Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Galina looked happy. She smiled at him. Laughed with him. She was everything he’d ever wanted and craved, and he knew once he took them back to the city, shit was going to happen.
“You’ve not called me to ask about my honeymoon, Peter. Cut the crap, what is going on?”
His father hadn’t called him with any news, but he knew Peter wouldn’t have any qualms about doing so. His best friend always had his back. Even though there were five years between them, he knew he could count on Peter.
“There’s a rumor, Mikhail, and you know I don’t listen to gossip and shit, but there is talk of a takeover, or at least … an impending attack.”
“We’re always at risk of an impending attack. This is not new, Peter.”
“Vik is the cause. His name is the one on everyone’s lips. It would seem you taking my sister to marry is an insult he’s not willing to let slide.”
He tapped his leg. “I know.”
“You know?”
“Vik is a grade A asshole. He’s not going to go after my father’s spot, though,” Mikhail said.
“What is he going to come after?”
Galina broke the water. Even from where he stood, he saw the smile on her face as she pushed the hair off her face.
“Galina,” he said.
Peter cursed. “You know that means death.”
“He’s counting on it,” Mikhail said. “They’re going to try and kill her, or…” He didn’t need to finish. In their world, the unsaid was enough.
Vik would try to destroy Galina, and in doing so, hurt him.
“Does my dad know about this?” Mikhail asked.
“Your father doesn’t take idle gossip, and he certainly doesn’t listen to me.”
Mikhail nodded. Boris didn’t have time for men who gave in to their addictions. To him, being controlled made them weak, and in his father’s eyes, Peter was weak. There were no excuses.
“I’ll handle it,” Mikhail said. “Keep listening, Peter. We need to know what the fuck is going on and when he plans to attack.”
“Will do. Say hi to my sister for me.”
He hung up the call and gripped his cell phone tightly. Vik was playing a very dangerous game. The man was clever, he knew how to work the Bratva. If he intended to take Galina, kill her, or harm her, he wouldn’t allow it to be pinned on him. He wasn’t that fucking stupid.
Mikhail knew he wasn’t that lucky. Taking out Vik wouldn’t be easy, and his father wouldn’t just listen to gossip. There was no way he would allow anything to happen to his woman either. For Boris Belsky to do anything, he’d need proof. He wouldn’t risk Galina’s life. Not now. Not ever.
When they got back home, he was going to have to find a way to deal with Vik. He had a feeling that if he was willing to take out Galina or harm her, there had to be a way of bringing him down without Galina’s involvement.
Putting his cell phone down on the desk, he moved out of the villa and made his way to the pool. Galina had started to swim but when she saw him coming, she moved close to him.
“You’re looking irritated?” she asked. “What was the call?”
“Your brother. He wanted to say hello,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to lie to me.”
This did make him smile. “It was your brother.”
“Which means it was business, and I don’t get to know what it’s about, right?”
Mikhail looked at her. He loved this woman. She had no idea how much he did love her. He had gone out of his way to protect her. Unlike his father, he didn’t just want a title marriage and to go wandering to other women to satisfy an urge. Galina was everything to him.
“Your brother has heard rumor that Vik Kuzlov wants to take you from me.”
Galina’s eyes went wide. “You’re … wow,” she said. She looked away and he watched as she licked her lips. “Okay, I guess this is because I’m now married to you and not, er, married to him.”
“Exactly.”
“Wouldn’t that be like … I don’t know, starting a war, challenging your father? The leader of the Belsky Bratva?”
“He could do this one of two ways. He either challenges my father and attempts a takeover, which will get bloody, and he can’t guarantee who would follow him or who would pick my father’s side.”
“And the second?”
“He finds someone to do his dirty work for him, meaning that I wouldn’t be able to pin anything on him.”
“So, I have to keep an eye out and not get killed.”
He ran a hand down his face.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” she asked.
“He could do something worse than killing you,” Mikhail said.
This made her laugh. “How can there be something worse than death? You know, death is the end. There’s no coming back from that. Vampires are make-believe.”