10. Chapter Ten #2
“Are you all right?” I ask. “What happened tonight?” I push my nightgown back down. This conversation doesn’t seem right with my lower body exposed.
“Nico,” he growls. “He tried stealing another one of my shipments. I have a mole in my midst.”
“Nico? Who’s that?”
“Nico Bernardi. Head of the Italian mafia.”
I shiver. I do recognize the name now that he’s said it. “I remember my dad mentioning him before but I knew to never ask. He never liked to give me much information about that side of his life.”
“He wanted to keep you safe.”
“I know you want to keep me safe too but I’m not a little girl anymore, Mikhail. I’m your wife. I should know what’s going on with you. You came back home, covered in blood. What happened exactly?”
“I had to stop some of Nico’s men from stealing my gun shipment. I caught one of them and he told me about the mole. I…”
I sneak a glance at him. “You tortured him?”
“I did.”
My mind goes back to when he shot Jackson like it was nothing. “You killed a man right before me.”
Finally, he looks at me. “And?”
“My mom told me you’re dangerous. That you take delight in killing. Is that true?”
He stares at me for a long moment before he answers. “It’s true. I do enjoy hurting those that have wronged me.”
“But Jackson was helping you.”
“He failed. I can’t have men who have failed me either. I run a tight ship. I make sure al my men are loyal to me and if they’re not… well, they know the consequences. I have to find this mole and kill him so no one else gets any bright ideas about it.”
“So you don’t kill just for the fun of it?”
“No,” he says in a softer voice. “I don’t kill just for the fun of it. I only kill when I have to. When I have to make a point. When I have to get my men in line.”
“You’re a dictator. Is that it?”
“In the Bratva, you have to be. There’s no room for men who act out. They know who they follow and it’s me. If they’re not happy, they can follow someone else. But they know I’ll find them and end their lives.”
I shiver. Mikhail speaks about death in such a matter-of-fact way.
“Am I scaring you?” he asks.
“A little,” I admit. “I think there’s a reason my dad kept this all from me. It wasn’t just to protect me. It was also so I never saw him differently. He only ever wanted me to see him as my father.”
“Do you see me differently now?”
“Yes. How can I not?”
“Are you afraid of my touch now?” He rests his hand over my stomach. My body can’t help but respond to his touch.
“No. I’m not afraid you’ll hurt me. I’m not afraid you’ll kill me. But…”
“But what?”
“But what does it say about me that I can still feel this way for you after what you just told me?”
His eyes soften. “It means that we were meant to be together.”
“You forced me into this marriage.”
“No. I gave you a choice.”
“But it was a choice made out of stress. A choice made when I didn’t have many other options. Was it a choice at all?”
“You could have married Antoni and been your uncle’s little pet and watched him destroy your family.
But instead, you married me. I will take Denis down.
It will just take a while. It’s not as easy as you’d think.
I could go in guns a ‘blazing but that would land me right in jail. I need to end Denis’s life without it coming back to me.
Just like I need to end Nico’s life without it coming back on me. ”
“Can we really get my sisters back?” I whisper.
“Do you think I’m not capable?”
“I think you’re capable of a lot of things but… answer me honestly. Do you think we can get them back?”
“Your uncle will have a tight hold over them. It will take time but it’s not impossible.”
“What if he marries them off in the meantime? They’ll belong to someone else then.”
He sighs, running his hand over my stomach. “I know I failed you, Natalya, and I’m sorry for that. I don’t say sorry often, just so you should know.”
Slowly, I place my hand over his. “Keep me informed on what you’re doing. If you have to sneak out in the middle of the night to deal with business, let me know.”
“My job is to take your worry away. I don’t want to add to it.”
“And if I wake up and realize you’re gone? And you never come home? What then? What will I do then? I would never know what happened to you. I don’t want to be kept in the dark the rest of my life. I need to know these things.”
“This goes against everything I wanted for you. I wanted to keep you in ignorant bliss.”
“You can’t anymore. Not when you come home covered in blood. You tortured a man tonight. Did he deserve it?”
“He was working for Nico,” he says dismissively.
“Mikhail. Did he deserve it?”
“You can’t think that way in my life, baby.
Then you’ll start doubting every decision you have to make.
I have to do hard things to keep the things I’ve worked hard for.
Did I have to punch and kick him until he died?
No. I could have shot him and been done with it.
But sometimes I need this release. I need to let my anger out and I never want to let it out on you. ”
I shiver. “I don’t want that either.”
“I will do the things I have to do. And if you want to know, then fine, I’ll tell you. But you have to accept all these parts of me. I don’t want you fearing me. Can you do that?”
“I can try,” I answer honestly. “I grew up knowing my father did things not everyone’s father did.
