Chapter 44
SERAFINA
“What do you mean ‘a problem?’” My brother’s voice, a near-yell, comes through the laptop’s speakers. Behind him, Nero is leaning to be in view, his frown apparent and seemingly sober, nothing like the Nero I’m used to.
“During intermission, when I was leaving the bathroom, someone grabbed me. It was Alessio. He’s in Russia.”
The room breaks out into a stream of curses. Vanessa immediately grabs her phone. Anastasia swears a few times. Zeno starts spewing all sorts of things in Italian. And Lev…he’s the only silent one in the room, though his heavy stare is everything but.
While the rest work on calming themselves, I risk a peek his way, instantly regretting it. He’s no longer a man, instead death personified. No longer my date, but a person betrayed.
I turn back around to face the others. “He dragged me into a storage closet and started spewing all sorts of stuff about the contract, how it must be upheld, his reasonings for why he tried to…to ra—do that.”
My pause is swallowed up by Anastasia’s snort. “A man who rationalizes rape doesn’t deserve to keep his balls. Or his dick. Van, please let me at him.”
“I agree!” Nero’s yell comes through the laptop.
Zeno casts his friend a dark look before demanding, “Then what happened?”
“He admitted to killing his father. He believes he needs a wife on his arm to give him heirs and wants that to be me. He’s trying to prove something by upholding the contract.”
“It’s not happening, Sera, no matter what Vitale says.”
I don’t look towards my right, towards the man who’s quickly becoming my everything while admitting the next part. I’ll never have my ‘everything’ because accepting a deal with il diavolo will make me nothing by the time the marriage certificate is signed.
“He said within the week, he’ll propose the union. And…I agreed to accept.”
Silence. Deadly fucking silence.
Anastasia coughs, leaning forward to drop her elbows on her knees. “Did I hear you correctly?”
I scan the room, looking at everyone. Everyone, that is, except one person.
“I have to. He threatened everyone I care about. All of you, Madre.” I glance to my right, letting the impact of his intensity wash over me with an influence that begs me to stop but empowers me to finish.
“Everyone,” I murmur, my single word meant to say something different: You.
Lev’s eyes narrow a fraction, telling me he understands the message. His jaw clicks, and he straightens against the wall.
“He had someone there,” I continue, not moving away from him.
“Someone standing beside you. He threatened to kill you, right then and there, and I wouldn’t have been—” My voice cuts out, a choked sob taking over.
It takes three swallows before I manage, “Wouldn’t have been able to save you. You wouldn’t have seen it coming.”
“For fuck’s sake, you didn’t tell me?” Another man would have yelled it, but Lev’s low tone reverberates through my nerves.
Inhaling sharply, I turn to Vanessa. “He’s claiming to have people inside the Bratva. It’s how he knew I’m in the city.”
Her sharp gaze flicks between Anastasia and Lev, the message clear before she picks up her phone, rapidly texting someone and muttering what I guess are a stream of curses.
It’s Lev who talks, his tone sending a shiver down my spine. “I’ll re-vet every single soldier and staff we have. The rat will pay. I won’t stop until they’re found.”
His eyes turn flinty, his body already shifting, as if to go do that now. For once, the Bratva Elite is out to play. Not the one who prefers computers, but the one who wields guns.
Death out to extract revenge.
“I don’t care if he’s threatening us.” Zeno’s voice rises from the computer. “You are not marrying him.”
I stand from the chair to pace closer, dropping my palms onto Vanessa’s desk as I lower my head. “I will. Everything you’ve tried hasn’t worked. He refuses to end the contract, so I’ll follow it. Marriage to him will satisfy the deal.”
“And what? You think he’ll agree to a divorce afterwards?” Zeno sneers. “You’re delusional.”
“All you’ve ever done is protect me, Z. This is my job. If I don’t, he’ll start a war.”
Vanessa snorts, her head still buried in her phone. “He can try, but with support from the Bratva, Vitale won’t have a damn shot.”
“Who knows how many other deals he’s struck,” I point out. “We don’t know what he’s capable of.”
