Sold to the Mob Boss: A Mafia Romance (Lavrin Bratva)

by Nicole Fox

  The innocent blood was on my uncles’ hands.

  The same uncles who’d picked me up from the hospital on the worst night of my life, who’d been taking care of me in the months and years since... they were the ones responsible. They were the motherfuckers who ruined everything for me.

  So I made a decision, then and there: I would make them regret not killing me, too.

  A scream across the street from the nightclub yanks me out of my memories.

  I see a skimpily dressed brunette giggling and running away from a man. He has his phone out recording her, cheering her on and encouraging her to say something for her social media account. For a moment, they’re the most entertaining thing around outside of this scummy club.

  “Knock it off!” she chirps.

  “Make me,” he growls playfully.

  They end up making out against the brick wall.

  It’s sad. It’s pathetic. And yet in some ways, I’m almost jealous.

  They’re so naïve, it’s incredible. In the timeless wonderland of their social media newsfeed, every moment is captured forever like a bug trapped in amber. They’ll never grow old. They’ll never die. They’ll be young until the end of time. Untouchable.

  They haven’t seen the shit I’ve seen. They know nothing of the underworld vibrating beneath their feet and before their eyes. Oblivious and carefree, this night will be one they remember fondly, or forget entirely. But there’s one man who will never forget tonight – Mr. Joshua Hollis.

  The man I’ve been sent to collect.

  The back door to the club opens and a drunk man comes stumbling out, patting himself down until he locates his pack of cigarettes. He takes one out and lights it. I watch as the cloud of smoke begins to fade into the night.

  Bingo.

  I don’t know what my client wants with this man, and that’s none of my fucking business, either. I learned a long time ago that not knowing is better. These are targets. They’re not people. Get too attached to them and it just makes delivering the body that much more difficult. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the couple still making out, giggling and moaning softly. I want to yell at them to fuck off, to go find some cheap hotel to fool around in, but I can’t blow my cover. Besides, it’s go time.

  I approach Hollis and in a low voice, ask, “Mind if I bum a smoke?”

  He blinks, cloudy from all the booze in his system, but he nods and quickly lights another for me. I stopped smoking ten years ago, but I breathe it in and blow it out like I’ve been doing this for years.

  “What’re you doing out here?” he asks, glancing at me.

  A wry smirk crosses my face. “Undercover.”

  “You a cop?”

  “Why, you doing something illegal?”

  Joshua snorts and shakes his head. “Not unless you consider stepping out on your wife illegal.”

  I raise a brow and look at him once more. I hadn’t pegged him as the cheating type. But then again, I’m a hired killer. Not exactly in a position to pass moral judgment on my fellow man.

  Instead, I say, “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, eh?”

  “I’d do the right thing and leave her, but it’s just the fact that my kid needs me, man. He needs someone in his life and I can’t do the same thing my dad did. I wish there was a way this could all just work itself out. But I’m sick to death of her...”

  He continues on about his family, how he accidentally knocked his wife up, and to avoid upsetting her religious parents, he married her as soon as they found out about the baby. I let him talk and pretend to listen, all the while keeping the two horny twenty-somethings in my line of sight. I can’t make a move until they’re gone, but they continue to linger. The guy is trying to charm his way into a back alley fuck, but she’s not having it. She just giggles, shaking her head at him before kissing him once more.

  I’m growing antsy, and I rock from foot to foot. Joshua glances at me and lights a second cigarette. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I stomp out the butt of my smoke and lean against the wall, willing myself to be patient. This is just like the rabbit in the woods. It has to be smooth. Breathe. Focus.

  Finally, the two strangers across the alley make their way to the street. I can finally breathe again. Now, Joshua and I are alone. No more witnesses. He gestures at me, offering another cigarette, but I wave it off.

  “One is good,” I say.

  “Suit yourself. You know, my wife says these things are gonna get me killed one day,” he chuckles.

  If only he knew.

  He turns away to light up another and that’s my opening. I place the rag in my pocket over his mouth and nose. His sudden gulp of air is stifled by the damp cloth covering his face. He tries to jerk away. I grab him and pull him closer, holding him still as I watch his hands flutter. The man had more fight in him than I would’ve predicted. Won’t matter, though. The drugs on the cloth take everyone, sooner or later. In a few moments, his body slides limp to the ground.

  Transporting bodies is always easier in the movies. In real life, it’s a pain in the fucking ass. I crack my neck, then bend down and hoist Joshua up over my shoulder. With a quick glance behind me to make sure no one can see us, I stagger back to my car parked at the end of the alley. He lands in my trunk with a loud thud. Inside, I fasten his arms behind his back and his legs together, then slap a piece of duct tape over his mouth.

  My car starts up silently. I pull out of the alley. I know these streets like the back of my hand, so maneuvering through all the backroads and shortcuts comes as natural as hunting for me. I consider twisting on the knob of the radio but decide against it. It might wake Joshua up, and the only thing more annoying than those two strangers making out would be listening to the man in my trunk squirm and try to escape.

