6. Maxim
CHAPTER SIX
maxim
Being the swanky fucker that Conall was, he bought an entire building in Vinegar Hill to house his operations. He was also extra paranoid, so I had to wade through bodyguards before I could get upstairs to his apartments to bang on the door.
The guard at the door perked up as he recognized me, smiling. If he were in my bratva, I’d kick his ass for smiling like that at people. “Good afternoon, Mr. Volkov. Glad to hear that you’re going to be around permanently.”
“Thank you, Owen,” I nodded, giving the guard the answer he was looking for.
Permanently wasn’t precisely the word for it. For the last six months, I’d traveled back and forth to San Diego to manage operations on both coasts. Then, there was the whole business with my cousins. Natasha had been attacked in Arizona, but by some stroke of luck, she had been on a video call with Conall, and he’d spotted someone in the courtyard with her. We got her help just in time.
Thankfully, things were finally stable there, but I’d been busy.
Enzo and Dimitri had a firm handle on the West Coast operations, so it would mean that I should be able to keep my visits to twice a year. It had been a rocky road to get things to that stage. Enzo had been loyal, and he deserved the promotion. I had hoped that Dimitri would have a more active interest, but he’d been adamant about remaining in Arizona, where his family and friends were. It pissed me off, but I understood. He’d agreed to step back into a role with the bratva — something he swore he’d never do, so I would take what I could get.
Vladimir had an unfortunate accident in Jersey — we were all terribly sorry, and so far, Caruso had sent two threats to the new townhome I’d bought.
“Your boss in?” I asked, indicating the door.
“He’s expecting you.”
I stood outside Conall’s apartment, listening to the muffled sounds of life inside. I usually didn’t make house calls, but Conall was adamant earlier. Ringing the bell, I waited for him to answer. Honestly, I didn’t have time for this, but Conall was Conall. There was no way that I wouldn’t have come.
When the door was pulled open, and it was not Conall’s face, my brain couldn’t compute. Instead, there was a curvy black-haired beauty standing there. She looked like she stepped out of a Disney adaptation of Snow White. Fuck, she was gorgeous. Her cheeks turned rosy as if she were imagining all the dirty things I was thinking while looking at that mouth of hers.
“Don’t just open the feckin’ door like that, Cora!” Conall stormed forward, and I tried to catch up as I stared from her to him. “You wait for Owen to say it’s okay first.”
“Somebody knocked,” she said like it was the logical thing to do. “Looks like a friend of yours,” she added derisively. Something told me she didn’t think much of Conall’s occupation.
Cora.
The sister.
My soon-to-be wife.
My cock twitched at the thought.
The last time I saw Cora, she was a tiny thing hiding behind her brother’s leg at some godforsaken gathering. Conall had called her his “little shadow,” which was fitting enough. She’d been all big green eyes and dark hair, watching everything as if she understood more than a six-year-old should. Conall had already assumed responsibility for his family, but I was still struggling under my father’s control.
“Cora,” I managed, and it came out rougher than I intended. As I took her in, I felt an unfamiliar jolt akin to surprise. She had grown up. That much was obvious—the kind of beauty that stopped a man in his tracks. Black hair fell down her back, and those eyes—emerald green and intense— searched me just as openly as I was her. She was dressed like an urchin in torn jeans and a t-shirt, but even that couldn’t hide her lush, soft figure. Already, my mouth was watering. “Can I come in then? Or should I stay out here?”
“Let him in,” Conall said, and Cora moved to the side, but her face gave nothing away, which was disconcerting. There was no recognition, no trace of the little girl she used to be. Her gaze was unflinching, guarded as though assessing a stranger. Although I’m not sure why I thought she would remember me.
For a second, I was unmoored. I hadn’t expected her to look like this—hadn’t expected her to look at me like this. Like I meant nothing to her. Sure, I’d thought about the moment I’d marry Conall’s sister, but it was an abstract idea—a name on a piece of paper, a duty to be fulfilled. A box to check. But now, staring at her, I felt that reality settling heavily onto my shoulders. She wasn’t just a name or a promise. She was very real and very much a woman. Now that she was standing in front of me, reality smacked me in the chest, and it took my breath away.
I was starting to catch up and couldn’t tell if I was scared shitless that Conall wanted me to honor the promise I had made to go first or if I was excited. Was Cora coming back planned when he brought it up? It wouldn’t surprise me. Conall was a strategic thinker, and he could be a sneaky fucker.
“So,” she said finally, breaking the silence that had stretched too long. Her tone was neutral, but there was a flicker of something behind her eyes. “Who are you?”
Clearing my throat, trying to find my usual charm, I smiled at her. “You were right. I am a friend of Conall’s. I’m Maxim Volkov.”
“Friend of Conall’s. I’m Cora. The sister they’ve been hiding,” she said the last a little bitterly, and I heard the hurt in it.
“Let’s talk in my office, Maxim,” Conall suggested. “That meeting I wanted.”
“Sure.” Tucking my hands into my slacks, I gave Cora a nod. “Maybe we’ll have a chance to get to know each other later.”
“Maybe.”
Oh, zayka. Little rabbit . I promised. I definitely would be getting to know her. Intimately.
Conall led us down a hallway lined with polished wood and tasteful art arranged like soldiers. He’d made sure that the crappy apartments he’d had to put his siblings in were in his past. We stepped into his office, which was more like a fortress than a workplace. It had a wall of screens, polished mahogany furniture, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river. The man knew how to make a statement. Everything in his office served a purpose, and the whole thing was neat as a pin. If you pushed one paper clip off the desk, Conall would have an absolute conniption.
