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CHAPTER 46
Nikolai
The two weeks thatfollowed the night at The Catacombs flew by in a blur. The majority of the time was spent cleaning up the mess that Lady Qing had created. A majority of the men who were employed under Lady Qing were disposed of in bits and pieces into the river, and those who were blackmailed into giving her loyalty were given two options: leave the business completely, or work for us. Surprisingly, a lot of them chose to follow Angel with the merge after she assured them I was a fair employer.
Lady Qing was currently being held in one of our bunkers, her reluctant help to keep herself alive being more helpful than not. Angel made it clear to her the moment she outlived her use then she would be disposed of, and the threat itself seemed to do the trick.
The meeting with the major players in the triad went as we expected. Nearly all of them weren’t happy with Angel handing over leadership to an outsider like me, and they weren’t happy with the merge either. But given their options, they were eager enough to fall into line. We were going to keep a close eye on them for a while until we could determine their credibility.
Establishing bratva presence in our newly acquired territory was met with a lot of resistance, which was expected. A new rule meant uncertainty, so I didn’t expect everyone’s cooperation up front, especially after the reputation my father had given the Volkov Bratva. Many were still stuck with what my father had built and fronted, and they thought I was the same.
“Kolyenka?” The headache that ate at me faded at the sound of her soft and soothing voice. “Dinner’s ready, and everyone’s outside and ready to dig in.”
Breathing deeply, I stretch my arms above my head with a groan before standing up from my desk. “Sorry, I guess I lost track of time... Again.” There was so much to do still. I know not all of it had to be done right away, but I didn’t like to leave loose ends.
“No more tonightanh. You need to relax a little before you blow a blood vessel.” Angel chuckled softly, walking up to me and kissing my cheek. “Also, it’s not every day that you’ll turn forty. So, get your ass downstairs.”
Chuckling softly, I wrapped my arms around Angel and held her tightly. Not a day has gone by that I’ve thought about how close I came to losing my precious wife. It probably wouldn’t be the last time given the mafia life. The fact she had an attempt on her life with the bomb, which we found out was ordered by Natalia, paired with her near kidnapping, everything was too close together. If she had been kidnapped with me that day, well, I didn’t even want to imagine what could have transpired.
Picking Angel up, I set her on my desk and kissed her deeply as I took her hands in mine. Breaking the kiss, I took her left hand in mine, slipped her ring off her finger, and pocketed it.
“What’d you do that for?” She looked at me with a confused and concerned expression, searching my face and eyes for an answer when I remained silent.
“Only my wife can wear my ring.” I was probably going to get punched in the face for messing with her like this, but she’s been an asshole recently and needed to have a taste of her own medicine.
“Did you hit your head somewhere or had too many drinks while you were cooped up in here? I am your wife.” It was hard not to smile at her pouting glare as she crossed her arms across her chest.
“No, you’re not. I never married you. You exist, my wife doesn’t.” The small, little black box in my pocket felt like the size of a moving box that bulged out, and it started to feel like it weighed a ton.
“Nikolai, what the hell is going on?” She looked ready to pull her hand back and land one on my face.
“You’re not my wife, Angel Vu, not yet anyways.” Slowly, I got down on my knee in front of her. “Just like the car crash, we came into this life out of the blue and haphazardly. I know I’m not perfect and that I’ve still got a lot of growth when it comes to relationships, but there’s no one else in this world that I would want to grow with besides you. There’s no denying the fire between us. I knew from that first night that you were special, and I still regret not acting on my feelings and talking to you sooner, but I am going to spend the rest of our lives to make up for that lost time if you’ll let me. So, let’s start this over properly. Angel Vu, and that better be your real name, will you marry me?”
Worry twisted at my face when Angel started to laugh and cry. Did I fuck this up somehow?
“Oh my God, yes! Yes! Oh God I thought you were going to divorce me and kick me out or something, God don’t scare me like that! But yes, oh God yes I’ll marry you, again.” Angel slid off the desk and threw her arms around me, leaning down and kissing me deeply before holding her hand out for me to slip the new ring onto her finger.
Unlike the first ring, this one actually had thought put into it. The delicate platinum band had small vines of roses twisting off of it with smaller pink diamonds embedded in the center. The centerpiece was a round black diamond that wasn’t big, but it was cut so intricately that it sparkled and glimmered brightly.
The thought of getting a big diamond ring had crossed my mind, but Angel wasn’t that kind of woman. She also made it vehemently clear that if I were to ever gift her a big diamond ring then she’d throw it back in my face. Also, her friends were very helpful in vetoing ring ideas I sent their way when I came up with the idea of proposing to Angel.
“Any chance I can convince you to change your name this time? Mrs. Volkov has a nice ring to it.” She never did fall onboard with changing her last name the first time around, but that was understandable given the circumstances.
