Chapter 7
RORI
I want to laugh in his face. Is he fucking crazy? Yeah, he has to be if he thinks that’s remotely possible. Especially not the Bratva Butcher. Timur, that could be possible, though not a slam dunk, but my father? People have been trying to kill him for years and have never succeeded.
Those poor sons of bitches are the ones that end up dead. Slowly, painfully, and in ways that even now make my stomach turn.
The question is, why do they want him dead? I can understand Timur, considering they want his territory, but killing a favorite of many of the Pakhans around the world? Killing him would piss off a lot of people. Why does he want to take that risk?
Instead of saying any of that, I simply ask, “Why?”
Instead of answering that, he continues, “You’re the one who will be in the perfect position to get it done. They won’t see it coming.”
I snort, unable to help myself. His eyes narrow and his lips flatten, but I’m too mystified to care about my reaction and what it gives away.
The man is insane, and if I’m right, he’ll die before all of this ends.
“You really think that they won’t see me coming?
That they aren’t already preparing for me to kill them? ”
“Perhaps my word choice wasn’t correct. That is exactly why we want you to kill them.”
A slow blink. “I can’t tell if you’re trying to be clever or trying to shock me. If you want me to understand this insane plan, I’m going to need more.”
Zakhar snorts out a laugh. “I like her.”
“You like anyone with a pretty face,” Ilya snaps irritably. He crosses his arms across his chest and leans back against the desk, still facing me.
“Before we go any further. How do you know about me? And about who my father is? I haven’t gone by my birth name in over a decade and I made sure it wouldn’t be easily found out.” I cross my own arms, watching him distrustfully.
“Any information I need I can get. Yours, while well hidden, was found out well enough by my men.”
I don’t believe that for a second. If they figured it out, why didn’t Aurelio, Zeno, or Urso find it? They found all the other girls and they were never found for decades. If they were going to pull me apart, they’d have done it. So either he’s lying, or this is some kind of weird test.
I’m not happy to be playing this game. I hate this shit. It’s exactly the kind of thing that I’ve spent a long time trying to get away from.
“Then if you can get this information, you already know that I haven’t been around Timur or my father in a very long time.
I haven’t done this, in even longer. And you think that I’m just going to be able to take out these two men without much trouble?
I’m not sure if that makes you stupid or just plain crazy. ”
“Oh, definitely crazy.” Zakhar laughs gleefully. “I’ve been telling him for years, so it’s nice to see someone else corroborates it.”
“Shut the hell up,” Ilya snarls, temper flashing across his face. There, the mask is starting to slip. I wonder what will happen when it comes all the way off? “I would rather have someone who can get the job done quietly, but that isn’t an option. The one I want to do it isn’t available.”
I wonder if he’s talking about the Chameleon or another one of the assassins who are also around, few though they are. At least, known.
“So you’re going with me? The one who doesn’t want to be here and doesn’t want anything to do with this bullshit in the first place?”
“You’d rather mess around with those idiot Italians?” Zakhar demands, some of the humor leaking away, letting his own mask slip. “Russians don’t mix with Italians.”
“They do when their best friend is marrying one of them.” I should probably not mention Sienna, but at this point, they know everything, so what’s the point in hiding it?
“And you were fucking one of them.” Zakhar sneers. “Your friend is of no consequence to us considering she was never brought into your life other than the superficial. You, on the other hand, should know better.”
“I didn’t know that the Russians were policing who gets to stick their cock into my pussy.
If that’s the case, I’ll have to add a few more to that list you probably don’t know about.
” I give Zakhar a bland stare, and I see another flash of amusement before it turns back into a scowl to match his brother’s.
“Who you fuck is of no consequence to me unless it’s going to fuck up the job I’m about to put you on.”
“Job? You make it sound like I have a choice to refuse.”
He pins me with a dark glare. “Are you always this much of a smart ass?”
I give him my first smile, though it isn’t warm and fuzzy. “What do you think?”
He huffs out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine, you don’t have a fucking choice. This is going to happen, and if you don’t, I’ll kill you and be done with it.”
