“I’m figuring it out.”
In an uncharacteristic move, Alex pulled me to him and gave me a hug. “I’m proud of you.” He dropped his arms. “None of this is easy, but you’re doing a great job.”
I nodded. “I haven’t killed anyone since I got out.”
“That’s a good start. Let’s get through tomorrow, and we’ll call it a successful week.” He walked to the door. “I need to get home. Faye is making eggplant parmesan.”
I’d never seen my brother look so happy and relaxed. “You really do love her, don’t you?”
Alex laughed. “I’m so whipped. It’s crazy. I’d do anything for Faye. She changed my entire life. Someday you’re going to meet a woman who gets under your skin. When that happens, God help you because she will rule your universe.”
I looked back outside. Traffic was moving on the strip. The sun was setting, and the lights of the city began to glow. “Then God help me because that woman is Katya. I can’t get her out of my head.”
“You need to let that one go. Nothing good can come from it. She’s marrying Sergei in a few weeks. While I appreciate everything she’s done for our family, we can’t go to war over her.”
I smiled and walked my brother to the door. He wouldn’t go to war over her, but I refused to let her be a casualty in whatever game Yuri and Sergei were playing.
I sat in my chair and opened my laptop, hoping she’d let me back in, but she hadn’t. I needed to see her. Needed to touch her. Needed to tell her I was sorry. Oh hell, who was I lying to? I needed that woman to be mine.
I had three weeks to figure out a solution. My first thought was to open a bank account in her name and give her enough money to flee. The selfish bastard inside me wouldn’t allow it because if she left Las Vegas, she’d leave me, and that wasn’t acceptable. There had to be a way we could have it all.
For the next two hours, I made the rounds of the casino. It was important to make sure the employees knew who was in charge. I shook hands and smiled despite my inner turmoil. I walked into my office and looked at my computer. My fingers pushed on the screen, and just before I closed it down, the screen flashed to life and Katya came into focus. I fell into my chair and watched. Dressed in a T-shirt and flannel bottoms, she sat in front of the computer and typed. Seconds later, an email arrived.
Matt,
I got your messages. I don’t know what to say, but thank you for giving me a perfect moment to hold on to. I understand why you were so angry. I took something from you. I took your freedom. I took three years of your life. For that, I’m sorry. I thought I was protecting you. I can see now that my actions were impulsive and wrong. Please forgive me.
Yours,
Katya
Damn straight she was mine. I started my reply when her lips came to the screen. She pressed them to the camera like she was kissing me goodnight, or maybe she was kissing me goodbye. The screen turned black.
“Think again, sweetheart,” I said to no one. “You're mine, and I intend to keep you.”
Chapter 11
How many times did my father have to look at me and growl? Each time he did, the sound reverberated through the empty funeral parlor. Like always, I was the lamb waiting to be slaughtered. This was the quiet time before the masses would arrive and tell us they were sorry for our loss, but they weren’t. It was hard to mourn the loss of a monster. Harder to feel bad for the man who made him.
The director entered and closed the casket at my father’s request. It wasn’t because Mikhail looked bad but because he looked nice. A sort of calm came over him in death that I never saw in life. I, for one, was grateful because this expression would never leave my mind.
The sweet scent from a thousand fragrant flowers wafted through the air as the doors opened to let the visitors in. It was a smell I remembered well. The smell a seven-year-old girl will never forget because it smelled like lost hope and dashed dreams.
My father pinched my elbow and pulled me to the front of the room, where people would pass by.
My heels clicked across the tile floor as I took up a position beside him. Sergei found his place next to me. I was trapped between two powerful men, both intent on destroying me. My father because he hated me—my fiancé, because it was what he was sent here to do.
I’d given Sergei a lot of thought in the last few days. All you had to do was look at him to realize he’d never be anyone’s second in command. The man ate steel for breakfast and spit nails for lunch, and yet, he showed moments of softness when it was needed the most. Most when I almost trusted him, and that made him all the more dangerous.
“Are you okay, my love?” His hand rested for mere seconds on my back before he pulled it away.
I turned my head to look at him. “I’ll be fine.”
“What a waste,” my father said on the end of a breath. “It should have been you.”
My internal ember flared, then flickered, then flamed.
“But it wasn’t. It was Mikhail. Maybe it should have been you,” I whispered back. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched my father’s face go from sun-kissed pink, to mottled red, and then purple.
While not smart to talk back to my father at all, it was at least safe to do it here because he wouldn’t lift a hand to strike me in front of his peers. To be goaded to violence by a woman would show weakness.
A half-smile was all I had to offer anyone who walked by. While the masses moved through the line and took a seat for the short service to follow, I watched for one man—Matt. My body knew he was here before I saw him. My skin prickled and my heart raced when he entered the room.
God, he was gorgeous dressed in a dark gray suit, crisp white shirt, and charcoal colored tie. While he always looked good, he was a man who could pull off jeans with as much finesse and style as a three-thousand-dollar suit. Why hadn’t my father given me to the enemy I knew? Oh, that’s right, he did right before he killed their father.
A chill raced down my bare arms. I understood the need to keep a place cold where they stored dead bodies, but did they need to freeze everyone in the process?
