Page 38 of Bratva Bride

I scowled at him and knocked his feet back to the ground. "Don't put your shoes on my desk you little shit. What's so important you had to come in here and bug me?"

Vin straightened and his green eyes connected with mine, all sense of humour vanishing from his face. “What’s going on? That’s your ‘I’m going to kill someone’ voice.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have a voice like that.”

“Uh, ya, you do. Now spill.”

I cracked my neck, trying to relieve some of the tension in my body and handed him the iPad. “We’re missing money.”

His eyes flew over the screen as his fingers scrolled through the figures. “Shit,” he breathed. “That’s, what-”

“$51,365,” I growled, my anger soaring.

“Fuck. Does Dad know?”

“Not yet.” I took the iPad back and placed it on the desk. “Who’s responsible for handling the cash at the drop houses?”

“Marco’s in charge of the houses north of the city and Diego’s responsible for the south.”

We had five drop houses altogether spread throughout the city. It was where we stored all our cash until it could be laundered safely through our businesses and into our accounts. The houses were small and inconspicuous so as not to attract attention. They weren’t even in our name. On the off chance they got raided, we didn’t want the money traced back to us. Anyone with access was now a suspect.

I kept meticulous records of everything, from how much of our drugs have hit the streets to how much money we should have for said drugs. Once a week, I visited every drop house to confirm the cash on hand matched what we had on file. And this was the first time that it didn’t. It meant someone was skimming off the top, taking a little bit of cash here and there and hoping we wouldn’t notice.

“I want a list of everyone who has access to the drop houses. From the handlers to the soldiers guarding the place. I want everyone.”

“On it,” Vin pulled out his phone, running the names down.

I was going to find out who was responsible, who had the gall to steal from us, and I was going to flay them alive and dump their body in the fucking street so everyone could see what happened when they fucked with us. With me.

“In the meantime, we’re going to pay a visit to Marco and Diego, find out what they have to say about this shit.”

Vin looked up from his phone and smiled, a truly dark and evil smile. “Sounds good to me. Oh, by the way, did you tell Gabriella yet? That you’re no longer planning to marry her?”

I winced. No, I hadn’t. I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. Gabriella and I had known each other since childhood. It was never written in stone but it was always assumed we would marry. Ever since she turned eighteen, my father had pushed me to wed her. She was now twenty-four and had waited the last six years for me to propose.

She was a beautiful woman and came from a good, strong Italian family. She was well behaved, never fought with anyone, never argued. She was always polite and spoke appropriately. The perfect little stepford wife who lived for pleasing a husband and doing whatever he commanded.

I always thought that was what I wanted in a wife. Someone who listened unconditionally and wouldn’t question me. Then the hurricane that is Illayana Volkov swept into my life and blew all of that out of the water. I realised after meeting her that I didn’t want a weak, docile wife. I wanted a fighter. A Queen.

When my father first told me he was stepping down as Don, he told me I had to marry before he would allow me to take his place. He suggested I finally bite the bullet and marry Gabriella. I didn’t want to, but I would have if I hadn't met Illayana.

When Gabriella finds out that I’m marrying someone else instead, someone who wasn’t even Italian, she was going to lose it. She could have married three times over by now if she wasn’t waiting on me.

“I’m going to take that look on your face as a no,” Vin chuckled. “What are you going to do?”

“What do you think?” I asked sarcastically. I picked up my phone and after a short conversation, hung up.

There was a knock at my office door a few minutes later. I leaned back in my chair and told them to come in.

Enzo walked in, his face hard and body tight. He was tall and lean, with thick dark hair and even darker eyes, eyes that showed he had been through a lot in his life and he was scarred because of it. He was one of our most loyal and devoted Capos. He was also Gabriella’s father.

He came to a stop in front of my desk and bowed slightly. “Boss.”

“Enzo, thank you for coming.”

He nodded and widened his stance, arms clasped behind his body, waiting to find out why I had called him into my office.

“I wanted to discuss something with you. As you know, we recently had a meeting with the Bratva to establish an alliance and gain some new weaponry against our fight with Nero Gambino.”

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