Russian Bad Boy's Princess: A Mafia Romance

by Bella Rose

  “We have a buyer for the guns.” Enzo began speaking, and the rest of the room grew hushed. It was almost like they were surprised at what he was saying. “The buyer is afraid of retribution from the Tarasovs, however.”

  “And you think handing me over with the weapons is going to guarantee you some kind of amnesty? You think the Tarasovs won’t hurt you because of me?” She began to laugh. It was so ridiculous she didn’t even know where to begin. “Oh my God! You guys are morons, you know that?”

  Enzo curled is lip, glaring at her with disdain. “You’d best think twice before mocking me.”

  “Why?” She gave him a derisive snort. “No matter what happens, I’m dead. What motivation do I have to be respectful? You’re going to throw me to the wolves at the first chance to save your own ass. Too bad your plan is going to fail. Sasha Tarasov doesn’t care enough about me to save my life. But he cares desperately about his property being stolen. And now you’ve stolen not only his weapons but his woman.” She thought about all of the things that Sasha had told Tatiyana and then about Olga’s comments. Then she stared her uncle right in the eye and gave him a sarcastic smile. “In fact, he probably won’t mind a bit if I get killed in the crossfire, as long as you’re punished. He never wanted to marry me in the first place.”

  ***

  Sasha rode in the passenger seat of Emil’s SUV and tried not to backseat drive. The old man was going unbelievably slow! Why wasn’t he hurrying? Maria could be in serious trouble right this very second. They might be torturing her. She might be in a dark place somewhere all alone. She might need him.

  “You’ve never been in love before,” Emil commented. Sasha could not imagine how this was possibly relevant.

  Sasha frowned. This was a stupid conversation to have at a very inopportune moment. “I’m not in love.”

  “Oh, of course not.” Emil turned a corner, bringing the vehicle almost completely to a stop before even moving the wheel. “Most men would sacrifice several hundred thousand dollars in weapons for a woman they didn’t want.”

  “I’m responsible for her!” Sasha said indignantly. Wait. Why was he getting so upset? The old man was obviously baiting him. “Would you knock it off? This is not the time for idiotic questions about things that do not matter.”

  “Actually, it is the perfect time for us to discuss why you love my daughter and what you intend to do about it.”

  “I don’t love her.”

  “Then you won’t be disappointed if the council decides this entire alliance thing is a farce.”

  “What?” Sasha swung around in his seat to stare in shock at Emil. “What are you babbling about, old man?”

  Emil didn’t answer. He kept steering toward the Dinozzo’s part of town. The scenery on either side of the road grew run down. The Italians occupied one of the oldest parts of the city, and they seemed to like the grim and the depressed. The businesses were varied and appeared lively, but the buildings were made of dirty brick, and the sidewalks were crumbling away as people walked from place to place.

  Sasha saw three drug deals taking place in six blocks. That was one of the reasons he did not press for the Tarasovs to enter the drug trade. Guns might lead to more violence, but drugs brought the rabble to the neighborhood and sent everything downhill fast.

  “It looks dead, doesn’t it?” Emil glanced around. “My Isabella was glad to get out of here. She didn’t like her brothers. They were cruel to her growing up.”

  “Did Maria have much contact with her mother’s family?” Sasha wondered out loud. “Maybe they’ll treat her well since she’s technically one of them.”

  “They’ll kill her in a heartbeat if they think it will get them leverage or make them some extra cash.” There was genuine worry in the man’s voice.

  “You love your daughter.” Why was this so hard for Sasha to wrap his mind around? “I always thought your concern for her was a facade that you used to try and get a foothold in my organization. Why else allow this marriage?”

  “No offense, young man, but I have enough to handle with my own business interests without trying to add yours to my list of problems. I don’t want to grow an empire. I want what’s best for my men. I want a healthy community in our territory with productive business owners and good revenue streams. What other point is there to being Bratva? Peace with you means security and prosperity for me.”

  Sasha could not stop staring at Emil Sokolov. “You’re nothing like my father.”

  “I would hope not,” Emil said matter-of-factly. “Your father was an ass.”

