Bend: A Dark Mafia Romance

by B. B. Hamel

  But if I were allowed back into the family, then Alexei would have plenty of fathers to look out for him. And most importantly, the war would end.

  As soon as Vince was gone, I paced around the room. I couldn’t leave Vince, but I couldn’t let the war keep going if I could stop it.

  “Fuck,” I said out loud, and little Alexei looked up at me.

  Alexei. All of this was for him. As much as I wanted Vince, I knew that Alexei would be safe back with my family and that he’d have a good life. This war could put him in danger if I let it keep going on.

  Soph had promised me they’d keep him safe, and I believed her.

  “Fuck,” I said again, but more softly.

  I had made up my mind. I was going to leave. I was going back to my parents.

  I was going to end the war. For my sake, for Vince’s sake, but most importantly, for Alexei’s sake.

  Now the real problem was figuring out how the hell I was going to do it.

  Alexei was squirming in my arms as I knocked on the door. She answered surprisingly fast.

  “Hi, Louisa,” I said.

  “You brought a baby,” she commented flatly.

  “Louisa, this is Alexei, my son.”

  She looked at Alexei. “Hi there, baby.”

  “Listen, Louisa, can I talk to you for a second?”

  “Okay.” She turned and walked into her room. I followed, shutting the door behind us.

  “I want to leave,” I said simply.

  She stopped walking toward her computer and turned back toward me. She cocked her head to one side. “Because of what I showed you?”

  “Partially, yes.”

  “Will you be safe?”

  “Yes. I think so.”

  She frowned. “Sound more sure.”

  “I’ll be safe. My best friend from home told me that my family would take me back. She said they’d let me keep Alexei.”

  Louisa frowned but nodded slowly. “Okay. I’ll help you escape.”

  “Escape?” I said, laughing. “I’m not a prisoner, am I?”

  “Of course you are,” she said. “But don’t worry. This house is mine.”

  She walked over to her computer and began typing. That black screen covered in text came back, and she began scrolling through it, typing occasionally.

  “Okay,” I said, laughing nervously. “How am I escaping then?”

  “In thirty minutes there’s a produce delivery van pulling up next to the kitchen. In forty minutes, you’ll be on that van.”

  “That’s too soon,” I said.

  “Next shot won’t be until tomorrow.”

  I chewed my lip nervously. If I waited until tomorrow, I’d have to spend another night with Vince.

  And if I saw him again, I didn’t think I’d be strong enough to leave.

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

  “The guy that drives the van is an associate of mine,” Louisa said. “He brings things in and out of the house for me. You’ll get into the back of the van and sit down. He will pretend like you don’t exist.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Easy.”

  “When the van stops and the doors open, you’re free to go.”

  “What do I do from there?”

  She gave me a look. “Get on a bus.”

  I laughed. “Okay. Okay. I’m just nervous.”

  “Don’t be,” she said and looked at me directly for the first time since I’d walked into the room. “I’m the most powerful person in this house.”

  I nodded and felt strangely better.

  She looked away. “The van will be outside the kitchen in twenty-eight minutes. You better hurry.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Go.”

  I turned and walked quickly out of the room.

  I practically ran down the halls. I tore into Vince’s room and quickly threw my things into a single bag. I took only what I was going to need and then shoved Alexei’s things into his baby bag.

  I threw the stuff onto my back and then walked quickly back out into the hall.

  My heart was hammering as I made my way downstairs and toward the kitchens. I knew the way only because I had followed the staff there once when I was out exploring a few days ago. I was worried someone was going to stop me and ask me why I was carrying two bags plus Alexei, but nobody bothered to.

  Maybe nobody gave a shit if I left. More likely they assumed I was allowed to do whatever I was doing.

  I went out a side door just before I got to the kitchens. It took me a second to orient myself, but quickly I found the road and saw the van parked up ahead.

  Nobody was near it. I jogged over to it, threw open the back door, and climbed inside.

  Alexei was fussy. “It’s okay, baby,” I whispered. “It’s okay. We’re going home. You’ll be happy to see grandpa again.”

  I had no clue how much time passed, but eventually I heard voices coming toward the van. The doors opened and a man with a big, thick mustache looked at me. He nodded once. “Looks good,” he called out. He shut the doors.

  I heard him climb into the front seat, start the engine, and then we pulled out.

  I couldn’t believe I was doing this. Only a few hours ago I never would have imagined running back to my family, let alone sneaking out in the back of a produce delivery van. But there I was, baby in my arms, getting smuggled out.

  The van stopped once and I heard more voices, but nobody opened the doors. A minute later we were off again, and I knew we had passed through the gate.

  We were headed back into the city.

  I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I was blindly going with this, trusting in Sophie and in Louisa.

  I let out a deep sigh of relief though, because I was definitely doing the right thing.

  Two busses later, I was standing outside my father’s house.

  We lived in a Russian-controlled part of Chicago. Our house was like every other one in the area, nothing special to look at.

  But I had grown up in it. As nice as the Barone mansion was, I realized suddenly that I had really missed home.