As the Wildes grew closer, I got warmer.
Alex Wilde approached first. He looked calm and happy. That’s what marrying the right woman did for him. Faye walked beside him. While her eyes were on my father, she kept a serene look on her face. No doubt she remembered the day he had her kidnapped and nearly killed.
On my right, Sergei stiffened and stood taller as the Wildes moved toward him.
Alex stopped in front of me and took my hands. “Katya, is there anything we can do for you?”
There were a hundred things I could think of, but not one that wouldn’t start a war. “Thank you for coming.”
He smiled and tossed back words I’d said to him the day he married Faye. “For these things, we have no choice.”
Next was Faye, who rather than shake my hand, threw her arms around my neck and hugged me. It was an odd action given the public perception about the hate between our families. “Hang in there.”
“By my fingernails,” I replied.
She moved on to Sergei, who merely grunted when each person passed, but when it came to Faye, he leaned forward and said, “You are the reason my cousin is dead.”
Alex pulled Faye behind him. “You will not talk to my wife. Dima is dead because the coward killed himself.”
Sergei lunged forward, but I stepped in-between the two men. “Put your dicks away. This is a funeral. Show some respect for the dead.”
Both men pulled at their ties and stepped back into place.
Next was Matt. My father gripped his hand so hard, Matt’s fingers turned white, but he didn’t flinch. “Yuri, I’m sorry about Mikhail.”
Under his breath, my father said, “You killed him, and I will kill you.”
Matt stepped back and yanked his hand from my father’s grasp. “I had nothing to do with it.” He glanced at Sergei. “You should be looking in your own backyard before you try to scale my fence. Th
e Wildes had nothing to do with Mikhail’s death. We have nothing to gain. If I wanted to kill a Petrenko, you’d be the first on my list.” He moved to his left and stood in front of me.
He held my hands gently. His fingers brushed softly against my knuckles. “You okay?” He leaned in and whispered, “Sweetheart.”
“Yes, I’ll be okay.”
He looked down at my dress, which wasn’t black. I’d refused to swath myself in darkness any longer, so I chose an emerald green dress.
“You look beautiful despite the somber circumstances.”
“Thank you.”
Sergei moved closer. “It’s good to see you again, Wilde.”
Matt stood nearly as tall as Sergei, but he wasn’t as wide. My future husband was large and intimidating, but Matt didn’t shrink in his presence.
“Matt, you remember Sergei from Capone’s.”
Sergei offered his hand, which meant Matt had to drop mine to shake his. He did so, but not before he gave me a reassuring squeeze.
“He’s a hard man to forget.”
“Have you given my offer much thought?” Sergei asked.
I stared between the two men. What offer? I wondered.
“Nope, not even a second of thought.” Matt turned back to me and leaned in to kiss my cheek. “Don’t shut me out again,” he whispered. “I’m going to figure this out.”
My breath hitched, and my heart raced. There was nothing to figure out. I would marry Sergei. I’d give my husband a son and my father an heir, and then maybe, just maybe they’d set me free.
Next in line was the Irish contingency. While I had little to do with them, I was familiar with their family. My father hated the Wildes, but he had a special hateful place in his cold heart for the O’Learys. Liam walked past my father without a word and stopped in front of me. “Katya, I’m so sorry about your brother.” He held my hand in his the way I imagined a father would when his daughter needed reassurance. I glanced to the man’s right and saw his daughter Kirsten. We’d never become friends because of our fathers. It was too hard to separate who we were from what our families did. You couldn’t have a sleepover on a Friday night and a shootout the next day. Out of all the mafia families I met, the O’Learys seemed to be the most family-oriented despite the fact that Kirsten’s mother died at her birth.
“Katya, your brother held your hand for a little while, but may he hold your heart forever,” Kirsten said.
“Thank you.” The Irish were funny that way; they always had something to say, and when they said it, it was like a calming balm to a wounded soul.
Liam held his daughter's hand and walked to Sergei, who turned away from the Irish mobster. Liam shrugged and led his daughter toward a pew. While it was customary to have the service first in most cases, mafia families got the niceties out of the way first in case all hell broke loose later.
I watched the O’Learys walk away. Was it crazy for me to be jealous of the relationship they had? There was no doubt Kirsten would also be used to bring good fortune in marriage, but would she at least have some say in the matter?
The line ended, and we took our seats to listen to the priest say a few words. No one stood to give emotional testimony to the greatness of my brother. He’d terrorized and tortured half the people in the room.
While the priest promised we’d see him in heaven someday, it was simply because he was paid handsomely to put in a good word on behalf of the Petrenko family. None of those words were said for my mother eighteen years ago.
Unlike the Wildes, there would be no celebration of life gathering. We would travel to the cemetery alone and make our way home and back to our normal lives.
After the short service, I stepped into the sunshine. The heat of the rays warmed my skin. At least fifty people gathered on the sidewalk, waiting for the casket to be rolled to the hearse.
Not far away was Matt. He stood to the side and watched me. In a sea of black and gray, I was easy to pick out wearing green.
While I would have loved to feel the comfort of his arms around me, I stayed put and waited for my father.
