Page 23 of Owned By the Mob Boss
“I know. But if you kill him, and you turn back into that monster…what happens to us?”
“There is nouswithout respect. Without fear. That’s the world we live in, Bella.”
“Then change it.”
He pulls away, laughing at the ceiling, but there’s no humor in it. “Change it? This iswho I am, Bella. I’ve killed men for less than what your father’s doing!”
“But you don’t have to be that man!” I follow him as he stalks over to his closet, donning a fresh, dark blue suit. “The man who took me to dinner, made me breakfast, held me like I was so precious to him—that’sthe man you truly are, Viktor!”
He shakes his head as he buttons his shirt. “That man is weakness…”
“That man isstrength!”I grab his arms and turn him to me. “It takes more strength to show mercy than it does to kill.”
He stops, eyeing me with a gaze that holds too much pain to process.
“Viktor, I’mbeggingyou.”
“Don’t.” His voice is soft. He looks away from me. “Don’t ask me this…”
Anton clears his throat. “Boss, the car’s ready.”
Viktor moves quickly, sliding into his jacket and grabbing a gun from a drawer. He slips it into his pants with practiced ease. The sight—the reality of the incoming violence—makes my knees tremble.
“Viktor, please—”
He crushes his lips to mine with a kiss that tastes like loving desperation and a terrible goodbye. When he pulls back, he stares deep into my eyes.
“I’ll handle it, Bella,” he says.
“But how?”
“Stay here,” he says, turning away. “Anton, make sure she doesn’t leave. Lock the place down. Men on the door and the elevator. No one in or out until I return.”
And like that, he’s gone. Out the door, his footsteps thudding down the hallway to the elevator. Anton glances over at me. I see concern in his eyes, but he immediately moves to go.
“He won’t kill him, right?” I ask, hoping for the answer I need.
Anton’s silence goes through me like a knife. He opens his mouth like he’s about to speak but then closes it again and leaves the room.
My legs finally give out, and I sink to the floor.
My father, the man who was meant to protect me, may have just signed both of our death warrants. And Viktor, the monster who became a man for me, will decide which version of him survives—the killer or the lover.
Something movesin my peripheral vision, and I look up to see Anton walking over to me. The sky has gone gray outside. I realize I’ve been kneeling here for hours, lost in my own thoughts.
“Miss Bella, you should eat something. I can have anything brought to you—”
“I can’t.” Just the thought of food right now makes me nauseous.
“He would want you to—”
“He’s about to murder my father!” The words explode out of me. “I don’t care what he would want!”
Anton stays quiet for a moment. My little outburst didn’t faze him. “Your father made his choice. Viktor’s just protecting what is his.”
“And what’s that? Me? I’m not a possession.”
“No.” Anton nods. “But you are his only weakness. And in our world, showing weakness gets you killed.”
