2. Konstantin
KONSTANTIN
T atiana Nikolaev was bound to me for life, whether she liked it or not.
Now, I just needed to make her my wife. We were always meant to end up here. The two of us, married with children running around us. Maybe I should have gone about it a different way but fuck it.
I was done waiting. My plan was unfolding. The goal was always to knock her up and see her swell with my child. So she’d be mine.
I had been planning this since Adrian’s death. Watching her. Biding my time. Truthfully, the Yakuza did me a favor because it only sped up my plans. Maxim attempting to kill Nikolaev's brother and getting himself killed wasn’t part of the plan. But truthfully, I’d use that to my advantage too.
The Nikolaevs knew they fucked up when they killed Maxim. If I had to, I’d kill her brothers to get Tatiana. Although, the thought of seeing pain in her eyes caused a twisting in my gut. Just like it did seeing it the night Adrian died.
That shattering pain that tore at her crystal blue gaze and her voice as she tried to save her late husband.
I wanted to shield her from all the pain, even the pain that her late husband caused. From the Omertà. Everyone. And the only way I knew how to do that was to bring her under my protection. As my wife and mother of my children.
She’d become a target, but as long as I had her in my sights at all times, I’d be able to keep her safe.
My love for her knew no boundaries. And it was love, not just need or obsession.
I didn’t know that I was capable of that and knowing I loved her should scare the fucking hell out of me.
But it didn’t. It just made me want her more.
Whether she knew it or not, she was fucking mine.
Her moonlike hair was the only light in my darkness.
Nobody had ever gotten a second chance in my book. Except for her and her family. But only because I had given my faith to her . Not even my twin brother got that much from me.
A fact that should have been alarming. I had always believed another human being, family or not, couldn’t be trusted. It was a waste of time, energy, and faith. Only to be disappointed at the end. Just look at my mother.
Yet I couldn’t fathom a day on this earth if she wouldn’t walk in it. She was my anomaly. My desire. My destiny.
I couldn’t fully grasp the extent of my obsession, but it has been there from the moment I first saw her. It stared at me with wide eyes of the bluest skies, inviting my raging, insatiable beast to own her.
A dark obsession clawed at my chest, insisting I take the woman now.
But I’d let her have today. To celebrate the wedding of her beloved brother.
Then she’d be mine. Fucking mine . Forever.
* * *
Another building acquired.
I sat in my new office, the scenic French Quarter view spreading in front of me. Waiting. Expecting. Anticipating.
My phone buzzed with an incoming message. Amon’s name flashed on the screen. I slid it open to read it. Yakuza will be moving on Tatiana. At her brother’s wedding.
This would be the fourth attack in the span of a year.
It wasn’t a random attack, but everyone else followed my lead and kept away from her.
The Yakuza, on the other hand, just kept going after her.
Even in the motherland, on my turf, which was stupid.
It showed the Yakuza’s desperation to get their hands on that chip.
If Tatiana wouldn’t have killed that bastard, I would have, and my methods would have been more tortuous than a bullet.
The body that was left in the Moscow hotel room was no effort to dispose of. After all, I owned most of the city, including the police force. Though I had to say I was impressed. The photo of the corpse showed the bullet lodged into the man’s chest with precision. Straight through the heart.
I tightened security around Tatiana because my sources, namely Yan and Yuri who were now on my payroll, related that Tatiana instructed them to keep all the attacks on her a secret from her family. If her brothers didn’t know, it left her vulnerable. That was unacceptable in my book.
Commotion in front of my office came right on time.
The three Nikolaev men stormed through the door, muscling their way through my men.
It wasn’t much of a struggle since I was expecting them and instructed my men not to put up too much of a fight.
I knew Vasili wouldn’t be happy with my expansion in his city.
So fucking predictable.
Nikita just waltzed in behind them, not even bothering to hinder their way.
“I’d say come in, but you’re already in my office.”
Not that I expected anything different. Not from the Nikolaev brothers. Tatiana was their protected sibling. Now more than ever. They’d connect my property acquisition to their resistance to give me their sister.
“You motherfucker,” Sasha hissed. “I’m going to shred your fucking body to pieces.
What the fuck are you doing in New Orleans?
What’s the matter? You can’t have Tatiana so now you’re poaching our territory.
No matter what, you’ll never have her. I’d rather see your pretty face in the coffin next to your fucking brother. ”
I let out a sardonic breath. “I’m glad you brought my brother up.”
I’d had enough of the Nikolaev men. The only reason I let them live was for their sister’s sake.
It was that simple. I leaned back in the chair, studying the three brothers.
Vasili’s jaw was about to crack if he didn’t ease up.
Alexei was his usual blank mask. And Sasha was his normal impulsive, unhinged self.
“It’s a woman for a woman in our world and you know it,” I said, bringing my drink to my lips.
We held our gazes and Vasili rubbed his jaw, a pensive look in his eyes.
“Fuck a woman for a woman,” Sasha snapped, his usual temper flaring. He and Tatiana were similar in that regard. “Your crazy brother just about killed my wife.”
My brow shot up. “I thought you were getting married today at the courthouse. And then a party at the Den of Sin, nonetheless.” I snickered at the odd name.
