Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I turned the tables on every threat, unaware they were acting on the orders of one.
Coralie, Natalya’s mother, is a shrewd businesswoman. She has her men willing to fall on the sword for her, and they all succumbed to my knife without uttering a syllable of her name.
It was only placed on my list after Saka murmured it when I showed him proof that I could protect Natalya as well as he could.
He “had words” with her hunters.
I hunted them.
The two responses are not the same.
“I still can’t believe you hired him.” My eyes stray from Dean, the younger brother I didn’t know I had, to Maksim. “He’s more under Coralie’s thumb than her husband is, and he can’t accept sexual favors for his loyalty.”
Maksim shivers. “I fuckin’ hope not. That would be disturbing even for him.”
Coralie is the woman everyone should have been defaming when they mentioned money-hungry whores. She encouraged my father to strip my mother of everything she’d worked for during the twenty-eight years of their separation with a beautiful new bride, but since she was married with a prenup just as unfair as my mother’s, she couldn’t help him achieve that, so she left the task to her only daughter.
Allegedly, she was pissed when I denied her arranged marriage recommendation for Natalya and me, and sought revenge on my entire family. She had more money than she’d ever need and a devoted husband she didn’t deserve, but that still wasn’t enough for her. She didn’t want to be associated with the Bratva—she wanted to be the Bratva, and Natalya was her way in.
I’ll kill her for the imprudence the instant Natalya gives me the word.
We just need to be on speaking terms for that to happen.
“Are you going to tell her about him?” Maksim nudges his head to Dean before jabbing the elevator call button with his thumb.
As I imagine what Natalya’s response will be to finding out she isn’t an only child anymore, I give the button a handful more stabs. Dean wasn’t the cause of my parents’ marriage failing, but since our father fed him a bunch of false truths, and his mother refuses to acknowledge his existence, preferring to go the stillborn route, he has a grudge against anyone with the Ivanov name instead of the woman he should hate. His mother, Coralie.
If Coralie were smart, she would acknowledge that Dean is her child. He would give her the connection to the Bratva she so desperately craves, but since that would mean she’d lose all her fortune because of the infidelity clause in her prenup, she’s keeping her mouth shut.
Natalya’s assumption that her parents’ wealth comes from her mother’s side of the family tree isn’t factual. Her father, Davian, came from nothing, but he built a real estate empire out of the back seat of his Honda that grew into a billion-dollar entity since it was endorsed by none other than the most notorious gangster known to mankind, Henry Gottle Sr.
Davian and Henry worked together on multiple developments from New York to Sydney, and it was their professional relationship that allowed Henry to take Natalya at her word when she agreed I was her husband.
Davian often mentioned Natalya during his meetings with Henry, but both regretfully and fortunately, their contact ceased when Davian had a massive stroke.
It was two days after his only child fled Rome with a murder conviction hanging over her head.
He didn’t cut contact because he thought Natalya was guilty. He was bedridden, and since physio was denied, he was unable to communicate a troubling inconsistency. If Natalya was dead, how was she spending the money he deposited into her account every month?
It was only during Coralie’s endeavor to shut Dean up that the monthly payment Davian set up before Natalya fled become exposed. Dean’s recent birthday had him expecting a massive deposit from the trust our father told him he would gain access to once he turned eighteen.
He didn’t get a single dime except the ten thousand Coralie paid him to keep quiet.
Coralie shut down the transfers that paid Saka and some of Natalya’s overheads before launching an investigation as to where the money went. It was the basis of Karlo returning to Paris, and him losing his life only days later.
I hated intercepting Natalya’s first contact with her father in years, but until I was confident having contact with her family wouldn’t put her life at risk, I didn’t have a choice.
It was the right decision, but not one I’ve been given the chance to explain yet.
That day is coming. So many of Natalya’s family secrets are being exposed, but she won’t be taken down with them.
No fool is game enough to utter her name in spite, much less plan anything more sinister. Vasily’s death taught them I will not tolerate people intimidating my wife. If you won’t say it to my face, don’t dare say it to Natalya. It will see your life expiring within the week.