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“Kirill, Nikolai, to what do I owe this pleasure? It’s Saturday, and I’d have thought young bucks like you would be out getting your balls emptied instead of coming to visit your father.” Viktor’s voice was heavy with scathing amusement.
I swept into his office, ensuring my mask was firmly in place. I couldn’t let Viktor see how Niko’s bombshell had rocked me.
“I remember those days, being young and strong and full of cum and spit.” Viktor barked a rusty laugh as he rose and came to embrace his sons. He kissed us on each cheek.
As always, the touch of the man who had created and damned me made my skin crawl.
“Kirill didn’t know about his engagement,” Nikolai said immediately.
Viktor sighed as he turned away.“And you couldn’t wait to tell him?” He turned and shot me a challenging look. “And so? What’s the problem?”
Viktor Chernov was utterly confident in his ability to crush his opponents. He challenged me with his stare to disagree with him now.
“Who am I marrying?” I finally asked.
“Sofia De Sanctis.”
Shit. Sofia De Sanctis was the mafia princess of the Italian mob in New Jersey. They controlled Atlantic City, and a hell of a lot of wealth that flowed there, both legally and not. Underworld royalty. It was a match my father would be interested in at all costs.
“Why me? She and Niko have history,” I pointed out.
Niko touched his cheek with a dark look.“A history? She scarred this pretty face better than any man ever managed to.”
Viktor sighed. “Sofia doesn’t like Nikolai. She won’t have him, and for some reason, her father is inclined to listen to her. For now, at least. You are the only other option,” Viktor said.
“I’m not looking to get married.”
“Not my problem,” Viktor turned away. Just like that, the conversation was over. “But now we’ve spoken, you can meet your bride tonight. I arranged a dinner with Antonio De Sanctis to discuss the Richardson situation.”
“That’s my deal,” I cut in, irritated in a whole new way.
“Then it’s good that you’re attending, isn’t it? See you later. Niko, you come too.”
I knew Viktor, and it was clear I’d been dismissed. There was no point arguing with him. Besides, I needed to be at that dinner if the deal I’d worked on would be discussed. When Viktor tried to cut me out of my business, it didn’t bode well for the future.
I turned and nodded to Niko.
He was staring at me with an unreadable expression.“Are you done?” he asked quietly as if he’d expected more from me.
I had plenty more, but now wasn’t the time to discuss it. I couldn’t decipher that look from my unpredictable brother. Was he annoyed he didn’t get the fireworks he’d wanted? Or was he annoyed I might marry Sofia De Sanctis, the woman he’d fixed his sights on in some twisted way? I couldn’t tell. I never could with Niko.
I strode from the warehouse and got into my waiting car. Ivan pulled away as soon as I’d sat down, and I stared out the tinted window at the warehouse.
I had plenty to say about the prospect of marrying a De Sanctis, but it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t be marrying some stranger. I’d spent seven years looking for Mallory Madison, and if I were marrying anyone, it would be her, even if I had to hold a gun to her temple to achieve it.
My father would find out about that soon enough.
* * *
I entered my cold,sparsely furnished penthouse in a pensive cloud of anger. Viktor was persistent, and he didn’t like being defied. Despite that, there was no way I’d marry someone other than Mallory. I’d kill us both before it came to that.
Outside my home, my guard stood watch in the corridor. Surveillance cameras covered the building, and there were no blind spots—or so I’d been told. There were seventeen floors between me and anyone trying to kill me. To access this floor, you needed a key to press the button on the elevator. My most trusted, elite guards stood outside the doors. They were the last line of defense, along with the multitude of weapons hidden inside the apartment. If someone did manage to get through all those layers, I’d go down swinging.
As I stepped through the doors, I looked around my foyer. There wasn’t a lot of furniture. I preferred it that way. This wasn’t a cozy resting place or somewhere to let your guard down. It was the cage I shut myself into at night. It was a reminder of what it took to survive in my world. I knew Mallory would hate it, but I genuinely didn’t know how to infuse warmth into the place. I needed her to do it. Without her, I was a lonely husk.
A steady red light shone down at me from the new camera, discreetly installed in a light fitting. I’d had the entire apartment covered in cameras, the feed from which went straight to my phone and laptop.
Soon, I would have a little bird in my cage, and I would watch her rail and cry to my heart’s content when she realized the walls of this prison constituted the limit of her world. Soon, I would bring Mallory here and lock her inside with me. I felt like a kid before Christmas.
