Page 6 of Vengeance

It’s only when we get to desert that the Vaughn, not Isaak, brings up the reason we all know we’re here.

“So, about your little war.”

I sip on my sparkling cider, discreetly brought out by the waiter and indistinguishable from the alcohol everyone else is partaking of. So this is how Isaak is going to play it. Let the future of the Bratva decide on something that will affect his sons more than him since he’ll be dead in a few years.

“There’s nothing little about it,” I say in the Italian accent I’ve spent so much time perfecting, I forget that I’m not actually Italian. “I’m assuming that you had a chance to look over the documents I gave you?”

“We did,” Vaughn says.

“Then I’m sure you comprehend the gravity what will happen if Stephen Pray isn’t stopped.”

“See, that’s the thing. We don’t.”

“Until the DOJ is knocking on your door because Pray knows all your dealings since he’s made deals with you while his businesses are conveniently looked over,” I say bluntly.

“No need to be so aggressive, Addy,” Vaughn chides.

I say nothing as I sip on my drink while focusing on the hand Eileen has put on my thigh to soothe me. We knew his would happen. She warned me.

“Just stating a fact,” I say.

“Your fact is based in speculation. We don’t know that Mr. Pray will take the presidency yet.”

“Maybe not. But do you want to risk waiting until it’s too late to stop him if he gets too close?” I ask.

Vaughn opens his mouth to say something, but his father puts his hand up to stop him. The young man’s mouth twists in displeasure at being silenced, but he instantly silences himself anyway. Someone’s eager to take his father’s place, it seems.

“Let’s cut the pretenses, Addy. Shall we?” Isaak asks. “We all know about your little dispute with Pray. And we all know that you’re outgunned and need access to our weapons. The question is why do we need you besides this conjecture you’re offering us.”

“It’s not conjecture.”

“Then tell me where you got it from.”

I could drop Viper’s name. I could tell them that he’s on my side and that I got this information from them. It would be a surefire way to make them sit up and pay attention at least. But I can’t potentially compromise him like that. Not when I don’t know the Russians can be trusted.

“I can’t tell you that. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“Trust, sweetheart, is earned.”

“I’m not—” Eileen squeezes my thigh before I can finish my statement and instead I grit out, “That’s true. I have some idea of how I can gain that trust but I’m curious to hear your ideas.”

Because if building a fucking business from the fucking ground up and getting most of Pray’s enemies on board isn’t enough to earn some level of trust, I don’t know what the fuck is.

“How old are you, Addy, dear?”

They’re wasting my fucking time. If Viper were here, he would have already shot someone to make a point. But I don’t have that luxury right now, and the last thing I need to be in the middle of right now is a gun fight. So even though I know he knows the answer to this, I answer him.

“Twenty-nine.”

“My youngest son and heir is twenty-eight.” I know where he’s going before he finishes and Isaak knows I know it too. Doesn’t stop him from finishing. “He’s in need of a wife. You’re in need of a husband.”

“I don’t need a husband.”

“Don’t you? To help run your business? To be the one to negotiate deals like this with his head and not his emotions? Because I guarantee, if you had one, he’d be offering that little daughter of yours as future payment without hesitation.”

I reach for my gun, once again thinking Isaak is lucky Viper isn’t here. He would have shot the man in the mouth already.

Even on his very best days, Viper’s an asshole. But he’s never been an ass to me just because I’m a woman. He’s never put limits on what he thought I was capable ofbecauseI was a woman, even while at the same time being keenly aware that I was a woman and the unique dangers being a woman put me in because of this business.

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