King (King of the Mafia #1)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Irina

I’m woken up to the feeling of something clamping down on my mouth.

With a gasp, my eyes open and I try to see what’s before me. In the dark, it’s hard to tell, but once my eyes focus, I realize that it’s my own father.

“Irina,” he whispers, removing his hand.

“What’s going on? Why did you do that to me?”

“Because you have to come with me right now and I can’t have you making a lot of noise.”

I frown as I push myself up into my bed. It’s decorated in soft pinks and whites. The color of innocence. I may be eighteen now but I still feel like a little girl sometimes. My dad never allowed me to date and I was always too afraid of him to try going against his wishes.

Because the truth is: my dad works for the Bratva, the Russian mafia. I’ve known if for years but it’s just something we’ve never spoken about. It’s something I’ve always been too afraid of.

I never wanted to risk dating and putting someone in a position to be hurt. I may not know everything the mafia does but I know it’s not pretty.

“What’s going on?” I whisper, my heart racing. There’s a panic in my dad’s eyes. The great Ivan Koslov. He’s always felt larger than life but right now, he looks… scared.

“Just come with me. No questions asked. Don’t make a sound.”

“Just tell me.”

“Irina,” he says in a hard tone I’m very familiar with. My dad is not someone who likes back talk.

“Yes, sir,” I whisper, dropping my eyes.

“Now, come with me.” He practically drags me out of the bed with how fast he tugs on my arm. I stumble to the ground and he gives me a hard look as if it was my fault when we both know it was his.

“Should I change?” I’m in nothing but a cotton t-shirt and shorts.

No bra. The indent of my nipples can be seen through the shirt.

My dad gives my body a disgusted sneer. He always hated that I slept without a bra on, calling it ‘indecent’ even though I’m smaller chested.

But I always refused to wear one to sleep.

My room is my one sanctuary and he can’t take that from me.

“There’s no time,” he hisses, tugging on my arm. “Come on.”

We tip toe out of my room. Why are we being so quiet?

Is there an intruder? My fear keeps me silent as we work our way through the house.

It’s a large, beautiful space in the suburbs of New York City.

I’ve grown up in my gilded cage with just me and my dad.

My mom died when I was a little girl from breast cancer.

Somehow, my dad blamed that on me too.

When we make it to the front foyer, I can’t help but wonder what’s truly going on. We haven’t encountered any intruders so why is my dad being this way?

“Come along.” He opens the front door.

“I should put my shoes on if we’re going somewhere. A jacket.” It’s fall time, so there’s a crisp to the air.

“There’s no time,” he hisses, motioning me to follow him.

“But Dad –,”

“Irina. Come along.” His tone speaks to no disagreements.

So with nothing else to do, I follow him out of the house with no shoes on and no jacket to protect me from the cold air.

When we get in the car, my confusion grows even more. “Dad, what is going on? Why did I have to do any of that? I don’t understand?”

But he doesn’t say a word as he drives me away from our house and into the city.

At this time of the night, even New York is somehow quiet.

Of course, there’s the sound of car horns honking but other than that, there’s a peace over the city.

But I know danger lurks in the shadows. My father told me stories of how girls get raped in alleyways if they don’t listen to their fathers so I always listened to him.

Yet tonight, all I see are the bright lights of the city as we drive through it. No danger. But it’s just a shiny veneer. There’s darkness and danger everywhere. I can feel it in my bones.

I glance at my dad. His hands are tight on the steering wheel and his chin is jutted forward. Something is going on but I just have no idea what.

We eventually reach a building. A small theater, in fact. There’s tons of them around the city. It looks rundown from the outside. It’s a theater that probably sits one hundred people at the most.

“What are we doing here?” I whisper, even though it’s just the two of us in this car. Something about all of this doesn’t feel right.

“I had to get you here without any questions. This needs to happen, Irina. You have to understand. It’s for your own benefit.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That fucker thought he could take you from me but I’m not going to give you over without getting anything in return. I’m getting my money’s worth with you.”

“What? Dad, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” All I know is that my heart is pounding faster and my hands are clammy. In my gut, I know this isn’t right even if I don’t understand how.

“Just come with me. It’s urgent.”

I glance at the theater. Something about it in the dark makes me want to say no to my dad. Maybe it’s the peeling paint on the walls or the old, eerie decorations out front that speaks to how the theater saw better days in its youth.

“Irina, don’t argue with me,” he says in his strict tone. It’s a tone of voice I’ve never been able to say no to. My dad has always had a way of getting into my head and making me feel one way.

