by Bella Rose
Antonin reached for Josef and twisted the man’s arm up behind his back. He looked pointedly at Juliet, Giovanni, and Reggie. The men that Reggie had stationed around the park to be their backup began approaching. Funny, but none of them seemed inclined to give Antonin any trouble. If the look on his battle-scarred face wasn’t enough to scare someone into surrender, the careless way he held Josef in his hands would have been. Reggie’s men actually put their hands up as they got closer to show that they posed no threat.
Then Antonin looked directly at Juliet. Giovanni pulled his gun and aimed it at Antonin’s head. “Don’t give me an excuse. Stay away from her. Take your traitor and leave. We want nothing more to do with you.”
Antonin snorted. “You’d better make sure that’s a true statement before you start ordering me around.”
Then without another word, he turned and walked away. Juliet watched him go with a heavy feeling in her gut. Her hand strayed to her belly, and she wondered if they were ever going to see each other again. She shouldn’t have cared. She had been ordered to marry Giovanni. Her grandfather was right. It would be a good match for the Cagliones. She needed to stop thinking selfishly and think about her family. Antonin was not the man for her no matter how much she might wish it otherwise.
***
“WHERE ARE MY men?” Josef snarled in Russian once they were out of the Italians’ line of sight.
Antonin considered not responding at all. Then he figured it would do no harm to let Josef know that he was beaten for good. “I took them out. Most of them live. Denis is the exception. He thought he would make a play to kill me. It failed.”
“You animal!” Josef struggled but couldn’t break free. “How dare you interfere in the business of another Brigadier? This is against the code.”
“The code?” Antonin sighed wearily. “That’s the problem with men like you, Josef. You quote the code when it suits you and shit on it when it does not. Not five minutes ago you were prepared to sell out the Bratva in order to have my father and me murdered.”
“It is not my fault that you are too stupid to understand my plan.” Josef stiff walked toward the van Antonin could see parked a few yards away. “It was a ruse.”
“Really.” The van loomed and Antonin busied himself looking for what might remain of a threat from Josef or his cronies. “And you truly believe I am naive enough to believe that nonsense?”
“I don’t pretend to understand what you believe, whelp,” Josef hissed.
“What I do know is that my father wouldn’t be happy to know you had attempted to rescue me, nor would he appreciate you meeting with the Italians for any other purpose. So no matter your purpose, you’re screwed.” Antonin laughed. “And don’t even think to tell me I should let you go because I need to be grateful that you were going to rescue me.”
Josef didn’t speak anymore. Antonin threw him into the van. When Josef tried to claw his way toward the front in a bid to leave Antonin behind, Antonin grabbed the man by his ankles and dragged him back. Then he snatched up a length of rope and tied the traitor so he could barely breathe, much less move.
The ride back to Bratva headquarters took very little time. Antonin felt the looks of the other Brigadiers boring into his back as he unloaded Josef from the van and flung him over one shoulder.
Word spread quickly through the compound, and Antonin was not surprised to see the Pekhan at the top of the steps when he entered the house through the front door. Antonin swung Josef off his shoulder and bowed his head to his father.
“What is the meaning of this?” The Pekhan sounded less than amused. Josef was a personal favorite of his.
“I caught Josef attempting to make a deal with the Cagliones,” Antonin said tonelessly. He wasn’t altogether certain his father would believe him.
The Pekhan shrugged. “Bring him up to my office, then, and let us meet to discuss what happened.”
That meant the rest of the Brigadiers were to be present for the questioning. Great. It was basically a trial. Dimitri appeared behind Antonin and clapped him on the shoulder. It was good to have his trusted friend at his back again. When they had been boys, they had both worked in the same chop shop after school. It had been one of Mikhail’s businesses, and the two boys had whiled away hours boasting about what they would do once they took their oaths and became vory v Zakane. Dimitri had always been there for Antonin, but this time there was nothing that Dimitri could do besides lend his moral support.
