Chapter 22 Jamie
JAMIE
Reign would not be happy to know where I ran off to.
Before he left the apartment this morning, he told me that I wasn’t to leave it.
I had wanted to bite him when he said it, but since I was just too tired to argue and fight with him, I let him leave the apartment thinking I had agreed.
I didn’t.
I looked up at Osteria Luigi, one of the Italian restaurants in the heart of Manhattan, owned by my father’s men.
Dad was here for a meeting, or to show off his power and his hold on the city, with some politician or police captain—I wasn’t sure.
I just knew he was here for lunch, and I was hit with the urge to see him.
To somehow remind myself that the man Caine hated didn’t exist, and instead, it was just…
It was just my father, and that was all.
But now that I was here, I hesitated.
What if I was wrong?
Or worse, what if Caine was wrong?
I didn’t even know anymore.
And I had just lost all my nerve.
I pivoted around and was about to leave when a heavy hand landed on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Dad standing there, a small frown marring his face. He wasn’t alone.
Great. It was just my luck, wasn’t it? I had set out to see him, after all.
“Jamie, what are you doing here?”
I swallowed, my throat suddenly feeling dry, even as I forced a fake smile.
“Dad.” My eyes moved over to the man he was standing next to—an average man with brown eyes, brown hair, fair skin, and a thick, dark beard that covered half his face. He was about four or five inches taller than me and was strongly built.
“Hi,” I said politely.
The man’s eyes glimmered in a way that I didn’t like. I hated it even more when he moved in closer to me, reaching out and touching my shoulder gently. The feeling of ants crawling over my skin intensified, and it took everything in me not to shake off his touch.
“Ah, so you’re Jamie. Your father is always talking about you.”
“He does?” I was surprised. Why would Dad have any reason to talk about me to anyone?
He nodded. “I’m not surprised. If I had a daughter as beautiful as you, I would be talking about her to anyone and everyone.”
What an… odd thing to say.
I smiled and nodded.
“This is Eric Murphy,” Dad said. “The police captain of good old New York City.”
Ah.
A police captain would be a big catch to have in his pocket. I frowned. I had heard the name Eric Murphy before. Caine had talked about him, and it wasn’t pleasant. Wasn’t he in bed with the Bratva? So what was he doing now, having lunch with Dad in Manhattan?
What was up with everyone switching sides?
“Will you be joining us?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, sorry, I was just passing by. I heard my dad was going to be here, and I thought I would say hi.”
Dad nodded, offering a small, soft smile.
Caine was wrong to betray him with the Bratva, wasn’t he?
“I’ll leave you two to it,” I said. I was about to walk away when a group of three men approached us. Dad noticed them before I did, his body tensing. Behind him, I could see his bodyguard becoming alert when he saw them.
My eyes focused on the man in the middle of the three. The other two were obviously his bodyguards. But I didn’t need to know that to recognize that this man was important. I already knew who he was.
Ilya Mahankov.
Reign’s father.
The pakhan of one of the most ruthless crime organizations in New York… and Dad’s sworn enemy.
“Mahankov,” Dad greeted coldly. “Can’t a man enjoy his lunch in peace without having to see your ugly mug?”
Ilya cackled. “Enjoy your lunch in peace? How peaceful could it be when you’re in bed with my whore?”
Ilya looked over at Eric, and much as Eric had done to me just moments before, Ilya wrapped his arms around the man and pulled him in close.
“Isn’t that right, son? You whore yourself out to me, and now you want to be in bed with the Caparellis?
Don’t you know these fuckers are known for their savagery? ”
Eric didn’t say anything, but his face had turned an unusual shade of gray.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar black car pull up to the curb.
Fucking great.
It was now a fucking party, considering Reign had just arrived.
I subtly shook my head, hoping he would get the hint and just stay in the car.
How did he even find me?
I didn’t feel like I was breathing properly. Especially when Ilya turned his attention to me, the lewd look in his eyes making me feel sick. It didn’t help that Reign looked so much like him.
“I see you brought your daughter to this lunch. So the rumors are true.”
He let out a mean, ugly laugh, and I shivered from the sound.
What rumors?
My eyes moved back to the car to see Reign stepping out of it.
I was half thrilled and half filled with dread.
He made his way over to us with purpose, his eyes not straying to me once.
I got that. It didn’t stop me from wanting to run right into his arms and stay there.