  Sasha couldn’t help laughing.

  They pulled up in front of a lounge. The building was two stories, but the second floor had boarded up windows and looked completely deserted. There were garish neon lights in the first floor windows and a bouncer at the door. The place was obviously occupied.

  “This is where we’ll find Enzo Dinozzo.”

  “I thought she was with Carmine.” Sasha clenched his fists. He was ready for a fight.

  Emil grimaced. “Carmine is a low man. He’ll have to defer to Enzo. He’s the oldest brother and the capo of the Dinozzo family.”

  “Then I suppose we should go inside and introduce ourselves.” Sasha checked his pockets to make sure he had his .45 and his knives. Then he slapped his right calf to make sure his secondary weapon was still in place.

  “Keep your head, please,” Emil suggested. “Let me do the talking. Hopefully I can manage to talk our way out of there without starting any shooting.”

  “And I say we put a bullet in Enzo’s forehead and be done with it,” Sasha growled.

  “You do that and all three of us will die.” Emil looked as tense as Sasha felt. “I’ve only met my brother-in-law once. It was at the wedding. He promised me then that he would kill me the next time we came face to face. We’ve never had a reason until now, but I can’t imagine much has changed. He’s a hard man. The sort that will act without any provocation and never bother to ask questions.”

  “Sounds like a real charmer,” Sasha said sarcastically. “I’m telling you—a bullet in the head will make things go a lot easier.”

  Emil shoved his way past the bouncer and into the bar. More than fifteen sets of Dinozzo eyes turned in their direction. Every man was armed. They all looked trigger happy and slightly insane. And in the center of it all sat Maria, her hands and feet bound. Sasha had to reevaluate his earlier comment. No bullet would make this problem go away.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Maria was almost certain she was hallucinating when she saw her father and her husband walk through the front door of the Dinozzos’ seedy bar. Her father looked impeccable as always, in his tailored suit. Not one steel-gray hair was out of place, and he looked out of place. He should have been at some sales convention somewhere.

  Sasha was a different story completely. Her heart raced as she noticed the way his black cargo pants hugged his thighs and clung almost obscenely in the crotch. He was handsome and virile, and she wanted so badly to feel those strong arms around her.

  Why?

  Her brain shut down her libido almost immediately. It didn’t matter than she loved to trace each groove of his muscles with her nails or that she enjoyed running her fingers through his dark hair. He did not love her. She was nothing but a pawn to him, and she needed to come to terms with what that meant for her future.

  “Well, well, well!” Enzo threw up his hands and turned to look at all of his men. This obvious driving desire to have everyone looking at him was a weakness that Maria really needed to figure out a way to exploit. Enzo pointed dramatically to Maria’s father and Sasha. “It looks like Maria was lying! Her men have come to the rescue after all!”

  Sasha’s poker face showed her nothing of what he might be feeling. She could not tell if he was annoyed, angry, or even pleased. She couldn’t even decide if he was here because he cared about her fate, or because he just really wanted his guns back.

  “Cut the crap, Enzo,” her fat
her snapped. “You received stolen merchandise. Tarasov merchandise.”

  “Ah, but we didn’t steal it from you, Tarasov.”

  “You didn’t buy it,” Sasha pointed out. “You just murdered your contacts and took the merchandise. Surely you can see that it’s not very sporting of you to do business this way.”

  “So what?” Enzo said sarcastically. He leaned forward and made a ridiculous face. “Are you suggesting that we pay for the merchandise? Then you’ll go?”

  Sasha seemed intrigued by this notion. Why? Surely that wasn’t going to make things better. “Sure.” Sasha lifted his shoulder in a careless shrug. “You give me a quarter of a million dollars for my merchandise. And when the Ukrainians come looking for their weapons, I’ll just send them your way.”

  “The Ukrainians?” There was no doubt in Maria’s mind that Enzo was now calculating how much crap he’d just stepped into and wondering if he could extract enough pounds of flesh from Maria to cover his crimes.

  “Yes.” Sasha slowed his words as though he were talking to someone learning disabled or deaf. “Imrich and Johan will be so happy to know you’ve been looking after their shipment for them.”

