Page 5 of Cruel Bratva King

“Giovanni Pietro, we meet again.” I returned his smirk with one of my own. “I would have offered you a seat, but you’ve sat down already.”

He sucked in another smoke of his cigarette and exhaled the smoke in my face.Rude bastard.“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? I cannot keep my whores waiting for long.”

I almost cringed at the unnecessary information that he felt the need to share with me. I didn’t give a shit what Giovanni did in his free time. Instead, I felt sorry for the women who had to endure being in the same space with a pig like him.

I nodded at one of my men, signaling him to get us a bottle of whiskey. He returned a minute later with the whiskey and glasses. “Allow me to offer a drink,moy drug.”My friend.I filled the glasses, although neither of us drank from from. It was a common rule in the mafia that rivals couldn’t share a drink until an agreement was reached between them.

“There’s only one way an alliance can be made between the Italians and Russians,” he said. “It can only be done through an alliance by marriage.”

“An alliance by marriage?” I leaned back in my chair. “Are you proposing to marry one of my cousins?” I was going to bury a bullet in my skull if he was.

He smiled, and it was the ugliest thing I’d ever witnessed. The sight of dead bodies and chopped-off fingers was a more welcome sight than his atrocious curl of lips. “That is a good offer,mio amico,” he said. “But I already have a feeling you won’t agree to that arrangement.”

“Of course.” I would trade my own life if needed, but I wouldn’t sacrifice my brothers for his benefit. “Too bad I don’t have unmarried cousins.”

“There’s another way,” he said, propping his legs on my desk. I was so close to pushing his legs down. “Marry my daughter.”

His words sounded like a stray bullet to my ears.Marry my daughter.Giovanni had only one daughter, Giulia, and I hated her. Giulia was beautiful to other men, but she was nothing more than a spoiled brat, whiny and mannerless to me. She was everything I hated in a woman, and I hated her even more because of the Italian blood that ran through her veins.

I also didn’t trust the Italians. If I married Giulia, it was only a matter of time before they’d start plotting my demise so she or the child we’d have together could take my place.

“What do you say?”

“I’m afraid, Giovanni, that, unlike the Italians, marriage means a lot to the Russians,” I told him. “We value women, and we do not marry out of the need for breeders and heirs. I will think through your offer and give you my answer soon.”

A grunt escaped his throat. “Take all the time you need,mia amico,but remember, I cannot wait for long.”

“I will be sure to remember that.”

Giovanni’s offer was the only way mafia families had agreed for years. It wasn’t new for different families to form an alliance through marriage, and the agreement had its benefits. In addition to my men no longer having to lose their lives, his offer was good for business, and both our families would gain protection from the other mafia families.

Yet I couldn’t easily decide if a marriage like that would benefit my family, nor could I fathom being tied down forever to a woman like Giulia.

Of course, I could only touch her when I needed to mate for an heir and spend my pleasure time with my whore, but as I said before, marriage was sacred to the Russians.

Giovanni stayed back for an extra ten minutes to finish his smoke before he left. He hadn’t touched his drink since we hadn’t come to an agreement, and there was no alliance between us yet.

After he left, I strolled out to the club and spotted a woman standing awkwardly in the crowd. I didn’t need to be near her to notice how beautiful she was.

And by beautiful, I wasn’t referring to just her face. Her body, her awkward smile as she whispered something I couldn’t make out to her friend who was standing beside her—all of it was so enticing to me.

My fists grew sweaty with the overwhelming need to fist her straight auburn hair that draped down her waist. Everything about this woman was stunning, every single thing.

I was completely taken by how her black dress clung to her curves and how her nipples strained against the fabric of her dress. Something possessed me, and I felt the need to pluck out every set of thirsty male eyes that had seen her tonight.

They both whispered something to each other for a while before her friend abandoned her to dance with a guy, leaving her alone.

She headed to the bar, and I followed her, not taking my eyes off her for a single moment. I was too taken by her to look elsewhere. Too lost in her beauty to permit my eyes to dart in a different direction.

She reached the bar and sat on one of the stools. She hadn’t noticed me follow her or sensed me standing behind her, greedily sniffing in the scent of her lavender perfume.

“A Martini, please,” she said to the bartender, and I thought to make my presence known.

“Make it two,” I chimed in and turned to look at me, her beautiful gray eyes boring into mine.

Fuck, it had to be wrong for anyone to look this beautiful. I wondered who she was, her name, and where she came from.

Whoever this woman was, I was going to make her mine tonight.Mine.

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