Russian Mafia Boss's Heir

by Bella Rose

  Mikhail shook himself out of his stupor. “What?”

  “Stanislas is looking for you,” Dimitri said grimly. “I got a text from Pyotr. He says the old man is furious because you didn’t show up to a meeting this morning.”

  Mikhail cursed in Russian. “I completely forgot about that meeting.”

  “Shall we go make our amends now?” Dimitri gestured to the stairs. “It’s not likely that Tori will be down anytime soon. You can assign men to watch her if you want.”

  “What?” Mikhail snorted. “And risk making her feel like a prisoner in her own home. No. We’ll go to Stanislas’s house, but it will be quick.”

  It was quick. At least the trip over to Stanislas’s mansion was quick. But when they arrived there, the old man was raving like a lunatic. He was walking a huge circular pattern through his sunroom, waving his hands above his head and muttering in Russian about everyone taking advantage of him. Mikhail caught something about the devious nature of offspring before he walked into the warm room and gave a curt bow to show that he was still loyal and respectful of his boss.

  “There you are!” Stanislas shouted, throwing up his hands and looking almost wild eyed with fervor. “I feared that you had betrayed me!”

  “Why would you believe that, Boss?” Mikhail asked slowly. It was like talking to a crazy person. The man even appeared somewhat unhinged. “I am always loyal to you as I always have been. There is no conspiracy going on behind your back, Boss. I swear it.”

  “That’s not true!” Stanislas’s tone was shrill. He pointed his finger at Mikhail. “My son is conspiring! He wants my position. He has always wanted it.”

  “But he has removed himself from the syndicate. The council would never accept his claim.” Mikhail spoke slowly, trying to make the man see reason.

  “I want you to go and execute him.”

  Mikhail was stunned by the finalistic note in Stanislas’s voice. The man had absolutely made up his mind that this was the only option. That much was obvious.

  Mikhail took a deep breath, searching for patience and wisdom. “Sir, I don’t know what good that would do. Alexei has no interest in your position. Besides, if he was going to harm someone over such a thing, it would be me. I am the one who took his place.”

  “Exactly!” Stanislas eagerly grabbed Mikhail’s arm. “See? He is conspiring against you as well! He wants to kill you and kill Tori too! You must execute him before his devious plans come to fruition.”

  Mikhail breathed in and out in slow increments. There was no way to win here. The man was absolutely beyond reason. If he had been anyone else, he would have been locked in a padded room by now. Around them, Mikhail could see the helpless stares of the other Vasiliev men. Mikhail had to take charge before things really got out of control.

  “Mikhail!” Stanislas shouted. “You will do this for me.”

  “As you say,” Mikhail agreed quietly. “I will take care of this for you.”

  ***

  TORI COULD NOT decide if she was hurt or relieved that Mikhail and his men were gone when she woke up less than an hour later. It was just so damn typical! She had told her idiot husband exactly what she needed from him, and once again he had decided that work was more important.

  Well, that was fine by her.

  Tori got up, got dressed, and headed for the front door. Once again, she simply walked outside and left the property. She hailed a cab, and within half an hour she was standing in front of the bar where her stepbrother worked as a bartender. The place was nearly deserted, but the front door was open. To her relief, Alexei was the one behind the bar wiping down glasses and getting ready to open for the day.

  “My, my, little sister is all grown up!” Alexei teased. “And what can I do for you? I do believe it’s been more than a year since you last came down here to visit.”

  Tori climbed up on a stool and put her elbows on the bar. “You know damn well that I’m doing you a favor by not coming down here to visit. If Papa knew I was here, he would have a fit.”

  “I spoke with your husband last night,” Alexei said suddenly. “I have a very strong feeling that Papa has lost his shit.”

  Tori opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Mikhail had come here? It made so much sense! “Mikhail mentioned something about Papa being more demanding, but I didn’t realize that was what he meant.”

  Alexei flung the towel he was using over one shoulder and placed both hands on the bar. “Do you remember anything from when your mother died? Anything at all?”

