AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Later, I learned that her father had arranged for her to be engaged to Razvan, even though she was barely fifteen. I never knew what hate felt like until that day. I confronted Mihail, stared straight into his craggy, old face, and I realized then he was a monster. A narcissistic, manipulative prick who cared about nothing but himself. Humph, as if I needed any further proof after the way he treated my mother and Alex’s mother. “
Eyes gleaming with deadly intent, he swore, “I will become consilier, I will prove myself to her and this clan, and I will win her back.”
My eyebrows lifted.
“Uhm…she’s married,” I reminded him quietly as I silently acknowledged another Romanian, this time the mother of one of my soldiers. It wasn’t ideal to have a conversation on the street, and yet here we were.
Once the woman was far out of hearing range, Sebastian turned abruptly toward me, his face set in granite, and said, “Not for long.”
“In case you think you can ever kill him, her husband isn’t a nobody,” I observed.
“And soon, neither will I be, so let the best fucking man win. Regardless of whatever happens between Lana and me, after what he’s done to her, he deserves to die.”
“Those are fighting words. He’s a made man, so I suggest, for your own safety, you don’t repeat them out loud,” I counseled as I resumed walking.
One might think that I would take those words of treason to heart against a member of my own tribe, but Sebastian wasn’t wrong. Razvan was a miserable bastard. He was one of my main playground tormentors when I was a kid. I knew what he was capable of. He was a bully, and I could only imagine how he treated Lana. Of course, Lana was a tough woman and held her own against him. They didn’t have an easy life together.
But that was their business. I wasn’t about to get my hands dirty over a potential love triangle, and I said potential because I didn’t know what to make of Sebastian’s declaration. Whatever Sebastian threatened to do, he’d have to be strong before he could step up to a man like Razvan. As much as I wanted him to take over for me, it wasn’t a done deal, and assuming Sebastian became consilier, Razvan could take care of himself. It was a dicey proposition to go up against a made man on a good day. And Razvan was as tough as they came.
“I have a plan, Tatum, and I won’t be deterred,” he swore.
“What would you have done if I didn’t consider you as a replacement?” I asked curiously.
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat. I would’ve figured out another way. The moment I saw Lana, I knew we were meant to be together. And when I saw him, I knew he needed to be disposed of. This is an opportunity to bypass a lot of shit and get to the top faster,” he divulged.
I clapped him on the back. “Well, let’s get to it, brother. You have a lot to learn and not much time to do it in.”
“How much time?” he asked.
A car passed pounding out a heavy bass. I let it pass before answering. “Ideally, I want to be gone in a couple months. I’ll be here for however long it takes, but now that I know you have a goal in mind and are prepared to do whatever’s necessary, I can push you hard.”
“Why do you want to leave? I mean, you’re at the pinnacle of the most powerful mafie family in the world. Why give that up?”
“For the same reason you gave up your former life,” I answered.
“For a woman.”
“To another man, it might not make sense. I’ve dedicated my life to this family, and I’m honored to be part of it, but I—it isn’t everything, you know? At a certain point, it stopped being enough, and when I met Clara, everything fell into place.”
He snorted. “Sure it was the moment you met her ’cause you guys were at each other’s throats for a good chunk of time? Would’ve never guessed from the way you two went at it in California you’d end up where you are now.”
I chuckled. “That was prolonged foreplay, my friend. Perhaps you’ll be so lucky to play the same game of cat and mouse with your woman at some point in the future.”
He made a noise in the back of his throat.
“My woman,” he said softly, almost a whisper.
His striking clear green eyes lifted to me. “I don’t know when the day will come, if ever. There are many barriers in the way.”
“Barriers were meant to be broken by men like us. We never play by the rules. Why would that change with the rules of love?”
“Touché.”
We’d reached the Brutarie Bucure?ti, and I paused, hand on the doorknob of the evergreen-painted door. “Let’s get started. While I’m glad to know we’re both on the same page, we have a long way to go. Alex doesn’t want to let me go, and he’s far from convinced you’re an adequate substitute.”
Sebastian’s gaze turned hard as granite. “Then it’s time we prove him wrong.”
“Amen, brother,” I murmured. “Amen.”