There’s a beat of silence from everyone, my brother included. Vanessa slowly lifts her head until she’s looking at me, but it’s Anastasia’s quiet mutter that comes first. “She might be right.”
“Of course, I am. We’re kidding ourselves by assuming that ignoring this will make him go away. So, we’ll need to make him go away. I’ll marry him, and then on our wedding night, I’ll kill him.”
Zeno lets out a stream of Italian that turns into a bunch of curses, with Nero talking over him.
I look at Lev, scared at what I’ll find in his expression.
Impassive. Cold. But there’s a hard emotion there. Agony. And the slight tick of his head as he orders me no.
“You think you’re going to kill Vitale?” My brother’s harsh voice pulls my attention back. “Sera, he will slaughter you before you get the chance. I love you, so no offence, but he’s a trained mobster. You’re…not.”
“Maybe that’s the problem. You protected me so well from this world, you never counted on it catching up to me.”
Zeno rears back from the camera, rubbing his face.
“Are you even listening to yourself? I refuse to let you do this fucking insane, stupid, idiotic, moronic, foolish…every fuckin’ word that indicates how bad of an idea this is.
You are no soldier. You’re a girl. The moment you lift a hand towards him, he will strike.
He will kill you, and I refuse to lose you to your own stupid bravery. ”
“It’s the only way. Besides, I don’t need permission.”
Nero bends, putting himself into the camera’s view. “We can try assassination. There’s no other male Vitale, so they can’t possibly come up with new ways to fulfill the contract.”
“I volunteer,” Anastasia chimes. “It’s my speciality, after all.”
“He’s been watching us all. He’ll know who you are,” I remind her. “Besides, his assassination will still start a war.”
Zeno’s brow lifts. “And when you kill your own husband, what do you think happens?”
I didn’t think about that. My planning only went so far. “I’m on the inside,” I offer as a weak suggestion, lifting off my palms. “It was self-defence.”
“His family is old-fashioned. They won’t view a wife needing self-defence against the man who, by all rights, owns you.”
“Let her.” Vanessa’s clear voice raises above all the others. She’s been silent most of it, letting my brother and me battle it out.
“Vanes—”
“No.” She twists the laptop to put herself in Zeno’s view. “You once believed the Volkov bloodline was evil, right? Because of my papa?”
A moment of silence before Zeno reluctantly replies, “Sì.”
“Am I evil?”
“You’re different.”
“I once told you the Volkov name brings a lot of pain, and while that’s true, it’s not the case for everyone. Myself, Dimitri, we’re the exceptions. And…Serafina is as well. Like it or not, she’s like me. She’s strong, Zeno. If we prepare her right, she can pull this off.”
“You’re all fucking insane! No!”
“It’s not really your choice, Z.” I turn the laptop again. “When he demands we fulfill the contract, I’ll do it. I want him dead and gone, and he wants me. So, we’ll play into his hand.”
We get into that stare down only siblings could perfect before he concedes with a long groan and another rub of his face. And another. His hair, his neck, his eyes. His fingers pinch his nose before he groans again and utters, “I can’t believe the word that’s coming out of my mouth, but…fine.”
Feeling like a winner in a losing situation, I back away from the desk, turning towards the inevitable presence hanging heavy behind me.
“Nyet.”
His single word gains everyone’s attention, but Lev’s gaze is entirely on me as he shoves off the wall, his steps heavy, eyes fixated in a way that has the rest of the room melting away.
He stops a mere breath away, bending until our faces are lined up, and on instinct, I lean slightly backwards. He’s never been like this around me. This…cold. Although I’m certain he won’t harm me, I’m not sure of anything else.
“You will not marry him. Over my dead fuckin’ body. I haven’t been protecting your ass this entire time so you can offer it up as bait at the first chance.”
Then, he stalks out of the room, taking all the oxygen with him.
When the door slams shut, two pairs of eyes shift to me, and my cheeks immediately warm.
Thankfully, Anastasia leaps to her feet and, with a quick brush of my arm on her way by, she murmurs, “I’ll go after him.”
Under Vanessa’s intense gaze, I back away too—slowly at first, trying to come up with a valid excuse, and then turning into a full-blown run.