Chapter 8
In the evening, hand behind my head, I lay in my bed, my girl sprawled over half my body.
While she slept, I took a lock of her hair and rolled it between my fingertips.
Normally, when I needed to make a big decision, one that could cost me the lives of my men, I would retreat onto my patio and think about the possible scenarios, then find the path of least resistance for moving the family business forward.
Tonight, I didn’t feel the need to retreat.
I found peace and quiet here with the girl who sought refuge in my arms. This made me violently protective and antagonistic toward Mikhail, whom I’d always regarded as an ally, sometimes even a friend, though I didn’t usually throw around that word.
A friend was someone I trusted completely.
Someone like Ludi, who was also my cousin.
And now we had a new family member, a girl with expectations of what I could do.
What to do, what to do… I pursed my lips, stared at the ceiling.
Mikhail issued an order to take down at least one of the Italians I had dealt with.
I presumed he’d send his man on it, like I’d send Ludi.
Or he would send out several men after several people.
However he did the kills, the Italians would either point fingers at each other or at me.
Likely me.
Therefore, the bosses with whom I negotiated had to stay.
The easiest way to deal with this was to warn them of the Russians.
I didn’t like easy. Easy wouldn’t get this job done right.
Besides, I couldn’t warn them about the Russians, not only because Lana would become my wife, thereby tying me to the Russians, but also because Mikhail had sent a man to tell me, in his own twisted way, that he was moving against the Italians in New York.
Other than Lana, I had no source to double-check on this, and while I’d rather have more information before I made a decision and issued orders on my end, I would have to trust her.
I needed to see Mikhail in his own element surrounded with his people.
I needed to gauge his mood, which would likely be murderous. Okay, then.
I glanced at Lana’s pretty face, turned up and resting on my shoulder. Lips parted, she slept like the dead.
I wiggled my shoulder.
Her head slid and thumped onto the pillow.
Blue eyes blinked and saw me, and she turned on her belly, facing the other side of the bed, pulling on the covers as if intending to sleep through the night. I yanked the covers back and slapped her bare ass. “Let’s go.”
“Whaaa…”
I leapt out of bed and took a quick shower before I walked back into the bedroom to find her sleeping.
Because I enjoyed a bit of evil every now and then—or often—I crouched beside her and bellowed, “Lana!”
Eyelids snapped up, and Lana rolled three times to reach my side of the bed, then sat up, blue eyes wide and frightened. “What’s wrong?”
Her little tits on display made me hard again, but that was neither here nor there right now. I wanted to tweak and torture them. Not now. Jesus.
She waved, and I finally peeled my gaze away from her tits.
“What’s wrong?” she repeated.
“Get dressed.”
She scrubbed her face, yawned, dragged herself out of bed. “Yes, Boss.” Instead of heading for the shower, she rounded the bed and pressed her body against mine, rising on her toes to sniff my neck. “Mmm,” she said.
Perplexed, I stood there while she sniffed me. She took my hands and placed them on the small of her back, then threw hers around my neck and kept sniffing.
“What are we doing?” I asked.
“We’re hugging?”
“You want more dick?”
She chuckled. “Sure. But smelling you will do.”
Hmmm. Interesting. I sniffed her hair. “You smell like my shampoo.”
She lifted her face. “Is that good or bad?”
“I prefer coconut and sun.” I squeezed her ass. “Get dressed.”
While she showered and dressed, I paired black jeans with a black button-up and descended into the kitchen, where most of my people waited all dressed in black. And armed. Ivana had put on pants and a tank top under the light leather jacket hiding her holster. “Ready?” she asked.
“Sit down, Ivana,” Ludi said.
“Why? We gotta move. Surprise is all we got. Once that’s lost, we’re gonna suffer more casualties.”
I got an apple juice from the fridge and poured it into a glass. Got orange juice for Ludi and poured him a glass too. “Sokol?” I asked, my heart doing a flip as I braced for the worst kind of news that would explain why he wasn’t here. I moved to sit at my solo table.
