Page 24 of Forced Bratva Prisoner

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.”

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