“I can’t wait to hear this,” Dimitri murmured. “There has been nothing but talk about the fact that you were captured.”
“So he knew?” Antonin had already decided that his father very likely knew he was being held within the Caglione mansion, but to have it confirmed was like a kick in the gut.
Dimitri grunted. “He kept telling everyone that you would either get out on your own or be lost to us.”
Antonin gave no comment to that. Instead he plucked Josef off the ground and headed up the stairs to the meeting. Either he would convince his father and earn back the respect he had lost, or he was doomed for good to be the Bratva’s whipping boy.
Antonin entered the Pekhan’s huge office and placed Josef on the floor in front of the assembled men. Josef was struggling and cursing in Russian and Ukrainian, but everyone seemed to ignore him.
“Now,” the Pekhan said, rising from his seat. “We all heard you were captured when you attempted to take control of the money after the Cagliones completed the deal with the Armenians.”
“Yes,” Antonin confirmed with a nod. “I was taken by the daughter of the current boss. Juliet.”
“A woman?”
“She was surrounded by a bevy of men with guns,” he explained. “Besides, I wanted to know why the Cagliones were being led by a woman.”
“Fair enough.” The Pekhan gestured that he should continue.
“We’ve killed all of the men in the family,” Antonin explained. “She is the last remaining Caglione. They’re in the process of trying to marry her to a loyal soldier in order to rebuild what they have lost.”
There were smiles and nods all around the table. The Brigadiers were all pleased that the Bratva was so close to weeding the last of the Cagliones out of their territory. Somehow Antonin did not feel the same sense of satisfaction. His child was going to be raised into that world of fear. He didn’t like that idea at all.
“I was never prisoner,” Antonin told his father. “I could have left at any time. I was simply waiting. Then I heard them talking in the woman’s office. They said that a man named Josef was meeting with them to discuss the possibility of what the Bratva might be willing to give them in exchange for me.”
“For you?” The Pekhan’s dark look focused on Josef. “And what was he willing to offer?”
“Josef wanted me dead,” Antonin said firmly. “He wanted the Cagliones to promise your death. And then he agreed that he would share territory if he replaced you as the Pekhan.”
“Bastard!”
Antonin watched his father’s face contort with anger. Then there was a moment of shock as the Pekhan of the Bratva stared at Antonin with what could only be described as pride on his face. He was proud of Antonin. It was enough to make a man wonder if the world was about to end.
Chapter Thirteen
“PLEASE JUST LET me do the talking,” Giovanni insisted in a low voice.
Juliet, Giovanni, and Reggie were quickly approaching her grandfather’s office. Carlos had requested that they immediately report to him upon their return from the meeting with the Bratva representative. Now Juliet felt as though she were walking to her doom, but she certainly wasn’t going to let someone else “do the talking.”
“I’m a big girl,” she insisted. “I don’t need you trying to protect me, especially not from my own grandfather.”
“Yeah,” Reggie agreed with a smirk. He was swaggering along just behind them as though he was really looking forward to what was coming. “If she wants to play with the b
ig dogs, then she needs to be willing to take her medicine when she screws up just like the rest of us.”
Giovanni curled his lip and threw a glare over his shoulder at the other capo. “Shut up, Reggie.”
“You shut up.” Reggie looked affronted. “I’m not the one who wants to get between her legs so badly that I’ll take a beating from the boss for it.”
It happened so quickly that Juliet gave a little squeak of surprise. Giovanni launched himself at Reggie just as they were turning a corner in the house. A long railing stretched off to their right, and the living room and main entertaining areas of the house were below.
Giovanni’s momentum sent him and Reggie careening into the railing. The splintering of wood seemed unnaturally loud in the house as it echoed off the ceiling and walls. The railing began to collapse beneath the weight of the two men as they brawled like imbecilic teenagers. Giovanni punched Reggie in the gut over and over again. The dull thud of his fist meeting Reggie’s ribs made Juliet flinch.
“Stop it!” Juliet cried out, her voice shrill. “Stop!”
