18. NIKOLAI #2
Ana had refused to become what they’d planned for her. She’d held onto something—hope, maybe. While I’d let the darkness define me, she still fought it.
When I reached the door of the office, I didn’t knock.
Didn’t slow down either.
I walked straight in like I owned the place.
Lucian and Lachlan were leaning against the long conference table, arms folded across their chests like twin statues carved out of marble.
Gabriel sat in one of the leather chairs, rolling a glass between his palms. Julian stood silently in the corner near the one-way glass, staring down at the empty club below.
And Luca? That smug bastard was kicked back in the desk chair, one ankle crossed over his knee, like a king surveying his court. His lackey, Vinny Deluca, stood behind him, eyeing me suspiciously the second I walked in.
I didn’t acknowledge Vinny.
My eyes went straight to Luca.
I crossed the room, stopped in front of the desk, and extended my hand.
An intentional gesture.
One Luca couldn’t ignore.
He unfolded from the chair slowly, rising to greet me. No smile, no posturing—just a cool, calculating look in his eyes as he shook my hand.
“Good to see you this afternoon, Nikolai,” he said, sitting down as though his presence behind my desk was normal.
I pulled out a chair across from him and sank into it, draping an elbow over the armrest. My forefinger rested against my lip, my thumb was tucked beneath my chin, and one leg was stretched out as I studied him in silence for a beat before letting my hand fall.
“I was planning to drop by your office after meeting with the guys,” I said smoothly. “Didn’t expect to find you here. But it saves me the trip.”
“Convenient,” Luca said, settling back into his borrowed seat.
“Figured I’d stop by the club, see how things are running.
Been hearing whispers—people getting invited downstairs who don’t belong there.
Thought it might be time I kept a tighter watch…
maybe started working with the boys a little more directly. ”
Lucian straightened from the table, dropping his arms to the sides, his hands forming loose fists. “The boys ?”
Luca lifted a brow at the edge in Lucian’s tone. “You know what I mean,” he said. “Just making sure everything’s running the way it should be.”
Lucian’s mouth twitched. “We’ve kept it operating just fine without surprise inspections. Thanks.”
Vinny stepped forward.
Luca didn’t move a muscle, but his voice dropped a note. “Easy.”
Vinny froze, returned to his post.
Gabriel set his glass down. “Is this one of those friendly check-ins? Or the kind where we find out one of us is being replaced?”
Luca chuckled. “If I were replacing someone, you’d know it. You’d be down a kneecap by now.”
No one laughed.
I maintained a relaxed posture—but hardened my gaze.
“Let’s be real clear,” I warned. “Ana might be on the West Coast, but this club’s still partially hers. And until she says otherwise, I’m the one taking care of her share of the business.”
Luca didn’t blink. “I see,” he said, steepling his fingers in front of his chest.
I leaned in. “Especially now that she’s pregnant.”
A beat of silence passed before the revelation landed.
Lachlan’s brows shot up. “She’s pregnant?”
Julian turned away from the window, staring at me in surprise. Gabriel gave a low whistle. Lucian muttered something that sounded like “Jesus.”
“Well, that was fast,” Lachlan added. “Are she and Conan even married?”
“Not yet,” I said. “But he treats her like his queen—and that’s all that matters. There’s no one I trust more with her life than Conan Thorin and his brothers. They know how to protect what’s theirs.”
Lucian gave a single nod at that. Lachlan looked less convinced but didn’t push.
I went on. “Ana and the Thorins don’t want this lifestyle. They’ve stayed out of it, and they plan to keep it that way. But they’re not na?ve. They know what world Ana came from. They know the drill—and the danger.”
Luca gave a satisfied little hum, leaning back deeper in the chair. “Pregnancy’ll keep her occupied. Probably a good thing. While she’s playing house out west, we can keep the real business here running without distraction.”
My jaw clenched, but I didn’t take his bait.
Then Luca smiled smugly. “Speaking of domestic bliss… I heard the quiet Thorin—Braxton, right?—found himself a woman while staying with you over the summer. Got married even.”
I didn’t answer right away.
The others turned their attention to me again, surprised.
Luca sat back as if he’d tossed a grenade and was eager to watch the reaction.
I leveled a glare at him. “Yeah. Braxton married an amazing woman. A photographer. Name’s Dasha.”
I didn’t offer more.
Luca’s eyes gleamed. “That right?”
