7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Nikolai
Iam furious.
“Why did you bring her here?” I scold Boris, who hangs his head in shame.
The sounds of the man Lev is torturing can be heard even from up here.
The man in question is some fucker who tried to steal from me and needed to be punished for it.
Torture was the only way to get him to reveal where he hid the money.
I don’t appreciate when people steal from me.
I chose Boris as a driver for Lana because he’s trustworthy. Does his job. Is a fairly good man – as good of a man as a mafia man can be. I knew he wouldn’t cause any problems for my wife.
But I didn’t realize he’d be such a fucking pushover to bring Lana here. She saw everything. My true dark side. It was something I was trying to keep from her. For her own sake.
“I’m sorry, boss,” Boris says. “She was convincing. She really wanted to know where you were. I didn’t think Dimitri would let her in.”
I turn to my guard. “And you. Why did you let her inside the house?”
“I was trying not to,” Dimitri says. “But I didn’t know she was your wife and when I tried to stop her, she told me who she was. I didn’t want to get in trouble by hurting her.”
“So you let her go down into that basement?” And watch me and Lev torture a man.
Dimitri winces. “Yes. I am sorry. There’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have done it.”
“No,” I huff. “You shouldn’t have. Now I have a wife I need to console.”
At that very moment, I hear a car out front turn on and squeal away. Running outside, I watch as Lana drives away in Boris’s car. The fear on her expression is obvious.
“Fuck,” I growl, running my hand down her face.
“I need to go after her.” I quickly return to the basement to find the fucker’s penis in Lev’s hand.
Completely cut off. The stump where his penis once was is now bleeding profusely.
“He’s going to die. The point was to find out where he’s hiding the money. ”
“Sorry,” Lev says, not sounding sorry at all as he drops the fucker’s penis to the ground. The screams of the fucker are slowly dying as he bleeds out.
I sigh. “Clean up this fucking mess and you better find out where he hid that money.”
“Are you angry with me? I was just doing my job.”
Sometimes Lev is too impulsive. Too… selfish. But he’s been by my side for years so I trust him and trust is hard to find in the mafia.
“Yes, I’m angry,” I snap. “You cut off his fucking penis when we needed him alive longer. Now he’s dead.” I nod at the fucker. No more life left in his eyes. “Find me that money, Lev. And clean up his body.”
“Where are you going?” Lev asks as I turn to the door.
“To handle my wife.”
“Your wife?” Lev scoffs. “What was she even doing down here? This wasn’t for her.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I snap again. “Lana shouldn’t have seen any of this.”
“That girl should know her place.”
Lev’s words make the hair on my neck stand up. “Don’t speak about my wife like that.”
“But you just said –,”
“I know what I said. Lana shouldn’t have been here. But you don’t get to speak about my wife the way you did. Lana’s place is as my wife and you’ll show her respect.”
From the first moment I saw her, I knew I had to have her. I want nothing more than to worship her. To push her to be better. To help her become the woman I know she can become.
But none of that can happen if she’s fucking terrified of me because she saw me torturing a man.
Lev snaps his lips shut but his eyes narrow. “Fine. I didn’t realize.”
“You didn’t realize I would care about my wife?”
“I just don’t think you should have ever married her. That’s all. She’s getting in the way.”
I frown. “How is she getting in the way?”
Lev jams his knife into the dead man’s neck. “It’s nothing. I didn’t mean it.”
I stare at Lev for a long moment before I nod.
“Respect my wife, Lev. I mean it.” I knew when I told Lev the first time I wanted to marry Lana that he wasn’t on board.
He thought that a wife would distract me from my job.
I told him to mind his own fucking manners and to not worry about my life.
Things have been slightly tense between us ever since.
I leave Lev to clean up the mess and hurry to my car. I have to assume Lana returned to my home.
I relax slightly when I see Boris’s car in the driveway. “Lana?” I say, entering the house. No response. I check the living room and then the kitchen. I stop in the kitchen when I see… blood.
A lot of blood.
And Lana on the floor. Blood seeping from her wrist. A knife is beside her. A bloody one.
She cut her wrist.
“Lana.” I rush to her side and her eyes flutter as she looks up at me, telling me she’s still alive. “Why did you do this? You did this to yourself, yes?”
She nods. “I’m so… cold.”
“Fuck.” I quickly grab a dish towel from a drawer and press it to her wrist. The white cloth instantly turns red. I call my private doctor. “Get here. Now.” I know my doctor will arrive within minutes. He lives close by.
“Lana, stay with me,” I murmur, pressing the cloth harder into her wrist in the hopes of stopping her blood. “Tell me. Why did you do this?”
