Page 10 of Devil's Bride

“It’s a burner phone. It can’t be traced.”

Rage spirals in my gut like a storm. I don’t care about my marriage to Irina, it won’t kill me, but I’ll be pretty close to being dead if I can’t find out who runs the Phoenix. All the information I’ve gathered over the last few months points toward different notable politicians, and then a dead end.

I think for a moment. “What if the Phoenix has more than one leader?”

His brow lifts. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t see how it isn’t,” I say. “From what we’ve gotten so far, it’s run by someone rich and influential. Someone who can’t easily be tracked down, but what if we’re always at a dead end because it’s run by more than one person. That would mean more money, more influence and power.”

It can’t be a one-man organization. In fact, they’d be stupid to try and take me down alone, and assuming they succeed, they’ll want to expand to other territories and countries. More continents, even.

“We’ll just have to keep looking.” He pauses and stares at me intently. “About your marriage to the Volkov girl, are you sure you want to go through with it?”

“It’s not about what I want. It’s about what we need to do to give us time to get to the bottom of this nonsense.” Not that I hate the idea. What man wouldn’t want a pretty woman warming his bed every night.

“She could be a spy,” he says quietly. “it’s like letting a hyena into a lion’s den.”

“Then we give her something to report on, or I can simply keep her busy.” Either way, I’m content with having her around.

Dimitri adjusts in his chair. “And Matteo? He won’t sit back quietly and watch, you know?”

“Matteo can suck my dick for all I care. What I want is his daughter, I don’t care what he does as long as he doesn’t get in my way.” I try to find an excuse for this behavior, where I’m completely obsessed with the daughter but hate the father with a passion.

I’d wanted to kill Matteo once, when he had the cops snooping around my business, and I regret I didn’t do it. That fucker has no business running around and causing problems for me.

But Irina would hate me if I killed her father, so I guess it wasn’t such a bad choice. Our marriage may be forced, but she’ll be my wife. I want her loyalty to lie with me at some point.

His brows knit. “You never wanted to get married. How are you going to cope with all of this?”

“How every other man copes. All I need to do is keep her alive and we’re okay.”

He laughs sardonically. “I feel sorry that the poor girl will have to put up with this. Your whore, Nadya…she won’t be pleased.”

Nadya is the only girl I’ve ever fucked more than once. She’s good with her mouth and how she bounces on top of me, I give it to her, but I’d be damned if I consider her anything more than a means to an end. She works for me, not the other way round, I don’t care about her feelings.

“I’m quite certain she wasn’t expecting me to marry her.”

“You sound like you won’t be needing her services any longer.”

“I won’t cheat on my wife.” I was young, but fragments of memories of how my father treated my mother remain. I’d also seen how he treated my stepmother, and the last thing I want to become is a monster like him.

Regardless of the circumstances surrounding our marriage, I’ll never allow Irina to feel that kind of pain. It’s a promise I made to myself way back, and that is the reason I’ve stayed single. I couldn’t commit to any woman until I was absolutely sure I wouldn’t be an asshole husband.

“Good luck man,” Dimitri says with utmost sincerity. He and I became friends after my father’s death. He’d been the one to kill his uncle, one of my father’s loyalists, and he’d sworn his loyalty to me.

It’s a decade later and our relationship has grown from Pakhan and consigliere to friends. I know he’ll risk his life for me in a flash if need be. “Thank you.”

He swivels his chair. “By the way, did she like the ring I got for her?”

I grin widely. “She probably expected me to be a gentleman and get down on one knee. But she took it though, that is what matters.”

Dimitri shakes his head, as if disappointed. “You really should remain single.”

Chapter Four

Irina

It’s the day of my wedding, and I’m considering jumping out the window and running away.

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