Maksim’s eyes tighten. “Well… bye. I guess.” He quickly turns and walks away.
Leaving me alone my first day in New York. My first day in my new house. My first day in my new life.
Maksim
Not surprisingly, my father is angry when I show up at Nikolai’s restaurant to discuss business. The restaurant is closed this time of day, giving us ample time to go over a plan on how to deal with the Italians.
But in this moment, I wish other people were around. It would save me from my father’s angry glare.
“What the fuck, Maksim?” he snarls, storming over to me. Nikolai shakes his head but otherwise, doesn’t comment. Heknows he can’t fully control me, unlike my dad, who keeps trying.
“I said I was coming home.”
“I was hoping you were lying.”
“What’s the big deal?” I walk past him and slump into the booth across from Nikolai. “Natasha is with me. We’re still married. The alliance is going strong. I don’t see how staying a few extra days in Greece would have made a difference. Natasha and I can’t stand each other anyway. So it’s just a marriage of convenience.”
“There’s nothing you like about her?” Nikolai asks.
“I mean, she’s beautiful. But she’s closed off and withdrawn. It makes it hard to get to know her. Otherwise, I would try. I have been trying. I just can’t seem to say the right thing.”
“That’s why you needed to stay on your honeymoon longer,” my father snaps. “To work on your marriage. If it’s a success, then we never have to worry about Lev again.”
“It’s not like I’m going to cheat on Natasha. I know better than to do that. I’m not going to ruin this marriage. Have some fucking faith me, Dad.”
He narrows his eyes but doesn’t say a word to that.
“Well, since you’re here,” Nikolai cuts in, “let’s go over some things. In the past few weeks since Alexei died, Enzo Bianchi has taken it upon himself to come after our territory. I think he believes us to be weak right now.”
“How do we deal with him?” I ask, ignoring my dad as he sits down next to me.
“We don’t want another war on our hands. So, we can’t kill Enzo. But we can attack his shipments. He has a gun shipment coming in soon. If we take away his money, it will weaken his claim and hopefully he’ll back off.”
Gregor nods. “It’s a good plan. You were always good for them, Nik.”
I scowl. My father loves complimenting Nik but never me.
“Since you’re back,” Nik says to me, “I’ll put you in charge of going after Enzo’s gun shipment.”
“Great. Put me back in. I’m ready to work.” It was the one thing I was always good at.
“You should be focusing on your wife,” Dad grumbles.
“He can do both,” Nik says. “Maksim has been a loyal friend to me over the years. Give your son more credit, Gregor. He did his job in marrying Natasha. That’s all you can ask of him. He helped prevent a war with Lev. So we’re good on that front. Now, let’s take down these fucking Italians before they can come for us.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” And if it helps me take my mind off my new wife, even better.
Natasha
Kira barges into the apartment after I open the door for her like she owns the place. I guess in a way she does. She has more of a right to her brother’s apartment than I do. She’s known Maksim all her life whereas I have only known him for a few days.
“We’re going out,” she states.
I blink. “Out where?”
She rolls her eyes. “There’s this ladies’ function happening today. One of my friends, Irina, asked me to join her, so I agreed, even though I hate going to these types of things. I figured youcould come with me. You know Irina, right? She was at the wedding.”
“I… don’t remember. It was all a blur.”