According to the rumors, Vasili’s wife and Tatiana named their dorm room The Den of Sin.
It remained to be seen just how much sinning they did in that place.
Sasha flipped me the middle finger, the mature motherfucker. I didn’t bother returning the favor. If I did, it would be in the form of his pretty face smashed against my wall. And I wasn’t ready to stain my walls with blood quite yet.
“Back to the topic at hand,” I continued in a bored tone.
“Tatiana isn’t for sale,” Vasili growled. “I told you I’d run it by her and her answer was clear. She won’t marry you.”
“Her wants don’t matter here.” Fucking lie. I wanted to fulfill all her wants, desires and wishes. But her brothers didn’t need to know that.
“We don’t want trouble with you, Konstantin. But if needed, we’ll go to war.” Lovely, again back to the war topic. A war that they cannot possibly win. “Your brother shot Branka, almost killed her.”
“And her father killed Maxim’s woman,” I replied coldly. “You killed my brother. Somehow the scale is tilted to the Russo's and your favor. My brother and his woman are dead.”
“I killed the old Russo,” Sasha admitted, hoping that would somehow exonerate them for my brother’s death. “Take that for your payment. Eye for an eye. And be gone.”
His oldest brother's expression turned murderous as he shot a warning glare at Sasha.
“Tell us why you want her,” Sasha demanded to know.
It would seem their little sister kept secrets from her brothers. Pregnancy being one of them.
“She has something that belongs to me,” I responded calmly.
The chip was only a small piece. The baby in her womb was the bigger piece and the only one that mattered to me now.
I sat up, straightening my sleeves and signaling the meeting was over.
“I expect your final answer by the end of today. My men will see you out.”
My men started to escort the brothers out when Vasili stopped and turned around. “I’ll be right behind you,” he told them. “I want to talk to Konstantin alone.”
Sasha grumbled something but headed out. Nikita’s eyes flitted my way for permission and I nodded.
With everyone gone, Vasili narrowed his eyes on me. “What does she have that is yours?” he questioned.
The chip. My baby growing in her belly. My fucking heart. Take your fucking pick.
I sat down behind my desk and leaned back, studying the brother who raised his siblings while his father roamed this Earth looking for his next lover.
I couldn’t help but notice similarities and differences between us.
After my mother’s death, my father went off the deep end and I had to navigate Maxim through the years.
Then when Isla was born, I had to raise her.
I guess the only difference was my father killed my mother. His father didn’t.
“Vasili, you and I both know the road has come to an end,” I answered him vaguely.
His sister obviously withheld information from her big brothers, but Vasili was a smart man.
He had to have guessed she was pregnant.
He had a few kids of his own. “I don’t know whether you’re blind or just choosing to be.
” The fucker growled. Like that would help his sister.
“I promised her when she was a little girl that she’d choose her own husband,” he said tiredly. “And that she’d never be part of an arranged marriage. I cannot break my promises to my little sister, Konstantin.”
“It’s not exactly an arranged marriage, is it now?” I noted sarcastically.
“Let me talk to her again,” he tried. “If she’s pregnant with your child–”
“There are no ifs about it,” I growled. If he even insinuated she slept with someone else, I’d cut his throat and dig his heart out of his chest.
He shook his head. “I still don’t understand how that happened.
” I let out an incredulous breath. He didn’t actually expect me to explain to him that I fucked her and got her pregnant with my semen.
Did he? He pushed his hand through his hair.
“Honestly, I don’t like that she’s keeping secrets from me, and I don’t like that she got involved with you. ”
“But you were okay with her getting involved with Adrian,” I spat out. “The guy that put her on the radar of every fucking powerful crime family on the planet.”
“Frankly, I didn’t want her getting involved with him either,” he admitted begrudgingly. “I don’t think I’m good with my little sister being involved with any man.”
“She’s carrying my child.” There was nothing else to be discussed. Of course, I wouldn’t admit to him it was my plan all along to put a baby in her belly. Hence, fucking her without a condom.
I rocked back and forth in my chair, studying him. His jaw ticked, signaling he was pissed.
“I won’t force her to marry you,” he finally concluded and turned around, heading for the door. “And I won’t let you force her either.”
He disappeared through the door and my thoughts instantly shifted to the woman I was about to marry. Whether they agreed to my terms or not, Tatiana Nikolaev would be plucked from her natural habitat and forced into my world and my life. Permanently.
It was only a matter of time before she remembered the whole incident. Before someone got their hands on her or she found that chip.
She might wither under my rule, but she no longer had the luxury of her freedom.
Sooner or later, it would get her killed. And if the feds got their hands on that chip, she’d pull the entire underworld into it. And the woman didn’t even know it.
I had given her time to heal after the accident. I pledged for her. I understood the risks. I understood the danger. Did I care? No, I didn't. The Omertà had my oath, but she had my heart. It was about her life and our child’s.
I had let her go once, this time nothing would save her from me. We were two souls that stupidly passed each other, multiple times, only to end up here. Or rather, where we’d soon be.
In my kingdom. In my country. In my home. In my bed.
Exactly where she should have been all along.
She had been mine for almost a decade, but fate pulled us apart. Now, it was me who controlled our destiny.
It was time to make Tatiana Nikolaev remember who she belonged to.