  “Then perhaps I’ll give them her, as a bonus.” Enzo pointed to Maria and the whole room went silent with expectation.

  Sasha wondered if the entire room could see that he was sweating bullets. These crazed Italians could start shooting at any moment. They acted like complete buffoons! Yet they all carried guns and were now in possession of his RPG shipment. The only chance Sasha had to get out of this with Maria alive and well was to keep bluffing his ass off.

  “You know Imrich and Johan, right?” Sasha prompted Enzo. “Those two are constantly buying up all the weapons they can find to send back home to the Ukraine just to keep up the resistance against Russia. They’re really agreeable guys.”

  “Imrich and Johan are your problem,” Enzo said tensely. “I’m not dealing with those bastards.”

  “But you took their guns.” Sasha spread his hands wide in mock supplication. “I mean they did already pay for them.”

  Enzo began cursing in Italian. “I already made a deal with the Somalis.”

  “Then if I were you, I’d cancel it.” Sasha gave a very nonchalant shrug. “But it’s not really my problem. It’s yours.”

  Enzo strode toward Maria. Sasha forced himself not to react. He could not let the man know just how much she meant to him. So he shrugged off the threat. “If you hurt her, I’ll have to kill you.”

  “She says you don’t care about her,” Enzo fired back. He pulled his gun from his shoulder holster and held it to her head.

  Sasha watched Maria swallow. She squeezed her eyes shut. He wanted so badly to launch himself at this crazy bastard and murder him with his bare hands. But not yet. There was too much chance of Maria getting hurt.

  “It’s a pride thing, you know?” Sasha told Enzo. “I’m sure you get what I’m saying. Man-to-man? She’s my woman. Just letting her die would make me look weak. I’m not weak.”

  Enzo’s lips curled into a smile. “So come and fight me if that’s what you want. You need some pride? You need to prove yourself? You want to be a man?”

  Sasha cocked his head and wondered if Enzo was truly insane. “You want to throw down. Now?” He did not add that it seemed unfair for a fifty-something man who’d let his gut get paunchy to fight a man like Sasha who was in his prime.

  “Sure! Let’s go.” Enzo wiggled his fingers in an obvious attempt to taunt Sasha. “Come and get some.”

  There was something off about what was happening, but Maria didn’t know exactly what it was. Enzo was a fifty-year-old man. Why would he pit himself against someone like Sasha, a known brawler? It seemed more likely that Enzo planned to cheat.

  Maria watched wide eyed as her husband gave her father a significant glance before stepping toward the center of the room. Enzo was already there. The entire place had turned into a bizarre fight club. Dinozzo men ringed the room whooping and hollering as they shouted for their capo to kick Sasha’s ass.

  Enzo was muscular, but he was certainly more talk than action. Maria rolled her eyes as he started in right away. “I hear you Russian freaks marry your own sisters. You’re all orphans who get imported over here and need mail order brides, but you don’t even know if you have the same parents or not!”

  Sasha cocked his head to one side and made his way to the center of the room. His hands hung loose and relaxed at his sides as he watched his opponent move back and forth like some demented prizefighter.

  “And you’re all starving!” Enzo continued. “You’re poor as dirt. A bunch of communists who would sell their own mother for a hand job.”

  “Are you done?” Sasha was actually laughing. “I don’t know where you get your information, but it’s a better description of your people than mine. It’s like you haven’t heard anything about Russia since the Cold War. My God. Have you picked up a newspaper recently? Or are you too busy beating up nerds for lunch money in school to learn anything?”

  Enzo roared in anger. The charge happened so quickly, that Maria jumped in terrified horror. Her uncle slammed into Sasha like a bull. But as Maria watched, Sasha easily pivoted to one side and caught most of her uncle’s momentum against his hip. He used Enzo’s own kinetic energy against him, spinning her uncle around and launching him toward his men.

  The move had the same effect as throwing a bowling ball at a set of pins. Enzo tumbled into the Dinozzo men and flattened more than one when he hit the ground. But he was up in an instant, roaring and charging again.

