Chapter One
Nikolai Markov
Who’d have guessed…
Alexander, notorious serial fucker of all women, was settling down.
I don’t know what I’d expected. That we’d go on being one another’s wingmen in perpetuity; that we’d hit clubs until we were forty, fifty even, snacking on strangers until sunrise when it was time to get back to Bratva business.
Of all the scenarios that had crossed my mind, Alex finding a partner by killing ‘Ivan the Fucking Terrible’ and then stealing his wife… hadn’t even been a remote option. In my wildest fucking dreams, it took the damn cake.
And I knew what came next, now that the prodigal son was settling down. I’d be pushed to do the same, to mate and breed and keep the Bratva numbers strong. The only reason I’d been allowed freedom this long, was because if Eduard Vasiliev couldn’t force his own son to change his ways, then he certainly couldn’t force his de-facto son into line. I respected Eduard, he’d helped raise me and treated me like blood, but the time of escaping my duties was over… and respect for him or not, I wasn’t happy about it.
I stood against the wall, watching Eduard and Alexander speak in low-pitched voices to their highest-ranked soldiers. Only a few most loyal and trusted could know what was going on, because we didn’t know who all the traitors were. Not yet. We only had a few locations, thanks to a tracker on Ivan’s cars, and a few voices on recorded phone calls, thanks to Decatur planting bugs. We needed more. Documents, computer files. Anything that physically tied Ivan to the others. Not hearsay, not maybes. Alexander had said traitors were everywhere.It was time to clean motherfucking house.
We’d traced the numbers Ivan had called over the past few months to fruitless burner phones. And all of the buildings Ivan frequented were owned by shell companies. I knew Alexander was eager to eliminate the threat to his father’s kingdom.
It would take time. But if we kept digging, we’d find the betraying bastards and send them to the only places they belonged.
Six feet under.
“Do you understand what must be done while we are away?” Alexander took a step in front of his father, commanding the attention and respect as the future Bratva King.
The soldiers nodded in unison.
“You will contact Nikolai or myself directly with intel. If you find, beyond a shadow, the measure of a traitor, kill them on sight.” Alexander’s voice was fierce, his posture confident. Something had changed inside of him, growing to make him the man he had to be to truly rule the family.
I already missed my easy-going friend.
The men in front of him nodded again.
“You’re dismissed,” Alex commanded, lifting a hand casually towards the door and then turning to whisper something to his father.
Moments later, he walked towards me, a look of relief on his face.
“I don’t know about you, brother, but I’ve never needed a vacation more.” He clapped me on the shoulder, and then pulled me forward away from the wall. “It’s almost worth killing a man and needing to get out of town while things cool.”
“What makes this vacation so special?” I smirked at him, knowing the answer, but continuing to tease. “No need to hunt for pussy since you’re bringing it as a carry-on?”
Alexander squeezed my shoulder tightly enough to make me wince. “You’d do well to not speak of her that way, Nik.”
Not heeding his warning, I shrugged out of his grip and moved a few feet away before speaking again and poking the rabid beast beneath his skin. “Will Marisha care about the dozen or so women you left pining for you in Fiji last time? I’m sure she knows your sordid history by now, Brother.”
“If we leave our room long enough to meet any of them, I’ll make sure they know that I’m off the market.” He gave me a wry smile, and then his eyes softened as he looked past me. I turned to find what he was looking at, and there was Marisha, red hair glowing in the sunlight as she stood near a floor-to-ceiling window. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do.”
“You sure you won’t grow tired of one woman for the rest of your life?” I said it jokingly, but beneath my teasing words was a question I truly wanted the answer to.
My longest friend, the one I’d sworn as a kid to ride or die with, turned to me and spoke seriously. “You don’t know what you’re missing, Nik. After a while, you’ll grow tired of quick fucks and cold, lonely mornings.”
“Any woman that tells you I’m a quick fuck is lying.” I rebuked him quickly, ignoring the way his words affected me.
Alexander shrugged, not taking the bait, and he walked away. Marisha greeted him, arms wrapping around his neck and coming up on tiptoes to kiss him deeply on the mouth.
One woman for the rest of my life?
No fucking way.
I made my way outside into the gardens where Katya was standing near one of the many entrances leading back into the mansion, several rolling suitcases rested at her feet. Her posture was defiant, her arms crossed over her chest and her breasts bulging. Evelina was frowning at her daughter, eyes roving up and down the scant outfit Katya wore, and I chuckled.
