “I would be very proud to be your father.” Then he releases me.
The other captains stand, bowing and calling me “pakhan” one by one.
Then I’m turning and embracing Val as he sinks into my arms. He cups my jaw, grinning. “I’ve never kissed a pakhan before.” He winks as he whispers in my ear. “Never fucked one, either. And I’m getting REAL hard thinking about it.”
“You’re fucking nuts, you know that?” I grin.
“Well, you’re a moody, grumpy fuck, did you know that?”
I smile wider. “Yeah. You?”
“Same.” He winks at me. “I also know I love you.”
“Oddly enough,” I murmur, “I love you.”
And then I grab the back of his head and sear my lips to his.