Lev made a good point, though. If I’m thrown out of college, who’s here to protect Tatiana? Aleks sure as fuck isn’t going to do it. So that’s why he went to Florida instead of me.
“He’s a former Navy SEAL,” Lev said, voice thick with derision. “He looked good on paper, I guess. The school outsources the torture-interrogation testing because several of the professors refuse to do it, and the others-”
“Would enjoy it far too much,” I interrupt.
“The interrogator was sloppy,” Lev hissed. “Poor oversight. Hates women, especially those who defy him. The fact that Tatiana refused to speak after something as brutal as ripping out her toenail made him spiteful. He was out to teach her a lesson.” He chuckles, it sounds low, ugly. “She head-butted him during the capture phase and flattened his nose. He intended to make her break right away.”
“I’m sure you got this out of him in the slowest, most painful way?” I grin, bloodlust surging through me. The memory of Tatiana slumped in that chair, with her bloody foot and bruised cheeks will haunt me forever.
“Oh, yes.”
There was a world of satisfaction in those two words.
“He was zhalkiy, pathetic,” Lev sneers, “I only cut off two fingers before he was begging me to stop. Offering me money.”
“Tell me you took your time,” I said.
“Hours.”
“Thank you,” I said. I meant it from the bottom of my heart.
Tatiana…
After another twenty-four hours in the clinic, I was scratching at the walls like a demented cat, ready to get out. Mariya came to visit and helped me shower and wash my hair. Lucca has to help me to the bathroom, and that is mortifying enough.
“I heard your fiancé and his dad showed up,” she said, brushing my hair carefully. It’s thick and gleefully rats up with the slightest provocation, and we’re working with a week’s worth of bedhead.
“He’s horrible,” I shudder.
“Aleksandr?”
“No! Of course not. His father. The two times I’ve met him, I don’t think his eyes ever left my chest.”
“So disrespectful,” she agreed. “I know Maksim has been forced to work with him a couple of times and hates his guts. He’s a nightmare.”
“Thanks, you’re making me feel so much better about my future,” I said. I buried my face in my hands, which yanks the brush out of her hand.
“No sudden movements! God, I’ve trimmed hedges more manageable than your hair.”
“Please,” I scoff, “like you even know when your gardener’s shed is.”
The brushing slows. “We have to talk about it,” she says gently, “are you really planning to go through with this?”
“With what?” I evade.
Leaving the brush stuck in one of my snarls, Mariya comes around to sit in front of me. “You can’t avoid this and you know it. When Lucca came racing across campus, holding you, I had never seen anyone so terrified. Those first couple of days, when we…” she turned her head and I realized she was trying not to cry.
“When we thought you were going to die, he refused to leave you, and you held onto his hand. You wouldn’t let go, even unconscious and barely able to breathe. You love each other so much. In one of those sappy ‘until the end of time’ songs sort of ways. There’s no way you can go through with this arrangement.”
“Really?” I want to scream, be angry, throw things, but I’m too weak to do anything but shake. “Do you think I want to, Mari? You’re like me, you’re in an arranged marriage, too. What do you think would happen if you marched up to Maksim and said, ‘Hey, I’m madly in love with someone else and gave him my virginity and anyway, I want to break these unbreakable vows between Bratvas and marry him instead.’ How do you think your Pakhan would take it?”
“Well, you got together with Lucca before the arrangement, so the virginity thing doesn’t count,” she said. “Do you remember my brother Yuri’s arranged marriage to that girl from the Balabonov Bratva? Tania stood in the middle of the cathedral and shouted ‘I object!’”
“Oh, I remember that, I was there.” I said happily, “best not-wedding ever.”
“Yuri and the Balabanov Bratva managed to make an agreement that worked for both sides-”
“With a huge loss of face,” I interrupt.
“That turned into nothing,” she retorted, “Yuri and Tania are proof that true love can triumph over even the bullshit Bratva alliances.”
“Your family wasn’t under fire, Mari. When my parents were murdered, it was just the beginning. Roman and Ilia are no closer to finding out who’s behind trying to destroy our family, or who tried to kidnap me, and-”
“What?” She grabbed my arm. “When? When did this happen?”
“The night they blew up my parent’s plane,” I whispered, looking at the open door to my room. I don’t need anyone overhearing us. “They tried to kill Ilia and Roman at the same time, it was a wide-scale coordinated attack.”
“So, it must be more than some rival Bratva, or whoever,” she said, eyes narrowed. I can always tell when Mariya’s analyzing something because her eyes dart back and forth, like she’s watching a tennis match. “Multiple targets, several different enemies, but they’re all colluding against the Aslanov Bratva. Look, this is my turn to tell you something that can never be repeated, okay?”
“Of course,” I nodded.
“The same thing happened to my family. Maksim needed alliances and that’s how I ended up promised to Konstantin. The important thing here is that there were three different syndicates, too. Lucca will know about this. His brother Dante-”
“Yes!” I interrupted, “Lucca told me about it. He said his parents were murdered at a New Year’s Eve party. His older brothers were there, too. Dante was trying to kill them all.”
“Right,” she nodded, “it was also a rival Bratva, the Sokolovs, and even worse was the Irish mob, the O’Connells, pust' oni gniyut v adu, may they rot in hell. Maksim’s wife, Ella? Her own brother was an O’Connell and he was in on it. So, these syndicates all stood to gain something, and they weren’t afraid to murder their own family to get it.”
“What a mess,” I sighed, “thank god your family figured it out before those scum managed to kill you all.”
“There’s two things that feel off here,” she said, her eyes darting back and forth like a pinball machine. “You getting kidnapped is one. According to everything you told me, they killed - or tried to kill - everyone but you. Someone must have been planning to marry you and take control in that way.
“The second thing that seems so weird to me... I haven’t heard anything about your brothers seeking alliances with any of the other Russian families. You’re one of the Moscow Six, for god’s sake! And they aligned with the sleaziest Bratva in Russia? Have they reached out to anyone else? Any of the Mafia families? The Irish? Hell, the Cosa Nostra? The Scots? Your father did business all over the world!”
“They definitely caught Roman on his back foot,” I said, “I’m pretty sure he wasn’t planning to become the Pakhan for a long time. My father was very ‘you’ll become Pakhan when you pry it from my cold dead fingers,’ and- bozhe moy, I can’t believe I just said something so dreadful.” I put my hands against my eyes, trying to force the tears back.
She grabs my wrists, pulling my hands away from my face. “Look. The Toscano Mafia is insanely powerful. They would be a great alliance for your family, and let’s not forget the important connection between the Morozov Bratva and the Toscanos. Through Kon and me, the Turgenev Bratva. There are all kinds of complex interconnectedness here that Roman may not be aware of. If we speak to our families, we can offer something much bigger to your family’s Bratva. Plus, Roman and Ilia will certainly have a lot more help finding out who’s behind this.”