  “Not really. You’re ten years older. You probably saw far more than I did.” Tori thought about what her cousin had divulged. Did Alexei know about the pregnancy? Was that what he was trying to say? “I heard,” she began slowly. “That my mother was pregnant with Stanislas’s child.”

  “Bingo.” Alexei exhaled slowly. “Papa is paranoid and delusional. From the very beginning, he has freaked out anytime he thinks someone is trying to take over. Even when he’s the one who put that person in a position to do so. I’m telling you, the man is insane.” Alexei shook his head, looking almost sick. “I mean like clinically insane, Tor. The kind that requires medical attention, medication, and probably a stay in a mental ward.”

  Tori had to admit that her stepbrother was on to something. She had just started to respond when the front door of the bar opened and Mikhail strode inside with five men at his back.

  “Hello, wife. I’d like to say I’m shocked to find you here, but that would be a lie.”

  Tori swallowed nervously. This was not likely to end happily for any of them.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Hello, Mikhail,” Alexei drawled. “I take it I was disturbingly right about my father’s mental stability?”

  “Tori,” Mikhail muttered. “Go wait in the car.”

  “What? No! I have as much right to be here as you do.” Tori looked from her husband to her stepbrother and then back to her husband. “I can’t believe you came here to talk to my brother and didn’t even mention it.”

  “I hardly think now is the appropriate time for this conversation,” Mikhail said curtly. “I could basically say the same about you. Why are you here?”

  “I would guess I’m here for the same reason you are,” Tori shot back. “Because all of us know damn well that Stanislas Vasiliev is mad as a hatter, and none of us know what to do about it!”

  Mikhail pursed his lips, looking more grim than Tori had ever seen him. “Stanislas ordered me to execute Alexei.”

  “But Alexei doesn’t even have a claim to the syndicate!” Tori protested.

  Alexei snorted, folding his arms and looking completely unconcerned. “Little sister, I told you. That man is clinically disturbed. It’s not going to matter whether or not there’s a good reason for anything. He’s just going to issue orders until someone has the balls to stand up to him and have his ass committed.”

  “Can we do that?” Tori was appalled at the notion, and yet she couldn’t help but wonder if Alexei was on to something.

  “The council would never condone it,” Mikhail argued.

  Alexei shook his head. “Why would you want to bring them into it?”

  “I would have to if I wanted them to back my claim to leadership once Stanislas was out of the way—committed—whatever.” Mikhail put both of his hands on his head and looked as though he might be in danger of scraping his short hair right off his scalp in frustration.

  “Fuck the council!” Alexei snarled. “What have they done but let him run in circles and looked the other way? You think they don’t know what’s going on? That bastard Yuri Pavlovic laughed at me the day I became a made man. He told me to enjoy my success while I could because my father would never let me live long enough to take over.”

  It angered Tori to think that someone had treated Alexei so callously and then blamed him and called him a coward when he decided to remove himself from the lifestyle. It wasn’t fair. None of it was!

  “Pavlovic is a bastard,” Mikha
il said darkly. “But that doesn’t mean the rest of the council realizes what’s going on.”

  “Bullshit,” Alexei shot back. “They know. Go talk to them and see how fast your name hits the shit list.”

  “I don’t get it,” Tori mused. “You would think the council would be nervous that Stanislas would start divulging their dirty laundry.”

  “He’s paranoid, yes,” Alexei agreed. “But his paranoia doesn’t come with the side affect of divulging inappropriate information at the wrong time.”

  “Maybe not,” Tori agreed. “But what if the council thought it did.”

  Both Mikhail and Alexei raised their brows in an obvious show of surprise.

  “What?” she asked, shrugging it off. “You guys aren’t the only one with good ideas, you know.”

  ***

  MIKHAIL HAD ALWAYS known that Tori had a good brain and a desire to use it. He’d just never really wondered what it would look like when she truly engaged in solving a problem. She had a bit of the devious in her, and he found it very attractive. Maybe even sexy.

