14. Maksim
Maksim
I watch the operations from my usual spot on the second floor of Obsidian, overlooking the main floor. The club is packed tonight. It’s busy every night. I watch the bodies moving under strobing lights, and the music pounds so loud that I feel it in my chest. It’s just another night.
Except now, I’m married.
The ring on my finger feels strange. Heavy. I keep catching myself staring at it and twisting it around and around my finger.
“Congratulations, boss.” Sampson appears at my elbow with a bottle of vodka and two glasses. “Heard the news.”
“Word travels fast.”
“You wanted it to.” He pours us both a drink. “To Mrs. Sokolova.”
I take the glass and knock it back. The vodka burns going down, but it doesn’t touch the knot in my stomach. I haven’t heard from my brothers, but I know the lectures are coming.
More of my people come by over the next hour. Guards. Managers. Even a few of the women working the floor. They all offer congratulations. Some seem genuinely happy for me. Others look confused; they know this isn’t my style. I don’t do relationships or commitment.
I’m certainly not the marrying type.
“Maksim.” Cinder’s voice cuts through the noise. She’s standing at the top of the stairs with her arms crossed, her expression cold enough to freeze hell.
“Cinder.”
“We need to talk.”
I follow her to my private office in the back. She slams the door.
“You’re pissed.”
“You think?” She rounds on me. “You actually married her.”
“It had to be done.”
She laughs. “Maksim, you just painted the biggest target on her back. On all our backs. You think marrying her makes her safer? It makes her a prize. A trophy. Something Arlind will kill to take from you, just to prove he can.”
“She has my name now. My protection.”
“Your name means nothing if she’s dead!” Cinder’s voice rises. “And what about the rest of us? The women who work for you? We’re all at risk now because you couldn’t keep your dick in your pants.”
“This isn’t about sex.”
“Then what is it about? From where I’m standing, you just started a war over a girl you barely know. She’s young. Naive. She’ll leave you the first chance she gets.”
“I’m protecting her.”
“You didn’t save anyone.” Cinder steps closer, her eyes blazing. She’s honoring her name with that fiery personality. “You made everything worse. Arlind won’t stop now. He’ll come at you with everything he has. When he does, it won’t just be Lila who dies. It’ll be all of us.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
“You can’t promise that.” Her voice cracks. “Mara is dead, Maksim. She’s dead because you pulled Lila out of the club that night. How many more of us have to die before you realize this isn’t worth it?”
I have no answer.
But I can’t undo it now. I’m counting on my name to shield all of us.
“Get out,” I say quietly.
Her eyes widen, and her nostrils flare, and then she turns and leaves, slamming the door behind her.
I finally leave the club well past three in the morning. Only the night guards are awake, patrolling the grounds.
I should go to my room and get some sleep. Instead, I find myself walking down the hall toward Lila’s room.
I knock softly. No answer.
I knock again. “Lila.”
“Go away.”
I open the door anyway.
She’s sitting up in bed with her hair down around her shoulders. She looks young and vulnerable. Nothing like the spitfire I see most of the time.
She is so young. What the hell was I thinking?
“You are not going to get in my bed.”
“We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t. We’re married. That’s what you wanted. Now leave me alone.”
I step into the room and close the door behind me.
“Go find one of your other women. I can’t compete with their experience, anyway.”
The words are bitter, maybe even jealous.
“This isn’t about them.”
“Isn’t it?” She throws off her blankets and climbs out of bed. She’s wearing shorts and a loose shirt. Nothing remotely sexy, but I find it to be the hottest outfit she’s ever worn.
“Why do you assume that I sleep with a bunch of women?”
She waves her hand at me. “Look at you.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“I told you we weren’t going to share a bed. Get out.”
“Maybe I want to renegotiate terms,” I say.
“Trust me; you don’t. You don’t want a virgin in your bed. I could not compete with your other women, nor do I want to.”
“Wait… what?”
“You heard me.” She lifts her chin defiantly. “Sorry to disappoint you. I know men like you prefer women who know what they’re doing.”
My mind is racing. A virgin. She’s a fucking virgin.
“I didn’t know,” I say quietly.
“Well, now you do. So, go fuck someone else.”
I’m still processing this information. A virgin. That’s why Arlind wants her so badly. Not just because of a debt; because she’s pure. Untouched. The perfect gift for whoever he’s trying to impress.
“Does Arlind know?” I ask.
She frowns. “Know what?”
“That you’re a virgin.”
“How the hell would he know? Can you see it on my face?”
In their world, virginity is currency. It’s value. A virgin girl is worth a fortune to the right man.
“Do. They. Know.”
She steps back. “I don’t know. No. How could they?”
I rub my hands over my face and fight to keep my voice even. “You said you were drugged. Your memory is fuzzy.”
