“I wanted a union of the bratva and the Armanellis.”
“We had one.”
“We had a partnership, not a blood union. And it was a hollow one, filled with idiocies and unnecessary rules. We don’t follow rules. I’m a lion. Not a sheep. And you made me a fool with your spectacle. You showed them you were the whore we always thought you to be.”
No one was there to save us. No one was there to save me.
Was the bratva a family of love or wrath? I had to find a way to make them tap into it.
“You want me to tell you that you are the lion, Ivan? That you’re the king? Why did you bring me in then?” I looked at him one last time, searching for a weakness and praying I’d found it. “Do you remember the year my mother died? Do you remember how?”
He glanced at me with a look of disdain, but I saw the sliver of fear, the slight chance that he’d underestimated me and I pounced on it.
“Tell us how it happened.”
He glanced around with eyes wild and frantic. “It doesn’t matter! They’re gone.”
“You took your own blood, didn’t you?”
“No!” he screeched. “You did! I didn’t kill Dimitri.”
“Are you sure?” I asked again. Because I knew. I’d been in the meetings with him and his doctor. He’d willingly let me listen in. His long-term memory was fading, and even thought they’d increased his medication, no one knew how long it would continue to help. I knew that right then, I’d found a weakness.
“Of course I’m sure.”
I turned the gun in my hand, staring down at it as if contemplating his statement. “I wonder, is anyone else here concerned that we’re taking lessons from a man who’s trying to rid himself of his own family and who doesn’t even have his memory?”
A few of the guys looked at one another. I had their attention.
Ivan shook his head. He even chuckled to himself before he said, “You can’t sway the bratva against me, Katalina.”
“Against you? I’ve been ruling. You’ve been retired. Remember? You asked for that. And hasn’t everyone got a bigger cut? Haven’t your families been protected?” I turned to one of the bratva’s members that I knew had been at the club the whole night. “Akim, when was the last kill? Didn’t the Armanellis just save your son’s life and give him money?”
He glanced between Ivan and me. He sighed and shrugged. “Yes.” Quick Russian flew from his lips when one man asked for clarification. Suddenly, that man’s gaze on me changed. The look of disdain grew to one of love.
“And Nico, we just bought your mama a house, no?”
He nodded. “She’s happy.”
“And she’s safe. Safe because of contracts I put in place that are legally binding between some of the biggest players in this country.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Ivan lunged at me but I swung my weapon his way so fast, a few of the bratva gasped.
“Don’t come for me unless I ask for you, old man. I’m not in the mood.”
“You threaten me?” He seethed, his lips curling up over his teeth like he wanted to bare them in warning. “You think a gun will protect you from us?”
“From us? You mean from them? The bratva?” I looked at each of the men sitting in their seats. I glanced at Rome and wondered how much time I really had to play this game. He’d fallen onto the cement, blood seeping slowly from his clothes. I didn’t know where from. I didn’t know how long the wounds had been open, and I didn’t know if there was irreparable damage.
“This gun won’t save me.” I suddenly felt numb to it all.
Rome’s breathing was labored. If the hospital couldn’t get to him in time, if they couldn’t heal him, bring back the monster I loved, if I couldn’t share my life with him, then what was it all for anyway?
“Nothing will save me if he’s gone. I’ll burn this whole city down. Do you understand? The father of my child is bleeding out. I won’t stand for that. I’m this empire. I built it through blood, sweat, and tears. Off my own back and on my back, I worked my ass off. I’m the queen of the bratva now. Me. This is power and I’ll reinforce it now in the way you all want to see it done. With fury if I have to. We save my family, my partner, my baby’s father because family is family. The bratva is the bratva. You don’t agree, then you let me crumble and bleed out with him.”
Ivan’s eyes flared like he wasn’t sure of my words.
It didn’t matter. I was sure.