“Before the wedding. We can make a break for it.”
Nothing but her slowing gasps fill the cramped space. I’m trying not to let my mind spin. I’m doing everything I can to calm my racing thoughts and to keep myself from having a heart attack from the anticipation.
She can’t possibly reject me now.
“Lev,” she whispers, her fingers dancing over my neck. “Did you take my virginity?”
I swallow hard. “No.”
The way she shudders makes me tighten my grip around her.
“But does it matter?” I question. “Once we’re together, who fucking cares? We’ll go to England, get a nice cottage, visit my grandparents, have a new life…”
“A new life,” she whispers. “God, I love the sound of that.”
***
Locating my father isn’t difficult. I just have to follow the smell of greed into the sun room located at the back of the mansion. He’s typing diligently on one of his chrome computers, gaze focused entirely on his task.
For a second, he actually looks like my father instead of a cold, heartless mob boss. I can stand here and pretend he’s a writer, an editor, or a journalist. I can imagine our world without all the constant meetings, the weapons, the drugs, and the tweaked-out idiots wandering through here day and night. I can even picture him as a schoolteacher, an aged history-slash-football coach working on his next play.
But that’s all fantasy. I know he’ll never be those things. He’ll die before he even comes close to being one of those things. And that would be his choice.
“Pop,” I greet casually. “I just want you to know that I’m leaving, and I have no intention of joining the family business.”
His fingers freeze on the keyboard, but he doesn’t look at me. Instead, he continues staring at the screen while a muscle tweaks in his chin.
“I’m renouncing you, and I’m going back to England,” I state confidently. “And you can’t do a goddamn thing to change it.”
The laptop flies across the room before he does. It smacks me in the face, sending me rearing back into a desk propped against the wall. His hands wrap around my throat just as I lift my arms to protect myself, hot fluid flooding my left eye.
“You…fucking…bastard,” my father grunts while squeezing my throat.
I struggle to breathe, kicking his shins to get him to quiet. When I raise my hands between us, he doubles down on his strength, propping his elbow into my chest.
Now I’m fucking stuck.
“If you want to leave,” he warns while veins bulge on his forehead. “You can leave in a fucking body bag.”
To say I’m afraid is a fucking understatement. I’ve never seen my father go into a rage like this. But I suppose that’s what happens to a man when his empire is threatened. Since I can’t get the pressure off my throat, I shove my thumbs under his eyes, causing him to wail and retreat.
I suck air into my lungs when he backs off. While catching myself with my hands on my knees, I hear frantic footsteps approach. But I don’t even care who sees this. I’m going to leave my mark on my father for being so goddamn shitty to me.
After rearing back my elbow, I lunge forward and land a punch into his chest. He recoils while clutching his right pec, face going red with confusion and anger. I’m getting ready to land another punch when Mikhail grabs my fist.
Mom puts herself between us. “That’s enough!”
Dad points at me. “You’re fucking—”
“Dead?” I challenge while shaking my brother free. But Mikhail grabs my arms and bends my elbows behind my back. I cringe, fighting to get free. “You want to fucking kill me? Huh?”
Mom looks pissed while she shoves Dad back to the couch. “Take five.” She turns to me. “You. In the library. Now.”
Seconds later, I’m hunched in an antique chair with an ice pack on my forehead and my mother towering over me. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I have a feeling she doesn’t have anything better to say to me than my father.
“Your father loves you, Lev,” she says in a low voice. “But he’s bound by honor. Don’t you understand that? Don’t you get why you have to take his place?”
I shake my head. “I can’t believe you’re defending him.”
“Why wouldn’t I? He protects me as much as he protects you.”
“You’re a fucking pawn.” I close my eyes. “Just like Mikhail. Just like me.”
She sighs. “You’ll change your mind. One of these days, you’ll need your father as much as he needs you. And maybe then you’ll realize how much he means to you.”
She leaves me in the silence of the library with my brain spinning wickedly on a broken hinge. I can’t tell if the headache is from frustration or the laptop whacking me in the face. And it doesn’t matter.
Because whether she likes it or not, I’m getting out, and I’m taking Alex with me.