Page 53 of Broken
Liam
Life resumed after my encounter with Nova. Days went by like a fleeting aftermath. Fall disappeared like a shadow under the sun's watch. Winter came howling in with determination and ice. I put her out of my mind and focused on things that were more important, like staying alive. My uncle had started a war with me. He wanted to be in charge of the Bratva, but my father had made me his successor. Inch by inch, he was trying to take over Bratva territory.
Viktor was too hot headed to think straight.
He wasn't a man of strategy, never had been, and he believed fear was the way to controlling people. It was not how my father had run the organization. My father had been the first-born son, and Viktor had been illegitimate and from an affair that had embarrassed my grandmother back in the Old Country. He was a bastard, still chasing what he felt he deserved.
"When do you think my father will make his final move against us?" Val asked, quietly.
"You know your father better than anyone," I replied.
"He will come in with brute force," Valentin said. "But he won't get his hands dirty. He'll send his soldiers like he did with me."
The smell of the marijuana filled the air as I pulled on the blunt and inhaled. Val was watched me from across a table in the office of my club. We were ringing in New Year's together. This holiday had been my mother's favorite.New chance to get things right, my love,she would say to me. I could hear her saying that within my mind as clear as day. It was as if she were standing right beside me dressed in sequins and a party hat on her head.
"And he will fucking die before he ever harms us a second time cousin," I said assuring him, snapping from my thoughts.
Val had permanently moved into the mansion, leaving the guest house behind; and I had tripled the security. No one was getting in or out of this place without being seen.
"If we could find him first, that might help," Val offered.
"He's going to slip up."
"He won't."
"Ha," I laughed. "This is Viktor we're talking. He beat a prostitute almost to death..."
"Truth," Val said. "And when he does, I'll pull the trigger my fucking self."
I knew it hurt for Val to say that out loud. This was his own father we were discussing.
He turned then and surveyed the crowd that we could see from high above in Mirrors and Smoke, our new venture, with a drink in his hand. Lights sparkled and flitted throughout the room. This club had taken off just the way we had planned and provided us another way to clean all the money coming in to us through the drug trade. We were on club number five, although club number four had been burned down.
The fire marshall had called it arson.
I knew Viktor was behind it.
He was going to keep coming for us until he got what he wanted: me dead and him in control of the Bratva.
The crystal of the decanter sparkled in the club lights outside as I poured its amber contents into a glass. I dropped a few cubes of ice into the glass, and I went to join Val at the window. I checked the time on my watch.
"Mina will be here with guests soon," I murmured to Val.
"I'm not in the mood," he said.
"You need to relax and have fun." I clapped his back and sipped.
He smirked, and it was quickly replaced with one of a brooding nature. It was what we did best, brood and plan.
"I think I may go home earlier than expected. I'm not in the..."
His words trailed off as he spotted someone in the crowd. I followed his line of sight and came face to face with the one person I hadn't allowed myself to have.
Nova was here.
She was in the crowd and she had dyed a bright blue streak down her dark mane that was curled into waves.Fuck.Even beneath the makeup she wore, she was beautiful. A fire engine red lipstick marked her lips and instantly I imagined them wrapped around my cock.
"Fuck," I muttered.
My mother’s words danced in my head again.
A new chance to get it right…