Page 88 of Convenient Mafia Vows

Ivan is inside; I have no doubts that Olivia is with him, but Lev Petrov is outside. The exit routes are blocked. He doesn’t like this situation any more than I do, but we’re on opposite sides of the fence. His son has already been banished once. If—when—shit goes down, he wants to ensure that Ivan doesn’t take the rap. They might be prepared to sacrifice Olivia Dragonetti to save their own, but I’m not relying on their good nature and mafia code to protect Victoria.

“Then you have nothing to worry about.” I step closer.

“Stay where you are, Mr. Murray.” Lev’s voice is cold, clipped. “I had hoped that we might do business together in the future, and I’m sure you appreciate that no one here wishes to start a war.”

“Let me through, and you have my word that I will forget Ivan’s part in this.”

“Your word.” His smile surfaces briefly and disappears again. “Why should I trust you?”

He’s stalling. He’s wasting time while Victoria is inside his warehouse with Olivia Dragonetti, and my patience is wearing thin.

I walk towards him. I’ll be no use to Victoria dead, and I can’t take on a Russian family single handedly, but I can prove to him that I don’t want a full-scale war.

I glimpse movement to my left, but before I can reach for my gun, something hard connects with my jawbone, and I sprawl forwards, white-hot pain flaring inside my skull. A knee is between my shoulder blades as I hit the ground. I try to roll, the pain crashing through my head with the movement, and swing a punch with my right fist. It connects with the shin of the manstanding closest to me before a booted foot grinds my wrist into the ground.

My arms are dragged behind me and cuffed, the metal clinking as they haul me back onto my feet.

Lev stands in front of me, while his men grip my arms with iron fists, the barrel of a gun pressed against my neck. “Your devotion to your wife is commendable. Truly. But you perhaps misunderstood me when I said that I could not allow you to interfere.”

I can feel my brain throbbing against the inside of my skull. “Perhaps you misunderstood me when I said that I’m not here to interfere. I’m simply here for my wife.”

His expression is neutral. “You and I both know that you would not have entered that building and walked out with your wife without blood being shed.”

I blink against the pain. He’s right, but I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him. Until Terry arrives, I need Lev Petrov in my corner. “What’s the plan?”

He smiles. “The plan is already in motion.”

“But you’re not going to tell me what it is.”

My cell phone rings. It’s Terry’s ringtone.

One of Lev’s men slides a hand inside my pocket, pulls out my cell, and hands it over to Lev. “Mr. Keegan,” he speaks into the handset, his gaze holding mine. “Lev Petrov. Your stepson is already here. Seems he beat you to it, but don’t worry, he is in good hands.” He ends the call and tosses the phone aside; I hear it land with a dull thud in the scrubby borders surrounding the warehouse.

A black car pulls up outside the vehicle blockade set up by the Petrovs. The rear door opens. More of Lev’s men appear from inside the stationary vehicles and surround the new arrival. I see a black suit, silver-gray hair, stooped shoulders. The man’s movements are slow, head bowed, as he makes his way towards the warehouse entrance, Lev’s men providing a safe passage for him, weapons aimed directly ahead.

Don Dragonetti.

My stomach twists. He’s the last person I expected to see here. I didn’t even know that he’d been discharged from the hospital, but obviously his daughter means more to him than any alliance. She means more to him than his own health, and I have a fleeting vision of him collapsing inside the warehouse and Olivia fist-punching the air in her moment of power-hungry glory when she takes over as heir to the Dragonetti family.

Disappointment settles inside my stomach. He knows that Victoria and I are not married. She’ll be expendable in his eyes, especially if it means that I’ll take Olivia off his hands and keep her in check.

He disappears inside the warehouse, the door closing silently shut behind him. Lev’s men stand guard.

That’s when I hear the screeching of tires as Terry arrives with backup.

25

VICTORIA

Two men dragme out of the trunk and into a building. It smells musty, damp. Even through the hood, I can tell that it’s dark inside. There are floorboards underfoot. Footsteps in front of and behind me, a guy on either side of me, holding me in case I try to escape.

Then the building seems to open up into a wider space. Heavy hands sit me down on the floor, and the hood is tugged from my head.

I blink at the thugs who dragged me inside, bringing them into focus. They’re both dressed in black. They’re younger than I expected them to be. Could one of them be the guy who followed me and Abigail into Penn Station? I didn’t get a good look at his face, but I remember what Terry said about him, and I shudder.

Then I hear a whimper from somewhere nearby and realize that I’m not alone.

“Sienna?” I crawl across the dusty floor on my knees, losing my balance with my wrists tied behind my back.

---