“Yeah.” My tone was final. I didn’t want anyone other than Luca and the Thorins knowing that Dasha was the new identity I’d cooked up for Braxton’s wife Daria, a former Russian spy turned Ukrainian double agent. “That’s right.”
He didn’t push it. But he didn’t need to.
The message was clear—he knew exactly what a ticking time bomb Alexey Melnichenko’s daughter was.
Daria and Ana might want to stay out of the underworld, but it always had a way of dragging people back down into it.
And with Alexey being the Pakhan of my bratva’s greatest rivals in Russia and teaming up with my wayward mother, who the fuck knew what the future held?
Luca liked to stir the pot, liked to make sure I knew my place—at least within our syndicate here in the States.
His lips curled into a wolfish grin. “You’ve got problems, Nikolai. Lots of problems.” He narrowed his eyes on me as he let those words sit between us.
I didn’t flinch, just held his gaze.
“I’m not sure I want to hitch my legacy to a man dragging so much shit behind him,” Luca said after a moment.
“Arms shipments getting hit. Delgado making moves. Your mother going rogue and cozying up with Alexey Melnichenko. Not to mention your little spinning distraction.” He tilted his head.
“That’s a cocktail for disaster, don’t you think? ”
The room stilled again.
The others had little knowledge of what Luca referred to but could obviously sense the conversation had taken a dark turn.
I met his stare with ice. “I’m handling Valentina’s latest games. You don’t need to get worked up about it…yet.”
A beat passed. Neither of us looked away.
“No,” Luca said. “But if you want us to work together? You’d better start thinking in terms of we, not just me .”
The tension in the room rose.
I sat forward, elbows on my knees, saying calmly, “You want loyalty?”
Luca raised a brow.
“Then let’s do it,” I said. “Put your saints on the table. Burn the palms. Just like the old days.”
Luca smiled. He was old-school American mafia.
Rituals and oaths meant everything to him.
I didn’t give two shits about that kind of tradition, but I did need to build a brigade of loyal men willing to die for our cause.
The war with Delgado was coming—sooner rather than later.
And it was past time the men of Xyst stepped up.
They’d been floating on the River Styx long enough.
Now it was time to cross. Time to swear an oath and choose a leader.
Luca had given them a long leash out of respect for Ana—but now he was tightening it. The syndicate needed every body it could throw at the battle front. And these men were more than capable of taking up arms and fighting for the greater good of this city.
A heavy silence settled as the tension cracked between me and Luca.
Lucian blinked.
Lachlan looked at me, then at Luca. The men could clearly sense something serious was going down, but they weren’t quite sure what it was.
Luca exhaled through his nose and scrubbed his chin, irritated. For a while, he didn’t say anything—just sat there, pinky ring glinting, staring at me like he already had the next ten chess moves planned out.
“I’d say you’ve got more pressing problems than me, Luca,” I said finally. “The Mara Salvatrucha aren’t exactly keeping a low profile.”
That got his attention. His eyes narrowed, and his hand paused on his chin.
I glanced at the others. “There’s a girl working for Carmine—your nephew twice removed, right, Luca?”
He nodded slowly. “Go on.”
“She’s young. Na?ve. But Delgado’s taken a special interest in her.”
Lucian’s brows lifted, and Gabriel leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table.
Luca let out a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “That’s not good for any woman,” he muttered.
“No. It’s not,” I agreed. “She’s working as a performer at The Sacrifice.
The place is a front—a glorified auction block for men like Delgado to shop for their next toy.
But this girl?” I shook my head. “She’s different.
She’s good—too good. Better at working up a crowd of men than women with ten times the experience. She’s got a sensuality you can’t fake.”
Luca arched an eyebrow. “So that’s why you asked me about The Sacrifice.” A dark chuckle rumbled from his chest. “Tell me you didn’t stir shit up.”
“Humph. You could say that.”
Lucian tilted his head. “What happened?”
“She piqued my curiosity, so I went to the club Halloween night to watch her perform. While she was onstage, some drunk thug ran up and tackled her mid-routine.” I flexed my jaw. “One of Delgado’s men shot him in the head right in front of her.”
Gabriel cursed under his breath.
“She bolted, and I followed her, keeping to the shadows.”
“You do that well,” Julian muttered.
“She lives in Hell’s Kitchen, not far from the club. I kept my distance…at first. But my interest grew. She’s here chasing Broadway dreams and had no clue until today that she’s on Delgado’s fucking property list.”
“And you’ve been keeping tabs on her, huh?” Luca asked.