Page 29 of Claimed Bratva Virgin

“Nothing,principessa.” Papa shook his head, but the light in his eyes had dimmed considerably. “Nothing you might not already have guessed. I am sick and unable to work for a while.”

I knew where this was heading, and I didn’t like it. “And soon, you’ll be back and better, as lofty as always, and nobody will remember there was such a time as this.”

“Leonora.”

There was a sadness in his voice when he called my name, and it shredded my heart to bits.

He wanted me to understand, but I vehemently refused. Admitting that he was currently incapable of leading his empire had to be killing him inside, and I’d been too blinded by my selfish desire for him to recover to notice.

“You have to run things, lead our family until….” He wasn’t going to finish it because of the uncertainty plaguing us all. “I’m leaving it up to you to keep our family name out of the mouths of the pigs and bloody scoffers.”

“And Matteo? Wouldn’t the others talk? Questions will be asked, Papa. Your male heir is still alive.”

A scowl settled on Papa’s face. “We both know your brother wants nothing to do with this life. He prefers his arts and doesn’t have the balls to handle what I’m giving you. It’s best he stays overseas, doing whatever keeps him happy.”

Matteo realized he wasn’t cut out to handle blood, initiation rituals, and guns. The action and adrenaline rush were all fun and games, till after he turned nineteen.

One time, he attempted to flee the country using the guise of a trip to South America with friends. Marco found him in Dublin, Ireland, and dragged him back to plead his case before Papa.

He'd developed a strong liking for arts and wanted to continue his studies in Europe. He wanted to be extricated from the mafia.

Letting him go was one of the toughest decisions Papa had made in his life, but he did it, and the weight of preparing for the seat of leadership rested on my shoulders.

“Papa, we haven’t told him.”

“And we won’t.” End of discussion. Papa didn’t want anyone else to know about his condition, not even his son. A great number of his men were also intentionally left in the dark.The fewer the number of people that knew, the less chances we’d have that information reaching the wrong ears.

“I know you can do it, Leo. Every bone in that body of yours was trained for this. Marco will support you with whatever you need. Keep your head held high. I know I’ve taught you that much.”

“You have.”

“Good,” he coughed. “You’re smart, beautiful, and more daring than I count myself to be sometimes. Make right this deal with the Russians. The benefits are endless. Keep an eye open for prospective contacts. Ride on their backs until we can stand on our own two feet and then…crush them to dust.”

That part, I was absolutely not prepared to hear, and it hit me like a frigging bulldozer crashing against steel and concrete.

The honest look in Rafayel’s eyes when he’d accepted the proposal resurfaced to haunt me, and my chest did a weird dip, sinking into a pit of conscience I never thought I had. It propelled me to make a defense on their behalf, even if, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why.

“Papa, we’re promising transparency to the Russians. That’s the cleanest cut we have in getting their defense against the Rossis. He thinks we’re lousy and not respecters of honor. I thought we’d be proving them wrong.”

Papa’s eyes grew hard. “And for as long as we need them, we’ll prove them wrong. After we regain our grounds, the Yezhovs must be eliminated.”

This was how it was done in this life: Stab first before you got stabbed. We’d had our fair share of them in the past. There was no guarantee that the Russians weren’t plotting the exact same thing against us, and for that, we had to act smarter and faster.

It would require a long stretch of patience and keeping my cool, though. Any slip-up would arouse their suspicions, andif they caught onto the plan, it would start a war. So, I’d have to wait, biding my time, gathering my strength.

Again, Papa’s wish didn’t align with me for an unfathomable reason. But it was final.

He’d made it clear: The Russians were nothing but temporary allies. I would take care of the Yezhovs and anyone else who crossed us. This was my family, our business, and I would do whatever it took to protect it

Chapter 9 - Rafayel

Tikhon tapped my shoulder and leaned forward to mumble into my ears, giving the gist about a recent update on one of the casino houses in southern California and minor trouble one of our workers ran into with the cops. But I wasn’t listening.

We entered the room, and my gaze swept over the polished table lined with Italian and Russian officials holding higher-up ranks and past to the far end, where the girl sat poised and confident.

A week after our little tete-a-tete at the restaurant, I received a memo for an 8:00 AM meeting with the princess and her father’s men. Although, if there was anything I got from the twenty minutes of hushed conversation tossing back and forth between the Italians, another capo was in charge.

Obviously, the girl.

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