I see the second she understands what I’m saying. One hand covers her mouth, the other arm wraps around her middle. “Oh, God.”
“Lila.” I move closer. “This changes things.”
“How?”
“You’re more valuable than I thought. To them.”
She laughs bitterly. “Great. So, I’m valuable. What does that mean? I’m worth more on the market?”
“It means you’re in more danger than I realized.” I run a hand through my hair. “It means marrying you was the right call.”
“Because now I’m your property instead of theirs?”
“Because now you’re protected by the bratva.” I step closer until I’m right in front of her. “No one touches what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours.”
“You are.” I hold up my left hand, showing her the ring. “You’re my wife. That means something.”
“It means nothing.” But her voice wavers.
I reach out and cup her face, tilting it up so she has to look at me. “It means everything. You’re mine, Lila. I will not let them take you. And my name on yours means that every man who tries has to answer to me first. You’re mine to protect."
Her breath hitches. I see the conflict in her eyes as fear and want war with each other.
“I don’t want to be owned,” she whispers.
“Then don’t think of it as ownership.” I stroke my thumb across her cheek. “Think of it as belonging. You belong here. With me. Safe.”
“Safe.” She chuckles. “Nothing about this is safe.”
I realize something as I look at her standing there. Taking her virginity would devalue her. Make her less of a prize.
It’s strategic. Smart, even.
“If I took your virginity,” I say slowly, thinking it through out loud, “you’d be worthless to them. They want you pure and untouched. If you’re not, there’s no point in coming after you.”
She stares at me. “What did you just say?”
“It’s actually brilliant. If we—"
Her fist connects with my jaw before I can finish the sentence.
“You fucking asshole!” She swings again. I catch her wrist this time, but she uses her other hand to shove me hard in the chest. “Get out! Get the fuck out!”
“Stop!”
“You want to fuck me to make me worthless?” She’s screaming now, and tears stream down her face. “That’s what I am to you? A problem you can solve by sticking your dick in me?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Get out!” She grabs a pillow and throws it at my head. “Get out, get out, get out!”
I back toward the door with my hands raised in surrender. “Lila, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to sound so rude.”
“I don’t care what you meant!” Another pillow flies at me. “You’re just like the rest of them! You see me as something with a price tag. Something that loses value the second a man puts his hands on it.”
I leave before she finds something heavier to throw.
Out in the hallway, my jaw throbs where she hit me. The girl has a decent right hook.
What was I thinking? That came out all wrong. So fucking wrong.
I find Damien in the kitchen, making a sandwich. With our line of work, we keep strange hours. Usually, no one is up before ten in the morning. He looks at my face and shakes his head.
“What did you do?”
“I fucked up.”
“Obviously. Might want to put some ice on that.”
I make an ice pack and tell him the whole thing, including my brilliant strategy and Lila’s reaction to it.
“Shit, Maksim.” Damien sets down his cup. “You told your wife—your virgin wife—that you wanted to fuck her to make her worthless?”
“I didn’t say it quite like that.”
“How did you say it?”
I wince as I replay the conversation in my head. “Pretty much exactly like that.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“I know.”
“She’s scared, alone, and traumatized. You just told her the only value she has is her virginity and that you want to take it away.”
“I was trying to figure out how to keep her safe. If she’s not a virgin, they have no reason to want her.”
Damien shakes his head again. “You fucked up. This marriage is over before it began. Probably for the best.”
“It’s not over.”
I head back to her room with every intention of making this right.
I knock softly. “Lila.”
“Fuck off.”
“Please. I need to apologize.”
“You already did.”
I lean my forehead against the door. “Please let me in.”
Silence. Then footsteps. The door opens a crack.
“What?” she asks coldly.
“Can I come in?”
She steps away from the door with her arms across her body. I’ll keep an eye on them in case she swings again.
I’ve charmed, manipulated, and persuaded countless people, but standing here in front of my wife, trying to find the right words, I’m completely lost.
“I’m sorry,” I start. “What I said… how I said it… it was wrong.”
“You think?”
“I wasn’t trying to...” I fight for the right words. “I didn’t mean that you’re only valuable as a virgin, or that I want to use you. That’s not… fuck, I’m making this worse.”
“Yeah, you are.”
I take a breath and try again. “You’re a beautiful woman. Smart. Strong. Capable. Your value has nothing to do with whether you’ve had sex. I was trying to figure out how to keep you safe, and it came out all wrong.”
“That was a terrible apology,” she says after a beat.
“I know, but I mean it. I’m sorry.”
She uncrosses her arms. “Thank you. That’s better.”
“I promise not to hound you. Your virginity is safe from me, from them, from everyone.”
“You can go now.”
I’m not risking a black eye.
I leave, closing the door behind me and walking to my room. I’m exhausted. My jaw aches.
I look at the ring on my finger.
What have I done?