Page 39 of Bratva Bride

“Yes, boss. Did you manage to get what you were after?”

“Oh, he did alright,” Vin whispered under his breath, and I glared in warning.

“We did. A case of high-powered machine guns will be delivered within the week,” I answered.

“That’s great, boss.” He looked around the room uncertainly. “What, uh, did you need from me?”

I sighed and looked him in the eye. “To strengthen the bond of our alliance, a marriage was proposed.”

He stiffened, nostrils flaring but didn’t say a word.

“Please apologise to your daughter on my behalf, but our engagement will not be going through. I will be marrying a Bratva woman.”

Anger flashed across Enzo’s face. He licked his lips and glanced between Vin and I. “Is this a joke, boss?”

I arched an eyebrow. “Do I seem like a joking man, Enzo?”

“It doesn’t make sense otherwise, sir. For the past six years it has been discussed that you would marry my daughter and now, now it’s no longer happening? You can’t do this.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I’m going to allow that brief lapse in etiquette because I know how confusing this must seem to you. But that is all I’m going to allow, do you understand?” I said darkly, letting my voice drop. “I want you to take notice of the fact that you said ‘discussed,’ not arranged. I never said that I would marry her. Yes, there were discussions of it over the years, but that’s all they were. Discussions. I have made my decision, and this is how it’s going to be. Understood?”

He stared at me, shock and anger radiating from him. He nodded stiffly. “Understood. Was there anything else?”

I waved him away and he left, his feet stomping loudly on my Italian marble flooring.

Vin blew out a breath. “That went well,” he chuckled sarcastically.

I grunted and stood, buttoning my suit jacket. One problem down, another to go. “Get your shit, we’re going to see Diego and Marco.”

My phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket, glancing at the screen.

Illayana.

Vin groaned. Loudly. "I know that look. We don't have time for you to have phone sex with your girlfriend right now, we’ve got shit to deal with."

"She's my fiancé, not my girlfriend. And you'll wait," I commanded as I accepted the call.

"Kotenok, chto ya mogu sdelat' dlya vas?”Kitten, what can I do for you?I asked in flawless Russian.

"Don't freak out," her voice came through strained, like she was tired.

The hair on the back of my neck immediately went up and my body became rigid. Her tone of voice didn't sound distressed, but her words had me concerned. Vin gave me a confused look as I slowly sat back down. I had a feeling I should be sitting when she spoke next.

"There's been an. . . incident."

My hand gripped the phone tighter. "What kind of incident?"

"Arturo, you need to be calm. I can hear the anger in your voice already and I've barely spoken."

"I'm not angry. I'm fine," I said a little too quickly. "What happened?"

She took a deep breath in and exhaled, like she was preparing herself.

“Illayana,” I growled, my frustration growing the longer she remained silent. “What. Happened?”

"We were ambushed. Ten thugs cornered and attacked Lukyan and I. I can't be sure, but they might have been Los Zetas. One of them spoke Spanish."

My anger spiked all over again. Rage pounded into me like a drumbeat. That stupid motherfucker Nero. I didn’t anticipate him going for Illayana, though I should have. He would do anything to hurt us and going after my future wife was a good fucking way to do it. He didn’t have the balls to go after us directly anymore, because we came out on top every time. Instead, he played stupid little games, hitting our trade routes and stealing our drugs, trying to fuck up our business and cut us off. Since the Los Zetas joined the fight, he's grown more ballsy, encroaching more and more into our territory but then pulling back before we had a chance to strike back.

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