by Bella King
“Like ants to sugar,” I say, shaking my head. “We need to leave before they swarm the building. I killed one of them in the hallway, which will undoubtedly make them angry.”
“You’re kicking the wasps’ nest with that move,” Dimitri replies.
“He would have killed me and Cora both. They want my head, not just the money I owe them.”
“You really got yourself into trouble with the Malaugurio this time. I thought you were going to pay them back right after,” he says.
“Six million dollars is hard to come by, my friend, but I was going to in due time. They’re just impatient,” I reply, opening the sauna door. “Come, both of you.”
Cora slinks past me, keeping her distance from Dimitri after almost killing him. Her face is bright pink, and that’s just from yesterday’s sunburn. I can tell that she’s embarrassed by her actions. I’ll let this one slide.
“It’s like an oven in here,” Dimitri says, wiping the sleeve of his suit jacket over his forehead.
“The heat should keep the bugs out,” I mutter, looking along the wooden bench for the plank of wood that doubles as I door switch. I hid it well, and even though I’m the one who placed it, I’m having trouble finding it.
“Hurry,” Cora urges.
“Quiet,” I snap, running my hand along the bench. Finally, I feel a slight give to one of the planks. I wrap my fingers around it and yank it upward with enough force to break it if it was secured down properly.
Instead of breaking, the plank comes up smoothly, triggering a release of the entire bench, allowing me to pull it out of place to reveal the hatch that leads to the water drainage system. I motion for Cora to go first. “Jump in the hole and make room for Dimitri once you’re in. It’s a tight fit for the first few meters.”
Cora hesitates by the hole, but I won’t allow her to hold us up. With a light push, I managed to make her stumble in, falling into the darkness below.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cora
I fall into the darkness feet first, unsure of how far down I’ll go before my feet hit solid ground. I might have been angry with Viktor for being rough with me if he hadn’t saved my life. At the same time, he’s the one who put me in a life-threatening position, so I guess it’s even.
My feet hit the cold cement, and my knees buckle. I fall forward, catching myself with my hands and stumbling up before Dimitri jumps in after me. He lands perfectly on his feet beside me, a toothy grin on his marred face.
“Look out below,” Viktor calls into the darkness before jumping down with us. He lands close to Dimitri with a heavy thud, kicking up dust from the cold floor. “Let’s go. They’ll find the exit soon, and we don’t want to get caught in a shootout in the pipeline. There’s no cover.”
I’d rather be back in the building if that’s the case, but I have no idea how many people are attacking the house. I only saw one, but there were enough people shooting through the windows to make me believe the house could be completely surrounded. Viktor certainly seems to think so.
“We’ll have to carjack someone when we get outside,” Dimitri says to Viktor as we start jogging through the pitch-black tunnel.
I can’t see the men in front of me, but I follow their voices so that I can run as close to them as possible without stepping on their heels. Normally, I would be afraid to run in a dark tunnel underground, but my survival instincts have overtaken my fear of the dark. I’d rather be here than be shot.
“I can’t run around assaulting people in broad daylight,” Viktor says, shaking his head. “I’ll call and have a car delivered.”
“You won’t have a signal until we get out onto the road,” Dimitri reminds him.
“We’ll just have to wait then,” Viktor replies, growing irritated.
“The Malaugurio will catch us on the road. We must take a civilian vehicle,” Dimitri insists.
“Jesus Christ, Dimitri. I already told you. I can’t prance around breaking laws like I used to. I’m starting a new life here with Cora,” Viktor scolds as we move toward the sound of running water.
“Maybe you should break the law,” I finally chime in from behind them. “You’ve failed whatever foolish mission you were on that involved marrying me.”
“Cora,” Viktor says, sounding exasperated, “Let’s talk about this later, shall we?”
“It won’t change the fact that you lied to me. I knew you were lying,” I retort.
“That didn’t stop you from riding my cock last night.”
“Guys!” Dimitri injects. “You can save your lovers’ quarrels for later. We need to focus on getting to the main waterway. I think we’re close.”
I begin to see a light close by, probably from some maintenance lines in the connected pipeline. It’s bright enough to where I can see Viktor’s large silhouette slowing down in front of me. I’ve never hated and loved a man so much at the same time in my life. He drives me crazy.
“We can exit further down the pipe. There are plenty of drainage points of the main road down from the house,” Dimitri says.
“You’re going to get us killed by waiting up there,” Dimitri says.
“Well, we can’t wait down here, so what’s it going to be? At least on the road, we won’t be visible when the Malaugurio find the pipeline,” Viktor replies.
“I hate following laws. This better be worth it,” Dimitri mutters.
Viktor ignores him, hopping down from the exit of the small pipe into the much larger sewage line. There are maintenance walkways on the side that keep us away from the raw sewage that’s moving slowly down the pipe.
He holds his hand out to me, helping me down from the pipe. At first, I don’t want to take it, but I also don’t want to slip and tumble over the short railing into the sewage. I allow Viktor to clasp his strong hand around mine and steady me as I jump down.
