“Please,” I scoff, “like you even know when your gardener’s shed is.”
The brushing slows. “We have to talk about it,” she says gently, “are you really planning to go through with this?”
“With what?” I evade.
Leaving the brush stuck in one of my snarls, Mariya comes around to sit in front of me. “You can’t avoid this and you know it. When Lucca came racing across campus, holding you, I had never seen anyone so terrified. Those first couple of days, when we…” she turned her head and I realized she was trying not to cry.
“When we thought you were going to die, he refused to leave you, and you held onto his hand. You wouldn’t let go, even unconscious and barely able to breathe. You love each other so much. In one of those sappy ‘until the end of time’ songs sort of ways. There’s no way you can go through with this arrangement.”
“Really?” I want to scream, be angry, throw things, but I’m too weak to do anything but shake. “Do you think I want to, Mari? You’re like me, you’re in an arranged marriage, too. What do you think would happen if you marched up to Maksim and said, ‘Hey, I’m madly in love with someone else and gave him my virginity and anyway, I want to break these unbreakable vows between Bratvas and marry him instead.’ How do you thinkyourPakhan would take it?”
“Well, you got together with Lucca before the arrangement, so the virginity thing doesn’t count,” she said. “Do you remember my brother Yuri’s arranged marriage to that girl from the Balabonov Bratva? Tania stood in the middle of the cathedral and shouted ‘I object!’”
“Oh, I rememberthat,I was there.” I said happily, “best not-wedding ever.”
“Yuri and the Balabanov Bratva managed to make an agreement that worked for both sides-”
“With a huge loss of face,” I interrupt.
“That turned into nothing,” she retorted, “Yuri and Tania are proof that true love can triumph over even the bullshit Bratva alliances.”
“Your family wasn’t under fire, Mari. When my parents were murdered, it was just the beginning. Roman and Ilia are no closer to finding out who’s behind trying to destroy our family, or who tried to kidnap me, and-”
“What?” She grabbed my arm. “When? When did this happen?”
“The night they blew up my parent’s plane,” I whispered, looking at the open door to my room. I don’t need anyone overhearing us. “They tried to kill Ilia and Roman at the same time, it was a wide-scale coordinated attack.”
“So, it must be more than some rival Bratva, or whoever,” she said, eyes narrowed. I can always tell when Mariya’s analyzing something because her eyes dart back and forth, like she’s watching a tennis match. “Multiple targets, several different enemies, but they’re all colluding against the Aslanov Bratva. Look, this is my turn to tell you something that can never be repeated, okay?”
“Of course,” I nodded.
“The same thing happened to my family. Maksim needed alliances and that’s how I ended up promised to Konstantin. The important thing here is that there were three different syndicates, too. Lucca will know about this. His brother Dante-”
“Yes!” I interrupted, “Lucca told me about it. He said his parents were murdered at a New Year’s Eve party. His older brothers were there, too. Dante was trying to kill them all.”
“Right,” she nodded, “it was also a rival Bratva, the Sokolovs, and even worse was the Irish mob, the O’Connells,pust' oni gniyut v adu,may they rot in hell. Maksim’s wife, Ella? Her own brother was an O’Connell and he was in on it. So, these syndicates all stood to gain something, and they weren’t afraid to murder their own family to get it.”
“What a mess,” I sighed, “thank god your family figured it out before those scum managed to kill you all.”
“There’s two things that feel off here,” she said, her eyes darting back and forth like a pinball machine. “You getting kidnapped is one. According to everything you told me, they killed - or tried to kill - everyone but you. Someone must have been planning to marry you and take control in that way.
“The second thing that seems so weird to me... I haven’t heard anything about your brothers seeking alliances with any of the other Russian families. You’re one of the Moscow Six, for god’s sake! And they aligned with the sleaziest Bratva in Russia? Have they reached out to anyone else? Any of the Mafia families? The Irish? Hell, the Cosa Nostra? The Scots? Your father did business all over the world!”
“They definitely caught Roman on his back foot,” I said, “I’m pretty sure he wasn’t planning to become thePakhanfor a long time. My father was very ‘you’ll becomePakhanwhen you pry it from my cold dead fingers,’ and-bozhe moy,I can’t believe I just said something so dreadful.” I put my hands against my eyes, trying to force the tears back.
She grabs my wrists, pulling my hands away from my face. “Look. The Toscano Mafia is insanely powerful. They would be a great alliance for your family, and let’s not forget the important connection between the Morozov Bratva and the Toscanos. Through Kon and me, the Turgenev Bratva. There are all kinds of complex interconnectedness here that Roman may not be aware of. If we speak to our families, we can offer something much bigger to your family’s Bratva. Plus, Roman and Ilia will certainly have a lot more help finding out who’s behind this.”
“As always, fam, you’re a genius. You really are disgustingly brilliant,” I said.
“Thank you,” she preens.
“Your brother Yuri’s situation aside, youknowhow absolute the vows of an arranged marriage between Bratvas are. If we break them, our family has no honor. No other family will have anything to do with us. You know I’m right.”
“Well, I don’t know what the deal was between Yuri and the Balabanovs. I never got that much information, though you’d be impressed with how much my sisters-in-law tell me. There was some combination of… like… blackmail and mutually assured destruction. As for you, it’s almost March, which means we have three months or so before Aleksandr graduates and you’re forced to get married.”
“Meaning?” I said, so pathetically grateful to see even the slightest glimmer of hope.
Mariya smiles, her eyes tilting up like a fox’s. “We have ninety days to find a way for Roman to cut a deal with the Rostova Bratva that does not include you.”