“I am your father,” he continues. “You have to trust me.”

And true to my dad’s word, he has never hurt me before. He’s only ever been strict. But he has kept me safe – kept me from getting raped in dark alleyways. I have no reason not to trust him… so why is my gut screaming at me to not go into that theater?

But I have nowhere else to go. I can’t drive as my dad never let me get my license. I have no way of making it back home.

So all I can do is open the car door and step outside, even as I wince from the cold ground touching my bare feet.

“Come along,” he instructs, leading me into the theater. The door creeks as he pushes it open, which only makes things feel creepier.

At least the ground is covered in red carpet. Granted, it’s moldy and wet but it’s better than touching the ground with my bare feet.

A chandelier hangs overhead, lighting the space with an eerie glow. A man stands in the lobby, almost like he knew we were coming. But why in the world are we here?

“Is this her?” the man asks, glancing at me with a smirk I don’t like.

“Yes, this is her.”

“She’s skinner than I thought she’d be. And you told me that she was a blonde when she’s clearly a brunette.”

“You told me blondes make more money, so…”

The man huffs. “But she’s clearly a brunette. So it doesn’t matter what you told me. You should have died her hair then.”

“I couldn’t make her suspicious. I had to get her here.”

I frown, watching the whole conversation. It sounds more like code from how little I understand.

“Fine then,” the man says. He’s pretty average in looks. Average height. Average build. No discernable features. He’s the kind of man who blends into the background.

And yet, I’m not sure I’ll ever forget what he looks like. Not when my gut is screaming at me to get out of here.

“Dad, I want to go back home,” I say, turning towards the door but he grabs my arm and holds it so tightly, I wince from the pain. “Dad?”

“You’re not going back home, Irina. You’re going to follow this man into the theater.”

“But why would I do that? What’s going on?”

“You’re going to follow him because we need the money. I’ve gotten into some debts lately.”

“But we have money. Lots of it. We live in a large house.”

“And we’re at risk of losing it. I wasn’t going to marry you off to some asshole who wasn’t going to pay off my debts. This way, you’ll be married and my debts will be handled.”

One thing my dad says hits me. “I’ll be… married? To who? What is going on?”

“Just follow the man, Irina. Dexter will help you. I promise you. Just go with him.”

Dexter can’t even smile to make me feel better.

“No,” I say, shaking my head.

“Irina. No objections. You’ll be fine. Just go.”

I’ve never been one to disobey my father but in this moment, I take off running towards the door. But he only catches me and throws me to the ground. It knocks all the air out of my body.

“Go with him,” he snarls.

I’m not getting out of here, I realize. What has my father gotten me into?

Slowly, I push myself to my feet and stare at my dad for a long moment before I follow Dexter into the main theater. A curtain is drawn over the stage. But what I can see is multiple men seated in the small, intimate theater. They all look rich in their suits and expensive watches on their wrists.

None of them say a word to me as Dexter leads me down the aisle towards the stage. I don’t say a word myself. My tongue is stuck.

The stage is like ice on my feet as I walk up the stairs. We walk behind the curtain and that’s when I freeze at what I see.

Two other women are there. Kneeling on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs. A rag is in their mouths.

My first thought is why are they not running? But that’s when I see the men standing behind them… all with guns pointed right at their heads.

They’ll be killed if they run.

“What –,” I start to say when Dexter pushes me to my knees.

“You’ll be shot if you make a scene,” he says. “So don’t make a scene.” He quickly ties my hands behind my back and stuffs a rag in my mouth. Just like the other women.

He stands up and dusts his hands down his jacket. “There. That’s better. We can begin the auction now. Raise the curtain!”

The curtain is pulled up by someone I can’t see. How many people are working this operation?

When the curtain rises, I look out at the wealthy men in the seats. It’s an auction, I realize. An auction to buy… me?

Dad did say he was in debt. I’m the payment. That thought hits me so hard, I slump forward, feeling woozy. My dad is selling me off to the highest bidder to pay back his debts.

The daughter he kept safe. I thought it was all for me but now I’m learning that it was all for him. How he kept me sheltered. How he controlled my body. It wasn’t for my benefit.

“Get her up,” Dexter snaps. Someone grabs my arms and pulls me up so I have no choice but to look out at the sea of men’s faces.

One of these men is going to buy me.

Dexter stands behind a small podium and brings a gavel down onto it. The loud bang makes me and the other women jump.

“Let’s start the auction, shall we?”