  Again Sasha pivoted, grabbed Enzo, and this time smashed his forehead into her uncle’s nose. Enzo went down in a gushing river of blood from his nose. The stench of new pennies filled the room, and Maria felt her bile rising as she fought back the urge to vomit for the second time that day.

  “Bastard!” Enzo snarled.

  He was like a rabid dog now. With his head swinging and his arms flailing, he began throwing punches at Sasha at such a ferocious rate that even Sasha fell back a few steps under the onslaught. Maria’s heart began to beat furiously as she worried that her husband would be pummeled to death by sheer brute force.

  The Italian was like a crazed beast. Sasha fell back a few steps, letting Enzo grow more and more eager with each swing. The man was starting to breathe hard. He wasn’t in good condition, and he was expending copious amounts of energy attempting to pummel Sasha into submission. That was fine. Sasha put his hands up to guard his face and let Enzo get in a few minor blows.

  A stinging uppercut, a blow to the midsection that bruised his ribs, all of these were worthwhile sacrifices. Sasha kept waiting. He cowered a little. Then he saw Enzo make the key mistake of all overeager bullshitters. Enzo started to lean forward. He shifted all of his weight to his leading foot and got sloppy. He forgot to guard his face, and he left himself exposed.

  At the perfect moment, Sasha sprang into action. He thrust all of his weight at Enzo, knocking the man completely off balance. Enzo’s arms went out and spun wildly as he tried to stay on his feet. Sasha pivoted and used one leg to sweep Enzo’s legs right out from under his body. With no attention to center of gravity or even to logic, Enzo was a lost cause. He went down hard.

  Sasha pounced on the Italian. Grabbing the man’s thick, graying hair, he put his fist in Enzo’s face. He felt cartilage disintegrate under his fist. More blood sprayed from Enzo’s nose. Sasha kept going. The occipital bone crumbled on the left side of Enzo’s face. The man gave an agonized scream, but Sasha was not done. One last chop to Enzo’s throat and Sasha finally stood up. Victorious. Except now he was standing in a room full of men with guns pointed right at him.

  “I beat your capo fair and square,” Sasha said calmly. He looked at every single man in the room. “I’m going to take my wife. I’m going to take my guns. And I’m going to leave.”

  Carmine erupted from behind the bar. Sasha saw the gun come up, but he could not react fa
st enough. Carmine fired at Maria. The sound of the gun echoed inside the bar.

  “No!” Sasha swung around to face Maria. But her father had gotten there first.

  Maria’s paper-white face held an expression of pure horror. “Papa!”

  Sasha pulled one knife without even thinking. He threw a backhanded slice that sent the razor sharp weapon singing through the air. The blade buried itself in Carmine’s chest with deadly accuracy. The younger brother’s eyebrows went up in shock as he grabbed for the hilt of the blade. Blood gushed from the wound, making it too slippery to be yanked out so easily.

  He turned to his wife. Emil was kneeling on the ground in front of her, his hand holding his side. “Don’t worry about me! Let’s get out of here!”

  If nothing else, Carmine’s writhing provided Sasha and Emil the perfect distraction. Sasha pulled another knife and sliced right through Maria’s bindings. He pulled her up from the chair and grabbed her father by his arm. Sasha and Maria supported Emil between them as they left the bar as fast as they possibly could. Sasha only considered slowing down long enough to burn the place down.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod!” Maria pressed a piece of cloth to her father’s wound as she tried not to roll around in the backseat of the SUV.

  Sasha was driving like a bat out of hell, trying to get them far enough from Dinozzo territory to be out of danger. At least that’s what she assumed. Sasha seemed perfectly composed. She was the one about to lose her damn mind.

  “Papa, are you okay? Please say something,” she begged. It was instinctive to grab his shoulder and shake him or something, but that would have been completely counterproductive. “Sasha we have to take him to a hospital!”

  “No.” Sasha’s calm response floored her.

  She was starting to panic. Her papa was going to die, and then where would she be? “No? What do you mean no?”

  “Hospitals are required to report gunshot wounds.” He was actually messing with his phone. Now, of all times, he was focused on sending a text instead of on getting them to safety.