Reggie wasn’t laughing anymore. He was on the floor on his back with Giovanni’s hands wrapped around his throat. Then from nowhere, Danny and Reggie’s other companions appeared. They grabbed Giovanni and hauled him off their capo. Giovanni was still fighting like a rabid animal. He panted and snarled something unintelligible as he struggled to get free.
“Enough!”
Carlos Caglione’s voice put an instant end to the struggle. Reggie’s boys dropped Giovanni’s arms, and Reggie struggled to rise from the floor. His nose was gushing blood, and he would most certainly have two black eyes and a lot of bruised ribs.
His split lips curved into a macabre smile as he looked from Giovanni to Juliet. “She doesn’t want you,” he said triumphantly. “Ask her. If you trust her to tell you the truth.”
Juliet’s heart hammered against her chest. Why did everything have to be so complicated? She thought back to that night in the bar when she had first met Antonin. Had she known that he was trouble? Is that what had drawn her so forcefully to him? She respected strength of will and purpose. Those were traits she found incredibly attractive. But it didn’t follow that she was always into bad boys. And really, Antonin wasn’t exactly a bad boy. He was just part of the wrong family. Had he been anyone else, this would not be a big deal. But he was part of the Bratva so here they were.
Carlos glared at Reggie. “Go clean yourself up. I won’t have you dripping blood all over my carpet.” Then he turned to Juliet and Giovanni. “I want to see the two of you now.”
“Yes, sir.” Giovanni ducked his head and followed Carlos toward his office.
Juliet took a few moments more to collect herself. This was not going to be pretty. She knew that, but she just didn’t know what to say. If she admitted she was carrying a child that belonged to a member of the Bratva, there was no telling what would happen. She didn’t want to be ordered to murder her own baby. She was in her second trimester. It was getting more and more difficult to hide her condition anyway.
Clenching her teeth in determination, she marched her way into her grandfather’s office and prepared to defend herself and her child in whatever way necessary for survival.
“It has come to my attention that the prisoner is no longer a prisoner,” Carlos said as he lowered himself into his leather desk chair. “What I cannot seem to decide is whether or not he was intentionally set loose, or if he was lost due to incompetence.”
Juliet felt Giovanni’s gaze but refused to look at him. Her grandfather had just presented her with a very unpalatable situation. She could either claim to be a traitor or a moron. Great. She cleared her throat and decided to be honest. Sort of. “I let Antonin Mikhailovich go,” she admitted in a clear voice. “Holding him prisoner here wasn’t going to get us anywhere. The Bratva does not value their men in the same way that we do. If fact he was getting more information on us from being here in our home than we were ever going to get from him.”
“She’s right,” Giovanni said quickly. “About him getting information.”
Carlos chuffed softly. “Giovanni Corleon, I respect your opinion on most things, but you are so worried about protecting Juliet that your side of this story is pointless.”
Giovanni clamped his mouth shut so forcefully that Juliet heard his teeth click. She grimaced. “The only reason Antonin was captured that night in the warehouse was that I tricked him. I told him that I was pregnant and that he couldn’t murder a pregnant woman.”
Grandfather’s bushy white brows shot up. “And is this true?”
“About the pregnancy?” Juliet swallowed her apprehension. “Yes.”
“And who is the father?” The deadly note in Carlos’s voice sent a cold chill down her spine.
“I am!” Giovanni said desperately. “It’s my child, which is why I want to marry Juliet and claim my rights as her husband and the father of her child.”
***
OF ALL THE things that could have happened as a side effect of this ridiculous war with the Cagliones, Antonin never could have predicted that he would somehow gain the respect from his father that he had longed for all his life.
Mikhail left his place at the Bratva table and approached Antonin. He threw his arms around his son and gave him a hard hug. “You have brought honor to the family. Your actions have uncovered a traitor, and you have discovered a grave weakness within the Caglione family that will allow us to finally acquire this territory for our own.” Mikhail pounded Antonin on the back. “Let us have a drink to celebrate!”