  As I took a step up the stoop, Vince’s face and voice came back to me. I knew he’d be hurt and angry about this, but I hoped he’d understand. I’d written him a little note and signed it “love.” Maybe that would help him.

  I walked up the stoop before I could think about it anymore and knocked on the door.

  It opened slowly and my father looked back at me.

  Anatoli Kozlov was a big man. Broad and going a bit fat in the gut, he was a true Russian bear. He stared at me with no expression at all, no joy to see me, no sadness, no anger, just absolute nothing, which made me even more uncomfortable.

  “Kaley,” he said.

  “Hi, Dad.”

  “Welcome home.”

  He pushed the door open and I stepped inside.

  For the first time since I’d originally left, I felt like things were going to be okay. I was back home; I was going to be safe. The war could be over and I could go back to raising my son the way I wanted to.

  I was going to be okay.

  The door shut behind me.

  “Sorry,” Dad said.

  “What?” I asked him.

  He stepped away. Two men I vaguely knew stepped around him and grabbed me.

  “Dad?” I asked. “What’s happening?”

  “Sorry,” he repeated and looked away.

  The one man reached into my arms and took hold of Alexei.

  “No!” I screamed. “Don’t touch him!”

  The man ignored me. “Let go,” he said, his Russian accent thick.

  “No! Dad, what are you doing?”

  Terror gripped me as the other man hit me in the face. Pain blinded me, and the second man managed to pull Alexei from my arms. Alexei began to cry, screaming shrieks of fear.

  “Stop!” I screamed. “What are you doing?”

  But the man had already left with Alexei. The one holding on to me dra
gged me toward the back of the house and shoved me roughly through an open door. It was my old bedroom, but it was different. There were bars on the window and there was no furniture, only a mattress and a bucket in the corner. The door slammed behind me.

  I threw myself at the door and began to pound on it. “Let me out, you bastards!” I screamed. “You fucking sickos. You can’t do this! Give me my baby back, you fucking sick fucks!”

  I pounded and pounded on the door, screaming at the top of my lungs, but nobody came.

  I screamed and yelled and smashed at that door until I couldn’t scream anymore.

  And as I sank to the floor, my body wracked with sobs, I knew I had made a horrible mistake.

  Sophie had betrayed me. My father had betrayed me.

  And they had taken my baby away.

  I sobbed, and I felt myself breaking.

  Chapter 34

  Vince

  I hated fucking waiting.

  I was not the type of man to sit around and wait for something to happen. I didn’t like taking orders, and I sure as hell didn’t like being told I couldn’t go after my own woman.

  I paced angrily around my office. Rafa watched from his desk, though I could tell he was trying to pretend like I didn’t exist. He’d learned firsthand what I was like when I was angry, and he knew that it was better to stay the fuck out of my way.

  I didn’t know what Kaley was to me. I didn’t know what we were going to be, but I could tell that it was something. We were just getting close, I was just beginning to open myself up to her, to get used to the idea of being a father. And suddenly that was all taken away.

  She left on her own. I knew that. I knew that she chose this, that she wanted to leave. But something had to have happened to make her want to actually go. I couldn’t believe that she would want to go back to her family unless something new had come up.

  That was really driving me insane. I needed to know what that thing was. It was so possible that she just didn’t want to be around me anymore, that I had somehow pushed her away. Maybe she decided that she didn’t want her son raised by a violent fucking mobster.

  I couldn’t really blame her. I was raised by mobsters more or less, and look at how I turned out.

  “Fuck,” I said, slamming my fist onto the table as I walked past it.

  “Boss,” Rafa said, “I just got a text from Lucas.”

  I stared at him. “So the fuck what?”

  He cleared his throat. “Text says you should go meet him in his room.”

  “Why didn’t he message me that?”

  “He did, but you’re not answering your phone.” Rafa paused and grinned at me. “Probably because you’re pacing around like a crazy person.”

  “Watch it,” I said.

  “Don’t take it out on me, boss,” Rafa said. “I’m the only one that has your back no matter what.”

  I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. I nodded. “You’re right.”

  “You gonna go talk to him?”

  “Yeah. Give me a second.”

  I took a few steadying, deep breaths. I couldn’t go up to Lucas acting like some insane person. I couldn’t take my anger out on him like I could on Rafa, although I knew it was an asshole move to be a dick to him.

  “Call if you need me,” I said, grabbing my phone and then heading out the door.

  I headed through the hallways, trying to keep my mind off Kaley. I tried not to think about how she likely ran off because of what a piece of shit I was. I knew I’d been pushing, but I must have pushed too hard, went too far.

  It was my fucking fault. It always was my fucking fault.

  I had to stop once and take a few deep breaths to calm myself again before starting back up. Finally, I found myself outside Lucas’s door.

  I knocked twice. “Come in,” I heard.

  I went inside and saw Lucas sitting down at his kitchen table. He gestured for me to sit.

  He was looking at a bunch of papers as I took a seat beside him. He pushed a glass toward me. I picked it up and sipped: good whisky.

  “What do you need, Lucas?” I asked him.

  “About the girl,” he said, “I know how she got away.”

  I clenched my jaw. “How?”