The door clicked shut, and Conall gestured toward the leather chair opposite his desk. I took a seat, leaning back as he settled in. He had that look in his eye, something hard-edged that wasn’t there when we were kids, and I knew it meant he had a plan—or a concern he wanted to address. I was pretty sure I knew what it was, but I waited.
"Thanks for meeting me here,” Conall started, reaching for the crystal decanter on his desk. He poured two glasses of whiskey and handed me one. “How was San Diego?”
“Solid,” I replied, taking a sip. The whiskey burned just right. “Enzo and Dimitri have the West Coast running smoothly, so I’ll stay on this coast for a while. Natasha is good. That has all smoothed over. She and her man Pike are doing well now. Pretty sure Ronnie has settled too.”
“Good.” Conall nodded, but there was tension behind his gaze. He hadn’t brought me here to discuss San Diego.
I gave him a look that said to get to the point, and he didn’t miss it. He set his glass down, lacing his fingers together.
“About Cora,” he said finally, his tone lowering. “She called me out of the blue. Wanted me to pick her up from Dublin—no explanations, nothing. Just told me to come, and…” He shook his head. “She’s never asked that before. She has been happy there. Never complained. Much. Something spooked her.”
I stayed quiet, watching him. I knew this was hard for Conall. He had always been protective of her, more so than I had imagined, but he had always been a closed book on the subject of his sister. He’d kept her away from our world, from everything. None of the O’Kellys ever talked about Cora once she left for Dublin, and I was too busy to bother asking. Yet here she was, back in a world that didn’t forgive or forget.
“She’s not a kid anymore,” I said carefully. “She’s old enough. If she wanted to come back, there’s a reason for it.”
What Conall said didn’t sit right with me. If something scared her enough to call her brother, I wanted to know what happened to freak her out. “Did she have anyone in her life there?”
Conall’s eyes flicked to the side. “I don’t think so. Tommy made sure to keep her protected. I can’t be sure,” he admitted.
I wasn’t so old-fashioned that I expected my wife to be a virgin, but I wasn’t sure I could marry her if she were in love with someone else.
“She won’t tell me why she messaged,” Conall continued as if that was of no consequence. “And the way she looks at me… it’s like she’s watching every word, looking for something I haven’t said.”
I leaned forward, catching his gaze. “Is there something you haven’t said?”
His silence was answer enough. He broke my gaze, then exhaled, the barest hint of vulnerability showing through the cracks. “It’s time to move forward with our fathers’ arrangement.”
I was expecting it. The weight of his words settled over us, heavier than anything else in the room. We both knew it was coming. That old blood oath would tie us together in an unbreakable alliance, but knowing and acting on it were two different things.
“Was that why you brought her back?” I asked. “So we could… honor that agreement?”
He stared at his empty glass, expression hard. “She’s here, and you’re here. I would have brought her back eventually, but she called me. I think it’s time.” He looked back at me, all sharp edges and conviction. “We all have our territories to solidify. Marrying into each other’s families only strengthens us. It’s how our fathers built their crews and how we’ll keep ours. The safety of our families should be considered. I know you’ll take care of Cora.”
I took a deep breath, absorbing the reality of it. In our business, wives lent us credibility, and we all knew it. It was an old-fashioned custom, but we worked with the systems that we had. I heard what Conall didn’t say. The system was a way of protecting our sisters. Protecting our women. Cora was one of Conall’s greatest treasures and greatest weaknesses. He was passing her on to me to protect. “I’ll honor it,” I said quietly. “I’ll go first.”
Conall’s eyes met mine, satisfaction flickering there. I was sure that Conall had another agenda in the works with the Santelli girl, but we both knew the weight of that promise we’d made. Connall and I had always been sticklers for our word.
“Good,” he said. “Then it’s settled, but Maxim.”
I knew what he would say, and I squared my shoulders. “I’ll treat her right, Conall. You have my word.” His throat bobbed, and I saw him tapping the desk with the knife he kept on the blotter.
The conversation shifted to logistics, and we focused on territories and operations. I discussed my plans for the Bratva and how I’d handle the fractured groups that needed to be brought in line. Conall offered advice, and we mapped out a plan. If some of the other groups knew exactly how closely we worked together, they’d be appalled. Not only were we allied, but we shared almost everything and gathered ideas from each other — respected each other. Our long-range strategy had always been for each group to have an allied territory, which meant we all needed to have our respective areas under control.
“You know this shit with Caruso is just that — shit,” he said when I stood straightening my jacket.
“You’re not concerned?” I asked. Now that he’d brought Cora here and I was actually going to marry her, I wondered if it gave him pause … the things that Caruso said. That I was a stain . It still stung.
“Why would I be concerned? That little maggot knows feck all about what it took for us to get out and set things right. Don’t you waste one-second thinking about that arsewipe.”
I cleared my throat and shifted uncomfortably. “That means a lot to me. Thanks, Con,” I paused. “Do you want to speak with Cora, or do you want me to?”
“I’ll speak with her if you don’t mind.”
I didn’t mind. I’d prefer. I was sure no woman liked to be told they had to marry someone.
“Tell her I’ll pick her up tomorrow for dinner.”
As I walked back through the silent hallways toward the exit, I couldn’t shake the image of Cora standing there, green eyes sharp, assessing. She was no longer the little shadow who once hid behind her brother’s leg.
She was something more now, something that would soon be mine, and the weight sat heavy and strange in my chest.
As I stepped outside into the sharp night air of New York, I wondered how she’d feel about this arrangement—if she’d resist it or accept it as inevitable.
Either way, there was no going back now.