  I steer away from downtown, towards the warehouse district. My mind starts to drift back in time again.

  The anger born that night in the hospital never left me. In the years since, I’ve drank gallons of booze and spilled ten times that amount in blood. But it’s like a stain on my soul. Hasn’t made a goddamn bit of difference.

  I thought killing the men responsible would’ve started the healing process. I was so, so wrong.

  Because the things I learned while I planned changed my life forever. The anger inside me grew like an ulcer, like a cancer. Until it took me over.

  Aleksandr and Andrei were part of some low-level bratva, a brotherhood of Russian criminals for hire. Petty bullies, drug dealers, the kind of parasites who prey on good people. Just like they did to me.

  Money was the reason. Fifty thousand dollars was all my mother, father, and brothers were worth to them. Even now, the thought makes my blood boil. It takes everything I have not to lose my temper all over again.

  They could’ve chosen poison. A shot to the head. Something quick and painless. But that’s not what they did. They were methodical, starting with my father. A shot to both knees left him defenseless. They dragged my mother to the bedroom and made her watch as they killed her boys. Aleksandr was the one to kill them. He laughed as my mother cried.

  They gave no mercy to my family.

  So I gave them none in return.

  My plan was simple. I’d posed as a potential client looking to hire them for a hit, but because of my high profile, I couldn’t let them see my face. Rather than communicating through the internet, I donned a ski mask for all of our meetings. I wanted to look them in the eyes as I led them into my trap. It was the ultimate test of control, sitting in front of them and not losing my shit. Every bone in my body, every fiber of my being, was alive with rage. Images of them bloodied and torn to shreds raced through my mind, and more than once, I almost lost it. When I spotted my father’s ring on Andrei’s finger, I nearly cut it off from the first knuckle. Instead, I clenched my jaw and gave them the details.

  They were to break into the home of a specific address I’d given them. It would be an easy job. In and out. They seemed gleeful, eager to
do whatever it is I needed. I gave them the money up front, a measly $10,000, and watched as they celebrated.

  After that, it was easy. All I had to do was show up at the house before they arrived and rig everything up. The moment they stepped into the bedroom, it began to fill with gas, and unable to breathe, the two of them collapsed in a heap on the floor.

  Aleksandr was the first to break. After the fifth tooth I tore from his gums, he finally confessed what they had done. Andrei, to his credit, wasn’t as big of a coward as his twin. He took every ounce of pain with something I might consider dignity. He cried and he howled, but he didn’t cave.

  Not until I made him watch as I used my knife to draw a line across Aleksandr’s throat. That’s what broke him – seeing his other half, the brother he spent every moment since the womb with, die before him. Had I any mercy, I would’ve given him a bit of relief, perhaps waited a few hours to let Aleksandr’s death settle before continuing, but mercy was in short supply and my patience was running thin. They’d both adequately suffered, and it was time to put this all to rest.

  Somehow, Andrei was able to grease up his handcuffs enough to pull his bloodied wrists free, and as I approached him to finish the job, he took off for the door, hobbling for his escape. It was pitiful watching such a broken creature give his last swan song. The poor little rabbit fell to his knees, his hands too slick with blood to get the door open.

  I approached him and pressed the gun to the back of his head.

  “Nephew, please,” he murmured, gurgling on his words. “Spare me.”

  “You didn’t spare my family.”

  Those were the last words I spoke to my uncle before I painted the front door with his blood. His body twitched just twice before he stilled and the light faded from his eyes.

  It was done.

  None of it made things right again. I didn’t feel whole. It didn’t bring my family back from the dead. But I don’t suppose that’s what I was looking for. I knew deep down that this wouldn’t be the path to enlightenment. No, this was something else. This was the start of a new career.

  I was good at killing. I’d been good my entire life. And with nothing and no one holding me back, I could throw myself into this career. So, that’s what I did.

  It started small. A couple thousand dollars to rough up a cheating husband. Some money to bash in a car or scare some people who needed to straighten up. Simple things that paid the bills. Enough to prove myself to the people who hired people like me. Soon enough, I was assigned my first paid hit. In and out, no blood, no witnesses.

  Then another. And another. So many I’ve lost count.

  Things haven’t changed now. I still do what needs to be done for the highest bidder. Right now, the man with the money is Mister X. I don’t know who he is and I don’t give a fuck. I just take care of whatever he needs me to take care of.

  Right now, that’s the man in my trunk.

  We make it to an abandoned warehouse near the docks a few miles away from the night club. The drive took a bit of time, but it was nice to soak in the silence. There won’t be much of that once Hollis wakes up again.

  There’s a vehicle waiting for us. I park my car a few feet away from the unmarked black BMW. I can see the outline of two men inside. One in the front, one in the back. I step out, move to my trunk, and pop it open. Joshua seems to be waking up from his fog. His bleary eyes part as he looks up at me, wide with fear. The tape muffles his screams.

  He tries thrashing around when I attempt to pull him from the car. My fist connects with the side of his head and the fight is gone, flicked off like a light switch. Now that he’s not struggling anymore, I drag him out of the trunk and close it with my elbow. His feet scrape against the cement as we make our way towards the black car.

