“This is business,” my father repeated even more sternly, stepping away from the table. “Alexander, now,” he barked, and I watched as Alexander stood and followed our father, his dark gaze uncertain.
For the first time ever, Alexander looked truly uncomfortable, already knowing where this situation could lead and not being on board with the dark possibilities.
This was his best friend. His brother in arms.
And this would be a true test of his loyalty and his ability to run our father’s business. Nikolai was showing disrespect for our very way of life. For my father. For my mother. For Alex even. And most certainly for Viktor.
He had been given orders to stay away and he had disobeyed them, making my father and brother look weak, and humiliating all three men that now stalked towards him.
Viktor stepped away from me, giving one last painful squeeze to my shoulder. A threat and a promise in one.
“Mother,” I pleaded desperately as Viktor, my father, Alexander and several of our security headed towards an unshakeable Nikolai. He had to have gone insane, because he didn’t look like he even cared.
“We can’t get involved, Katya,” she said, her tone subdued. She looked towards the table, picking up her wine glass and raising it to her lips.
“This is Nikolai, mother. He’s like a son to you,” I begged, tears stinging the back of my eyes.
Her gaze shot to mine, her fire back in them. “And you are my daughter, Katya. If he were really like a son to me then you wouldn’t have ended up in bed together,” she scolded, her tone full of shame. Up until now, I’d hoped that my father and mother had thought Nik and I had only taken the boat to get away, to hang out like the enemy pseudo-siblings that we’d always been. But my parents were keener than that, and they knew we’d been together physically.
I had shamed her.
I had shamed my father.
My family.
They had picked my husband, and my future, and I had slept with Nikolai in retaliation. But it was so much more than that. Nikolai was so much more than that. She had to know. She had to see.
I stood up and ran to her side as two of my father’s security grabbed Nikolai. He fought; kicking and punching, and he was winning until Viktor sent two of his own men into the fight. They dragged Nikolai to the ground and I whimpered as I dropped to my knees by my mother’s side.
Grabbing her hand, I pulled it to my heart. “Please, Momma. Please,” I whimpered, my fear and anxiety squeezing my throat. “I’m so sorry. I’ll never shame you again, but please don’t let them harm him.” I sobbed.
Behind her Viktor’s men held Nikolai by his arms. He was on his knees as Viktor stood over him, yelling, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. All I could hear was my own grief. My own tears. My own pleadings.
“Why should I?” Mother whispered angrily, trying to pull her hand free of mine. “Tell me why, Katya? Because you are a bitter disappointment to us all. You embarrass us. You shame us. You bring disgrace to our family name. Why should I stand in your father’s way?”
“Shame?” I gasped with a hard scowl. “Mother, we’re the mafia. Crooks, criminals, murderers. Don’t act like we’re actually royalty.”
The scorch of my mother’s palm on my cheek burned through me, the sound of her slap ricocheting around us. I glared at her, tears in my eyes.
“We may be all of those things, daughter, but don’t act like you are ashamed of where you came from. The money, the prestige, the respect...it all comes because of who we are.”
I’d never seen her look so furious and the full weight of what I had just said rested heavily on my shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” I whimpered, because she was right, of course she was.
“I’ll ask you again,” she spoke with the firm but loving authority of a Bratva Queen, “why should I help you? Why should I help Nikolai?”
Viktor slid off his jacket and rested it over the back of a chair. He rolled his shirt sleeves up and unbuttoned the top button, and then he reared back and hit Nikolai in his beautiful face with such force that all I could see momentarily was blood. So much blood. Alex glanced over at me as I screamed, his face pale, his eyes filled with regret. Father paid me no mind, so intent on his decision. On Nikolai’s fate.
“Tell me why, Katya,” my mother asked again, reaching over to clasp the bottom of my chin so I looked directly at her.
The sound of Viktor’s fist on Nikolai echoed around my head as he continued to beat him.
“Because…” my chin quivered, the words like bitter medicine on my tongue.
“Why, daughter?” she hissed.
“Because I love him,” I whispered, my words mingling with the salty tears that trailed down my cheeks and onto my lips. “I love him, Momma.” I clasped her hand tighter, kissing her knuckles. “Please help him. I love him,” I sobbed harder. “I can’t lose him. Not now that I’ve found him.”
