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“Mari...”
She brushed past me and, just like that, she was gone. I blinked. My hands hung lifeless at my side and I felt a numbness spread through me.
Then, like a slow, creeping plant, her hatred and bitterness seeped in deep. And I despised myself for causing her so much pain.
I’d never felt for anyone what I felt for this woman. Her tears stung me; her pain hurt me. And when she resisted me, it drove me crazy out of my fucking mind.
Through my hard work, my guts, and not because of any man, I made it! I am who I am today.
I clamped down on my jaw. Mariana was the woman I wanted in my life; she was worth fighting for, and I’d be damned if I didn’t put up a fight. I’d show some stubbornness of mine, and then we’d see who wins.
I wasn’t going to let her go. Neither her nor our baby. I swore under my breath that I was going to do everything possible to protect them. But first...
I marched into the house, passed the crowd, and located one person. The only person that could pull the plug on the entire operation.
Skillfully, I maneuvered my way past Sophia and a group of her friends. No time for distractions. I spotted my target huddled in a corner with a group of other men. I hastened my steps.
“Sergey.”
He didn’t turn, and when I drew closer, I understood why. Vincent Russo beside him, and they spoke in hushed tones.
Vincent saw me first. “Ah, here he is.”
Sergey turned to me with a smile. “Vlad...” Sergey barely ever showed teeth, except he needed to intimidate someone. But he was smiling now; that meant he wasextremelypleased about something.
“Come.” I stood, sandwiched between them. “I have great news: after your wedding on Friday, Russo is willing to send a group of his men to Maxim. We already have a plan swinging in motion.”
“Not striking first,” Vincent added. “The plan is to spy. In enemy territory. We need to know exactly what we’re dealing with here—the full capacity, strength, weakness... everything—before we attack.”
A lump formed in my throat but I squeezed my fists and stared straight ahead. “Brother, I came to talk to you about something.”
Lines appeared between his eyebrows but he nodded, granting permission to speak further.
I convinced myself that Mariana and my child came first. That was all that mattered.Between the lines of kill or be killed, she’d convinced me that it was possible to just live.
I swallowed. “I amnotgoing ahead with the plan.”
“What...” The ice in his gaze rose, and he stared at me tight-lipped. “What plan?”
I looked at him, matching his fury with mine. “The wedding, brother. I’m calling it off.”
Chapter 21 - Vlad
No one said this was what the apprehension of death felt like.
Being a Vadim made it routine to encounter different shades of danger and evil; the mild, the average, and the wild, flaming ones. I had contended with the worst of the vile, notorious, and wicked mob bosses. But the feeling—that rush of adrenaline,of consuming rage—hit differently when you were on the side of the winning team, and not at the other end of the gun, with the bullet aiming for your skull.
I had seen mere flashes of death.Only mere flashes. But none of them compared to this. This was more than a mere flash; this nettling feeling of the skin on your face slowly melting like fucking wax.
Who held the scalding flame to my fucking face? Sergey Vadim. My fucking brother. His dark, deathly glare announced quick and sudden death, if I didn’t give him a good fucking reason to not end me on the spot.
Through the small scruff on his jaw, the angry tick of a muscle was visible, and I did not miss the narrowing of his fiery blue eyes to slits. He parted his lips, and clamped them shut again; his chest heaving steadily, up, and down, like he was counting the seconds.
Restraint. Self-control. Fucking meditation...anythinghe could do to stop himself from reaching for my throat. I knew himthatwell.
My shoulders upheaved and I gnashed my teeth, foreboding. The suspense wasfuckinggrating.
Finally, “What?” he growled, his voice rumbling at the back of his throat. If looks could kill, I knew my corpse would have fallen at his feet seconds ago.
