Chapter 15
Aurora~
While I had expected a meeting with Aleksei Korolev, I hadn’t expected on first thing this morning. For some reason, I’d thought that our wedding night would be taken into consideration, but I supposed his son shooting one of their brigadiers after I had kicked his ass had taken precedence.
As for last night, I still didn’t know what to make of it. Granted, I didn’t know Viktor Korolev very well, but he hadn’t seemed himself last night, and it was hard for me not to dissect that concern to pieces. After all, he was still my enemy, no matter what had transpired between us last night.
Now, it wasn’t how he kept calling me wife, or how he couldn’t stop marking me that was the issue because I was his wife, and all his visible brands had been easily concealed by a touch of makeup.
It also wasn’t that he’d kept his promise to leave me sore this morning, which had been expected since he’d taken me three times last night, not at all concerned with how I’d been a virgin.
No.
It was how he hadn’t fallen asleep with me after that third and final time.
Instead, we’d taken a hot shower after the mess that he’d made of me, and then after putting me to bed, he’d gone to sit in the chair next to the window, and my first thought had been that he must be a smoker, but when he hadn’t done anything but sit there, the hairs on the back of my neck had immediately stood up.
“What are you doing?” I asked, not afraid to fight naked.
“Watching you,” he answered quietly, his bright blue gaze unwavering.
“Why?” I asked curiously. “Why aren’t you going to sleep?”
“How else can I make sure that you’ll still be here in the morning?” he answered, making my heart skip a beat.
“My marriage vows ensure that I will,” I replied carefully. “I don’t give my word lightly, Korolev.”
“Viktor,” he automatically said.
“Viktor,” I echoed, willing to give him this while in this room.
“Maybe I just need a little more convincing that you’re not just a dream,” he remarked cryptically.
“Don’t you mean a nightmare?”
“Nightmares don’t scare me, baby,” he replied arrogantly. “Still, even if that’s the case, I like this particular nightmare.”
“So, what? You’re just going to sit there and watch me sleep all night?”
“Maybe.”
It’d been the strangest exchange with him to date, but I’d been too tired to dance around in circles with the man, so against my better judgement, I’d gone to sleep without him, leaving his nonsense for another day.
However, when I’d woken up this morning, it’d been to his naked body pressed up against mine, his arm anchored around my waist like he was never going to let me go, and it’d all been a little too much too soon for me that I had actually welcomed the Korolev Pakhan’s summons this morning.
So, after getting up, taking another hot shower with my insistent husband, I’d been getting dressed when Aleksei had called Viktor to confirm a meeting that had been set up for this morning, and it’d been made clear that I’d been expected to attend.
I also wasn’t confused about last night, no matter how attentive Viktor had been.
While I might legally be his wife, I knew that he’d never choose me over his family, which I completely understood since I’d never choose him over any Marchetti.
Still, this meeting could be nothing more than a harsh reprimand for raising a hand to one of their own, and I had no doubt that Viktor was going to side with his father on this one, expectedly so.
However, the second that I’d gotten dressed, I had called my father as promised, then had immediately informed him of my meeting with Aleksei Korolev, and I was expected to call him again afterwards.
“Do you have a death wish, doch'?” Aleksei asked, and while I wasn’t sure why he’d call me daughter, I’d still be stupid to trust either man in this room.
Currently, we were at my father-in-law’s house, in his office, and I was a bit surprised that Kasimir Korolev wasn’t here.
Since this was family business, it stood to reason that he’d be in attendance, but maybe bratvas did things differently than the Mafia.
There was also a good chance that he could be sleeping off whichever mayhem that he may have enacted last night.
Again, it was reputed that Kasimir was a bit of a psychopath, and his little kindergarten melody was proof of that.
Looking at Aleksei from across his desk, I said, “There’s a difference between having a death wish and not being afraid of dying.”
“And you’re not afraid to die?” he asked as he leaned back in his chair, Viktor standing to the right of me, near the bar.
“Maybe I’m just not that excited about living,” I countered.
Aleksei Korolev had the same bright blue eyes as his sons, and they gave off the impression that he could see right through a person, and maybe he could.
After all, I didn’t know the man, and with the Russians being as cutthroat as they were reputed to be, he’d have to be a hard man to control the empire that he did.
Ignoring my remark, he said, “My son tells me that you speak quite a few languages.”
“I do,” I confirmed, knowing better than to give him anything more. After all, I’d already given Viktor too much already.
Eyeing me, he asked, “Can you tell me what it is that you do for your father?”
Since that wasn’t much of a secret, I answered, “I handle our gambling interests.”
“Why?” he asked candidly.
“Because I’m good with numbers,” I semi-admitted.
“You are aware that you will not be able to work for your father anymore, correct?” he asked, and while I’d been expecting as much, it still felt like a punch to the gut; my family was everything to me.
“I figured as much,” I replied coolly, no emotion whatsoever.
“For this alliance to work, we must appear united, and that depends largely on you,” he said. “You must show our enemies that you’ve embraced this marriage as a true marriage. You must show that your loyalties extend to your new family as well.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to point out that he was still my enemy, but nothing good could come from being combative at this point.
Plus, he was right. If we were going to sell this to the Germans, Chinese, and Romanians, then we had to show a united front.
Still, that didn’t mean that I had to like it.
“So, is this your way of asking me not to hurt any more of your men?” I asked arrogantly.
Instead of rising to the bait, Aleksei just chuckled softly. “Rest assured, you have my permission to defend yourself against anyone who dares offend you. After all, offending you is an offense to the rest of us, and that is something that I will not have.”
“Then what am I doing here?” I asked, refusing to call him Pakhan, but also not having permission to call him by his first name. “What is the purpose of this meeting?”
Finally getting to the point, he asked, “Why did you believe that my son would kill you?”
I couldn’t help but let out a dark laugh at that. “You ask that as if I’m not very aware of where his loyalty lies. Whether it’s you, Kasimir, or one of your many shestyorkas, your son will always choose a Korolev over a Marchetti, and that is not anything that I’m confused about.”
“Killing you defeats the purpose of this alliance,” he pointed out, daring me to argue that.
“Oh, but it doesn’t,” I countered. “My death would make your son a widow, which would still connect the families in the eyes of the church, something that would still make the families beholden to one another. In fact, killing me would be the answer to everyone’s problem.”
Aleksei looked at me nonplused. “Do you really not understand the concept of self-preservation?”
“Like I said earlier, maybe I’m just not overly excited about living,” I answered smoothly.
“What if we gave you a job?” Viktor asked, finally speaking. “Something to fill your days until we have children.”
Ignoring the children bit, I said, “As what? A dishwasher in one of your restaurants? A cocktail waitress at one of your clubs?” I leaned back in my seat as I looked between the both of them.
“You know just as well as I do that no one in your organization would appreciate me taking on a role with any kind of authority, so please quit insulting my intelligence.”
Aleksei Korolev’s brows jumped high, either offended or impressed, I wasn’t sure, but I also didn’t care. “Except that giving you a position with authority within the organization would send a clear message that you’re a Korolev now, and that you have the full support of your in-laws.”
“Why not just dub me a brigadier and make the bullseye bigger?” I scoffed.
Aleksei glanced over at his son, presumably wondering whether or not they should just kill me now, no doubt, but since that wasn’t anything that I could control, I just ignored it.
“I have an idea that may work,” Viktor said, and I could only imagine what it was.
“Let us hope so, son,” Aleksei remarked, and it was all that I could do not to roll my eyes.