  “Louisa.”

  I cocked my head. “Really?” The time I caught them in the greenhouse came back to me.

  Lucas laughed. “Turns out that Kaley and Louisa became friends. I asked Lou if she knew what had happened with Kaley, and Lou flat out told me.”

  I shook my head. “Are you kidding me? She helped her?”

  “No joke. Want to talk to her?”

  “Yeah,” I said, “I do.”

  “Okay,” Lucas said. “But drink up first. You’re fucking pissed, and you know that shit doesn’t fly with Lou.”

  I laughed and knocked the drink back, motioning for more. Lucas filled me up again.

  Louisa was no joke in the Barone compound. The daughter of Arturo, she was probably the most feared person outside Arturo himself. There were rumors about her, rumors about why she never left her room, but most of them were false. And besides, ever since Natalie and Lucas got together, Louisa had started venturing outside her room more often.

  But I knew the truth about her. At least I knew part of the truth.

  Louisa was a skilled computer hacker. Since Arturo wouldn’t let her join the Barone crime family on her own, she had been using those skills for nefarious purposes for a long time.

  Not a lot of people knew that about her. I was sure there was more to it that even I didn’t know, but I was smart enough not to press too hard. I was lucky that I’d found out as much about her as I had.

  I knocked back my second drink.

  “You okay?” Lucas asked.

  “No,” I said. “I want to get the fuck out of here and get Kaley back.”

  Lucas nodded. “She left, man. Chose it herself.”

  “I know that.”

  “Do you though?”

  I clenched my jaw.

  At one time, I was Lucas’s second in command. I was closer to him than anyone else. But ever since I’d gotten my promotion, we had drifted apart. We’d been best friends once, and back then he wouldn’t have hesitated to strap on a gun and follow me into battle.

  Things were different now. He still had my back, but not like the old days, not anymore.

  “Listen,” Lucas went on. “I know you want her back. She has your son, and I could tell you were getting close. But be careful, Vince. She made this choice.”

  I nodded slowly. “You think I’m not thinking that?”

  “I know you are,” he said. “I also know you’re probably blaming yourself. But fuck it, man. You can’t do that shit. No matter what you do, I’ll help as much as I can.”

  “Thanks,” I grunted and stood. “Let’s go see Louisa.”

  Lucas nodded, stood, and we walked out of the room in silence. We headed toward Louisa’s wing of the house, not speaking another word.

  We ended up outside her room not long after. Lucas knocked.

  “Louisa,” he called out. “Open up.”

  She pulled the door open a minute later. “Hello, big brother.”

  “We have to talk,” he said.

  Louisa looked at me. “Sorry,” she said.

  “For what?” I grunted.

  “You know what.” She turned and walked into the room. We followed her inside and watched as she sat down on her couch, stretching out.

  “Lou, Vince wants to ask you some stuff about Kaley,” Lucas said.

  She stared up at me. “I don’t have much to say.”

  “I just have one question,” I said. “Why did she leave?”

  Louisa stared at me for a second, her dark eyes piercing. It felt uncomfortable to be held under her gaze like that, but I didn’t back down.

  “Do you care about her, Vincent?” she asked.

  “What? Just answer me.”

  “You give me what I want; then I’ll give
you what you want.” She sighed and stretched. “Do you care about her?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “How much?”

  “She’s the mother of my son.”

  “Besides that.”

  I glanced at Lucas. “Yes. I care about her.”

  “How much?” she repeated.

  “Enough to do anything to get her back.”

  She looked at me for a second and then slowly nodded. “She said her best friend from home told her that her family would take her back. She said her family was going to let her keep her baby, too.”

  I cocked my head to one side. “Sophie?”

  “She didn’t say the name.”

  “Sophie, must be Sophie,” I grumbled. “Why would they change their mind?” I asked, looking at Lucas.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  “Truth is, boys, I’m bored of this,” Louisa said. “I helped her because I thought it was the right thing to do. If she’s in trouble, well, it’s your call.”

  “Did she seem afraid?” I asked Louisa.

  “No,” she said. “Like I said, I thought it was the right thing to do. She doesn’t belong here, Vincent.”

  “Yes, she does,” I said, surprised by my own anger. “She belongs with me.”

  There was a silence as both Louisa and Lucas stared at me. I was shocked by my own words and feelings, but I knew it was true.

  Kaley and Alexei belonged with me. I wanted them here and didn’t want them to ever go away. I was angry and upset because she was gone, and for no other reason.

  I wanted her back.

  “Thanks,” I said, and then turned to leave.

  “Wait,” Lucas said. “If you’re going after her, I’m coming.”

  I laughed. “You have kids.”

  “Yeah, Lucas,” Louisa said. “You’re not going.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll give you gear at least.”

  “And I’ll tell you where to go,” Louisa added.

  I looked back at them. “Thanks.”

  “If I knew how you felt, I would never have let her go,” Louisa said softly. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I have to go now.”

  She nodded. Lucas was grinning at me.

  “Shit. Lou never apologizes,” he said, laughing.

  I cracked a smile but quickly walked from the room, heading back to the office.