Page 103 of My Mafia Queen

His glare is more than a reaction. And my gut tells me this about more than Carmina Leto.

I push to my feet and unfold my arms, only to slide my hands into my pockets.

“What is this about truly? Are you trying to micro-manage me now?”

“I am micro-managing you. Seriously?”

He taps his chest, our conversation getting even more dramatic.

“I’m trying to save your life, son.”

My jaw locks.

“Well, maybe if you were my father, you wouldn’t try to save my life. You’d make sure I was protected.”

He takes in a slow breath and leaves his drink on the coffee table before walking back to me.

“Listen to me carefully. I don’t like this more than you do,” he says quietly. “You know this life. You know it well. It’s not only that our family wants peace with the Russians. All the crime families want the same thing. They don’t care about this woman or the truth. They can’t have Russians drop dead wherever you go. They don’t want to deal with this. And you shouldn’t want to deal with it either. No one liked that ugly dickhead from Reno. No one cared about him until they heard he’d died at your hands. They’d already been pissed because the FBI had started to round people up, so for sure, you didn’t make any friends taking Ivanov out.”

“The FBI didn’t round people up. No one’s in jail.”

“They flex their muscles first before they indict everybody and no one gets out alive. It happened before, so don’t fuck with them. And don’t fuck with the mobsters.”

“You see this wrong,” I insist.

“Do I? So what’s your opinion on it? Humor me.”

“I’m protecting our interests. It shouldn’t be that hard to understand. I was in Reno to cut a deal with Ivanov. He said no initially, and then he started to fuck with me and attack that woman. He’s obsessed with her. And so is Boris.”

“And so are you.“

A few moments of silence pull away from us before I speak again.

“This woman has nothing to do with what’s happened. I’ve had these people on my back for as long as I can remember. And the only reason I hadn’t taken them out was you. You said it would be better that way. It’s not better. They’re constantly looking for an opportunity to put me out of business. And if they take me down, they’ll do the same thing to the next Capo and the next. They won’t stop. They know you’re protecting them by not wanting to fight them. That’s why they don’t stop. Plus, their word means nothing. What Ivanov had done was stupid. He could’ve badmouthed anyone in my family, and the result would’ve been the same.”

“This woman is not your family. It’s different.”

“Is it?”

He pushes his eyebrows up, an expression of disbelief sliding over his face.

“Would this stop if she was a family member?” I ask.

He draws in a short breath and sighs.

“I don’t want to give you any ideas. Or make you do something stupid.”

“You don’t know if things would be different if she was my family. Are we at that point where not even our families are off-limits? Since when do we let our enemies disrespect our families, and we do nothing because we’re in business with them?”

“She is not your family.”

“Answer me,” I bark.

His eyes shoot teasers at me.

“There are things I’m not in charge of. I run this operation–– as you perfectly know––but there are things––like this particular one––that come from above. I don’t know who this woman is. If you think seriously about her, then make sure she becomes one of us. Otherwise, we’re wasting our time, and you better get rid of her, or someone else will. And that would be the better scenario. For now, just keep in mind that you already owe me your life.”

I look at him, stunned.

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