Bratva Sinner (A Possessive Mafia Romance)

“I have to admit, this is an audacious plan.” Evgeni gave me a tight smile, head tilted to one side. “There aren’t many men in your position that would have the courage to take on a task like this, let alone to follow through with it under my nose. When I said you could keep the girl and the dossier, I expected you’d sell them both to the Lionettis for an embarrassing sum of money, but I didn’t think you’d start a war.”

“It was never my intention, Pakhan, only the side effect.”

He laughed and shook his head. “All right, Luke. You want this war? Then you can go ahead and get me this war. But if the Lionettis aren’t weakened by the time the fighting starts, then you will be the one on the front lines, you and your whole crew, and I’ll make sure that little toy girl you’ve been keeping all to yourself pays the price. Do you hear me, Luke? You make sure the Lionettis are bleeding, or you all die.”

“I understand, Pakhan,” I said, nodding sharply. “I won’t let you down.”

“You already have.” Evgeni stood up and told his guards to follow him in Russian. “I only hope that you’re right.”

He left the house, men in tow. I followed them to the stoop then closed the door once they were piled into their black SUV.

Yuri paced back and forth near the kitchen then threw his hands up. “What the fuck, boss?” he said, eyes wide and wild. “You want to start a fucking war? How could you not ask us first? This is insane, you do know that, right? We’re all going to die, and all because of this fucking—” Yuri pointed at Cara, but I stepped toward him before he had a chance to say whatever stupid thing was about to come out of his mouth.

“Go talk to the others,” I said, tone warning.

He sucked in a breath and let it out, calming himself down a touch. “They’re not going to like it, especially after today. We already lost Marvin.”

“Go talk to them,” I said again. “Bring German with you, he knows about all this. Tell them what you heard.”

“You should do it.” He looked down at his feet.

I went to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He looked up, eyes narrowed, but I squeezed and held his gaze firmly.

“We’ll make it through this, you only have to have faith in me. In all the years you’ve worked in my crew, have you ever seen me fail at something? Have I ever let you down?”

“No,” he said firmly.

“Then trust in that. Go talk to the others. I’ll come soon.”

Yuri nodded and left. I watched him go with a stone in my stomach.

This would not go over well. I knew it, and knew I couldn’t do anything to fix things. The Pakhan forced my hand sooner than I wanted, and with Maher out there well on the hunt, that made things twice as difficult.

I had to finish off one problem before I could move on to the real issue at hand.

“Are you okay?” I knelt down in front of Cara and took her hand in mine. She trembled slightly and wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“I’m fine.” She bit her lip hard. “You didn’t have to lie for me, you know.”

“Evgeni would kill you, but he might give me a pass.” I shook my head. “I couldn’t have you survive the attack at the club only to have my own Pakhan decide you needed to die.”

She burst into tears. She crumpled forward and covered her face with her hands and I knelt there for one moment, surprised by the sudden onrush, then pulled her against me tightly. I held her and smoothed her hair then rubbed her back and whispered calming nothings to her, over and over again.

Watching Marvin die couldn’t have been easy. I felt for her, I truly did, and if I could go back and take that moment away, I would.

But Marvin was dead, and Maher was still out there, and I needed Cara now more than ever.

“We’re going to take the fight to him now,” I said softly as she began to calm down. “Do you understand? We’re going to get revenge for what he did.”

“Are you sure?” She looked at me, eyes red and puffy and filled with tears.

I wiped them away gently. “I’m going to kill them all. For Marvin and for the rest of my men. And then we’re going to kick the Lionettis so hard that they won’t want to get up again.”

She laughed once. “I don’t know if I can handle all this.”

“You can.” I squeezed her hands in mine. She seemed so small, so frail. “You’ve been through so much, why stop now? You want to live, don’t you? Then come with me and get revenge.”