“It sounds to me like I’m going to die anyway, so why the fuck would I want to agree to this? I can have a swift death at your hands, or I can risk a slow, agonizing death at the hands of my father and Timur, and probably Simeon too since he’s not a fan of mine.”
He doesn’t deny that, but instead, he says, “Because we both know that you don’t want to take the cowards way out. That isn’t who you are. The information I have on you is that you fight hard when there’s something that you want.”
“And what could you possibly tempt me with?” My dog is gone, and any hope for a happily ever after was done the moment I stepped foot in New York.
It was only further shattered when I believed and slept with Alonzo, but that’s not something he needs to know.
Right now, it sounds like they know I slept with him, not that he’s coming after me.
Odd that Tatiana wouldn’t tell him that though. Unless she doesn’t plan on it being a big issue. Either way, I’m going to have some choice words for her when I see her next. And maybe a knife to the fucking throat.
Which is exactly why I’ve gotten out of this life as much as I can. I don’t want to be this constantly violent person, always wondering how much blood will be on my hands next.
“Your freedom,” Ilya says, his tone making it sound far more dramatic.
I cock my head slightly. “You think that’s something? I’ll never be free, Romanov. I’m the daughter of one of the most feared men in the Bratva, and even if I kill him, there are going to be people that will be after me to avenge whoever he killed just being his direct blood relation.”
“Perhaps, you do this and I’ll ensure that you’re erased.
Rayea Antonova will die for good, and Aurora O’Brien, or whatever other name you want to take, will be reborn.
No ties to the Bratva, and if you want to fuck that Italian asshole, then fine.
All you need to do is kill Timur Belov and the Bratva Butcher.
Do that and walk away. No getting dragged back in by me or anyone else. ”
It’s so tempting to take him at his word.
That’s all I want. I want this part of my life to be done.
I won’t get it with Alonzo, but I can with someone else.
Preferably someone without criminal ties.
Except, nothing is ever that simple. Not in this life; not in the life of the Russian Bratva.
There is no freedom, no getting out. You’re in until your death.
Which is going to be sooner rather than later with this asinine plan.
“You expect me to believe that you’ll keep your word on that?
” It’s my turn to scoff. “I know who you are, Romanov. I also know the Bratva. There is no freedom. You want to use me for my connections; you want me to be the one to get my hands dirty so that you can take over the territory and avenge whoever it is that the Butcher killed. Or you just want to prove to everyone that no one is invincible and that you can reach anyone you want. Either way, there is no winning. You want to incentivize me to play this game, offer me this fake guarantee of walking away like a hero in some kind of movie. We both know it’s not going to happen.
I’ll die, or someone along the way is going to figure out it was me, and I’ll be next on the list to die anyway.
If you just want me dead, be fucking straight with me. ”
We glare at each other. His blue eyes flash with the anger he’s trying to keep locked down. He’s not used to anyone talking to him like this. A man like him, he’s used to someone shivering and cowering, not giving him sass and pushback. His mistake is thinking I’m like any of them.
Everyone always assumed that I’m dangerous because of Hades, but I am just as deadly. I just don’t let it out, but right now, it looks like I’m going to have to push aside the role I’ve played since I was eighteen and be the dangerous bitch they’ve forgotten I am.
“Ugh, would you two stop the glaring contest so we can get on with it? I have a ski date before we head back and this is cutting into my time,” Zakhar grumbles. “Ilya, just tell her the fucking plan or I will, and we both know if I do that it’s going to be a terrible version of it.”
“Is he always like this?” I ask Ilya, unable to help myself. “If so, the Don in New York always punched the annoying asshole. I think he even shot at him once. Unless, that’s not your style, of course. I get it that you might not be as cold and ruthless as you try to portray.”
The shot rings out loudly in the confined space, and Zakhar yelps loudly. “What the fuck?” he roars. “You almost actually fucking hit me, you son of a bitch.”
I glance over and see that Ilya’s bullet grazed the side of Zakhar’s temple, blood already dripping down the side of his furious face.
