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"David, I want this shit dealt with immediately," I say into my phone. "Find out who that asshole works for. I want a name tonight."
"You shouldn't have let him go," David says.
"I was caught off guard. Don't you think our bratva would have had even bigger problems if we'd killed innocent people trying to get to one errand boy? He's blown his cover, so it's only a matter of time. Find him and bring his stupid ass to me."
"What about his boss?"
"Arman is questioning anyone who has connections to the jail or Chicago. Won't take long for someone to give us the information."
David sighs. "Stop and think, Vladi. Cassius Jackson is Morgana's ex. I get it—you wanna make him suffer. But your lack of foresight brought him back into her life. If you hadn't killed Hektor, none of this would have happened."
I see red. "You think I don't fucking know that? Fuck yourself, David. I will protect my wife and my bratva however I see fit."
"You mentioned your wife first, Vladi. Remember when you told me you wouldn't put a woman before your duty?"
I hang up.
David can't seize power from me. It'd take balls he hasn't got.
He'd have to kill me, and my dear olddyadyahasn't the stomach for it. All hell would break loose. But sometimes I wish he'd try because then I could justify beating the shit out of him. Until now, he's done nothing more than bait me, but I'm losing patience fast.
Morgana is curled up on the lounge chair, a shearling throw around her shoulders. I've never seen her so meek, and it breaks my heart. My beautiful wife's spark was extinguished by the merest glimpse of the bastard who traumatized her.
She told me all about Cassius. How she took photos of her injuries and kept call recordings and text messages. When he went too far, she found the strength to go to the cops. Cassius had priors for domestic violence and was on his last chance, so the judge threw the book at him, giving him a five-year sentence.
I touch Morgana's shoulder, and she shrinks away.
"You know what I saw in my nightmares, Vladi?
"What,lisichka?"
"I sawhim.Laughing at me. Beating me. Telling me I didn't deserve better." She wipes her eye with the back of her hand. "And I dreamed he would come back. That I'd turn around one day, and he'd be right there." She gives a hollow laugh. "And there I was, thinking my dreams would never come true."
"I'm certain he didn't know you were my wife," I say. "His reaction when he saw you was genuine. He came to talk to me about Hektor, not to find you." Rage takes hold, and I kick the table, cracking it. "I'll kill the bastard, I swear."
"How will you find him?"
"I would have found him, anyway. I was looking for Cassius Jackson when I thought he was only your scumbag ex. Arman always said Hektor's boss might find me first and send someone to fuck me up. Interesting that he sent no army."
"You think his boss will fight for him?" Morgana's eyes are wide with fear.
"No. Inter-city mob wars are a special kind of hell. If it were me, I'd hand the cunt over myself as a goodwill gesture. I guess we'll find out."
I pace the floor, my head in pieces.
Morgana may never have seen that scumbag again if not for me. I pulled her into my violent world when I could have left her alone. She's done something tome, too. She breezed into my dysfunctional life andchangedme. All that shit that mattered before is worth nothing if my wife suffers.
What the hell have we done to one other?
"You don't have to do this for me," Morgana says.
"Cassius disrespected me. Don't you understand what could happen to my bratva—to myfamily—if I don't stand firm?"
I'm yelling like it's all her fault. And maybe it is. She encouraged me to lighten up, to let her in.
"Don't take it out on me," she says. "I'm your family now, so I'm in danger, too. But I'm at your side when I could just leave you."
The thought is like a punch to the gut. "Not if I didn't permit it."
