Page 57 of Mob Bride

“That’s why you spent so much time there when you claimed it was for work.”

“It was for work, just not the kind I told you. There were things he wouldn’t explain that complicated the deal, but I pieced it together. He wanted to expand his network through the Russians to the Armenians. He tried to create friction between those two syndicates, so he could mediate, but we saw how well that went.”

“But why the bratva? Why were they your ultimate target?”

That’s the most pressing question. The one I want to know the answer to, but she hasn’t offered.

“We have intel they’ve been expanding farther into Eastern Europe, that they are increasing their exports to former Eastern Bloc nations. They’ve always had a presence there simply because they’re Russian, but now they’re using that more to their advantage and permeating more cities in more countries. Soon they’ll have an entire monopoly on most of the former Soviet Union. Like I said, I knew I couldn’t get into the bratva. The Poles were the next best option.”

I sit here in silence because I know the truth. It isn’t the bratva that’s becoming so pervasive. It’s my family who’s expanding into new markets there, and it’s pissing the Kutsenkos off. But even they don’t know the full extent of what we’re accomplishing. They’re stuck twiddling their thumbs.

I’m torn between whether I can tell Carrie the truth about my family. I want to, but she’s still an agent and despite how attracted we are to each other, we still don’t know each other very well. Until I can talk to my brothers and cousins about this, I’ll keep quiet on our involvement. I know silence is as good asan omission, and that can be as much as a lie. It might ruin things with Carrie because I’m not being forthcoming. However, family must always come first. It’s not just my life at stake, it’s everyone I love. I have to choose wisely, and I can’t make that choice alone.

Carrie’s hand pauses on my chest, and I know she realizes I’m deep in thought.

“Shane, we have to speak to your family. I have to tell them what I know, and that opens them up to even more risk because of my job, as well as knowing how things stand with the bratva.”

“That’s not a risk we’re unfamiliar with. It’s one our shoulders are broad enough to handle. You’re in greater danger now that Bartlomiej knows you’re a spy and an agent. It’ll only piss him off more when he discovers you ran to me. For now, he might think you went to Misha’s, and that you were a spy for the bratva all along. Then again, that would almost be a better lie for him to believe than for him to discover you’ve involved an entirely separate syndicate family.”

“I know. I have to tell my handlers they made me, and then they’ll have to pull me out and get me to a safe house.”

“I don’t like that idea at all,cailín. They can’t protect you there. They don’t know what they’re up against with Bartlomiej and Jacek. Bartlomiej can be reasonable like you know, but Jacek is crazy. He won’t stop until he has you, and that means he will take out your handlers as well as you. You need a place that has protection with people who actually know what they’re doing with syndicates. You might have studied the Poles, and the DEA may have come after us enough times, but they don’t truly understand the inner workings like a fellow syndicate member.”

“I don’t know where to go, Shane. My options are limited.”

I sit forward and look at her. “Your options aren’t limited, and you know exactly where you’re going. You know exactly who’s going to help you.”

“Thank you, Shane. I didn’t want to assume anything, and I don’t want to cause you or your family to get more attention from the government.”

“I know that, Carrie, but I told you I would protect you, and I meant it. If ever there was a time for me to prove it, it’s now.”

“Daddy, I don’t want you to feel like you have anything to prove. I don’t want you to feel like that’s how our relationship stands. That I’m only with you because of what you can do for me.”

Regret fills her voice, and she shifts, so she can lean against me more. Calling me Daddy tells me she needs more sheltering from the world than she realizes.

“I never thought that, Carrie. That never even crossed my mind. I’m with you because I want to be, but I know being with me brings more danger than you’re used to. It’s an entirely different danger from just going undercover. You went to a smaller syndicate. Their influence doesn’t stretch nearly as far as they would like to think. It means I have resources they don’t. There are only three other families that truly rival mine, and if the bratva has been your target all along, then you’re going to need my family’s help.”

“I thought they didn’t target women and children.”

“That’s true, but they will use all their resources to shut you down and keep your mission from succeeding. We have to plan for that.”

“Do you think I can still feed information to my handlers while I continue to rely on you? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Daddy.”

“I don’t know either. It would be best if we speak to my family now and fill them in on what you’ve told me because they must be part of any decision we make.”

“I know. But I don’t see how you and I can work. I need to survive this, and I appreciate any help you and your family cangive me, but they will never accept me because I’m only bringing all this trouble to your door.”

“This trouble exists regardless of you,cailín. You might be the one the most recent challenge, but you are not the cause of anything new. And as for accepting you, my family has a far more open mind than anybody realizes. None of the women who’ve married into this family recently come with uncomplicated pasts. It’s a challenge each time, so this won’t come as a surprise. They know you’re an agent and who you work for.”

“But whatever complicated relationship your brothers and cousins may have had, I guarantee none of those women worked for the federal government.”

“No, but one of them could bring the feds to our door, even though it wasn’t entirely intentional.”

Carrie’s eyebrows shoot straight up, and I see the shock. Somehow, she must not have heard about Dillan and his wife.

“Carrie, the mob boss married a woman who shared secrets about my family to the entire world. She discovered all of them from infiltrating us. It wasn’t intentional that the information went out, but she planned to disclose it all along.”

“Oh.”

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