Six Months. Two weeks. Five Days.
Hanging up the phone, I run my fingers over the side of my desk. Every nick in the wood is from a knife that I use to tally up the kills I have under my belt. Last night I got a new name from my uncle and I know the name well.
She’s going to hate me even more than she did the last time I saw her. For the last three months, I’ve been going to her. I only go to her for one thing. I slip through the security I had set up in her house and crawl in bed behind her. She never says anything about the way I left her at the bar or about the way I come to her every night.
She’s become a drug that I can’t refuse no matter how much I try.
Our conversations are the basics, most of the time we don’t even talk. We let our bodies say everything we need to say.
The new name on my list is her brother. The man I’ve come to know as the bartender she’s protecting. Her family is involved in the Italian Mob. I haven’t told her who she’s protecting or why I almost got stabbed in the bar right in front of her.
As soon as the words come out of my mouth, everything between us is done. She won’t forgive me for what I have to do. If I were her, I’d find a way to avenge his death. I just don’t know if she would have it in her to kill me. I see the way she still looks at me. She craves me just like I crave her.
She’s my beautiful downfall. The one who will end up getting me killed. A death I would gladly take as long as I get to take a little piece of her with me when I go.
Answering my ringing phone, I put it to my ear. “What Stav?” I’m not in the mood to talk to his ass tonight.
“I need you to dig up some information for me.” Of course he fucking does. I don’t know how I ended up being his bitch lately.
“What information?” I ask tiredly. Part of me needs to get a decent night’s sleep, but the other part is craving another night with Ivelisse.
“I need to know if my VP is involved in the shit that went down with E and his daughter’s kidnapping.” Closing my eyes, I lean back in my chair. A few weeks ago, I helped the Draconic Crimson get E’s little girl back from a damn child smuggling ring. I was lucky to find the damn information in time. They almost sold her off to the highest damn bidder.
Even then I knew E had suspicions on Romeo when he asked me to look into it, not that I’ll tell my brother that little detail. “Yeah, fine. What do you want to know?” Doing this for him keeps my mind off the task I have to perform and off of Ivelisse.
“I want to know if he was in bed with Mica Duncan or anyone else. Keep this shit to yourself and don’t tell Easy E anything that you find. I will deal with this shit.”
“Fine. I’ll get you everything I can find,” I state. “You and Harlyn talk yet?” I ask after a brief pause.
“No, the bitch still isn’t answering my damn calls. She’s so damn frustrating. I’m about ready to show up on your damn doorstep and force her ass to talk to me.” I can’t help but laugh at that. He’s such a pussy sometimes. Even if he showed up, I’d give her the heads up and get her out of the house before he got here.
I made a promise to her when she told me about finding him with another girl before she gave birth. I don’t blame her now. I would be doing the same damn thing if I were her.
“She’s still pissed at you.” I grin at that. When isn’t that girl pissed at him.
“Stupid bitch,” he mutters. I know he seems like a dick ninety percent of the time, but he loves her. He would do anything to protect her, even if that meant sacrificing himself.
A beep starts in my ear and when I pull the screen away from my ear, I see Ivelisse’s name on the screen. What the hell could she be calling for? I told her if she wanted me to keep fucking her every night, then that meant no outside contact. We were doing this shit my way. I put the phone back to my ear and let her call go to voicemail.
I hear the beep again alerting me to a voicemail. Ignoring that, I try to focus on whatever Stavros is talking about, but it’s no use. My mind is swimming with Ivelisse and what she would be calling about. Finally I put an end to the conversation with Stavros because I have no idea what he’s even talking about anymore.
Hitting the voicemail button I hear her voice come over the phone. “Nikolai, I… I… I need to talk to you. I don’t want to leave it over a voicemail. Please… please, can you please call me when you get this? It’s… impor –” the voicemail cuts off. Getting up from my chair, I grab my gun, wallet, and phone and make my way to my car.
The drive to her house seems to take forever. The minute I pull up, I see one of my men sitting outside of his car, watching the area. “Hey, boss. Didn’t expect you this early, is everything okay?” I nod my head and start to walk towards her front door.
“Anyone come in or out of her place today?” He shakes his head no and I nod before unlocking her front door. I made myself a key from her master before Stas gave it to her. I wanted to have access just in case something ever happened.
My phone starts to ring in my pocket and when I look down at the screen, I see her name again. When I get to her bedroom, the door is cracked open. I can see her sitting on her bed, tears running down her face. “Please…” she whispers into the phone. “I need to talk to you.” I watch as she hits the end button before tossing the phone on the bed.
