Page 4 of The Mobster's Flower

“I’m coming!”

Chapter Two

Vlad

The call comes as I am waiting for my lawyer at the Shadow Lounge. He and I have all our meetings at this club because it’s one of the many businesses I own on the outskirts of Valor Springs. It’s discreet, and it’s an environment I can control since everyone works for me. Wilson has been my lawyer for a long time, but I’d be foolish to trust anyone in my line of work.

Wilson and I are meeting to discuss routine business, but I know he’ll bring up the assault charge my cousin, Anton, is pressing against me. Anton’s latest ploy has dragged on longer than I expected, and now it’s beginning to get on my nerves. At first, I was going to let things play out to see how far Anton would take it, but it seems I’ve overestimated my cousin’s common sense.

I barely touched that son of a bitch, and he thinks he can use some bogus assault charges to get me thrown in jail, no doubt hoping to seize control of the family assets in my absence. He should know better though. Even behind bars, I’d have no trouble maintaining my role aspakhan.

He knows I have enough money and power to get myself out of any trouble, and he is starting to get on my nerves, like a gnat that won’t go away.

Wilson has asked me to talk Anton into dropping the charges, but I know what my cousin is after. It’s the same thing my father and his father spent more than a decade fighting over, and my father came out on top. I had no intention of reigniting the same war as our parents, but it seems that is not an opinion Anton and I share.

I’ve clearly established my authority over the family, and Anton knows his place, whether he likes it or not. He isn’t foolish enough to outright attack me, so he tries any other method he can come up with. If asked, I would chose to fight it out to the death and let the last man standing run the family businesses, just to be done with it. But Anton is too weak and cowardly. He knows that he lacks support among the ranks. As long as I am around, he has no chance at seizing control. Hell, even with me gone, his chances are slim. His delusions that his name and genetics will be enough for him to hold onto power are just that, delusions.

I will not pacify him by giving him any part of my inheritance. If the man wasn’t family, I would have gotten rid of him like the little pest that he is. I’ll have to decide on some manner of dealing with him once and for all, though. His latest insult cannot go unanswered.

I bring my whiskey to my lips, but before I can taste the bitter liquid, my phone vibrates on the table. Few people have my personal number, and they are all people whose calls I cannot ignore.

I put down my glass and grab my phone from the table, a smile tugging at my lips when I see my sister’s name flash on the screen. Arya is the most important person in my world. I can remember as if it were yesterday how tiny she looked when she came into my life. I was twenty when my father’s mistressdropped a two-year-old Arya at our door, an innocent lamb dropped into a world of bloodthirsty wolves.

To protect her, I had to send her away to a different country, allowing only occasional visits.

But now she’s back for good. Well, she didn’t give me much of a choice. Arya was adamant about staying in Valor Springs for good this time, and I had no excuse to keep her away any longer. The threat that was posed by my uncle’s presence is gone now. Anton is too much of a coward to pick pose a risk to Arya; he knows the hell that would rain down on him should he try.

I shake my thoughts of my problematic family away and focus on the one person who actually matters. I accept the call and press the phone to my ear, expecting to hear my sister’s bubbly voice, but I am met with silence.

“Arya?”

More silence.

“Vlad,” comes a small voice on the other end of the line. A voice I haven’t heard since she was ten and broke her arm. It’s enough to have all their hairs in the back of my neck standing up. Something is wrong. I am on my feet before she can say anything else.

“Are you okay? What happened? Where are you?” I rapid fire questions at her, my anxiety growing by the second.

“Don’t get mad,” comes her broken voice, and it’s immediately obvious she’s been crying. I am already walking out of club, but as I approach the door, I realize I don’t know where I’m going. I almost bump into my right-hand man, Jax, who’s rushing in. He stops in front of me, and I don’t like the look on his face when he does so.

“What happened?” I ask again, this time the question is directed to him since Arya isn’t forthcoming with an answer.

“Your sister is in the hospital. She was involved in an accident.”

That’s all I need to hear to have me rushing to my car. Jax slides into the driver’s seat, and Arya’s voice barely registers as we tear away from the club’s parking.

“I’m not hurt,” she says, sounding drowsy, which isn’t exactly reassuring. “T-the accident wasn’t serious.”

I turn to Jax, who is driving far over the speed limit. “How bad is she injured?”

“I’m not sure yet; I came here as soon as I got word from our contact at the hospital.”

I am pretty sure Jax breaks a record number of traffic laws in route to the hospital, but all I can think about is getting to Arya. I keep her on the call even if she’s barely speaking at this point. The not knowing chips at my normally steely nerves.

Fuck, I should never have let her come back to Valor Springs. She should have stayed in Belgium and never set foot back in the States, no matter how much she begged. Once she is released from the hospital, I am sending her right back to Belgium, even if I have to put her on that plane kicking and screaming. Adult or not, Arya will do as I say. Her safety is my greatest responsibility, and I have failed. It’s unacceptable.

One look at my cold expression when I storm into the hospital, and everyone knows to give me a wide berth. Arya gives me her room number, and I waste no time getting to her, not bothering to stop at the visitor’s desk to check in. Valor Springs is a small town, they all know who I am. Only when I reach her room, do I end the call. Pushing through the doorway, I seekout my sister immediately, half expecting to see her entire body wrapped up in bandages, but she’s resting peacefully with an IV attached to her arm.

She’s alive.

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