Zakhar swipes at it, glaring at his stained hand distastefully.
“If he wanted to hit you, he would have,” I say, looking back at Ilya with a mocking smile. “Isn’t that right, Romanov?”
His eyes flash angrily at the realization that I’ve baited him and he’s given up some of his precious control.
He wants to kill me for it. He wants to make me pay for allowing him to show weakness.
I give him a cold smile, daring him. Killing me will only weaken him further.
Not only because then he’ll have to find someone else for this ridiculous plan of his, but also because he allowed a woman to get under his skin and prove how fast his temper can flash.
He puts the gun away, but his movements are still stiff.
“The job is simple,” he tells me tightly.
“You’re going to go to Timur Belov’s home, you are going to play along in agreeing to marry his son, and then you’re going to kill him and your father when he arrives.
Once that’s done, I’ll see that you die, and then you ride off into the sunset, and I never have to deal with you again.
You never set foot on the west coast without my permission, but otherwise you’ll be free to live your life as you see fit. That’s what I’m offering you.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then I kill you and send your body back to that Italian cunt and best friend in pieces. With the message that any retaliation for it will result in all their deaths. They’re not the only ones with ties around the world to make it happen.”
I want to scream at him that if he dares to go near Sienna, I’ll kill him myself, but unlike him, I don’t allow myself to be baited.
“You are overestimating how much any of them care about me. Her, yes, but the others probably would thank you.” Especially with them finding out just how deep my deception went and bringing Tatiana into their home.
Most of the men in that group probably won’t blink if I end up dying.
“Now, let’s say I do manage to get this whole bullshit done, what’s to stop the guards from killing me? ”
“We’ll ensure that won’t happen.”
I sneer. “You really expect me to take you at your word?”
“You don’t really have much of another choice.”
“Jesus Christ, both of you need to hurry this the fuck up,” Zakhar snaps. “I’m fucking bleeding everywhere. Clyde is going to kill me if I get blood on the paperwork.”
“Then go and get yourself cleaned up,” Ilya huffs.
“And leave you here with a deadly assassin that’s plotting your murder as we speak? I don’t fucking think so. So just shake hands, fuck, or whatever the fuck you two are doing.”
“I don’t want to fuck him.” I scoff. “I like my men much bigger and with probably a much bigger dick than his.”
Ilya’s glare deepens.
“No fucking in the office,” a prim voice says from the doorway, that Canadian accent giving away who it is.
Though, there’s nothing hiding the annoyance.
I don’t even look at Tatiana as she steps inside the room.
She’s still wearing those fucking heels.
“Mr. Romanov, I hate to interrupt but there are police moving through the city to get here. Seems someone leaked your arrival.”
Ilya’s expression darkens. “Fuck. I should have fucking known she’d pull this shit.” He glares at me. “You’re coming with us. You’re doing the job; the decision is out of your hands now. You want to hash shit out? We’ll do it later. Move it.”
She? Who is this she he’s talking about?
I’d say Tatiana, but it seems stupid for her to be working with Ilya and then calling the police on him.
Maybe he’s got a wife who doesn’t like him being too far away.
Or she’s trying to escape him, and this is her way of making sure he can’t come after her while she does.
Yeah, that makes more sense.
It’s not like I have much of a choice. Maybe this will be a good thing, though. I can get the lay of the land, see just what’s being planned. Or I’ll figure out a way to kill these two. Either way, being with them is probably better in the long run.
He stalks out of the room, Zakhar rounding the desk to sandwich me between them. I don’t like giving him my back, but I force myself to move. When we pass Tatiana, she gives us all a quiet smile, but the moment our eyes connect, I can sense her amusement.
Damn her.
I let her see my anger and the promise of pain. Her expression never changes, but I know she’s laughing at me, pleased with herself, the crazy bitch. If she planned to send me to my death, she might have just succeeded.
Or she’s just given me the reason to finally show her why I was the one who chose to train her. Rayea Antonova and Aurora O’Brien will be one and the same, and none of us could survive it.