“Couldn’t get a flight out, so they’re driving,” Ivana said, hovering over me. She placed her hands on the table and leaned in. “What are you doing?”
“Sit down,” Ludi told her, but she wouldn’t listen. Cold gray eyes locked with mine. “Mikhail called. He wants the girl returned.”
“No.”
“I know that, and therefore, we’re ready. What’s going on with you? Have you changed your mind?”
I grabbed the back of her neck and stood, pulling her body to mine. “If you play the boss one more time, I’ll strangle you. If you question me in front of everyone, I’ll strangle you. You understand me?”
“Yes, Boss,” she choked out.
“Go outside and wait.”
She blinked before leaving. As one of my top people, her advice on handling a situation had always been valuable to me. But I didn’t need anyone’s input or anyone’s advice in this matter since I had already decided.
“We’re hitting Club Cage tonight,” I announced.
Ludi scrunched up his nose. “I could do him in, you know.” His eyes trailed away from me, and I turned to find Lana standing there in fuck-me heels, a tiny skirt, and an even smaller tank top. You could hear a pin drop in this room full of horny males jacked up on testosterone and adrenaline.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” I bit out. Or not wearing would be more accurate.
Lana smiled and swayed her hips to me, then sat on my lap and buried her face into my neck. She sniffed me again, and I wondered if she liked my cologne. I was almost out.
“Remind me,” I said to Ludi, “to buy more of this cologne.”
“Sure, Nikola. It’s a pressing issue right now. Let me get on it immediately.”
I narrowed my eyes.
He smiled, all shark teeth and menace, excited by the prospect of a job, especially one like Mikhail. Massive risk. Massive rewards. Ludi would love to pop a Russian boss, then go buy himself a trophy along with my cologne.
I slung a hand over Lana’s waist, trailed it over her back, and stopped at the back of her neck so there would be no confusion who this fine pussy belonged to.
“Sources tell me the Russians are in New York, ready to move in tonight. We don’t have a lot of time, but we have some time. Mikhail warned me of his operation.
If I know Mikhail, and I do know him, before he issues the final go-ahead, he expects me to show face. This tells me he’s willing to negotiate. He seems to have an interest in the Italian deal we closed, so I have something he wants.”
Ludi cleared his throat, “Sokol says it’s a multibillion kind of deal.”
“It is.”
“Do we not need billions?”
I loved money. I loved deals that brought money.
My parents, poor immigrants, lived in basements and cleaned people’s houses.
I grew up living well below the poverty line.
Now, my family had never been wealthier, and we were in a position to help communities who accepted dirty money. I couldn’t donate money if I was poor.
I couldn’t help anyone if I wasn’t in a position of power. Lana needed help, and I couldn’t lose the power or the money, but something had to give, and I knew what. I just needed Mikhail to agree.
“We could live without the billions.” Fuck, it pained me to say it. Sokol and I had been working on this for over three years. Getting inside the Italians’ circles wasn’t easy. Building trust with men like me who all had trust issues was hard work. I’d give it up. I would.
Ludi glanced at the girl. I’d bought her for those billions.
“If you give me the order, it can all end easily.”
Lana watched him.
I gauged her expression and felt she’d mourn Mikhail and could possibly resent my order.
“It would never end,” she said.
“She’s right. If we start this, it would never end and the cartels would let us kill each other, doing the job for them. We bring in the Russians, keep the Italians, and I get married.”
“I love your optimism. Utopian shit, really.” Ludi stood and cracked his neck. “You’ll see me in the club, somewhere in the shadows, hoping for an order, crying a little if I don’t get one now.” Before he left, he slapped my shoulder. “Gonna have a chat with my sister.”
I grunted.
Ludi’s departure left me with my men. I counted no fewer than fifty-three between the kitchen and the backyard, plus at least a dozen we kept outside.
I passed Lana my phone. “Call your uncle. Tell him we’re coming.
Be sure to use ‘we’ and hang up before he replies.
Then order pizza for everyone. I’m hungry. ”
For pussy, blood, and money, but pizza would do.