Page 61 of Arranged Obsession
For the first time in my life, I’m tempted to bend that little rule.
“I spoke with Ruslan Morozov an hour ago.” Dad speaks slowly. He’s trying very hard to mask his emotions, but I know him too well.
He’s just as angry as I am.
“What did the Pakhan have to say?”
“You got caught.” Dad picks up his cigar and puffs, his frown deepening. “You fucked up, Cormac.”
I grind my jaw. He’s right, which is the worst part. I rushed the Yuri kill and someone spotted me. If I had been more careful, that never would have happened. “My first mistake in all the years I’ve been doing this.”
Dad grunts, but that doesn’t take the edge away from the way he talks to me. “That only makes it worse. How could you let this happen?”
“Do you know what they did yesterday?” I lean toward him, struggling to keep the emotion from my voice. I should have rushed over here the moment those Russian killers went after my wife, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave her alone. I bathed her, pleased her, wrapped her in blankets, and put her to sleep. Then I watched over her all night long, not trusting myself to close my eyes.
This is my fault. All this is on me.
And it kills me, knowing that Bianca, my feather, my saint, was nearly hurt because of my mistakes.
“Don’t tell me they already tried to take revenge.”
“Against my wife. Two Morozov thugs attacked her as she was leaving work.”
Dad sits up straight. He waves his cigar in the air. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me right away?”
“She needed me.”
“Damn it, Cormac. What did you do to them?”
“Dead. Stabbed.”
He sighs and rubs his face. “This is an escalation. Ruslan was angry, but he didn’t say anything about striking back.”
“Why would he tip his hand?”
“The wily fucker. He tried to make it sound like we could come to an agreement.”
I lean toward my father, steel in my chest. “There will be no peace.”
He meets my eye. I can tell he doesn’t like that, but we both know the truth.
I’m dead right.
“The Morozovs have been a problem for years now,” he says, sounding deeply unhappy. “I was hoping a surgical strike against Yuri would slow them down. He was the loudest member of the Bratva speaking against our family. But now it seems like we’ve turned a potential problem into an outright war. All because of your mistake.”
I grimace back, hands clutching the arms of my chair. “I’ll fix it.”
“How will you do that, Cormac?” Dad doesn’t even sound angry anymore. Just deeply disappointed. “You were sloppy. Your first kill after marrying that girl, and you ruined it.”
“I’ll dismantle the Morozovs if that’s what it takes.”
“How can I trust you to pull that off?” Dad drags on his cigar but makes a face. He aggressively stubs it out. “I wasn’t happy when you took Finn’s place, but you assured me you could continue your work. You all but forced me to accept this situation.” He waves a hand in my general direction. “And now it’s already proving to be a fucking problem.”
He’s not wrong. That’s the worst part. I married Bianca thinking I could handle it, but clearly I can’t.
She’s always been a part of me. In my head, in my soul. Seared into my body forever. But now that she’s my actual wife, I find my obsession is getting even worse instead of slightly fading.
Now that I have her, I want her even more.
