Mafia Boss’s Arranged Bride by Bella King
Chapter 19
Nikolai
Everything is exactly the way I left it here. I don’t see anybody new, and it’s almost like nothing has even been moved from its place. It’s probably been six or seven months since I’ve seen anybody. It seems like they’ve carried it well.
I also noticed that nobody is missing, either. For a half a year stretch of time, that’s pretty amazing. We had been raided at least once per four months for about two years before my father wiped out the people who were trailing us, unknowingly doing me a huge favor. It’s good to see everybody again.
“So, I’m assuming you’re here because you fucked up,” James says, his eyes narrowing as I step out of the bathroom.
“I don’t fuck things up., That’s for others to do,” I reply dryly, striding up to him with more confidence than I feel at the moment. All eyes will be on me while I’m here, and the truth will come out quickly. They’ll know about the wedding massacre eventually. It’ll be on the news.
“Who’s the girl?” he asks, nodding toward the door. He obviously doesn’t believe the girlfriend story, but I didn’t expect that one to stick. It was all I could conjure up on such short notice.
“A woman of no importance,” I say, waving my hand through the air dismissively.
“I’m not buying that shit,” he says, crossing his wiry arms. “Why don’t you come clean and save us all the trouble and come clean about it. You kidnapped her, didn’t you?”
I almost stumble back from surprise. “James, what kind of moron do you think I am?”
He shrugs. “The kind that doesn’t show his face around here for months and then suddenly arrives with a rather sickly young woman who looks like she’s seen the devil in person. What are you doing with her? Is this part of the business? Is it…” he leans forward. “Trafficking?”
I let out a deep sigh. “No. I’m not into that type of business. I prefer drugs and weapons.”
“And how’s the family?” he asks, narrowing his eyes.
Does he already know? That’s not possible, but his question seems a little too on-target to be a wild guess at the root of my problems.
“The family is fine,” I reply, smoothing over the disaster as though it were only a figment of Annika’s imagination. It might become one with the amount of trauma she’s endured. People tend to tuck the worst things they’ve experienced in the basements of their minds, pushing them so far back that no conscious effort at retrieving them can bring them back.
“I’m asking because last time you were here, there was trouble with them. There’s always trouble when you come here,” he says. His voice tells me that he’s worried I’m going to bring that trouble with me, but I doubt they know where I vanished to. They’ll be sorting through bodies once the chaos is over, and only once they’ve been counted and identified will the search for Annika begin.
Or perhaps they’ve achieved their goals, and there will be no further interest in either of us, but I doubt it. My father likes a job that is finished completely, not something that’s done to ninety percent.
I’m compelled to wonder whether Michail will be involved any further or if this is too grandiose of a betrayal for him to submit to my father’s rule any longer. If he isn’t already dead, going against my father will ensure that he’s tucked into a grave quickly and forgotten about as though he never was the son of a mafia boss.
And that leaves me to the throne should my father finally croak. I wish for it now, in a way that I never thought I’d find myself wishing. I never liked him, but he’s become a beast that would betray his own flesh and blood for power, and I can’t forgive that.
James frowns at me, his light eyebrows creasing deep over his eyes until I retract from my thoughts and give him my attention again. He knows something is wrong, but I’m not keen on admitting what it is.
He shuffles uncomfortably, and I feel bad for withholding information from him. He’s been close to me for years, and only recently have we begun to drift apart as friends. I trust him, and few men on this planet receive that type of loyalty from me.
“Alright, let me lay this out for you, but you need to keep your damn mouth shut about it, or I’ll make it a point that you wake up six feet underground,” I say, leaning in and lowering my voice. “Do you understand?”
James nods eagerly, the sprigs of brown hair bouncing on his head as it moves.
“Annika is from another mafia family, one that was supposed to have good relations with mine, but you know how they can be. Any opportunity to seize power is a good one, no matter how many lives it destroys,” I say, bitterness tinging my words like the peel of a grapefruit. “She was supposed to be married to my brother Michail, but there was a shooting at the wedding. I lost him in the crowd. God only knows if he survived.”
“Fuck, is that where you guys came from?”
“Straight from the venue, yes,” I reply solemnly. “My family betrayed hers, and now I’m stuck with this woman and not sure whose side I’m supposed to be on, only that I’m alive, and I want to keep her safe from the horrors of what my father has done.”
“You’re not involved?” he asks, his voice hinting strongly at doubt. “Wait, fuck, that isn’t important. What’s important for now is that you’re safe, you know what you’re doing, and you’re positive that nobody knows where you two are. If anybody from her family survived, they’re going to attack your side with a vengeance; good intentions be damned.”
“I know,” I say with a curt nod. “I’ll be an enemy to both sides now.”
“All I ask is that you keep her while you scope out the perimeter of where the incident took place. Go see if you can find your brother, but don’t get caught.”
My stomach drops at the thought of returning to the place where my family slaughtered dozens of people. “Are you fucking kidding me? The place is swarming with cops by this point. If I do show up, I’ll get followed for sure.”
He shrugs. “That’s your call, man.”
“I’m going to stay back with Annika for a few days and lie low until it’s safer. The place is fucking radioactive at this point.”
James rolls his eyes and deliberates. “Fine, but everybody is going to be really tense about having you guys here, so I need you to be prepared for that. Otherwise, everyone knows you really well, Nikolai, so I’m not concerned about your presence here. Annika might freak some people out a little, though. She’s too new. I don’t know if it’s going to work out…”
I start to feel tense and agitated. “So, can we stay here or not?”
“Ugh. Yes, you both can stay, but she’s your responsibility. I’m not going to put anyone else in harm’s way for her just because you brought her here.”
“That’s fine; I expected that. I appreciate your understanding, James,” I reply, feeling the tightness in my jaw slowly unravel.
“You know I’m always going to look out for you, man,” he says. “I’ll have you guys stay up on the second loft in one of the modified shipping containers. It gets cold as fuck up there, but it’s better than boxes for walls.”
“We’ll be fine,” I say, shooting a quick glance toward the door to the bathroom. Annika is still inside, but the sound of cold water splashing against the floor has ceased.
“I’ll leave you to it, then,” James says with a nod, and then he disappears from the room, moving with a swiftness of a man on a mission. I’m sure he has others to handle tonight as well. This place has to be constantly rechecked for order lest it falls into chaos within hours. The people who live here aren’t exactly saints.
“Nikolai,” a shy voice calls for me from inside the bathroom.
