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The dimly lit space was brimming with the warm glow of hanging lights, casting dancing shadows on the walls. A couple of local men with their whiskey glasses in hand belted out a spirited Irish ballad, their voices rich with tradition. Cheerful laughter filled the air, their merriment infectious.
I loved this place.
I was just about to take another swig of Guinness when the buzzing of my phone on the bar interrupted the moment. I glanced at the screen, not immediately recognizing the number. I reached for it and silenced it, not wanting any family business to ruin the night. I’d let it go to voicemail and deal with it in the morning.
I could take one night off. Nobody was gonna die.
Probably not, anyway…
As soon as my phone’s screen dimmed, Caden reached into his pocket, his own buzzing softly in his palm.
“It’s Anastasia Kozlov,” he murmured.
I raised a single eyebrow. Okay, he got me. I was curious.
Unlike me, Caden always answered pretty much immediately, and he promptly greeted her with a soft “Hello.”
The two of us were familiar with her. She was the daughter of Roman Kozlov, a Russian bratva kingpin that had been moving into town and ruffling a lot of feathers from the Italians to the Greeks, to other Russian bratvas, and even the cartel. My family had made the decision to kill his malicious son Anton, and honestly, he was lucky he hadn’t died sooner. Not only had Anton kidnapped my sister Ada, but he’d roughed up my brother Aidan’s new main squeeze, Irina Morozov, too.
None of us condoned violence against women.
As far as we knew, we’d eliminated the bad egg, and the Kozlovs wouldn’t give us anymore trouble, or at least we didn’t expect them to.
“Anastasia,” my brother purred. He sounded interested, and that was unusual for him.
Was there something between them?
I watched as he nodded, acknowledging her request, then covered the phone’s speaker and whispered to me, “She wants to talk to you, Connor.”
Increasingly curious, I reached out, accepting the phone from my brother. “Anastasia,” I greeted her, my voice a blend of politeness and interest.
There was a brief pause on the other end, as if she were choosing her words carefully. “Connor,” she began, “I hope you’re enjoying your evening, but I need your help with something… rather unconventional.”
My interest was thoroughly peaked.
There was something inexplicably vulnerable hidden within the cadence of her words, and I found myself leaning into the unique beauty of her voice. There was a note of urgency in her tone as well, which pulled me in even further.
“What do you mean unconventional?” I echoed, cocking my head with curiosity.
“I’m sure you’ve heard whispers of the Colombian cartel moving through the Boston underground,” she began.
The Colombian cartel had been making bold moves into our family’s territory for weeks now. Their presence in Boston had become an escalating problem, and I’d been watching it unfold with growing concern.
We all were.
They’d been stepping on our family’s toes at every turn. They pushed their own narcotics into our traditional gambling strongholds, recruited members from rival gangs, set up lucrative drug deals on our home turf, and they weren’t even shy about it. The cartel’s influence was expanding at an alarming rate. If we didn’t act soon, they would become more than an annoying little problem. The way things were going, it was going to result in a war.
“I have,” I answered.
“The Colombian cartel is ruthless, and they’re making moves in our city that will leave no room for negotiation. My father’s bratva is strong, but even he can’t face the cartel alone. We need allies.”
“You want my family as an ally?”
“If we join our families through marriage, we’ll create a formidable front that will command respect and fear in this impending war against them,” she continued, her voice a bit breathless.
“Marriage between the Kozlovs and the Murphys… What exactly are you suggesting?” I asked, my voice trailing off. I furrowed my brow, trying to understand what she was getting at.
“I’m suggesting that you and I enter into an arranged marriage to fully cement an alliance between our families,” she stated,her tone clear and decisive. There was no question in her voice, and my mind raced with the implications of what a marriage between us might mean.
