Page 99 of Born into Sin

I hear Dario behind me, muttering in Italian about how fucking crazy this family is. He’s not wrong. Our families might both be involved in crime syndicates, but the Melnikovs are in a league all their own. The Alessi Mafia is one of rules and expectations, and the Melnikovs just do whatever the fuck they want. They started the Bratva on their own. They don’t have generations behind them, generations who have dictated how and why things are done the way they are. As the don, I run my family how I want, but I’m always walking a knife’s edge. Part of me wants to continue certain traditions, but the other part of me wants to just burn it all down and start from scratch. I’m hoping there’s a happy medium in there somewhere. I can’t help but think about the next generation. Our child will be born into the Alessi family, but his roots will run very deep into the Russian Bratva side of things.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Vitaly asks me.

“I was just wondering if my son will one day be running an Italian Mafia or a Russian Bratva.”

“An Italian Mafia,” Dario says, his tone making it clear he doesn’t think it’s up for debate, but at the same time, Lev says, “A Russian Bratva,” his tone also leaving little room for debate.

“Why don’t we just wait and see?” Matvey suggests. “You never know. You may just have girls.”

“Also,” Vitaly adds, “that is very much a problem for another day. I try not to worry if I don’t have to. It prematurely ages you.”

“Yeah, you don’t want to have wrinkles and grey ball hair,” I tell him.

He barks out a laugh while Val says, “That’s gross, Dad.”

Vitaly just shrugs. “I’m just glad I have a nutsack to grow grey hairs on.” He looks over at Alexei’s severed genitals. “I’m guessing he’d give anything to have a few grey hairs.”

“True enough,” I agree.

Luka and Max have been quietly watching near their dads. They’ve been laughing with the rest of us, but they’re also taking in every detail of what’s been going on, no doubt memorizing everything for when they’re the ones in charge. Sasha’s eyes keep darting back to Alexei’s softly swaying body. There’s no horror behind his eyes; it’s more like fascination, and I wonder if Lev notices. My silent question is answered when Lev walks over and smacks his son on the back before leaning down to whisper something to him. Sasha nods, and after giving the body one last look, he goes to stand with his cousins.

Lev notices me watching and walks back over to me. “I’m handling it,” he says before I can even open my mouth.

I hold up a hand. “I didn’t say a word.”

“No, but I know you noticed it. Sveta is like her dad, and Sasha, for better or worse, is a lot like me. He doesn’t shy away from the dark parts of himself. If anything, he revels in them a bit too much, but he never lets the dark overtake the good. He still has a lot to learn, though.”

“Don’t we all?”

Lev smirks at me. “Well, now that you’re going to be his brother-in-law, you can help me out with him.”

Vitaly somehow manages to overhear us. “Now’s your chance to back out, Dominic.” He laughs at the matching scowls Lev and I are wearing. “Once you’re officially tied to this family, there’s no going back.”

“Dominic knows what it means to be tied to a family,” Dario reminds him.

“True, but not this one,” Vitaly counters.

“I’m not backing out of anything,” I tell them.

“And he’s already tied to us,” Lev reminds him. “I’d fucking kill him if he walked out on my pregnant daughter.”

“And I’d deserve it. I’m marrying Natalya. End of fucking story.”

Vitaly looks at me and grins. “Is there any way we can convince you to take the Melnikov name and drop Alessi? It’s the progressive thing to do.”

“Fuck that,” I say, feeling my cousins tense at the very idea of it. “Natalya is going to be an Alessi. I’m not fucking changing my mind on that.”

Lev groans, but he and his brothers don’t argue. They’d be doing the same thing, and we all know it.

“The cleanup crew is here,” Roman says right before four of their men walk in. I don’t recognize their faces, but the neck tats are a dead giveaway. Roman gives them orders in Russian, and they set to work. I’ve got to hand it to them, they don’t bat an eye at the cut-off dick and balls lying in a pool of blood. They just lower Alexei onto a tarp and throw his genitals on top before wrapping him up tightly and then carrying him out.

“I take it they’ve done this before,” Sandro mutters.

Matvey gives him a half smile. “A few times.”

With Alexei taken care of, I’m anxious to get back to my pregnant fiancée. I’d left her unsatisfied, and it’s time I went home and made it up to her. After telling the Melnikovs I’ll be in touch soon, I follow my cousins back out to the car. Dario must sense my impatience, because he breaks even more laws than usual and gets us back in what has to be a new personal record for him.

“See you later, boss,” Sandro says to me with a grin, knowing exactly what I’m about to do.

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