Chapter 8
I have been a part of the Kosher Nostra in some capacity for most of my life. I’m dedicated, focused, and alert. They count on me to maintain my composure while everyone else flips shit. And it has never been an issue…until Sophia.
We returned from the bridal store, and I carried Sophia in our suite and laid her in our bed. Curled around her for a few precious minutes, Monty at her back, he and I shared a thousand words without a single sound.
Leaving her in that bed was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I hated every step away from her…from them both. I know Monty will protect her with his life, but I can’t stand not having my hands on them, touching them to assure myself they are alive and with me.
My phone is propped up on the table in front of me, the live feeds into my bedroom on the screen.
I watch Sophia sleep, Monty holding her as her body hiccups periodically with the remnants of her sobs.
I force myself to look away and tune back into the heated conversations happening around me in the war room.
“Who are they? Who was their target? Why didn’t we know an attack was planned?
” Moshe is pissed, and rightfully so. Seril was just as vulnerable as any of the other women.
We joke that the growing group of females are BABs.
Badass bitches. And they are. But you can’t fight physics.
A 5 foot nothing 130-pound woman can only fight so long against a man a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier.
“Tovah fucked up.”
“The fuck she did,” I spit out, contradicting my Avinu before I can stop myself.
“Alright. Alright. Fuckin’ hell, Tovahbub,” Tevye bitches, fiddles with his phone and then puts it on the table. “You’re on speaker.”
“Yak? Did you just stand up for me?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why you’re my favorite WAB.”
“WAB? What the fuck is WAB?” Ezra asks what we’re all thinking. I feel Moshe’s glare aimed at the side of my head, but I choose to ignore him for the moment.
“Depends on the situation,” she responds. “Weak ass bastards. Whiny ass bitches.”
Zilv leans forward to speak near the phone. “I still don’t understand why we haven’t put you in charge of morale.”
“Tovah, you opened fire in a public area with civilians nearby.”
“I sure did, Avinu.” Several ooh’s and ahh’s and an oh, shit.
“I understand the hesitation; our security detail did what they have been trained to do. But any one of you would have done the same when faced with our women being grabbed. The only difference between you and me is the limp dick between your legs. Give me five minutes and I can wrangle up a strap on that will make you cry with inferiority and we can move past this bullshit and figure out why it happened in the first place.”
There’s a long pregnant pause and I decide to voice something I’ve always kept to myself.
“I believe this council would benefit from Tovah’s presence.
This isn’t the old guard anymore; it’s not a men’s club.
This is our lives and Tovah has proven herself quite capable, not to mention willing to do what others cannot.
Her compartmentalization is exactly what we need in this room.
” A weird sound comes from Tevye’s phone, and we all turn to stare at it in confusion.
When we hear it again, I grin from ear to ear. “Are you crying, Tovah?”
“FUCK OFF! FUCK YOU! I’m not crying. I don’t cry. My power is so great it cannot be contained and sometimes it leaks out of my eyes!”
Moshe is still glaring at me, but the wheels are turning.
He isn’t opposed to this idea. Bringing Tovah in as a kapitan is a no-brainer, but there are those in the organization and plenty of our business associates who would balk at having a woman at the table, let alone having her in a position of power.
“We will discuss once this situation is resolved.”
“Whatever. While you come to terms with the fact my dick is bigger than yours, there were 23 of them in total. I’ve texted Tevye 3 license plates I memorized—”
“They weren’t in the parking lot.”
“No, they weren’t, Jonah. While everyone else was dealing with the BABs, I was following their retreat.
No one removed their mask or gloves, but they scattered in different directions, which is smart.
These guys fucked up, but they are professionals.
What? Yeah. Hey, Masud said to turn on the interrogation feed, one of them is spilling secrets. ”
I quickly pull up the feed and cast it to the large screen on the wall for all of us to watch.
A man, bloodied and broken, is hanging from a hook, his head lolling from side to side.
The Pharaoh, Masud to the rest of us, walks around his catch, playing with him like a lion would play with its food. I turn the sound up.
“…the contract was negotiated remotely. Listen, man, our handler tells us where to go, what to do, and where to drop off any assets.”
“Mercenaries for hire.”
“Yes.”
“Who was your objective?”
“Women of the Kosher Nostra.”
“Which one?”
“All of them.”
“Why?”
“Don’t know, don’t care. We don’t ask questions.”
“You don’t care? Mothers, wives, sisters, daughters—”
“Money is money.”
“Why do they want the women? Who hired you?”
“Don’t. Know. Don’t. Care.”
Masud looks directly at the camera. “For those with sensitive stomachs, I would turn the feed off. I will let you know if I gain any other useful information.” Then he smirks. “Jonah, there is no shame in being squeamish. I’m sure your wife still respects you as a man.”
I click off the feed as the room erupts in laughter. Jonah’s face is red with anger, though his lips twitch because Masud got him good.
Zilv sighs as his laughter trails off. “Still weird to hear The Pharaoh speaking, let alone whole sentences and cracking jokes.”
“Yak, why didn’t we know about this?”
“Masud’s sense of humor? I’ve known all along, then again, I took the time to get to know the man.”
