Page 42 of Hateful Vows
THIRTY-ONE
ALEKSEI
I rina paces the length of the Ventura’s mansion living room, creating a groove in the soft carpet.
It’s three am and there’s no sign of Dante. No text, no calls.
My last text sits as unread in our group chat.
Her phone rings with a masked number and her face turns ashen. My stomach drops at the sight.
“Irina Ventura,” she answers before putting the caller on speaker.
“Mrs Ventura, I have bad news for you.”
The thick Irish accent is unmistakable. Only one man would be so bold as to call her directly. It doesn’t matter that we all protect our phones to the best of our abilities. There’s always someone somewhere capable of finding it if they’re determined enough.
“Cian Moore,” I greet.
The beat of silence betrays his surprise but when he speaks again, he doesn’t show it, all business again.
“ Pakhan , he greets. “Mrs Ventura, your husband was supposed to take his flight back to you later this evening. I didn’t allow him to stay in my city but his jet is still parked on the tarmac of Dublin airport. And my men have found his.”
“What do you mean you have found his men?” Irina asks, an edge of anxiety in her words.
“They’re dead.”
“All of them?” She asks. Fear tinges her voice.
“Yes.” Her face falls and her chin wobbles, shutting her jaw so tight I’m afraid she’ll pop a tooth. “The man you came to investigate is under my protection, and he’s not the one trying to kill your husband. I think you already know that.”
She swallows before answering. “We suspected.”
“Casio has a woman here, someone I care about, and a three-year-old little girl.” He sighs like the next part costs him.
Nerves prickle along the nape of my neck, my hair rising with anticipation.
Whatever comes next is not going to be good.
“I suspect the culprit has found Dante. I’m calling you as a courtesy. ”
“Fuck!” I exclaim.
Irina’s eyes widen, staring at the phone but unseeing. Her breathing picks up, and I jump into action. With a hand on her elbow, I lead her to sit on the sofa, where Percy is resting. Sensing his mistress’s distress, he settles on her lap and purrs loudly.
“We’ll need permission to enter your territory,” I tell Cian. “We’ll stay away from Irish business, but we need to come and go and follow any traces.”
“You have it. But Dobrev, I don’t think they’re still in Ireland.”
I nod, though he can’t see me, and disconnect the call. Landing on my knees in front of Irina, I take her hands in mine.
“ Malyshka .”
She shakes her head frantically, closing her eyes and forcing her breaths in and out through her nose.
“Five things I see, four things I hear, three things I smell, two things I can touch, one thing I can taste,” she whispers, coming back to the grounding technique I taught her years ago.
She opens her eyes, darting her gaze to the room and listing things as she goes before moving on to the other senses. “Okay. Okay. I’m here.”
She shakes her shoulders and expels one last deep breath before the cold-hearted Irina I know and love is back in front of me.
I love every version of her, even the vulnerable panicked one that fears for her husband’s life, but the fierce queen ready to raze the country to the ground might be my favourite.
“Call your team, I’ll gather my men. And get Lucie’s ass here. I want her on twenty-four hours watch, and there’s no safer place. It’s better if she and Mariella are at the same location.”
I don’t miss how she talks about the Italians as “her” men. She’s never felt safe within the Bratva, and I’m grateful Dante gave her something I couldn’t. A place to reign and the loyalty she deserves.
It’s almost six am when Lucie and I park in the driveway of the Ventura’s mansion.
The place is crawling with soldiers. I only recognise Lorenzo, Dante’s underboss, and a few soldiers I have seen guarding the place before.
In three vans following us, Ilia, Mikhail, Boris, Ian, Dan and a dozen highly-trained men enter the place.
The meeting we’re about to have will be tense, but honour dictates that every single man in the room will obey orders.
Lucie’s blonde hair is piled at the top of her head and she rubs her eyes, unfazed by the display of weapons and the barely contained rage filling up the meeting room. She goes straight for Irina and wraps her arms around her.
“We need him home, Irina,” she says like a plea.
Irina has to physically untangle herself from Lucie’s embrace and I almost smile.
I have found that my fake wife has a sunny disposition, very at odds with her upbringing or circumstances.
It’s unsettling. No one can be that happy to marry someone they don’t know, live almost as a prisoner and have their lives controlled by others.
But I haven’t taken the time to dig into her psyche.
I’ve been too consumed with Irina and Dante.
She cheered and made celebratory cupcakes when I confessed that I had sex with both of them. It was confusing.
“I know,” Irina says, voice stripped of emotions. “Thank you for joining us, Lucie.”
She swats at my step-sister like following orders is nothing, then leans in and whispers conspiratorially so only Irina and I can hear. “Maybe once you get your husband back, you can rid me of mine. I’ve heard he cheats on me.”
She winks, though her smile doesn’t reach her eyes, before sauntering to a chair and plopping herself down.
“I don’t have time for this,” Irina shakes her head. Then, she addresses the men in the room, Capaldi Security Company on the line to help us locate Dante.
“Right, let’s get on with it. As you all know, someone killed the late Don Ventura and has been out for Dante’s life ever since.
We suspect it’s someone close to the family, someone who has been here before since it was poison, probably from the garden outside, that took the Don’s life.
Last night, Dante was in Dublin to confront one of our men, Signore Casio, who’s been travelling there without express permission.
The man isn’t the one we are looking for.
Unfortunately, the person who wants my husband dead has managed to track him and capture him. Tino died protecting our Don.”
She pauses gravely, letting the news settle. A few soldiers swear and do the sign of the cross. I’ve never believed in God but I join them as a sign of respect.
“We need to locate Dante and bring him home as soon as possible,” she continues. “I want the person responsible’s head on a fucking pike and all his accomplices in pieces scattered around the country.”
“How do you know he’s not dead?” Someone asks and I hiss. Lorenzo steps next to Irina protectively but she holds out a hand up.
“Because if he were, his body would have been on our doorstep with the morning newspaper. You all hate each other, and probably me but I don’t give a shit. I don’t need your allegiance or even your respect, I need you to find your Don and bring him home alive .”
The savage look of rage and determination she gives each man has them shifting every so slightly and pride blooms inside me. Dan is the first one to beat his closed fist against his chest and bow his head to her. All my men follow, as do I.
Someone whistles and we turn to the lithe blonde girl.
“Sheesh, you all are intense. Sis, you got this covered, I’m gonna go sleep this energy away.
” And with that, she disappears. Knowing she will be here while we hunt eases the anxiety and guilt I feel.
I know she approves of whatever Irina, Dante and I share but I still wish for her to find true happiness, not be restricted to the gilded cage we made for her to protect Irina.
“Capaldi, I need a change in our security here and at the penthouse. All devices must be replaced. Whoever took Dante knew exactly where he was and for that, I hold you accountable. I’m not paying a dime for your failures.”
“Consider it done,” the man answers simply, face grave.
“We need to consider outside groups,” I tell the group.
“Right now, our one true enemy is Misha Petrov, and the Moscow Bratva and his allies. But he never had it out for one person, specifically, so it’s unlikely that we’re after Russians.
Toma, I know it’s a lot to ask but contact your brother in Croatia.
Get a feel for what Petrov and his cronies are up to.
” The man simply nods and holds up his phone, disappearing in the corridor.
“We’ll start in Ireland, then come back to sift through the entire city.
I want ears on every port, every business, here and in the rest of Europe. And keep it discreet.”
We form groups of three men, Irina, Ilia, Lorenzo and I flying to Ireland that same morning to trace the last steps Dante took before disappearing.
We find nothing, but we bring Tino’s body back, giving him the funeral he deserves, surrounded by all the important families and men of our organisations.