Chapter 1
Petrov
Time moved slowly. Not even I had the power to speed it up, so I paced the floor while I stared at the clock and willed it to change numbers on command.
I had not slept the previous night. It was impossible as I contemplated what was to be done.
I had watched the moon rise and then set without resolving the issue I was faced with.
I was stuck between what was the requirement and what my treacherous heart demanded.
My phone vibrated in my pocket halting my steps and bringing a tenseness to my muscles.
I knew before checking who it would be. Damien was ready to weigh in on the situation despite it being none of his business.
My brother’s territory was Miami. I did not answer to him, only to Dominik, my oldest brother who controlled us all from his domain in Chicago.
And he had already spoken heatedly to me and demanded I find a husband for Zoe immediately.
“You have troubles do you not my brother?” Damien greeted me.
“We all have troubles. It is part of the game we play. I deal with mine and you handle your own. It is what Dominik expects,” I replied.
“From what I am hearing you are not handling things well enough. You have a target on your back which brought you into a pact with some wayward motorcycle thugs. Worse, you are unable to control your offspring, which is shameful. She needs a heavy hand and to be put in her place once and for all. You are too involved with her.”
Though he was somewhat correct, the words angered me. I did not care for his insinuations about my ability to do my job.
“We all use organizations outside our own to do duties that are less than pleasing. The Serpent Sinners are excellent allies and keep the few secrets we necessarily reveal to them. As to Zoe, she is my property and I will deal with her particular form of rebellion against my authority,” I answered.
“I do not give a damn who you use for the dirty jobs. It is Zoe we must control before she decides her place is by your side rather than under one of our men getting pregnant with the male that will take your place in the future. She knows too much about the deals you make and how to run the organization. IT IS NOT PROPER! I will not stand for it!” Damien yelled.
“Watch how you speak to me, brother,” I snarled.
“I do not answer to you, and you will stand for it because I make my own decisions in my territory.
We both answer only to Dominik. I do not need your reminders nor your temper tantrums. I have spoken to our brother, and we have a solution planned.
Yes, I will admit I have allowed Zoe to accompany me to meetings and even speak at them.
The truth is she has excellent insight and ideas.
She has superior intelligence, a sign of her breeding.
I regret my mistake, yet I am pleased that she received the best brains of all of us.
“However, as Dominik ordered, I will backtrack and take away the freedom she has been allowed. I will see that she understands her position and what is expected of her. She will fight me at every turn, but it is a necessity. You must leave her to me and take more notice of your own son. His gambling is getting out of hand. You cannot continue to pay his debts. They will bankrupt the Miami organization and get him killed. Concern yourself with your business instead of mine,” I growled before shutting off the phone and throwing it against the wall.
Damien had no right to challenge me when he was allowing his son to lose fortunes on gambling.
His particular choice of bets was on the horse races.
He spent his time traveling from Kentucky to Japan making huge bets on losing horses.
He had long ago been cut off from the mafia’s money, which caused him to borrow from unsavory men who used exorbitant interest rates.
If not paid they took out what was owed in flesh, at times murdering the gambler.
Damien’s son was his heir. He paid the debts to keep the boy alive. He was far more foolish than I. If left in charge the Miami organization would crumble under the boy’s reign. It amused me to remember that his problem was worse than my own.
Never once had I admitted that I was not the hardhearted man my Zoe considered me to be, not when it came to her anyway.
In all other matters I found it easy to order imprisonments, beatings, exiles and death when necessary.
In her case the thought was too much to bear.
There had to be another route to take, a reason to be lenient.
If she had gotten my permission to aid the Serpent Sinners there would be no questions to contemplate, no punishment to give.
But if she had asked for permission I did not know if I would have given it.
It was possible under the circumstances that I would have, or that she would have been able to persuade me by not backing down.
Frankly, I was proud of Zoe’s accomplishments as well as her stubbornness.
She was me in female form. She had done what needed to be done in an efficient way and succeeded in rescuing the young man who had served us so well in the past. It was true that Rage was expendable as far as the mafia organization was concerned, but he had provided us with necessities regardless of the danger and even I admired such loyalty.
It was a shame that I could not praise Zoe, Prime, and Rage for their endeavors and successes. The rules were clear, and they had broken them. Sadly, the full blame rested on my daughter’s shoulders.
I realized I was pacing again and forced myself to pause.