  I give two taps on the rear window and watch as it slides down just a crack. Mister X takes no chances with being recognized.

  “This is your guy.”

  Mister X nods. “Collect him,” the man calls up to his driver. His hulking chauffeur steps out from the driver’s seat and stalks towards me, scooping up our hostage like a baby. Joshua looks light as a feather in his arms.

  Mister X slides an envelope through the gap in the window. I take it and peer inside, thumbing through the money.

  “It’s all there,” Mister X assures me. “You may count it if you wish.”

  I know that tone. It’s just on the verge of being insulted at my distrust. “I believe you.”

  “Good. Now, for your next assignment.” Mister X slides a piece of paper through the crack in the window. On it is a name and an address. “I need you to take care of him tomorrow. Can you manage this?”

  I fold the sheet of paper up and slip it into my pocket. “That won’t be a problem.” Without another word, the window rolls up. Conversation over.

  I return to my vehicle and roll the windows down. It’s not too chilly out tonight, and I need a bit of fresh air after the long drive here. As I press on the acceleration and I pull away from the parking lot, I hear two sounds in quick succession:

  A loud pop, and a man’s agonizing scream.

  Mister X and his driver didn’t wait too long to begin the torture, it seems. I don’t care to stick around to listen. To this day, I hate the sound of gunshots. In my mind’s eye, I can still imagine my mother’s screams. I squeeze my hands around the steering wheel even tighter.

  It’s been a long night. I need to get away from these thoughts for a while. I need to fucking sleep.

  Tomorrow, another hit awaits.

  ***

  Find out what happens next by clicking the cover below to get your hands on Stolen by the Mob Boss: A Mafia Romance. It’s FREE for Kindle Unlimited readers and only $3.99 to buy!

  A mob boss killed her family. Now, he’s sent me to finish the job.

  Lucy is an innocent girl – orphaned by a terrible tragedy.

  Then she sees me kill a man in cold blood.

  I can’t let a witness roam free.

  But I can’t bring myself to kill something so innocent and beautiful.

  She wants revenge on the mob boss who stole her family.

  I can help her... under one condition:

  As long as she’s here, I’m going to make her MINE.

  Get it now ⇨ https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Mob-Boss-Russian-Romance-ebook/dp/B07TS9KF2L

  Also by Nicole Fox

  Click any of the covers below to go straight to the book page!

  Stolen by the Mob Boss: A Mafia Romance (Luchok Bratva)

  A mob boss killed her family. Now, he’s sent me to finish the job.

  Lucy is an innocent girl – orphaned by a terrible tragedy.

  Then she sees me kill a man in cold blood.

  I can’t let a witness roam free.

  But I can’t bring myself to kill something so innocent and beautiful.

  She wants revenge on the mob boss who stole her family.

  I can help her... under one condition:

  As long as she’s here, I’m going to make her MINE.

  Trapped with the Mob Boss: A Mafia Romance (Petrov Bratva)

  I kidnapped her to break her. Now, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her.

  YURI

  In this business, you cannot afford to lose control.

  No emotions. No weakness.

  I’ve worked too f**king hard building my mob empire to let one feisty little girl ruin everything.

  But Bella refuses to fall in line.

  I’ve pushed my prisoner to her limits, and yet she will. Not. Break.

  She takes every savage kiss...

  Every cruel touch...

  And asks me if that’s all I have to offer.

  Breaking her down will require breaking a rule of my own:

  Never, ever fall in love.

  But when Bella’s senator father doesn’t follow orders like we expect, things get more complicated.

  I’ll need her help to take my rightful place on the throne of the city.<
br />
  And more time with her by my side means unleashing something inside me that cannot be contained again.

  As our fates become entwined, betrayal barrels towards us.

  I’m forced to make an impossible choice:

  Do I follow my destiny to become the mob boss I was raised to be?

  Or do I sacrifice everything to save the woman who has stolen my heart?

  Vin: A Mafia Romance

  I’m caught between a mob boss and a madman.

  I was drowning in debt with no way to get out.

  All I had left was my body...

  Until Vin took that from me, too.

  He offered me protection from my abusive ex.

  And saying no to Vin was never an option.

  Now, I’m at the mercy of a mob boss.

  A vicious killer, with a kiss as filthy as his reputation.

  Nights in his bed are spent stripping bare, bending at the waist, and doing EXACTLY as I’m told.

  And days by his side are spent seeing a criminal underworld I never knew existed.

  For a moment, I thought this was my life now:

  Existing only for the mobster’s pleasure.

  But then my ex came back to finish the job he started, and I remembered:

  This nightmare is far from over.

  About the Author

  Nicole Fox is a crazy cat lady in her late 30s with a coffee addiction, an overactive imagination, and a husband who somehow puts up with her impulsive need to keep buying new plants for their house. She also writes bad boy romance novels. Sign up for her mailing list at http://eepurl.com/gsOCvT.