Chapter 2 #2
In my room, I carefully seated myself on the edge of my bed, reaching for my phone, which I’d left charging on my pillow. I wanted to throw myself down, but if I reappeared downstairs with a hair out of place, my mother would have something to say about it.
“Hi.”
My heart stuttered, my hand flying to my chest as I gasped at the figure that had appeared out of nowhere. “Bloody hell, Alek, don’t do that to me! You know what I think of those nicknames you guys have, but yours really is fitting. You’re as silent and scary as a ghost.”
Aleksi flopped back on my bed with a grin. At least he didn’t have to worry about messing his hair up. The next second, though, he flew up, clutching at his side, swearing under his breath. I opened my mouth, but he waved me away.
“It’s nothing. Just twisted weirdly when I landed.
” Setting his jaw, he removed his hand from his side, dredging up a smile that was far less genuine than the previous one he’d given me.
“Sorry for the scare. But I didn’t come up with that Ghost nickname, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t group me with the self-professed ‘king’ and his sycophants. ”
I gritted my teeth at the reminder that while my brother was nice to me, he was an absolute asshole to…
well, a lot of other people. Aleksi promised me over and over that my brother had never physically hurt him, and if I found out he had, I would have stepped in straight away, forbidden friendship or not.
But words could cut like a knife and scarred just as deeply.
Words directed at my best friend, who I wasn’t even allowed to be friends with.
Shifting closer to him, I met his gaze. “Are you sure you’re okay? As for my brother, I’m sorry. I wish things were different. So badly.”
He gave me a sad smile. “I’m fine, and I know. But we can’t change our families.”
“Yeah.” It was so unfair, though. Aleksi was my best friend, and I had to keep it a secret because of our families. The daughter of a crime lord and the son of the uncorruptible mayor who would love nothing more than the downfall of the Thorpe Syndicate? It would never be allowed.
We’d become accidental friends when we’d been paired on an art project in year nine at school, and we’d discovered a shared interest in artists, and from there, a love of similar music.
Somehow, he’d become my best friend, and I loved him—in a completely platonic way.
One, he was gay, and two, even if he hadn’t been, I wasn’t attracted to him.
No, I had to be attracted to someone I hated.
Maybe I really was a masochist.
Jay’s face flashed through my mind, and I grimaced, redirecting my brain away from my first, stolen kiss. “Did you see the Sleep Token announcement this morning? You were right about the tour.”
“I already set a reminder to get tickets when they go on sale,” Aleksi said instantly, but his smile disappeared as he studied me. Pushing himself upright, he placed his hand on my arm. “Hey. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I— No.” The words came tumbling out. Alek had a way of getting me to spill my secrets without even trying. “I…I know I wasn’t supposed to take part in the chase tonight, but I wanted to prove myself.”
His green eyes widened. “You were there?”
“Yes…” I stared at him. “Were you?” It was unexpected, but not at the same time. Alek wasn’t under the same social constraints as the rest of us, and if he decided he wanted to do something, I had no doubt he’d just go ahead and do it.
“Uh.” He scrubbed his hand through his tousled chestnut hair, messing it up even further. “I was around. Incognito.”
I smiled. “This is why you’re my best friend. Our brains work the same. I was incognito too. Did anyone catch you?”
“What makes you think I was the one being chased?” Squeezing my arm gently, he continued. “But we’re not talking about me. What happened?”
Burying my face in my hands, I groaned. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Nova.”
“Ugh. Fine. Jay caught me.”
There was a long silence, and when I lowered my hands, I found Aleksi staring at me with his mouth open. He blinked a few times and then cleared his throat. “Jayesh Attwood? That Jay?”
“Do you know another Jay?”
“Uh, no. Not personally. Fuck. So, what happened?”
“He…he kissed me,” I whispered.
“Fuck,” Aleksi breathed. “Oh, fuck. That was—”
“My first kiss. Yes. A kiss I didn’t even want. Jay’s—”
Shifting closer, Aleksi slid his arm around my waist. “You didn’t want it? If he forced you into anything, Nov…”
I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder.
“The truth is, I didn’t want to want it.
I can’t want it. He’s—well, you know how he antagonises me.
How much he clearly hates me. He’s a dickhead who lives to make my life hell, and anyway, the whole thing is irrelevant because I’m getting engaged to Anton Volkov. ”
“It’s so fucked up that you have to do that. You’re not in the mafia.” His fist thumped on the mattress. “I hate that you have no choice.”
“I know. But we need this deal, and when the two families are merged, we’ll control a huge swathe of territory.
And there’s the fact that the Volkov Syndicate is affiliated with the Kozenki Bratva.
It’ll strengthen our position, and we need that badly.
You know there are people gunning for us. Your dad, for one.”
“Yeah.” He exhaled heavily. “It doesn’t mean I like it. Fuck, Nov, I wish I wasn’t going to Alstone College in September. Who’s gonna look out for you?”
“I can handle myself. Promise. My brother will look out for me too. You know he will. And we’re still going to keep in touch all the time.”
A reluctant smile tugged at his lips. Climbing to his feet, he crossed the room to my desk, picking up my sketchbook. “I know you can handle yourself. It’s just so fucking unfair. You should be free to choose who you want to be with.”