  She glanced from him to Alexei and set her jaw in what he’d come to view as her stubborn expression. The woman could certainly dig her heels in when she wanted to.

  Mikhail wondered if she might actually have a viable solution. Stanislas was out of control. There was no doubt about it, but so far he only seemed to be a danger to anyone he thought might be an heir to his position. Even if he was the one who appointed that person.

  “How would we convince the council that Stanislas was compromising their personal information?” Mikhail wondered out loud.

  There was a gleam in Tori’s eyes that made Mikhail’s brain stop thinking about business and start thinking about how much he wanted to fuck his wife. Forcing himself back to the moment, he watched Tori consider his concern.

  Then she smiled. “I suppose we would have to concoct something. Maybe we leak something about one of the council members to the cops or the press. Something like that. We can cite Stanislas as the source. That would be a simple way to do it.”

  Alexei wrinkled his nose. “That’s weak, but the idea is sound. I just think we need something with a bigger, more damaging payoff.”

  “Selling information to another family?” Tori suggested. “If Stanislas is paranoid, maybe he thinks one of the other families is out to get him. So what if he intentionally leaks info on that family because he wants to hurt them?”

  “That’s not a fabrication,” Mikhail informed them with a groan. “The man is obsessed with the Orlovs.”

  “Not surprising,” Alexei mused. “He’s been like that since he married Tori’s mother.”

  “Probably because he was right to be worried,” Tori admitted. “According to my cousin, my mother was indeed more of an Orlov than a Vasiliev.”

  “Okay.” Mikhail started putting things together in his head. “So we have the framework for a setup. Now we just need to fill in the pieces and figure out how to execute it and make sure the council knows Stanislas is responsible.”

  “I think I may have the perfect thing,” Tori said slowly.

  ***

  MIKHAIL COULD NOT help but think that this was all a very bad idea. Still, he had to give Tori credit for having the sort of courage he often believed grown men lacked.

  The two of them sat and tried to be pleasant while they ate dinner with Stanislas. The spread put out before them was absolutely huge. Mrs. Tobolovsky carried dish after dish into the dining room. Although the effect was rather ruined when she consistently slammed things down and muttered beneath her breath while staring daggers at Tori. Mikhail remembered her mentioning this behavior in passing. How had he never before noticed how pervasive it was?

  Stanislas pressed his napkin primly to his lips before speaking. “What is it you wished to say this evening, Tori?” He gave her an enigmatic smile. “Not that I believe you need an excuse to dine with me. It has been too long, my dear. I have missed you.”

  Mikhail practically choked on his wine. The man had been bitching about Tori every other second, calling her headstrong and advising Mikhail on all sorts of solutions for keeping her “in hand.” Did he honestly not recall any of the things that he had said?

  “Papa,” Tori began, using what Mikhail could now identify as her fake nice tone of voice. “I wanted to be here when Mikhail shared our news with you!”

  “News?” Stanislas raised his eyebrows, glancing over at Mikhail. “And what news is this?”

  “We’re having a baby!”

  Tori said it with far more excitement than Mikhail would have attributed to the situation. He had to admit that she played it all very well. Somehow, the thought didn’t give him comfort. How many other things had she “played?”

  “Wonderful!” Stanislas said in Russian.

  The potential grandfather lifted his hands into the air and began babbling at about a million miles an hour. Mikhail didn’t follow the conversation. He heard snippets of compliments, excitement, and perhaps even a few plans that Stanislas was making for the supposed upcoming birth.

  Then Tori laid it on thick. “We’re just so excited! And did I tell you? I’ve also made contact with my mother’s family again. Antonin Orlov has been so supportive! He keeps saying how he hopes that it will be a bond between our two families again.”

  Mikhail watched the genuine enjoyment drain right off Stanislas’s face. His smile was now tight, his eyes chips of dark glass in his stony countenance. “You have been speaking with Antonin Orlov, daughter? Why?”

