Page 27 of Mafia King’s Dangerous Vow

Nikolai doesn’t bother hiding his satisfaction. “Glad to see you pulled your head out of your ass before the two-week mark.”

“You and Mikhail are betting on my marriage now?”

“Obviously.”

I decide not to ask how much money is involved. “Touching. I’m glad near-catastrophic family history brought the two of you so close.”

“Mikhail said you’d get emotionally compromised first,” Nikolai says. “I said you’d become a control freak.”

“Who’s winning?”

“You’re making it very competitive.”

I head for the door. “Enjoy your winnings.”

“Aleksander.”

I pause.

“I watched you disappear for two years after Elena,” he says quietly. “I’m not doing that again.” For once, I let him finish. “She’s not Elena, and you’re not the man you were back then.”

If I answer, he will hear too much. So I leave.

“Move Tamara’s protocols to priority,” I tell Yuri when I get into the car.

He doesn’t ask why.

“How fast can you have her operational?”

He thinks before he answers, calculating. “A few days.”

Somewhere between the cathedral and this elevator, I had started making my wife smaller and calling it protection.

9

HOSTAGE CUISINE. (TAMARA)

“Ineed to reschedule the Healy consultation.”

My assistant Maya sounds confused and wary. “Reschedule? Tamara, that’s your biggest client this quarter. They’ve already been waiting three weeks.”

“I know.” I stand at the bedroom window, watching rain streak the glass. “Something came up. Family situation.”

Papers rustle on her end. Then, carefully, “Are you okay? Because a small army showed up at the studio this morning and dismantled half your office.”

“I’m fine,” I lie. “I’ll be working remotely for a while. I just need you to move things around.”

“How long is a while?”

There’s the problem, because I don’t know the timeline or whether the business I spent five years building can survive long enough to wait for me.

“Tamara?”

“I’ll let you know.” I press my palm to the cold glass. “Tell them it’s temporary.”

“And if they don’t want temporary?”

Then I lose them. The clients, the reputation, the one thing in my life that belonged entirely to me.