“Yakov.” Moshe is unimpressed.
“I have programs running constantly scanning for any mention of the Kosher Nostra. This wasn’t set up online or in the corners of the dark web.
With the information we just learned, and access to that man’s electronic devices and life, I can start working backward to trace the exchange of money.
Since they failed to extract a single target, whoever hired them might get desperate. ”
“Play the surveillance footage.” I nod, pulling up the cameras from the businesses in the area.
“It’s an obvious case of self-defense. The cops are content for now, but anything involving us is bound to get blown out of proportion.
Tev, contain the dissemination of information, we don’t need more eyes on us as we figure this out.
” I listen to Moshe, but I can’t tear my eyes away from Sophia.
The abject terror contorting her beautiful face froze her in place.
She’s motionless until someone breaks through the protection of the security detail.
She fights back; she doesn’t go willingly.
A flash of fire that causes pride to swell within me as well as fear.
“I want additional soldiers brought in. Five guards on each woman. Two additional perimeter lines at fifteen hundred and two thousand feet. Yak, Tev, keep digging. I do not want to be caught by surprise again.” Moshe sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“We’ll meet again tomorrow afternoon. For now, go comfort your women… and yourselves.”
I’m itching to get back to Monty and Sophia. Needing to put my eyes on them as well as my hands. I text Monty to let him know I’m on my way.
“Yak.” I stop with a heavy sigh and turn to face my Avinu.
It’s just the two of us left. “Tovah should have been on this council from the beginning.” Well, that is certainly unexpected.
“As progressive as we might be, those we deal with aren’t so much.
I decided on the easier path, not the right one.
Thank you for finally calling me on it.”
“It was my pleasure.”
He smirks, looking younger, lighter. “This is mine.” He lashes out, smacking the back of his hand hard against my cock and balls, then runs out of the room like a kid, laughing hysterically. I bend at the waist, rest my hands on my thighs as I breathe through the pain and nausea. I deserved that.
I open the door to our suite, closing it quietly behind me.
Monty wraps himself around me, his hands resting on my chest, his cheek against my back.
He has always calmed me, just being near him.
I’m a fucking moron for not seeing it sooner, for not seeing us sooner.
I place my hands over his and voice what’s been plaguing me for hours.
“She isn’t built for this life, Monty. It’s unfair to tie her to us.
Violence is in our DNA. She’s been in three shootouts!
Three! She deserves a quiet life in suburbia, with a dog, and kids running around, no bodyguards necessary.
She is so sweet and I am terrified that we are going to sour her and turn her bitter with resentment.
She escaped this life once before; how can we drag her back into it? Put her in the line of fire!”
“Are you gonna break up with me?” Monty and I whip around, Sophia is standing in the doorway, tears on her cheeks, my shirt on her body. She looks like an angel, a gift I do not deserve.
“I thought you were sleeping.”
“I was, but you’re loud.” She steps into the room, her shoulders trembling, despite looking me in the eye.
“You didn’t bring me into it, my father did.
Dottie did. But I never, not for one second, thought I didn’t belong here.
I’m not strong…I’m not built like the others.
I’ll never be brave like Blanche, never shoot enemies as easily as breathing like Tovah.
Even Ruthie is deadly when needed. Maybe…
maybe I was fooling myself. Maybe I’m not the type of woman you want.
Need. The head of security for the Kosher Nostra deserves a strong, capable, BAB at his side… not the damsel in distress.”
“Baby, no.” Monty and I rush to her, wrapping her in our arms. “We love you, exactly as you are. You don’t need to be anything other than you.” I sigh against the top of her head, looking to Monty for help. He just stares back. It’s up to me to fix this. “I want to keep you safe.”
“Aren’t I safest with you?” Her voice is so small, almost childlike. I frown at Monty’s raised eyebrow.
“Yes. You are. But I can’t…what happened today just showed that sometimes it isn’t enough. It won’t matter what I do, how many contingency plans I have, how hard I train—”
“Yak.” She pushes us apart, grabs Monty’s hand, resting her other on my chest. “You could be an accountant, and I’d still be in danger.
My father was a bad man, he made a lot of enemies, and he lived a selfish life.
No matter where I go or who I’m with, I will always be a target.
I don’t know the whys or whos, but I know what happened today was not your fault.
I don’t need promises of keeping me safe, because it isn’t a promise that can be kept.
I just need to know that you love me. That I’m…
I’m enough for the two of you. You can’t control what happens out there, but you control what happens with us.
” She smiles cheekily, and Monty chuckles.
“I love you. I love you both so fucking much.” I run my hands over her head, down her back, grazing Monty’s abs.
“Can we snuggle on the couch?” she asks almost shyly. Like Monty and I would ever deny her anything. “I don’t want to go back to sleep. Today was…it was scary.”
I scoop her up and carry her around to the couch, dropping down with her in my lap. Monty grabs the remote and sits right next to me. Sophia shifts around until she’s draped over both of us. Wrapping the blanket from the couch around us, she snuggles in with a contented sigh.
Doesn’t want to go back to sleep, my ass. She’s out before Monty picks something to watch.