Mafia Boss’s Arranged Bride by Bella King

Chapter 31

Nikolai

Thirty-five years, and you think you know a guy. One fucking day and everything you thought about a person goes up in flames. I’m going to kill Michail, and I don’t mean that figuratively. I’m going to strangle him with my own two hands so that he can’t poison the world with his callous actions any longer.

“Give me one of those,” I say, holding out my hand to Annika as she pulls yet another cigarette from the pack.

“It’s about time you start talking. I asked you before if you wanted one, but you were too busy staring into the abyss.”

She lays a cigarette on the palm of my hand, and I curl my fingers around it. “Thanks, darling, but I was thinking. A man needs to think when he’s confronted with a dilemma.”

“Darling?”

“Michail is a pest that we need to squash. He’s like a cockroach, only a lot uglier and harder to fit under your shoe.”

“Yeah, but darling?”

“Does that bother you?” I ask, glancing over at her and squinting. This is the woman who let me fuck her without protection repeatedly just days after her wedding was supposed to take place. I assumed a simple word wouldn’t be much of an issue.

“It doesn’t bother me, no. I was just surprised. You’ve never referred to me in such an affectionate way.”

“’Whore’ isn’t cutting it anymore,” I say with a laugh. I’m thankful to have a break from the grim topic of Michail. Annika is the only shimmer of normalcy I have left, and I savor her like the last days of summer.

“You’re cute, Nikolai, always such a charmer,” she says, tilting her head to the side and grinning at me. “But do you really like me, or is this just some funny thing you’re saying to confuse me?”

“What? Confuse you? I’m not in the business of being confusing. I’m about as direct as they come if you haven’t noticed.”

She shrugs. “Oh sure, I’ve noticed, but you know how men and feelings are.”

“I don’t.”

“My father, for example,” she says, taking a slow drag of her cigarette. “That man doesn’t… didn’t… know how to express himself in anything but calmness and rage. If he was happy at my mother – calm. Angry? Rage. And there was no indication of love in his words when he spoke. I’ve never met a man who actually said what he meant.”

“I thought women were supposed to be the confusing ones,” I reply.

“Very funny,” she says dryly. “I’m trying to make sure you’re not messing with me, that’s all. I’ve been through a lot.”

“I have no interest in giving you a hard time, Annika. I was even cautious about coming on to you so soon after the incident, but something inside of me couldn’t be controlled,” I admit. “I would’ve waited, but –”

“But I wouldn’t have wanted you to,” she says quickly. “I’m glad that you pulled me out of that bullshit. Marrying for business is the stupidest thing imaginable. I mean, look where it got us? Nowhere!”

“Michail pulled you out of it, technically, but I get what you’re saying. I was skeptical of the whole ordeal myself, but my father was making such a big deal out of it that I thought it might actually work, you know? The whole idea about unifying families, growing into a monstrous conglomerate of crime – I liked it.”

“Until he went off the rails. What a fucking psychopath,” she says, shaking her head. “I really thought he was just empty inside, like a doll. He looked like one, even. It’s crazy how he was plotting something like this all along. It’s almost unbelievable.”

I nod, thinking back to the many times Michail obeyed our father without a second thought. It does seem odd that he would be the mastermind behind this, which is why I need to find out first-hand if Corey was telling us the truth. It seems like an odd thing to lie about, given the circumstances.

“We’re going to find out the truth, Annika. I can promise you that,” I say, tapping my fingers on the top of the steering wheel. “First, though, we’re going to have to find Michail. It won’t be easy, given his aversion to sunlight, but I know a few places he likes to frequent.”

“Bars and such?”

“Strip clubs,” I reply with a smirk. “You thought your fiancé was a saint?”

“He’s not my fiancé. I don’t want you calling him that, and no, I didn’t think he was a saint,” she says sharply, pushing her hair back as it falls into her face. “I was aware of what I was getting myself into. People warned me about it too, but I was too loyal to my family to push back.”

“Mistakes were made, but we’re about to correct at least one of them,” I reply. “Michail is a dead man walking. I can promise you that.”

“Pinky promise?”

“What?”

She holds out her pinky. “You have to hook them together,” she explains. “It’s an unbreakable oath.”

“Aren’t we supposed to use blood or something?” I ask with a chuckle.

“This is more serious,” she says, her stark eyes betraying the obvious jest of her proposal.

I inhale deeply through my nose, holding the smokey air in my lungs for a few seconds before exhaling. “Alright,” I say, hooking my pinky into hers. “I promise you, Annika. Michail’s days are numbered.”

She smiles, and I know that I’d do anything to keep her smiling like that. I don’t think she realizes yet how much she means to me, how fond I’ve grown of her in such a short period of time. At one point, she was a fleeting fancy, a primal desire that I needed to fulfill. Now, she’s everything to me, the light of my life and the only spark in my soul that remains.

At all costs, she will be protected.

At all costs, Michail will be destroyed.

“So,” she says, rolling down her window just enough to flick her cigarette out into the rain. “Where is this strip club, anyway?”

“A few miles from here. We’ll be there soon, but I don’t expect to run into Michail or anything. I just know a few people who might be able to help me there,” I explain.

She raises a skeptical brow. “A few people?”

“Some women,” I reply, my heart beating a little faster. I notice sweat forming on my palms, and I don’t care to admit what Annika can already deduce from what I’ve said.

“Oh, so you’re familiar with the place, then. Familiar with some of the dancers, too, I suppose,” she says, her voice split between teasing and accusing.

I don’t look at her, unwilling to get sucked into this conversation and risk saying something foolish. “I don’t go there often,” I say. “It’s just a bar, really.”

“Sure,” she replies, but I know she doesn’t believe me.

I’d gladly leave all that wild stuff in the past for her as well, but I don’t expect her to believe that either. It’s something you have to prove over time, and I’m going to do that. I’d do just about anything for her.

“Just keep your head straight and listen to my orders. I don’t want you stepping out of line at a place like this, and I certainly don’t want any problems with the dancers. They’re the vengeful type and only care about money,” I explain.

“Of course,” she says, crossing her arms and pursing her lips like she’s not altogether convinced that I’m not just going there to chat with some old friends.

I wouldn’t be stepping into the lion’s den for fun, however, so her fears aren’t warranted. This is business, and business demands that I return to the rigid man she probably detests. I can be soft for a woman like her, but for everyone else who knows me, I’m as solid as steel and as sharp as a razor.

And I’ll cut a man twice as fast without a second thought. Corey was a prime example of what I can do when someone pisses me off. My stomach is already doing summersaults at the prospect of putting a hole in Michail’s head. What was once a fleeting fancy has twisted into my harshest reality.

Blood for blood or the rivers will run dry.