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Chapter Nineteen
Icouldn’t stop looking at my phone. Sasha was back to school after a month off to recover, and it was the first time that we had been away from one another for an extended period of time.
It was making me incredibly nervous. I couldn’t afford nerves though. I was meeting with my made men, and they weren’t pleased with me. I had placed Marco in charge for the past month as I helped Sasha recover.
We’d made every effort to try and find who had shot her, at least that was what I was told, but the bastard eluded us. Until they were caught, Sasha being out of my sight made me want to reach for my gun.
But today, I needed to keep my wits about me if I wanted to keep the mafia together. After what I did to Lorenzo, we were starting to split at the seams, and I needed to sew things back together.
“Why did you call this meeting?” one of my men asked.
His name was Silvio if I recalled, and he was sitting at the spot that was normally reserved for Lorenzo. He hadn’t come today. I didn’t blame him. Marco carved up his face as a way to remind the rest what happened when they worked against me and my family.
“Are you questioning me?” My voice was brusque as I spoke. I never thought that I was the kind of man who would rule with fear. My father had been beloved by his men. But he hadn’t married the enemy, and despite my feelings about the Petrov’s, I was sure that Sasha was innocent.
Silvio said nothing.
“We are all just confused,” Matte said. Matte’s father died six months ago. He was just a few years older than myself, and normally, I could trust him to support my side of things. Like me and Marco, Matte saw the need for peace. He’d lost almost as many brothers as I had.
“By?”
I was impressed that he didn’t cower like other might have. Lorenzo’s face had done its job, and now, the men worried what I might have Marco do should someone defy me.
“Marco has been acting as Don for the past month. No one has seen you except your security.”
“My wife was shot. I know that might not mean much to the rest of you since you’ve made your positions on my marriage clear…”
Matte cleared his throat, and the other men looked away. “I supported your marriage,” he reminded me. “But there is an assassin on the loose, and our Don made it clear that he was too busy to be bothered.”
Matte had balls. I would give him that. They were the only thing that kept me from putting a bullet through his eyes. I respected that he was willing to speak when everyone else was shifting their pants with fear and anger. They wanted to tell me to go fuck myself, but they were too worried about their own hides to do it.
“I’ve been making inroads as to who might have shot Sasha,” I said. It pissed me off that he thought I hadn’t.
“You are doing a great deal for the Petrov girl,” another one of the men said.
“She’s my wife,” I reminded them. “And for better or worse, it is my job to protect her.” I left out the fact that sometimes when I looked at Sasha, I couldn’t help but want to protect her from the dangers of the world. Something about holding her while she bled out changed the dynamic between the two of us. I hadn’t given it a lot of thought because when I did, I felt more confused than ever. Because I was also sure that Sasha had seen something the night she’d been shot, and it made me wonder what she could possibly be hiding.
“Who do you think tried to kill you?” One of my men asked.
“We all know who tried to kill me.” I was more certain than ever that the Petrov’s had sent someone to kill me. Unfortunately, they had missed and Sasha ended up in the crosshairs.
“Do you think Isaac would kill his own daughter?” Matte asked. His brow was furrowed, and I could see that he was trying to figure out what Isaac could possibly gain from trying to kill Sasha.
It was the piece that I hadn’t been able to work out, and something told me that Sasha had the key piece of information that I needed to unlock that mystery.
“I do,” I said, addressing the rest of my men. “I don’t think that Sasha was the target.”
“You think that the assassin missed?”
“Petrov’s never misses. I’m missing an eye as proof of that.”
“He’s right.”
The men at the table erupted in comment. Each one shared a way in which the Petrov’s had screwed their lives up.
“The Petrov’s are the only ones who would want me dead.” It was what I couldn’t quite get around. I don’t know who else would be willing to shoot up a wedding. Of course, I had other enemies, but there was no one else who could get past my security. Shit, I couldn’t figure out how the hell someone got past Lorenzo’s security, which was why his face was currently carved up.
“I’m sure Isaac isn’t happy considering that you took some of his prized territories,” Matte reminded me.