“Cold.”
“I get that you’re cold. It’s wintertime and you’re bleeding. Of course you’re cold. But why did you do this? Lana?”
“Cold,” she whispers before her eyes flutter closed.
Fuck. Never have I felt my chest squeeze from this much panic before. Never in my life did I imagine Lana would hurt herself. Try to kill herself.
I pull her into my arms and press the cloth into her wrist with all my might. I will keep her alive until my doctor can get here.
The doorbell rings after just a few minutes. I hate having to let Lana go but I must.
“She’s in the kitchen,” I tell my doctor after I open the door. Dr. Ivanov. He’s been working for me for years. There’s no one I would trust more to save my life. Or in this case, my wife’s.
Ivanov has a slim build and beady eyes. He looks more like a bug than a human sometimes. But he knows what he’s doing and he’s damn good at it.
He kneels beside Lana and checks her pulse. “Still alive.” He sets his bag down and pulls out a needle and thread. “I can stitch up the wound to stop the bleeding for now but she’ll need a blood transfer. I have O positive at my house.”
“Just help her.”
Ivanov glances at me with curiosity. The desperation in my voice is obvious. I care for Lana. I wouldn’t have married her otherwise. Most of my men have never seen this side to me and I prefer it like that. Hell, not even Lana has really seen this side to me.
He stitches up her wound and she doesn’t even wake up for it. Doesn’t cry out in pain. That’s how far gone she is. The moment Ivanov finishes with the stitches, he stands up.
“Pick her up. Bring her to my home.”
I don’t hesitate to do what Ivanov says. His house is just minutes from here. I hold Lana in my arms in the back seat of Ivanov’s car as he drives. “Stay with me,” I say to her. She still doesn’t open her eyes.
We get to Ivanov’s house – a mansion like mine. I pay him very well.
Ivanov tells me to bring Lana to his examination room. I set Lana on the bed and Ivanov quickly gets to work, placing an IV in her arm and transferring the O positive blood. He places an oxygen mask over her nose.
“Will she be fine?” I ask.
“Once she gets enough blood in her, she should be.” He rummages around in a cabinet and pulls out a bottle of antibiotics. “She’ll need to take these to help with any infection the wound might cause.”
I stare down at Lana’s small body. So lithe and lean. A dancer’s body. Her wrist is red and raw from the stitches. “Can you cover those up?”
Ivanov nods and wraps gauze around her wrist. “I need to monitor her. You should give me some space.”
“No,” I spit out. “I’m not going anywhere.” Not when my wife’s life is on the line.
“I haven’t seen you like this before, Nikolai.”
The men who work for me usually call me boss or Mr. Smirnoff. Ivanov is one of the only people to call me by my first name. Well, him and Lana.
“Like what?” I snap. “Be careful what you’re going to say, doctor.”
He smiles softly. “You care for her, don’t you?”
“She’s my wife. Of course I do.”
“Some of your men might see that as a weakness. I haven’t known many Bratva men who care for their wives.”
“That’s because they’re all miserable. And I chose Lana for myself.”
“That puts her in danger, Nikolai. People might use her against you.”
Lev’s words come back to me. She should know her place.
“Did I ask you for advice, doctor? I asked you to save her life.”
“You did.” He shifts around on the stool, keeping his eyes on Lana. “But as an old friend, I was just saying. Do you know what happened? How she was cut.”
“She did it herself.”
His eyebrows raise. I hate the silent judgement there. “Has she been depressed?”
“No. My wife is not depressed.”
“Most people don’t cut their wrists for no reason, Nikolai.”
Shame fills me. People will find out about this. Somehow, word always spreads in the mafia. I will never say anything. The last thing I want is people finding out my wife is miserable enough to end her own life. But Lana could say something. Her wrist is proof of what she tried to do to herself.
“What should I do then?” I ask, hating how weak I sound. Asking for advice is not something I do regularly.
“Once she’s better, talk with her. Get to the bottom of why she did what she did. Help her.” He hesitates. “Though, I imagine being in this world will make it hard to help her.”
“You mean the mafia,” I say flatly.
“Yes.”
“You’re a mafia doctor. I don’t think you get to judge.”
“I am not judging. I am merely saying. This world is a tough one. I should know. I’ve seen you hurt many times. Stitched you up countless times. Helped a lot of your other men. I know the dangers in this world. Does she?”
“I was trying to keep her from those dangers.”
Ivanov nods, while checking Lana’s pulse. “It’s getting stronger. You can’t keep her from these dangers forever. Not in the mafia.”
“I will try. She is my wife. She deserves everything in this world. Money. Success. Status.”
“A good husband?”
I look away.