I pressed a finger against the invisible release button in the wall.
A narrow door that was hidden in the paneling slid aside to reveal the space no one knew was there except me.
Inside was a shrine that honored my daughter and showed the love that I had for her despite the fact that she was supposed to be just one more thing that I owned.
The photos depicted her from birth, the reddened crying face that took my heart immediately, up until a week ago when she stood proudly before a foe and told them to go to hell before stepping aside for my guards to end his life.
She had not known I had taken the still photo from the security feed and given it a place of honor.
Other pictures proclaimed other victories; her first steps, her piano recitals, the presentation of her first real weapon by my own hands, and the beautiful portrait I had an artist render from a photo shoot as she was paraded in all her glory as my daughter in order for the bids for her hand in marriage to begin.
She wore a slinky evening gown of sparkling green, emeralds in her ears and at her neck which had belonged to her mother, and her silky blonde hair was piled upon her head to bare her long neck.
Her face showed a sense of pride and even the defiance she would later use to drive me insane.
She had not been told the reason for the photo shoot or it would not have occurred.
A knock echoed through the room, and I quickly closed the secret door. It was time to face off with my daughter who would fight for her freedom as determinedly as I did for her imprisonment.
“Enter,” I demanded in a gruff voice, one filled with a mixture of pain and anger.
The door swung open on silent hinges, and I was shocked by the young woman who stepped inside.
This was not the stubborn, sophisticated woman Zoe had become.
This girl was reminiscent of the teenager who had yet to become hardened by the world, the one who worshipped a father who seldom showed she mattered.
Gone were the sparkling gems she normally wore.
In place of the body-hugging, low-cut dresses was a simple sweatshirt and leggings worn at the knees.
Her face was bare of enhancements leaving her skin glowing and youthful.
She was stunning. Despite the simple clothing her glorious curves could not be hidden.
Some man would soon pay highly to make her his property.
The thought brought a bitter taste to my mouth.
I sucked in a breath to hold back any sentimental expression I might have let slip. Instead, I hardened my heart as well as my expression and stated scornfully, “You dare come to me in such a state of impropriety? Were you seen by my employees dressed like a poor waif?”
Her shoulders stiffened and she seemed to grow taller as she faced me down. “I came at your command. I was not given the option of dressing properly for an audience with you, Father. I am sorry if I embarrass you, but your orders are the reason I appeared like this.”
“That may be, but you will not leave in the same manner,” I replied.
Going to the intercom I demanded of my assistant, “Get more appropriate clothing for my daughter immediately.”
“Of course, sir,” the efficient voice of the assistant answered.
Zoe’s face had turned red, and her teeth were clenched, yet she said nothing. I had hurt her as well as angered her. I was saddened by it, but it was to get me one step closer to putting her back in her place as a lesser valued family member.
“Sit,” I commanded while avoiding her eyes.
“It is time for your reckoning. You have defied me on several occasions which I have foolishly allowed to pass. This time it is not possible. Your actions have brought shame upon me as well as upon the organization. You have brought my brother’s wrath down on me as well. I cannot leave you unpunished.”
“I do not believe what I did was wrong with the exception of not at least leaving you a message about what was occurring. I did not have the time for that luxury, or I would not have been so seemingly secretive. You would have argued, and a life would have been lost while we fought,” she admitted.
I scowled at her and shouted, “You would not have been allowed to argue!
You do not give orders, nor do you negotiate with me!
I am in control of this entire region. You are my child, a daughter given no power.
You have betrayed my trust and forced my hand.
Taking my men and my weapons without permission is theft!
“If you were one of my men you would already have been executed. If you were my underboss you would have been beaten until close to death, then relocated to some desolate place and your ranking removed. You would be forgotten.”
“But I am none of those, Father. I am your heir,” she announced with her chin in the air.
“You may be my daughter, but you are not my heir. You are a woman. The heir will be the man you marry, a high-ranking mafia member whom I approve. Do not forget your place in the hierarchy the way I have recently indulged you to do!
“I now regret my leniency in bringing you to meetings and giving you a speaking voice at them. I have been reminded of my mistaken indulgence and been reprimanded for it. The consequences of those actions will be brought forth upon your head. You will obey what is forthcoming or force me to do far worse things that I do not wish to do.”
The shrilling of the desk phone startled both of us. It was a phone only used for emergencies and only the true Don, my oldest brother had the number.