“Thank you,” I say curtly as I dust my oversized robe off. I’d much rather be wearing proper clothes while running from the Italian mafia, but I wasn’t given a chance to get dressed before I was unceremoniously yanked out of bed this morning.
Viktor is still in just a pair of slacks, while Dimitri is fully dressed in a suit. I consider asking him for his jacket, but after nearly killing him, I figure it’s best to leave him alone. It’s not his fault that we’re wandering through the sewer in fear of our lives. Viktor is the one who put us all in this situation, but he doesn’t even have a shirt to steal.
Viktor confidently strides down the walkway, waving at Dimitri and me to join him. I have no clue where we’re going to end up, but anywhere is better than here. I’ll be happy when we get to the surface. It smells horrid down here.
“Up there,” Victor says after a few minutes of fast walking. He’s pointing to a black metal ladder bolted to a straight portion of the curved wall in the pipeline.
I stop beside the ladder with Dimitri, and Viktor grabs my waist before I can protest. He lifts me to the ladder, and I quickly grab hold of the cold metal rungs, using my upper body strength to pull myself up until I can get a proper footing.
I feel dirty climbing up a ladder in the sewage line, but I figure it never actually makes contact with any of the liquid floating down the middle of the tunnel. It’s the cold, damp metal that gives the feeling of something dirty, but I do my best to ignore it as I scramble up to freedom.
I break through into the bottom of a drainage duct on the side of the road, able to squeeze my body through the opening without too much trouble. I’m sure Viktor and Dimitri will struggle with it more, but I suspect they’ll both be able to get through without breaking any ribs in the process. It would be poor planning on Viktor’s part to get stuck in his own escape route.
A car whizzes by as I roll onto the road. I spring to my feet and jump onto the curb, not wanting to get squashed by the next car that comes along. Thankfully, it’s not a busy road, and Viktor and Dimitri manage to squeeze through to the road without becoming pink and tan pancakes.
“Call a
car in,” Dimitri demands the second he breaks through to the surface.
“I liked you better when you talked less,” Viktor replies, pulling a small flip-phone out of the front pocket of his pants and punching in a number at lightning speed.
“Maybe you should ditch the rifle if you don’t want to be arrested,” I warn.
Viktor frowns. “It’s legal to open carry in this state.”
“Yeah, but we just crawled out of the sewer. I’m pretty sure any normal cop would see that as I reason to question us.”
“Perhaps,” Viktor says with a shrug, stepping back as he connects to the person on the other end of the phone.
“Perhaps we shoot the cops,” Dimitri says with a goofy grin.
I roll my eyes, crossing my arms and walking away from the road. “You both are too much.”
Dimitri lets out a hearty laugh while Viktor barks orders through the phone in Russian. He snaps the phone shut and turns to me. “Five minutes.”
“Until our ride gets here?” I ask.
Viktor nods.
“That’s too long,” Dimitri says, stepping in. “The Malaugurio will skin us alive.”
“Give it a break,” Viktor says. “They’re not going to come up that fast. They have no idea which exit we took.”
“They’ll split up and come through every one of them in a moment. We won’t stand a chance out here,” Dimitri shoots back.
“Just shut your mouth and keep watch. Our ride will be here soon.”
“I will not shut my mouth. I’ve been through over fifteen years of shutting my mouth and letting you take the lead. This is your last mistake,” Dimitri growls. “I’m carjacking the next motherfucker who crosses our path.”
“Listen to me,” Viktor demands, but it’s no use.
Dimitri jumps into the road, waving his hands at the car that’s driving toward him. All Viktor and I can do is watch as the car slows to a stop, and the window rolls down, only for Dimitri to pull out a gun and yank the driver out of their seat, commandeering the car.
“Jesus Christ, what a moron,” Viktor says, placing his hand on my shoulder and sinking his fingers into my muscle.
I wince at the excessive force that Viktor puts on my shoulder, but I don’t move away. I understand the stress he’s under right now.
“Get in,” Dimitri calls out to us as the owner of the car runs in the opposite direction, yelling frantically in hopes that the police will hear him.
I look up at Viktor. He’s the one in charge, and I’m going to listen to him before I ever listen to Dimitri. At least Viktor is making an attempt to follow the law, even if it’s a meager attempt.
“Let’s get in the car. The damage has already been done,” Viktor says, finally lifting his hand from my shoulder.
“You’re the boss,” I reply.
“I’m more than the boss, Cora,” Viktor replies as he opens the passenger’s side door for me. “I’m your husband.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Viktor
My masterplan is unfurling faster than a whore’s legs after a goblet of wine. Curse the Malaugurio and curse Cora’s father for charging me so damn much just to arrange a marriage. Cora is priceless, but he put us all in danger with his greed.
Okay, I’ll take some of the blame here, but not all of it. Dimitri is giving me tough love again, but he’s right about the carjacking. I was risking all of our lives just to maintain a fake persona. I’m not a law-abiding political figure. I’m a mafia king, and I always have been. Not even the syrupy sweet love of Cora can change that.
We need to make the journey to the Valivonia mafia headquarters. They’re the only people I still have good relations within the United States. My headquarters is in Russia, far away and unable to provide any assistance to us in these trying times.
