Chapter 16
Viktor~
To say that Aurora Marchett was incredible was a grave understatement. While I wasn’t happy with her comment about not being overly excited to be alive, her fearlessness was something to admire, especially when you considered the kind of lives that we led.
It was also clear that last night hadn’t changed anything for her, and that was something that I was going to need to process at a later time.
Every new revelation about my wife kept changing what I had originally thought of her, and it wasn’t a good feeling to know that she still saw me and my family through the same lens as she’d always had.
Nevertheless, knowing that I was never going to give her up, we needed to find a happy medium to be able to live in any kind of relative peace, and gifting her with a job was my way of trying to make that happen.
Plus, the woman spoke nine different languages, could fight as good as any man, and her father had trusted her enough to head up their gambling empire, which that in itself was proof enough that Aurora had to be very smart, determined, and formidable.
This meeting was also wearing thin on my nerves.
While I’d been the one to arrange the meeting with my father, that’d been before bedding my wife, and I found myself wanting to do nothing else but drag her back to bed.
So, the longer that this meeting took, the less time that I had with her privately.
Looking at Aurora, I said, “We already have trusted people in charge of our most important interests, but we have no one heading up our...our escorting services.”
“Prostitution, you mean,” she shot back pointedly. “You can say the word, Korolev. I promise not to clutch my pearls or faint from the mention of such a sin.”
This fucking woman.
“Yes, our prostitution endeavors,” I replied drolly.
“So, what are you proposing?” my father asked.
“Not only is she a woman, putting her in a position to understand the women’s needs better than any of us, but if she’s good enough with numbers to head up Marchetti’s gambling operations, then we stand to make a better profit if we actually have someone in charge of the ladies who are currently working under the Korolev name,” I explained.
“And since we’ve no one in charge at the moment, no one will see it as her moving in to take over anyone else’s station or power. ”
My father’s fingers danced across his lips as he said, “That’s not a bad idea.”
“It’ll still be a position of power in the eyes of our enemies, but it’s not a big enough concern within the organization to cause that big of a stir,” I went on. “I think it’s the perfect solution to reaffirming what I told everyone at the club last night.”
Looking over at my wife, my father asked, “What do you think? How do you feel about being in charge of our sex trade operations?”
Aurora’s back straightened like she’d just been challenged, but maybe that’s how she was always going to feel when dealing with my family. “It depends.”
“On what?” he asked.
“The type of sex trade that your family is engaged,” she answered smoothly. “If it involves trafficking or anything underaged then-”
“Never insult me or my family again,” my father spat. “We are not soulless.”
“That’s debatable,” my wife shot back, and if my father put a bullet in her brain right now, it wouldn’t surprise me.
“Aurora-”
“Do not tell me that you guys aren’t soulless,” she practically spat as she looked at me.
“Every dollar that you’ve ever earned has been earned with the stain of someone’s blood, so I will tell you again, quit insulting my intelligence with platitudes as if I’m a tourist in this life.
I am a Marchetti, and I’ve been a Marchetti my entire life, so not only do I know what it takes to stay on top in a life like this one, but we are all soulless to be able to do what we do and still sleep at night. ”
“Korolev.”
Aurora quickly looked over at my father. “What?”
“You’re a Korolev now,” he stated pointedly.
“Yes, you were born and raised as a Marchetti, but you are a Korolev now, and that is something that you’d better come to terms with soon, doch'. You are a Korolev wife, daughter, sister, and one day, you will be a Korolev mother. So, while I have no problem with your family pride, it’s time for you to make room in your heart for two families now. ”
Ignoring everything that my father just said, Aurora asked, “Does your sex trade operations include children or trafficking? That is all I want to know right now.”
“It involves neither,” he answered calmly, surprising me. “The women who work for us do so of their own accord, and anyone involved with children is always dealt with severely.”
Looking between me and my father, Aurora asked, “Do I have time to think about it?”
“Of course,” my father answered graciously. “But you would also do well to inform your father that it will no longer be beneficial to either of us if you continue to work for him now that you’re a Korolev.”
I could see Aurora bristle at having her family name dismissed so casually, but if we were ever going to get to the point where we could trust her, she had to give back. While the situation wasn’t ideal, it was still better than having the Chinese, Romanians, and Germans team up against us.
“Is that all?” she asked, clearly irritated with the both of us.
“For now,” my father replied, a small smirk on his lips.
“Aurora, I need you to wait for me in the living room,” I told her, needing a moment with my father.
Looking directly at me, she asked, “Because you trust me alone in your father’s home?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “However, my father’s estate manager, Savva, knows better than to let you wander from the couch.”
I watched as my wife stood from the chair, and with only a simple nod in my father’s direction, she turned, then walked out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her, and that regal magnificence of hers was going to push me to my knees sooner or later, and that was not anything that I was looking forward to.
In fact, I had already played my hand when I couldn’t sleep last night, watching her sleep instead.
It’d been a hell of a thing to experience, and the peace that had settled deep in my chest when she’d started breathing evenly, comfortably, had fucked me up even more than I’d already been.
“She’s something else,” my father remarked, looking over at me. “I now understand why you wanted to speak to me about her as soon as possible.”
“She’s a dangerous liability,” I admitted. “It’s as if the woman really fears nothing, and that could present a lot of problems in the future.”
“Then my advice is to get her pregnant as soon as you can,” he advised. “Perhaps motherhood will soften her.”
Eyeing my father, I said, “Just so we’re clear, I will never give her up. I’m telling you that as my father and my Pakhan.”
My father just smirked. “I suspected as much.”
“I also need to speak with Kasimir about his lack of tolerance for my new brothers-in-law,” I informed him. “He needs a better understanding of what this alliance means for everyone involved.”
“You know your brother,” he said, letting out a tight sigh. “That boy steps to the beat of his own drum only.”
“Nonetheless, the conversation needs to be had,” I replied.
“Agreed.” Rising from the chair behind his desk, he asked, “Is there anything else that I might need to know about your new bride?”
“Other than she could possibly be the perfect Trojan horse?” I drawled out.
My father just grinned. “Never have I ever seen a more beautiful threat to our family.”
“If she ever needs killing, I will be the one to do it,” I told him seriously. “No one else touches her ever. I mean it.”
“The honor is all yours,” he promised. “But tell me, how far under her spell have you already fallen, son?”
“You don’t want me answering that question, Pakhan,” I said truthfully.
Giving me a terse nod, he said, “Very well. We’ll worry about that when and if it becomes a problem.”
“It’ll never become a problem,” I vowed. “The only way I stand a chance at continuing to live is if she never finds out how I truly feel about her, and since I’m fond of living...”
“Duly noted,” he chuckled. “Now, go get your wife, take her home, and enjoy what little time you have left of your impromptu honeymoon.”
Since that’s all that I wanted to do, he didn’t have to tell me twice. I knew that I could get any number of phone calls at the drop of a dime, calling me to clean up one mess or another, and so I was going to bed my wife for as long as I could before real-life came calling again.