AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Entering the bedroom to the sight of Phoenix, her eyes wide with fear, I’d wanted to tear Amaya apart for upsetting her. Amaya explained Phoenix woke up afraid and stressed. The near instant calm in Phoenix at my touch was the only thing that soothed my anger.
After two days without sleep, exhaustion hit me hard once I was sure she was okay, I simply crawled into bed with her. The better to hold her, to soothe the both of us.
I’m still surprised Phoenix not only accepted my touch, it calmed her. I started by holding her hand, noticing she grew calmer when I did. When I was away from her, she grew agitated. At first I was wondering if I was wrong only for Amaya to order me into the room to calm Phoenix.
The ringing of my phone tears me from thoughts of Phoenix. I’m annoyed by the call the same as I was for Boris calling me earlier. He’s calling again, wondering if I want them to pick up Richie’s men. He’s sorry but he thinks they caught sight of him watching them. I tell him to back off since I haven’t spoken to Milos yet.
Entering Milos’s restaurant, the staff is well-trained to pretend they don’t see me. They only see Milos if he wants them to see him, like I said: well-trained. Pavel nods at me as he moves from in front of the door to Milos’s office.
“Where the hell have you been? You missed meeting Rodriguez at the delivery and go silent for two fucking days? If I couldn’t tell you were alive by your tracker, I’d kick your ass.” The words are out of Milos before I’m even sitting down in front of him.
I chuckle as I light a cigar, inhaling deeply. “I’ve been busy with my new wife.”
“What the fuck did you just say?” It isn’t easy to surprise Milos, we know each other so well.
Blowing the smoke out through my nose, the better to savor it. I hadn’t smoked in the last few days in case the smoke disturbed Phoenix. “It’s all paperwork. I didn’t bother with a judge for anything other than him to sign off on it. We owe Judge Carmello a hundred thousand for his next run to keep his seat. And ten visits to the brothel, no charge.”
He shrugs, cost isn’t something we worry about. “Who did you marry?”
“That little FBI agent I’ve been tangling with. You told me to fix it without killing her. I fixed it.”
His laughter is loud. “The FBI agent you loathe? The one you demanded I let you kill a week ago? You marriedher? The wedding night must have been something else.”
I pour us each a shot of vodka in celebration. We salute and swallow it down. “Not yet. She’s in bad shape. Came to me broken and bloody. If I hadn’t taken her in she would have died. When I left her a little bit ago with the news we were married, she said she wished I had let her die.”
I’m not worried she meant it. She’ll adjust. Especially with the way she wrapped herself around me, fuck my cock is hard thinking about it.
“Is this in response to me asking if you would consider marrying Celia’s sister?”
I shake my head. “It gave me the idea. What is marriage but a signature on paper? She needs the protection our name will give, to keep her alive. Little idiot went digging into things she wasn’t supposed to. I finally did what you told me to do and read through her file, as painful as it is to admit—you’re right. Killing someone like her isn’t right. Letting her die is even worse. So I married her to keep her alive. We are the bigger bad. The person she crossed won’t dare kill the wife of a Levin.”
“Who?”
“Richie, the Outfit member over the loop who Dom said was good. Unlike the Sabatinis, he isn’t as careful. She picked up on something that would link that heist of the edibles to us and him. Because she wants to destroy our family so much, she poked at Richie to get him to give info on us. Richie freaked and made a deal with Manuel Rodriguez to kill her. Manuel accepted the hit. He was going to make it look like a car accident. Richie’s men were to grab her at the meeting he set up with her and bring her to Manuel so he could kill her, put her in a car and burn the body.”
“Fuck.” He exhales the word.
The air shifts in the room. I understand, aspakhanthis is the last thing he wants to deal with. Milos is an excellentpakhanwho takes the responsibility seriously, and he made sure we all did as well. Everything we did affected everyone within our organization, whether they knew they worked for or with Bratva. Bratva wasn’t about just one of us, it was for all of us and the people within our organization.
“The good news is Manuel never touched her, so I don’t have to kill him. Richie’s men thought they were helping by beating the shit out of her then taking her to Manuel. Someone disturbed them and she was able to get away. I only need to kill Richie’s men and Richie.”
His eyes close. I’m not concerned he’ll make the wrong choice. What concerns me is how I have no problem going against him if he doesn’t agree. Milos is my brother, my best friend, and mypakhan. I’m closer to him than I was to my father, who I was very close with and was a god in my life. Within Bratva yourpakhanis your god. Until this moment I never doubted I would be loyal to Milos. But for Phoenix there is no one I would not defy. No god will save those from me for hurting my woman.
Our eyes meet and he sees it. And thank fuck for the both of us, he understands.
“Why is it always smooth seas or a fucking hurricane with this family? Aside from the MC, we’ve had more than two years of peace and quiet. Now I have you risking our relationship with the entire Outfit. Ivan shooting at Nikita, and our brothers in Philadelphia are acting as if me telling them to get married is the same as ordering them to pour gasoline over themselves and light a fucking match.”
I chuckle at his exasperation. How could he not know? “That’s what happens when Bratva marry.” There would be no divorce, marriage in Bratva is like Bratva—there is no end.
He shakes his head.
“They die tonight.” This needs to be settled. It’s happening, whether he agrees or not.
“Tonight.” A slight nod.
I pull out my phone and order Boris to pick up the men and begin the torture. The men are to pay for what they did with Phoenix. However, I tell him not to kill them, that is for me to do.
“Are you sure it’s wise that it’s you? Allow Boris to kill them.”
