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“I’m sure it didn’t hurt that you were the only witness to my nephews murder.” He said the words so nonchalantly that I was worried that I’d misheard him.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
Maksim chuckled. “No need to play coy. I’m not a moron. Marco hadn’t been to that club in months. He’d been too wrapped up in dealing with the fallout from the Petrov incident.” He tsked slightly as if the ‘incident’ he was talking about had been a minor inconvenience instead of a massive bloodbath.
My mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.
Maksim smiled at me. But he didn’t appear angry or upset, mostly amused that we somehow thought that we were going to get one over on it. “There’s no need to worry about me.”
This caused me to find my voice. “I’m pretty sure the two thugs that you sent to my house would have something different to say.” I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it wasn’t for a look of shame to cross Maksim’s face. Marco and Dom had both talked about him as though he were the big, bad wolf who enjoyed nothing more than pulling apart the skin of little girls.
“That was unfortunate.”
“I’ll say.” I shivered as I remembered how they’d threatened me. “My little brother was in the house.” I would never forget the way they threatened him. He was just a kid. A sick one at that, but they’d been ready to kill him to get me to talk. The only reason I hadn’t was because at the time I knew that they could do. Adrian’s body hadn’t been found yet, so they weren’t even sure that he was dead.
Maksim did look genuinely remorseful as he spoke. “At the time, I was worried that my nephew might have been taken by the Blanchi to use as a pawn against me.”
“They wouldn’t do that,” I said the words without thinking too much about them.
This time the look that Maksim gave me was one of pity. “They would do that and a lot worse if it meant getting revenge on the Bratva. It’s why I invited you all here tonight. We will never be friends, but I think enough blood has been spilt to last several generations.”
I hadn’t been around for the war, but I knew that it had taken a lot away from all involved. I couldn’t imagine Dom or Marco ever forgetting that these people were responsible for the death of their family. Dom might for the sake of his child and Sasha, but my husband had so much anger inside of him that sometimes I worried it would consume him whole.
“Your husband believes that I would use you as a pawn against you,” Maksim said, his voice drawing me out of my own thoughts.
“You wouldn’t?” I asked.
“I’m not noble,” Maksim told me. “If you could provide value to me, I would use you in a second.”
His words sent a chill down my spine, but I appreciated his honesty even if it did create a pit of dread in my stomach.
“But, your husband did me a favor.”
I couldn’t help it, my curiosity peaked. “How so?” I asked. I didn’t care if I was confirming to Maksim that Marco did kill Adrian. It seemed that he already knew as much.
“Adrian was my nephew. It would have been unpleasant if I was forced to kill him myself…” He trailed off, and I felt my breath catch in my throat.
These people all talked about death as if they were talking about a Sunday roast, and I realized that because to them, death was something that they’d come to expect. Maksim was practically ancient by mafia standards. Most of the men that I’d met were the sons of those who’d died.
“I’m honestly not sure what to say to that.” It was the truth. For the last month, I’d been able to hide away in Marco’s house, and most of the time, I could ignore what it was that I had married into, but now, it was smacking me in the face. “I’m also not sure why you are telling me all of this.”
Maksim’s eyes grew sad as he looked at me. For the first time, he looked every bit of his age. “You remind me of my daughter, Anastasia. She would have been around your age.”
I didn’t miss the fact that he talked about her in past tense. I wanted to ask what had happened to her, but it felt like overstepping some invisible boundaries. I, better than most, knew that there were some questions that a person just shouldn’t ask.
“I should have done a better job protecting her. But my own desire for power prevented me from seeing the truth.” His sadness was replaced by anger. Whatever had happened to his daughter had fundamentally changed this man. There was no denying it. It was written all over his face. I wondered if my own father would have felt this way about me.
“What truth is that?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
Maksim leveled me with an intense stare. His eyes were navy blue, which made his gaze feel all the more intense as it trained on me. “That a young woman like you, like my daughter, and poor Sasha are going to end up as casualties in this war between us all. That you all will pay for our sins simply because we love you.”
The breath caught in my throat. I didn’t want to be scared by his words, but they reminded me of the night of the restaurant shooting. I’d come away unharmed, but that had just been pure, dumb luck.
“What’s going on in here?” Marco’s deep voice spoke from behind. I whirled around, my heart beating fast in my chest as I spotted my husband’s intense gaze. His neck and shoulders were tight, and I knew that he was only seconds away from blowing. I couldn’t let that happen. Maksim might have been kind to me, but I knew he wouldn't ignore a threat in his own home.
“Your wife was admiring my art collection,” Maksim said. “She’s a smart young woman. Has a knack for design.”
I smiled at him, grateful for his attempts to diffuse the situation.
It did little to ease the tension in Marco’s jaw. “We should get going,” he said, his voice tight. “You’ve got a long day in the morning.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I nodded anyway. “Thank you,” I told Maksim, and I meant it.
Knowing that the old man wasn’t gunning for my head made me sigh in relief. The cops weren’t going to be able to get me to talk, and Maksim wasn’t going to try. Whoever had tried to kill me that day in the restaurant hadn’t been heard from since. For once, it felt like things were going to go my way.
“Don’t forget what I said,” Maksim warned, his tone serious.
Marco’s hand tensed around mine, and I squeezed back without acknowledging Maksim’s words. I prayed that he was wrong, and that I was somehow the exception to the rule. What happened to his daughter wouldn’t happen to me.
At least, I hoped not.