I knew he did bad things. I’m not fully na?ve to this world, Mikhail.
My dad died because of this world. My sisters are being kept prisoner by my uncle because of this world.
If you ever get the chance to kill Denis, then I won’t judge you for it.
I’ll cheer you on because I want my sisters safe and I will be willing to do what I have to, to make that happen. ”
He cups my face and stares deeply into my eyes for a long time that I end up blushing. It astounds me that I can still blush after everything we’ve done together.
“You were made for me,” he says right before he kisses me. I sink right into it because what else can I do?
Mikhail
I need allies outside of the Bratva if I’m going to take Nico down. The fact that he has able to turn one of my men has me worried. I can’t stand for that.
The Bratva has always been at war with the Italians. It’s nothing new. But we’ve also been at war with the Irish. The Irish have also been at war with the Italians.
And right now, I’m hoping that the Irish hate the Italians a little bit more than they hate the Bratva.
I enter the dive bar that’s own by the Irish mobster, Cillian Kennedy. He’s the current head of the mob and an upstart, always looking to gain more power. I can offer him more power.
I’m overdressed in a place like this in my day suit. The men in this bar are dressed in dirty, ratty jeans and smelly t-shirts. The Irish mob doesn’t have the same dress standards that I have for myself.
“What are you doing here?” the bartender asks. One look at me and it’s clear I don’t belong in a place like this.
“Where is Cillian Kennedy?”
“Who?”
I sigh and give the man a pointed look. “Cillian Kenndey. Head of the Irish mob.”
“I don’t deal in that kind of shit around here.”
“Tell him Mikhail Novikoff is here to see him and I want to talk. Business opportunities.”
The bartender’s eyes widen when he hears my name. “Listen, bud, why don’t you just go?”
“You know my name. You recognized it. I’m not here to gun this place down. I’m here to talk business with your boss. Tell me where he is? I know he frequents this place. Is he here right now?”
When the bartender still doesn’t give me an answer, I pull out a hundred dollar bill and slide it across the bar. “Tell me where he is. I’m not going to shoot him. I swear.”
“That’s an easy promise to make and an easy one to break.”
“What is going on here?” a new man asks.
Looking over my shoulder, I see that Cillian has come from a back office and is glaring right at me. Not a good way to start this but it will have to do.
“I’m trying to get him to leave, boss,” the bartender says, even though he grabs the hundred dollar bill and stashes it away.
“I’m here to talk to you,” I say to Cillian. He has two men behind him. Both with guns. “I’m not here to fight. I put myself at risk coming here.”
Cillian eyes me over before he nods for me to follow him. We settle into his back office.
“What do you want?” he asks. His two men join us, shutting the door behind me, enclosing me in. If they wanted to, they could kill me.
I pull out my gun and they all tense before I put it on the desk. “I’m not here to fight. I’m here to discuss a business proposition with you.”
He scoffs. “I don’t work with Russian scum like you.”
“And normally, I would never work with Irish crude like you. But I think we have a common enemy. Nico Bernardi.”
Cillian’s eyes light up and he can’t hide it. “What about him?”
“He’s been going after your drug shipments. That’s what I’ve heard.”
“You’ve heard right.”
“Well, Nico has been going after my gun shipments. I say we work together. We’d be a powerful force. We could take him down.”
He wipes his hand across his nose. It’s a little white. Cillian must sample his merchandise before he sells it. “I heard that you tried to make a deal with him and he turned you down.”
“He did. I won’t deny it. I’m a man who will strive for peace first. But if you don’t want peace with me, then you’ve made an enemy of me. And Nico has made an enemy of me. So let’s work together.”
“How do you propose we do that?”
“We would have double the men. Double the efforts to protect our merchandise. We could catch Nico and kill him. Or throw him into jail. Whichever you prefer.”
Cillian chuckles as he lights up a cigarette. “I know you, Mikhail. You’re a man who likes to kill. You won’t be satisfied if Nico is in jail.”
I wink. “I thought I would offer it to you, just in case.”
“You really want to work together, huh?”
“I really do. And once we deal with Nico, you could help me with another problem. Denis Petrov. He needs to go.”
“He’s one of your own, isn’t he?”
“Just because we’re all Bratva doesn’t mean we all work together. And if there’s anyone you need help in getting rid of, I can help you there. We’ll help each other.”
This goes against everything I believe in. The Mikhail of just a few months ago would have shoved a hot poker in his eye for even thinking of working with the Irish.
But I’m a married man now and I have to think of Natalya’s safety. If Nico were to kill me, then that would put her at risk. Denis could take her back and marry her to whoever he chose.
“You really think we can help each other?” Cillian asks.
“I really do.”
He thinks on it for a moment before he extends his hand. “Then you have yourself a deal.”