Page 7

“Do you, Leon Dubrov, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do.”

“And do you, Sasha Balakin, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.”

A surge of excited energy rushes through me, and I can’t help the grin that spreads across my face.

“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

She leans back, just the slightest amount, and I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and pull her towards me, pressing my lips against hers.

My other hand travels down her back over the smooth, silky fabric. My memory flashes back to the moment at the club, all those same feelings, the heat, the passion—I pull away from her and step back, taking her hand in mine.

“Come, wife,” I say, ignoring the look of distaste on her face.

She lifts her lip in a mild grimace, but then quickly hides the expression.

I lead her inside the house to the dining room, where my lawyer is waiting with the wedding certificate for both of us to sign. I push her forward and nod towards the document.

She picks up the pen and scrawls her signature across the crisp, clean paper.

I do the same.

It’s official. We are married.

“Can I get out of this stupid dress and go back to my room now?” she asks in obvious frustration.

“No, that isn’t your room anymore. You are my wife now, and we will be sharing a room.”

“What? No. I didn’t agree to that.”

“You agreed to be my wife. The rest was obvious.”

“No,” she screams, turning away from me. I grab her around the waist and pull her against me, holding her arms against her sides so she can’t fight.

“Don’t start this shit now, Sasha,” I snarl.

“Just let me go to my own room, please,” she begs.

I lift her up in my arms, and she starts squirming and wiggling.

“Stop that,” I shout, gripping her even harder.

She kicks out as I carry her up the stairs. All the way up she is swearing at me and calling me names.

“Who knew you had such a foul mouth. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less from a Balakin.”

I get to my room and throw her onto the bed. She is still shouting and fighting. I don’t want to deal with this right now, so I bolt for the door and slam it behind me, locking her inside.

Within seconds I hear her slamming her fists against the door and continuing to shout insults.

I shake my head.

I think I need a drink, then I can come back and deal with this afterwards.

I head down the stairs and to the living room. Sasha is screaming so loudly I can still hear her.

“She’s got quite the mouth on her, sir.”

“Tell me about it. I almost want to drug her again just to get her to shut up,” I chuckle, and Ivan laughs, rubbing his hand self-consciously over the bandage covering his bite wound.

“How’s your arm?” I nod towards him.

“It’s not infected. So at least we can confirm the Balakin doesn’t have rabies.” He laughs loudly.

“Hey, actually, she’s not a Balakin anymore. She’s a Dubrov now. She’s been elevated in this world. We are going to have to start teaching her how to be a lady.”

Ivan snorts. “Chances are low. I don’t think Balakins are teachable.”

“Maybe you’re right.” I shrug.

One of my other security guards walks into the room.

“Sir, you have guests.”

“Oh, shit. Not the best timing,” Ivan says, glancing towards the sound of Sasha’s screamed insults as they drift down the stairway into the living room.

“Who is it?”

Just as I ask, Maxim and Chiara walk into the living room with their kids.

I clench my jaw.

“Hey, man,” I say, knowing that I look sheepishly guilty while trying to pretend that there isn’t some woman screaming from upstairs.

“Hey, cuz. Uh…what’s going on?” Maxim asks, looking me up and down, taking note of the suit. He glances around, leaning back to look out into the garden, and sees the wedding arch.

“We wanted to come and wish you a happy welcome to Boston, but it looks like the party already happened. Did I miss an invite or something?” he looks amused and worried at the same time.

His wife, Chiara shakes her head. “I’m going to give you two a moment. Is it alright if the kids go play outside?”

“Yes, of course. There are a lot of snacks on the patio table. Help yourself.”

From upstairs, Sasha is shouting about what a manipulative douchebag I am, and that the only way I can ever get a girl to be interested in me is to drug her.

Maxim raises his eyebrows in my direction and shoves his hands into his pockets.

“You want to tell me what’s going on?” my cousin asks.

He’s usually quite direct, so I guess I should expect nothing less of him right now. And there is no point in denying anything because, apart from the obvious evidence that something is going on, he would find out sooner or later.

“Who’s upstairs yelling like a wilding, Leon?”

I pick up my whiskey, handing the second one I just poured to Maxim. Then I sit down on the sofa.

Maxim follows my lead, taking his drink and sitting as well.

“It’s Sasha Balakin,” I say, to the point.

Maxim’s face drops and he chokes on the sip of whiskey he just took.

“Balakin. Danil’s daughter? What the fuck is she doing locked up in your house?”

“We just got married,” I shrug, sighing as I lean back on the sofa.

“What the fuck, man. You are going to have to give me a lot more detail than that. Danil Balakin is one of the most dangerous rivals out there. Why the fuck would you have his daughter locked upstairs? And what the hell—married?”

“You know Danil killed my parents and my sister.”

“Of course,” he says gently.

“Well, I’ve been piecing together a revenge plan to return the favor of all the pain he has caused in my life. I want him to suffer like I have suffered.”

“Leon, I know you’ve been through a lot these last couple of years. But taking on Balakin is not the answer. He’s dangerous. He’s really powerful.”

I smile tightly. “He’s not that much of a threat to me anymore, cousin. Over the past few years, I have grown my business and my backing in so many ways that I am on his level, if not above. I have nothing to worry about regarding retaliation from him. Before I came to Boston, I made sure I had the firepower and status to back my own plan.”

“But you kidnapped his only daughter and forced her to marry you. I don’t think there is anything that would piss him off more than that. His daughter appears to be his entire world.”

“That’s why I knew it was the only way to truly get back at him. But we are married now, and by the mafia code, a marriage is a contract above the law.”

“But it’s not binding unless he did it willingly. “

“She did.”

“It doesn’t sound like it,” he chuckles, tilting his head towards the sound of Sasha’s continued yelling.

“That is just a minor disagreement we had after the wedding was already concluded.”

Maxim shakes his head.

“Look, man, I get it, you want revenge. But how does marrying his daughter give you that?”

“Because I get to take the person he loves most in this world, and make her life a misery, thereby making his life a misery without even touching a hair on his head. He murdered my family, man. He murdered them. Tortured them. My little sister was so young when it happened. She didn’t deserve that. No one did—but especially her. She was a kid.”

Maxim pulls his mouth tight.

“I don’t like it, I have to be honest about that, but I understand.”

I nod, and we sit in silence for a moment.

After a while, Maxim leans over and grabs my shoulder, squeezing it tightly.

“Look, Leon. I am going to leave this whole thing alone. It’s yours to do with as you wish. But I need you to know that if anything happens, if you need me at any point, I am just a phone call away. Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you need it, okay?”

My heart warms at his words.

Maxim and I have always been close, even when we were kids.

I smile. “Thanks, Max. I really appreciate it.”

“Maybe you should let her out of the room?” He shrugs. “I wouldn’t mind meeting her.”

“It’s risky, with the mood she seems to be in.”

“Well, she can’t go anywhere, and you said it was voluntary.”

“I suppose you are right. What will Chiara think of all of this?” I glance out at the garden, where the kids are playing around the wedding arch, pulling at the flowers while Chiara tries to chase them away as they grin and bolt from her.

“Do you remember how she and I met?” Max laughs.

“Good point. Okay, I’ll go get her. Do you want to update Chiara on what is going on?”

“Probably best, hey.” Max stands up and heads out into the garden.

I take a deep breath, pulling my thoughts together before heading upstairs to fetch my wife.