Page 63 of Bound Vows
As if on cue, Vincent appears in the doorway and heads for my bedside.
“You look better than the last time I saw you,” Vincent notes as he drops into the chair Max vacated. “Though that’s not saying much.”
“Thank you for the rescue operation. I’m still unclear on how you tracked me to the warehouse so quickly.”
“Like we said, we’ve been monitoring your movements since the wedding, along with anyone who might pose a threat to your safety. When you left the mountain safe house alone and drove directly to an abandoned warehouse in Queens, it raised some red flags.” Vincent glances at Andrei. “Plus, your husband’s security team contacted us when they woke up from being drugged and found you both missing.”
“Teamwork between the families. How unprecedented.”
“But effective. Which brings me to the proposal I wanted to discuss with both of you. Max and I believe combining the Mastroni and Volkov organizations would create the most powerful crime family on the Eastern seaboard.”
“A merger,” I clarify.
“A marriage of resources, territories, and expertise that builds on the personal alliance you’ve already created. Your husband brings international connections, advanced security capabilities, and revenue streams we’ve never accessed. We bring established territorial control, our political connections, and generational relationships with other Italian families.”
I look at Andrei, who’s staring at the bedsheets, deep in thought. “What would that look like in practical terms?” I ask.
“Joint operations, shared intelligence, coordinated territorial expansion, and unified responses to external threats,” Vincent explains. “Instead of two medium-sized organizations competing for market share, we become one large organization that dominates everything.”
“With Maya serving as the bridge between leadership structures,” Andrei adds. “Her connections to both families make her uniquely positioned to facilitate cooperation and resolve conflicts.”
“Assuming I survive long enough to facilitate anything. Katarina’s still out there, and her obsession with eliminating me isn’t going to disappear just because she failed.”
Vincent and Andrei exchange a look that tells me they’ve already discussed this problem. “About that,” Vincent begins. “We have some ideas for resolving the Katarina situation.”
“What kind of ideas?”
“We’re going to move out of the city,” Andrei replies. “The state, even. Get you out of harm’s way until this can be dealt with.”
“Absolutely not.” I push myself upright despite the pain in my shoulder. “I will not spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, waiting for a deranged woman to take another shot at me. I won’t hide while other people handle threats that exist because of my marriage.”
“What do you suggest?”
“I suggest we end this properly. Set a trap Katarina can’t resist, with enough backup to ensure she doesn’t escape.” I look between my husband and my brother-in-law. “But this time, we control every variable. No more improvisation, and no more lucky breaks for the opposition.”
“Maya…” Andrei begins.
“No arguments. Katarina tried to kill me once and nearly succeeded. She murdered your first wife and spent eight years positioning herself to replace her. This ends with her, Andrei. One way or another.”
Dr. Morrison enters just then with my discharge paperwork, interrupting our strategy session with medical updates and recovery instructions. The bullet did significant muscle damage that will require physical therapy, and the hypothermia stressed my system in ways that need monitoring. But overall, I’m healing well enough to leave the hospital tomorrow.
“Two weeks of limited activity,” Dr. Morrison instructs as he reviews my chart. “No heavy lifting, no strenuous exercise, and no activities that might aggravate the shoulder wound.”
“What about activities that might involve eliminating homicidal stalkers?” I ask innocently.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and remind you that you still haven’t recovered from ‘falling’ through a window, Maya.” He closes my chart and gives me a stern look. “Rest, physical therapy, and gradual return to normal activities.”
After Dr. Morrison leaves, Andrei stands and begins pacing the small hospital room. “If we’re doing this, we do it right. Complete surveillance, overwhelming tactical advantage, and multiple extraction routes in case things go wrong.”
“We’re doing this,” I confirm. “But first, help me get dressed. If I’m going to plan the downfall of a deranged crime boss, I want to do it wearing real clothes.”
Chapter 28
Andrei
Turning my penthouse into a fortress while my wife recovers from a gunshot wound proves that romance in the criminal underworld requires more tactical planning than traditional courtship.
“Final perimeter check complete,” Alexei reports as he enters my study, where I’m reviewing security protocols with Vincent and Max. “Sixty-seven armed personnel positioned throughout the building and surrounding blocks, with overlapping fields of fire and multiple contingency plans.”