Pushing open her bedroom door, I walk into the room. She has clothes everywhere and it looks like she hasn’t cleaned in weeks. I don’t remember it being this messy last night when I was here.
“Ivelisse.” My voice is low and gravelly. I don’t know if it’s a reaction to her being sad or what, but seeing the tears falling down her face makes me want to rush over to her side and deal with whatever is making her upset.
She jumps off the bed and comes running at me. Launching herself into my arms, I catch her and hold her close to my body. Running my hand over her face, I brush her wet hair from her eyes and wait for her to say something. “Nikolai,” she whispers. She buries her face into my chest and I just hold her.
“What’s wrong, doll?” I murmur against the top of her head. She shakes her head, but never removes her face from my chest. Picking her up, I walk her over to the bed and lay her down on it. Lying next to her, I let her cuddle into my body.
No words are said for what seems like hours. The vibration of my phone is the only way I know it hasn’t been that long. Grabbing it out of my pocket, I see my uncle’s name on the screen. “What?” I demand. I don’t want to hear his shit right now.
“I hear you have a pretty little piece of ass nowadays.” My body goes still at his words. “Cut ties with her and I won’t hold that against you.”
“Fuck you. You can’t tell me who I can be with,” I growl.
“Yeah, I can. You are one of my men. We have a deal in place and an arranged marriage to get over with.” I laugh at him. Is he fucking serious? There is no way he’s arranging a marriage for me.
“Fuck no. You have plenty of men to marry off. I’m not doing it.” I feel Ivelisse’s body tense up and her head comes off my chest. Her eyes are wide and she looks ghost white.
She scrambles off the bed as I listen to my uncle telling me that I need to be part of the family like I was born to do. He’s going on about the sacrifices that we all have to make in order to survive or some shit.
When she comes back, she has a notebook. I read over what she wrote and shit starts to click. “What family are you trying to smooth shit over with?” I demand. I have a feeling that I know what she’s upset about right now.
“The Abelli Family.”
I stop breathing. They are marrying her off to one of us.
“Who are they offering up?” I ask. I’m sure he’s trying to figure out why I’m finally not telling him where to shove his marriage offer up his ass still.
“The daughter of the man who killed your father.” The blood drains from my face. “That’s the only way I’ve agreed to settle the shit between our families. She’s a bit younger than you, but she’s a real beaut. You will be happy with her. Her name is Ivelisse or something.” He butchers her name and I close my eyes. I can’t hear anymore. I need fucking air, I can’t breathe.
She is the fucking daughter of the man who killed my father. “Niko!” he yells into the phone when I don’t say anything in response.
“I’ll do it,” I choke out.
The Italians and the Russians are going to be one big happy family, who are constantly out for each other’s blood.
I don’t even hear what he says next. The only thing I can think of is that I just said I’d marry the daughter of the man who took my father from us. My phone falls out of my hand and hits her wood flooring. Her hands grab my face and she pulls my head to look up at her. Her eyes are scared and I know I’m probably only making it worse.
This isn’t something I can tell Stavros about. He’ll try and kill her – an eye for an eye type of justice. There is no fucking way I’ll let that happen.
My hand grips hers and I pull them away from my face. “He was your father too.” I don’t even realize the words are out of my mouth until I see the look on her face.
“What do you mean?” she asks with a panicked look on her face.
“Your father isn’t your real father. Your real father is the same as your brother’s.” The words for how I feel right now escape me. I don’t tell her that her father killed mine. I’m not even really sure I could explain it. I release her hands and my hands cover my face. I have the urge to fucking kill someone. I’d settle for punching the damn wall right now. She sinks to her knees in front of me and I can’t look at her.
Getting up from her bed, I walk over the wall and put my fist through it. She yelps from the sound of my fist going through her drywall. I put my fist through it again and this time I feel my knuckle pop, followed by the pain. Shaking my hand out, I curse under my breath before kicking the damn wall. “Fuck,” I roar.
My mind is racing a million miles per hour and I can’t think straight. Small hands press into my back and when I turn around, I grab her by the throat. My grip tightens on her and her hands go to my forearm.
“I can’t…” She doesn’t have a chance to finish her sentence because I cut off her air completely. She tries to fight me, but she’s not strong enough. When she gives up some of her fight, I move her to the bed and lay her down on it, releasing my grip on her throat. She starts to choke and cough. Her hands go to her neck and she looks at me like I’m the killer I’ve always been. The killer I was trained to be.
“You promised me,” she whispers, still rubbing at her neck.
Sinking down to my knees, I put my head in my hands. She’s a saint who is about to be thrown to the wolves. This sinner is the only one who will be able to save her now.