I watched him carefully turning the pages, his finger pausing to trace over some of my drawings. Swallowing around the sudden lump in my throat, I nodded. “I know. But it might not be for forever.”
Aleksi’s mouth twisted. Gently placing my sketchbook down, he leaned back against my desk, shoving his hands into his pockets. His gaze dropped to the floor. “What does your brother think about all of this? Is he expected to marry too?”
“Um…” I thought back to the moments after we’d been called into my father’s study for a “meeting” and he’d laid out the terms of his upcoming trade deal.
“You will do this, Nova. This is a deal we’ve been working towards for years, and you are well aware the Kozenki Bratva does not usually allow outsiders close to their inner circle.
This is the only way they will agree to go ahead.
A binding marriage contract and an heir with both Thorpe and Volkov blood. ”
I stared at the hard lines of my father’s face, despair coursing through my body. “Please. There has to be another way.”
“There is not. If you try to go against it, Nova, you will not like the consequences.” His gaze flicked to my twin’s, and his voice dropped, low and threatening. “Either of you. Or your little friends, for that matter. Remember who has the true power here.”
Ryker’s fists clenched at his sides. “This isn’t fair. Can’t I—”
“No,” my dad roared, all semblance of calm disappearing. “Don’t you dare fucking question me again, boy. I have power you can’t even comprehend, and I will do whatever it takes to see this deal through.”
“Power that will be mine when I inherit the syndicate,” he shot back.
I gasped as my dad indicated with his finger, and Tommy, one of my dad’s thugs, smashed his fist straight into my brother’s stomach.
Ryker doubled over with the force of the blow, and without a second thought, I lunged for Tommy, lashing out with my hand and scraping my nails down the side of his face.
The next moment, a searing pain bloomed in my cheek, and my arm was twisted behind my back.
The arm holding me was gentle, the movement designed to keep me immobile, not hurt me, but that stinging slap had been designed to hurt.
Tears sprang to my eyes as I stared at my mother, her hand still lifted and her palm red from the force of the blow.
“Nov. Not now.” Ryker panted breathlessly into my ear, his grip on my wrist loosening. I nodded shakily, and he released me.
“Darling. Apologise to Thomas,” my mother said stiffly.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. How had everything managed to go so wrong, so quickly?
As soon as we were alone, my twin turned to me, his voice low and fierce. “I’m going to get you out of this, Nova. However I can.”
I wiped at my eyes with shaking hands. “We both know it’s not worth it.
It would be suicide to try and sabotage this agreement.
And it wouldn’t just be our family who was affected.
You know the connections the Volkov Syndicate has.
You know how powerful the Kozenki Bratva is.
There’s no way we could go up against them and win. ”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. He knew I was right.
When our father took control of the syndicate from our grandfather, one of his aims was to expand its reach farther south and east, bringing in more opportunities and strengthening its position.
The Volkov Syndicate controlled a portion of that territory that our father wanted to get his hands on, and so, over the course of several years, he bribed and blackmailed and intimidated his way into the Volkov network.
He discovered they had been looking for access to less-patrolled ports for their cargo ships, and the Thorpes just so happened to control a particular port in Gloucestershire with access to the sea and handpicked security who didn’t ask questions.
That was where I came in. A mutually beneficial agreement would strengthen both crime firms, and I was the shiny jewel offered up as a bargaining tool.
Marriage was a sacred bond in our world, and family came first, so my betrothal to Anton Volkov, son of the Pakhan of the Volkov Syndicate, was a show of trust between two groups still wary of one another.
The Volkov Syndicate was also a subdivision of sorts of the notorious Kozenki Bratva, who controlled a huge crime network stretching across Europe.
In my father’s eyes, this was one of the most important deals he’d ever brokered, and to even think I had a chance of getting out of it…
“Fuck,” Ryker ground out. “This should be me. Listen. We may not be able to stop the marriage from going ahead, but I’ll do what I can to get the contract adjusted to give you an out, okay? I don’t care what it takes.”
Placing my hand on his arm and lightly squeezing—because my brother was touch-averse and didn’t tolerate hugs most of the time, not even from me—I met his gaze. “Don’t do anything stupid. Please.”
“I won’t. But I will do everything in my power to make this a better deal for you. You have my word.”
“Ryker doesn’t like it any more than I do,” I said.
“But he tried so hard to make things better for me, and somehow, he managed to persuade my dad and the Volkovs to amend the contract. Not much, but enough to give me a promise of something in the future. I have to remain married until I provide Anton with an heir, but after that…divorce is a potential option. It’s a choice with so many strings attached, but it’s better than the alternative.
Being trapped in a loveless marriage for the rest of my life?
You know how my world treats women. The Kozenki Bratva is even worse. It would kill me.”
Aleksi shook his head. “No one deserves that. You, especially. You deserve to be with someone who loves you.”
“Maybe one day I will,” I whispered. “As for Ryker… He’ll be expected to marry someone suitable, I’m sure, who’ll give us a business advantage, but he doesn’t have to worry about any of that yet. My father is far more interested in training him up so he can take over the syndicate one day.”
“Good luck to whoever gets stuck with him,” Alek mumbled under his breath.
I sighed. “Good luck to us all.”