Surely I would be safer with him than right here…
feeling like a small bunny in a field, with hawks circling above, just waiting for me to let my guard down.
“Dad,” Reign said as he approached.
Ilya barely glanced at Reign before turning his attention back to me. Reign moved between us, blocking his view of me. I focused my gaze on the back of his neck, hoping that would keep my nerves from fraying out of control.
“We should get out of here. It’s not convenient,” Reign said to his dad. He turned his head back, his eyes meeting mine for a quick second before he turned and looked at Eric.
“It’s nice to see you again, Captain Murphy. You should know that the Bratva has a very long and unforgiving memory. I hope this little bubble of protection you thought you found with the Italians is durable enough to keep you safe.”
Eric’s face paled even more, but he kept up the appearance of being fearless. He tilted his chin and looked at Reign. I supposed he thought it looked intimidating, but Reign had at least a good half foot on him and was as wide as Eric was tall. The intimidating look didn’t work too well for him.
“Is that a threat, boy?”
Boy?
He couldn’t be much older than Reign’s twenty-five years.
“No, Murphy. It’s a simple observation. Even a toddler could see that.”
Eric muttered something unintelligible, his face taking on a deep hue of red.
Reign led his dad and his bodyguards away, leaving me standing there with Dad and Murphy and not knowing what to say or do. I resisted the urge to call him back to me, knowing it was better to keep up the appearance that we didn’t know each other.
But it was so fucking hard. I suddenly felt too vulnerable, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t like it.
Just before he disappeared from view, he turned his head back and looked at me, a mix between worry and anger raging in his deep blue eyes. I shifted on my feet and stared back at them.
“I’m… I’m going to go,” I said. “I’m meeting some friends nearby.”
Dad nodded without looking at me. I let out a small sigh of relief and was about to walk away when Eric stopped me.
He grabbed my hand without warning, holding it between us.
I tried to pull away, but his grip was strong.
I looked over at Dad, expecting him to say something, especially since he had always been a little protective of me, especially when it came to his men touching me, but he said nothing.
“It’s really nice to meet you, Jamie,” Eric said. “We’ll meet again soon.”
I didn’t respond to him. I yanked hard on my hand and finally managed to escape.
He smiled at me, his bravery returning to him now that the Bratva, that Reign, wasn’t around.
I shot him a hard look before walking away. I could feel their gazes on me, making my back feel warm.
The entire thing made me feel uneasy.
What was Dad really doing with the police captain, who had been in bed with the Bratva ever since they managed to get him promoted to his captain position? And what were the rumors Ilya was referring to when he saw me with them?
I didn’t know.
The only thing I knew was that this entire plan had been a mistake. And now, I needed to go face Reign’s wrath.
Stepping outside, I started to make the long walk to the bus stop.
I could have stopped and hailed a taxi, but that suddenly felt like too much effort.
As I stood at the edge of the sidewalk, waiting for my bus to come, a familiar black car pulled up to the curb.
He didn’t roll down the window, nor did he honk at me.
He kept the car idling there, waiting for me to decide. I had a feeling that if I didn’t make the right decision soon, he would take that choice away from me and force me into the car himself.
I let out a small sigh and walked over, opened the passenger side door, and climbed inside.
His face was stony, his features sharp and harsh all at once.
“Reign—”
“Shut up, Jamie.”
I closed my mouth.
So he wasn’t in the mood to talk. That was okay. I could give him some silence.
Or at least, I thought I could, but halfway into the drive, the silence felt like it was crushing me, pressing in on me from inside the car, and suddenly, it was just too much.
“I just wanted to see my dad,” I said. “I… I wanted to see if I could figure out why Caine was doing this.”
“And did you?” he asked. His tone told me he already knew the answer. That he already knew it was a bad idea to have even come in the first place.
I crossed my arms over my chest and looked out the window. “You don’t understand. I don’t even understand it myself.”
“So you decided the best thing to do was to put yourself in danger?”
“I wasn’t—”
“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t tell me you didn’t because now you got the attention of both my dad and Eric fucking Murphy.”
“Why is Eric Murphy important?”
He didn’t answer me. His fists were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel, as if trying to control himself.
“How did you even find me?” I asked. I hadn’t told him where I was. There was no reason he should have come here, of all places, to look for me.
He didn’t answer me. I poked him in the arm. “Reign.”
Still nothing.