One of the other Brigadiers pulled out a bottle of vodka and a tray full of shot glasses. There were excited murmurs in Russian all around the table. Drinks were poured. Shots were thrown back. The atmosphere in the room became almost festive, and still Antonin could not settle down to enjoy his newfound success. His thoughts kept returning to Juliet.
“Tell me, my son,” Mikhail said in a loud voice. “Is this woman truly the only member of the Caglione family left living with the exception of the old man?”
“Yes.” Antonin tossed back his own shot and felt the liquor burn his throat. He wondered what this father was planning.
“How sad for the arrogant old bastard,” Mikhail said sarcastically. “He had such a large and powerful family at one time.”
“Did you know him then?” Antonin ventured. There was more history here than Antonin was aware of. He got the feeling this hatred of the Italians went far back.
“When we first arrived in this city,” Mikhail began, “we struggled to build businesses. Russian immigrants were not well liked, but we worked hard and we thrived.” Mikhail’s red face settled into a dark, angry expression. “The Italians would not leave us alone. They harassed and intimidated us. They stole our goods and merchandise and refused to allow us access to some parts of the city.”
“They felt threatened,” Antonin guessed. “A reasonable reaction given your intentions.”
“What?” Mikhail turned his frown toward his son. “Why would you say such things?”
Antonin shrugged. “I’m not defending their actions. I’m simply saying that had the situation been reversed, you would have done the same.”
Mikhail snorted. “I would have decimated them and sent them back where they came from.”
“And now?” Antonin prompted. “What will you do?”
Mikhail raised another shot into the air. The other Brigadiers did the same. There was a shout in Russian that made Antonin’s ears ring. Then his father looked to him. “You are going to go back to that house. You will infiltrate the Italians’ home, and you will murder that bitch in her bed. The old man has no way to rebuild his family with no broodmare to breed heirs. She will die and they will fall. The Bratva will finally be victorious!”
A shout rippled around the room and the men drank. They continued to drink. Additional bottles appeared and the talk got loud and slurred. Antonin sat in a back corner of the room wondering how it wa
s that the Russian pastime of drinking always seemed to produce such bravery. Or rather it was not bravery but a series of brash decisions that were so ridiculously bold that they somehow managed to succeed.
Antonin watched his father celebrate something that had not happened yet and wondered what the outcome would truly be. He had just been asked to murder the mother of his unborn child. He obviously couldn’t do such a thing. But Mikhail’s decree had completely eliminated any possibility that Antonin could bring Juliet here to the Bratva as his wife. Mikhail would never accept an Italian into his family circle. Not even if her entire family was dead and she brought their territory as her dowry. Mikhail had decided the only way to get what he wanted was through murder. Antonin was afraid that his father might be right.
Antonin rose and stretched. The room was filled with Bratva men. In the flurry of activity and celebrations, Josef had been forgotten. The man still lay on the floor in a heap. He had been kicked a few times by well-meaning members of the family, and now his body was mostly concealed beneath a table. Squatting beside his longtime nemesis, Antonin stared down at the man who would have murdered them all to fulfill his ambitions.
“I’m going to take you downstairs to a holding cell,” Antonin explained. “I cannot vouch for what might happen when they are still drunk and remember you are here.”
“Fuck you!” Josef snarled in Russian. “You are nothing to me. Whorespawn! Your father isn’t even certain you are his child.”
“And yet he claimed me,” Antonin said mildly. “If you seek to destroy me with your words, you need to pick another topic. My possibly illegitimacy ceased to bother me back before I became a man. As I recall, you were the one who constantly brought it up.”
Josef laughed. “Your mother slept with every man in the Bratva who would look her way! What makes you think that your woman won’t do the same?”
“My woman?” Antonin raised an eyebrow. “What woman are you talking about?”
“That Caglione bitch,” Josef spat. “You don’t think I had you followed? I know what the two of you are to each other. I know she carries your child.”