He led the pallbearers to the hearse, and once my brother was tucked inside, he turned and stomped toward me.
He poked his finger into my chest. “You show such disrespect wearing this color, like the passing of my son is a celebration.”
I stepped back from his touch. “I refuse to wear a color that reminds me of the soulless abyss of your heart.”
Yuri leaned in to put his face in mine. “You’re just like your mother.”
“God, I hope so.”
“She was a whore,” he spat out. A spray of spittle hit my cheek.
“If I’m a whore, it’s not because of my mother; it’s because you continue to pimp me out like one.”
I’d heard my father talk poorly of my mother on many occasions, but never had he called her a whore. Something inside me reared up like a feral, angry animal. I fisted up and punched him in the nose. He staggered back. When he realized what hit him, he lunged forward and raised his hand to strike me.
I closed my eyes and waited for the hit, but it didn’t come. A shadow fell over me, and Sergei stood in front me, holding my father’s fist in his hand.
“I’d reconsider if I were you,” Sergei said with the threat of death in his voice. “It would be easy to bury two today.”
I looked up to Sergei with gratefulness in my expression. That feeling of thankfulness ended quickly when a black Escalade rounded the corner. The window opened a crack, and a hail of bullets sliced through the air. Everyone around me scrambled for cover, but I stood and dared a bullet to hit me. Death was not the worst thing that could happen.
Chapter 12
Chaos ensued as bullets rushed through the air. There was nothing more frightening than the sound they made as they split atoms on their way to their intended target. I watched in horror as Yuri hugged the pavement. Sergei was tackled by his bodyguard. Katya stood tall and defiant, as if taunting the gunman or the bullets.
I raced to her aid and folded her in my arms. The impact of the bullet that lodged in the back of my vest sent us both to the ground with her tucked under my body for protection. I reminded myself to thank my brother for insisting I vest up.
The bullets weren’t meant for the Wilde or O’Leary families. Each one fired headed straight for Sergei or Katya, and it became clear who Yuri put the hit or—almost clear. My thoughts went straight to Sergei, who was upsetting the balance of power in the Petrenko household. Then again, Yuri could have put the hit on Katya. Without a daughter to marry off, Sergei wouldn’t have a reason to stay.
Maybe the hit was on Yuri. If Sergei was intent on taking over the territory, he’d need to get rid of him. All three were possibilities.
When the car screeched away, I moved from Katya. She lay on the sidewalk and laughed. The damn woman laughed.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You could have been killed.” I winced at the pain in my back. It was a lot less than had the bullet ripped through my body, but it did feel like I’d been punched in the kidneys with a sledgehammer.
“Nothing is wrong with me.”
I rose and helped her to her feet. All around us, people rose from the cement and checked for injuries. No one seemed to be hit. Katya took a step forward and nearly fell again.
“What hurts, sweetheart?” She hobbled to the wall and leaned against it. Pulling up the skirt of her dress, she flinched at the injury to her thigh. The knife she had strapped there had lost its sheath and sliced into her skin.
She smeared the blood aside to get a look at the wound. It wasn’t deep, but it was about an inch long. “Dammit. My dress is ruined.”
Leave it to a woman to worry about her dress. The blood seeped to the surface and ran down her leg. “Hasn’t anyone told you to never bring a knife to a gunfight?” I turned to see who would be coming to look after Katya. As much as I wanted to, it wasn’t my place—yet.
What I saw sent fire through my veins. Yu
ri was at the hearse, talking to the priest as if nothing had happened. Sergei got checked out by his bodyguard. The man was taking inventory of him like he was a sale item on a rack. He turned him around again and again until he was certain he hadn’t been hit.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.” I walked her back into the funeral home.
“Wait up,” my brother called after me. “You’re hit.”
Katya stopped and spun me around. “Oh my God. You’re hit." She tore at my jacket until she got it loose. When she didn’t see blood, she pulled my shirt from my pants and lifted it to see my vest. “Thank God. I don’t know what I would have done if you were injured again.”
I looked at my brother, who was flanked by two of our four bodyguards. “Where’s Faye?” I’d grown fond of my sister-in-law and wanted to make sure she was okay.
“I’ve sent her home with Tony and Frank.” Frank was new to our team, but he came highly recommended by Max, who stood with his back to our group, watching for trouble.
“She’s probably shaken up. Take Max and go to her. I’ll keep Sam, and as soon as I get Katya taken care of, I’ll head back to the casino. We should talk.”
My brother waited for a few minutes. He looked at Katya, then back to me. “This isn’t smart. You know that, right?”
I nodded. “Not smart, but right.” I helped Katya down the hallway, where we entered the women’s bathroom. I locked the door behind us and lifted her to the counter. She weighed nothing in my arms.
“You should go home. Your brother’s right, this is not your place.” She leaned over and pulled handfuls of paper towels from the dispenser. She shimmied her dress up to expose what should have been the milky white skin of her thighs. It pained me to see the blood staining her flesh.
I cupped her face. “I’m so sorry, Katya. I should have chased after you the other day. I was torn between who you are and who your family is. You are not your father.”
Betting On Her (A Wilde Love Novel Book 2) Page 8