“We need to get to the east side of the city. The Valivonia mafia is seated there, in a castle that they’ve repurposed. We’ll find safety there, and we can stay the night so long as I have a chat with their leader,” I say to Dimitri as he barrels down the road at speeds that would certainly flag us as trouble to any cop nearby.
“Could you slow down a bit, Dimitri. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”
“I thought we already had,” he replies with a chuckle.
“And that should be the last of it. We’re going covert from now on. We have to keep Cora safe.” I look over at her as I say the last sentence, patting her on her thigh. “We’re going to make it out of this just fine.”
Cora looks upset, but she’s handling this better than I thought she would. This woman has never seen real action before in her life, and I can tell that part of her likes it. I see a younger me in the way she’s processing this, and I don’t know whether that’s good or not.
Cora crosses her arms and purses her lips, glaring at me with her large blue eyes. It’s hard to take a glare like that seriously, but she’s doing her best to seem menacing.
“You’ll be fine, ” I say to her, squeezing her soft thigh.
“I’ll be fine when you take me back to my father,” she replies.
“You know I can’t do that. We’re supposed to get married.”
“Enough with this marriage nonsense,” she says, flinging her arms into the air. “You lied, you broke my trust, and now I don’t know what to think of you.”
“This again,” Dimitri says from the front of the car.
“Quiet,” I snap at him. I’m annoyed with how much Dimitri has been speaking up lately, but maybe I should have listened to him more in the past. Now, he’s at the end of his wits, and at the most inconvenient time that he could have chosen.
I turn back to Cora, who is still glaring at me as though it’s going to make a lick of difference in our current situation. “I’ll do better this time, but you have to give me the chance to explain myself.”
“Sounds a lot like begging,” Cora replies.
“Okay,” I say, adjusting my position in my seat to turn my body toward her. “Then, I’m begging.”
The car grows quiet as Cora mulls over what I’ve said. I hear the quiet scoff from Dimitri as he shuns my inability to be the one in charge right now.
Sure, Cora has made me weak, but she’ll also make me strong if she gives in to my marriage proposal. My success in the United States is hinged on her decision, and if I have to beg, then so be it. I’ll get what I want in the end.
Finally, after what feels like a decade of painful silence, Cora speaks. “You need to tell me everything, and the truth about why you want to marry me. What kind of deal did you make with my father?”
I take a deep breath. “We can talk about it once we get to the Valivonia headquarters.”
“No,” she interjects. “Now, or I’m going to make a scene and alert the police.”
I sigh. “Fine. You win, Cora. I’ll tell you, but you need to understand me when I say that my feelings have changed since I met you. My intentions aren’t the same as when I first started out.”
Cora’s face softens, but her lips stay pressed together.
“Alright,” I say, taking another deep breath. “Here’s goes nothing.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cora
I sit still, trying to be as objective and nonjudgmental as possible as Viktor tells his story. I’m thankful that all of this is coming out before the wedding so that I can decide whether or not I want to actually marry him or not.
I might not have the option to say no anymore, however, because last night, I let him cum inside of me. I’m not an idiot. I know that’s risky, even if it was my first time. I couldn’t help it, though. The emotions and delicious sensations that Viktor gifted me were undeniable. It was heaven, but heaven isn’t without consequence.
I don’t want any potential babies to be born without a proper father, but I need Viktor to be a good man and explain everything to me so that I can look at this from an honest perspective. Limiting the scope of my knowledge doesn’t make for responsible decisi
ons.
Viktor’s face is marred by a deep scowl as he begins his story. Dimitri stays quiet, focused on the open road ahead as we make out was to the Valivonia headquarters. I just pray that we’ll be safe there.
“So,” Viktor begins, “I never intended to be part of the mafia. The opportunity came to me while I was locked in a prison cell, rotting away from sheer boredom. When I was just eighteen years old, I was given a life sentence.
“Left to rot in a jail cell, my mind turned to ways in which I could gain power and get revenge on the powerful people who put me in that cell. First, however, I would need to escape before I lost my mind and my youth to the cold cell block.
“The solution came to me in the form of a prison gang that was a subset of the Russian mafia that occupied the adjoining city. They tested me and found that I had nothing to lose.”
“How did they test you?” I ask, my fingers gripping the edge of my seat as I soak in every word of Viktor’s story.
“With violence. They pitted me against a man much larger and more powerful than I was. Of course, at this point, I didn’t care if I lived or died. What difference would it make when you were locked away from the outside world for your entire life? That’s barely even living.”
“The point is,” Viktor says, pausing. “I killed him. He was an evil man, anyway. He had killed several innocent women and was only serving a ten-year sentence. I gave justice to the world the day that I snapped his neck with my bare hands.”
I frown, taken aback by the horrors of his story. We haven’t even gotten into the real reason why he’s in the United States trying to marry me, and I already feel bad for him.
Viktor takes a breath. “I was accepted into the mafia after that, but I wanted more. I had to escape from prison, so I organized the men who were willing to help, and I escaped with a few of them through a weak spot in the ceiling. Not everyone made it out alive. I can still hear the deafening sound of the alarm, and gunshots flying by my head as I ran from that place.
