Page 17 of Cruel Bet

“Yes, I would like to meet her. I am curious as to why De Luca kept her hidden for so long, she must be quite special,” I state, attention still fully on the man before me.

“Oh yes, that she is. She’s something alright. When I first saw her I knew how much fun I would have with her, breaking her spirit. She will provide me with plenty of heirs to strengthen the Lucchese family. I knew the little wildcat would love getting it hard the moment I laid eyes on her. I grabbed her rump and swatted her nice and hard with my cane and the beautiful bitch didn’t make a sound. She fucking loved it,” he says with a lecherous grin.

The thought of him doing that to Arianna fills me with white-hot rage. Outwardly, a flicker in my eyes, a slight grit of tension in my jaw, and a briefly clenched fist are all the signs Lucchese needs to confirm his suspicions.

“Ah, yes I can see why you wanted to take her for yourself,” he says with a knowing glint in his eye. “But she ispromised to me. Luckily for you, no shame or embarrassment was brought to myself or Don De Luca, as far as the world is concerned, I married Arianna that day. Apart from a few dead nobodies, no real harm has been done yet. So, if you give me back what is mine, we can move forward with an agreement between us all. That is unless you have already sullied her. I know that’s the first thing I would do with her, fuck her and own her.”

Formerly, I would have at least considered the offer. Why risk making an enemy of a strong triple alliance for one girl? But I don’t even have to think about it. The thought of handing Arianna over to this creep so he can rape her and abuse her makes me want to crush his skull with my bare hands.

“No,” I growl.

“Oh, has the mighty Kuzmin Pakhan developed a crush?” Lorenzo jeers, the youthful mocking tone sounds jarring coming from his wizened face. He reminds me of an overripe, piece of fruit, I could crush him with one hand.

I can’t let him think that I have a weakness he could exploit.

“Not at all. I just don’t take kindly to people making demands of me in my own business.”

“You misunderstand me, friend, it is simply a proposal of an agreement. If you choose to decline it and make a powerful enemy, then so be it,” he threatens.

“I wonder how confident you’d be without your bodyguards, old man? You might have been feared once but with no heirs to take over, and no real bride to sire them, the Lucchese name will die with you.”

“I could say the same for you Kuzmin, you have no heirs, no wife. I have been Don for many years and outlived many young bucks like you who think they are invincible. I may be old, but my experience is not a weakness, it is a great strength,” he declares, raising his hand and flicking his wrist.

I don’t have a chance to reply as all hell breaks loose.

At that moment, Miss Busty Blonde leans forward to pour more champagne. A muffled shot rings out and the bottle erupts into thousands of pieces, the girl falls to the ground. Dead. By pure chance and rotten luck, she got in the way of a bullet intended for me. This was a trap all along. I barely notice her warm blood splattering across my face, the shards of glass sticking into my skin, or the screams and chaos that explode around me, but I remain calm, reacting on instinct.

Everything that happens next takes place in just moments and practically simultaneously. Another shot rings out, and Endo comes running, having killed the shooter. The dancers all run screaming and tripping over each other in their high heels as they scramble to get out of the line of fire. The guards behind Lucchese reach for their hidden weapons. Without hesitation, I quickly draw my gun with practiced ease and take down the man closest to me. Endo takes the other two in quick succession but not before the second manages to fire off a shot in his direction. I hear him cry out and fall to the floor, but I cannot worry about how badly he’s hit until I’ve handled Lucchese.

He sits, wide-eyed and shocked. He clearly thought he’d get the drop on us. That his four men could handle my two. He also must have had inside help to get guns inside in the first place. The cocky son of a bitch isn’t even carrying a weapon.

“Nikolai… let’s talk about—”

He doesn’t get to finish his empty bargaining plea, I fire a shot squarely in the middle of his forehead and he falls forward, dead on impact.

Immediately, I race to where Endo is lying. To my relief, he’s already pulling himself up.

“Just a graze on my arm, boss, nothing to worry about. A couple of stitches and a cool scar to brag about to the ladies,” he says with a wink.

One of the doormen approaches. “Sir, we’ve locked all the doors, nobody out or in as per protocol.”

“Perfect, thanks, Ivan. Let’s get to work. Someone in here was paid off to let them in with weapons and I want to find out who. Round up the girls and keep them somewhere safe. I doubt any of them were involved but we can’t take any chances, so we should speak with them all. Oh, and be sure to send the dead girl’s family a healthy compensation,” I add. She gave her life for me, albeit not deliberately, but it’s the least I can do to take care of her loved ones.

He nods, “Will do.”

“You sure you’re up to this?” I direct at Endo.

“Sure thing. I’d hate to miss the fun part,” Endo replies.

“Okay, we should call in some of the others to help with cleaning this place up, too,” I add.

It’s going to take hours of questioning, and probably torture, if Endo’s pissed off and people don’t talk. But we can’t let a spy get away. We have to find them and make an example of them. With Lucchese dead, that’s one less enemy, but we’ve now effectively started a war with his allies. De Luca and Di Stefanoare also bound to know why he was here and that I have his daughter. They’ll come looking for her.

As much as part of me wants to rush home to protect Arianna, I know she’s safe there. They won’t know what’s happened here yet or where I’m hiding her—I chose one of my lesser-known homes for that purpose. For now, I need to focus on taking over the parts of Lucchese’s empire that I can and find out who the traitor is.

Chapter 11

Nikolai

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