  Tori gave him a wide eyed look of innocence. “Because he is my cousin. His father is my mother’s brother. Being pregnant with a child of my own makes me realize how very important family ties are, stepfather. I’m not a Vasiliev. Not really. I’m an Orlov. I want to know my family, and I want my baby to know both sides of his heritage. He’s going to lead the Vasilievs once Mikhail retires, but he may also be heir to the Orlovs as well.” Tori reached across the table. Mikhail saw Stanislas flinch when she touched his arm. Then Tori beamed at him. “It’s just so wonderful to have so much supportive family!”

  ***

  TORI WAS BEGINNING to wonder if she’d been foolish to poke at this man. Her stepfather was deranged! Alexei had been right. She could actually see the cold calculation going on behind his hard eyes. There was no doubt in Tori’s mind that her stepfather felt she had betrayed him by getting in touch with her mother’s family. Perhaps that was what made her decide to go off script and ask what she truly wanted to know.

  “Papa,” she began slowly. “What happened to my mother? She died, but nobody has ever told me how.” Beside her, Tori felt Mikhail tense up. She could practically hear his mental shouting as he begged her to stick to the plan.

  “She killed herself,” Stanislas said tersely.

  “No.” Tori shook her head. “She wouldn’t have done that. I know it. She wouldn’t have left me like that.”

  “She did.” Stanislas stood up.

  “Papa, where are you going?” Tori shouldn’t have cared if the old man left, but she wasn’t done with the topic of her mother. “Dinner isn’t even finished.”

  “I am done.” Stanislas glared at her. “I cannot digest my food properly when I eat with a traitor.”

  “Traitors?”

  “One traitor. One.” He pointed one long finger at her, his lips pulled away from his teeth as though he was baring them in a growl. “I told Mikhail that he needed to keep a close eye on you and take you in hand.” Now Stanislas curled his lip. He was starting to look a bit crazed. “You’re just like your mother. I loved her, yet she married me for nothing more than power and security for her family. She was moving against me. I knew it!”

  “I thought you said she committed suicide!” Tori snapped. “It sounds to me like you’re suggesting you might have gotten rid of her yourself!”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Stanislas’s gazed shifted to Mikhail. “You will keep this woman under tabs. If she undermines our syndica
te, I will have nobody but you to blame.”

  “But she has done nothing wrong, Boss,” Mikhail said, his tone mild. “She has merely contacted her mother’s family out of curiosity about her roots—her origin. Surely that’s natural.”

  “No it is not!” The old man was jabbing his finger at them as though he were having a tantrum. “When a woman marries, she leaves her family ties behind, and her husband’s family becomes her new focus and sole care.”

  “That’s not fair,” Tori told him. “The Vasilievs are all I’ve ever known. I never had a choice. You’re not my father.”

  “I have been the only father you have known!” Stanislas shouted. “Fine! You want to know what happened to your mother? The Orlovs killed her. That’s right! Her own family killed her because she loved me more than them!”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Mikhail watched Stanislas storm out of the dining room and wondered what the man was going to do. There was any number of possibilities. Mikhail thought that he had everything worked out. He thought that he had his men in place to head things off before they got ugly. Yet there always existed the possibility that one of the men would have conflicting loyalties that got in the way of them blocking a move or an order from Stanislas.

  “I don’t know what to believe,” Tori murmured. “How can I know what happened?”

  “We will find out.” Mikhail reached over and gently touched her arm. “Are you all right?”

  He could see that she was ready to fall apart. Her lower lip was quivering. Mikhail moved his chair closer to hers. He opened his arms, holding his breath as he wondered if she would turn away. There had been so much turmoil between them in the last few weeks. Yet when he offered, she accepted.

  Tori huddled in his arms, leaning over to press her face against his chest. He felt her body shake as she began to cry. He knew that she needed to get it out, to let the emotions run wild and unchecked as she began to process the possibility that her mother’s death had not been an accident or something natural.