Captivated by the deadly mafia boss

“You’re sure?” I rub my temples. A heavy throb has taken root ever since Niko started talking. As soon as I’d stepped off the stairs, he’d grabbed me for a private conversation.

“I wouldn’t be coming to you with this if I wasn’t positive.” He wipes his hand across his mouth.

“And you’ve found her?”

“Micah. Niko. Here you are.” My father bursts into the library where we’ve hidden away to have a private conversation. “We have guests. You should be talking with them, mingling.” He closes the door, keeping his back to it and blocking our exit.

“Niko was just giving me some information I asked him for. We were just about to go out.” I move from my position near the writing desk, but my father’s eyes narrow on me.

“What information?”

“Restaurant related.” I wave my hand to clear the suspicion from the room. I’ve never lied to my father before, not even as a child was I so brave. But until Niko and I can finish this conversation, I’m not bringing my father into it.

He flicks his gaze to Niko, who nods in agreement with me, before finally relaxing his stance.

“You can deal with the restaurant later. Right now, I want a quick word with you before we go out.”

“I’ll see you at dinner,” Niko says as he heads to the door, but Roman stops him.

“Go fetch the Polish girl. Bring her to the dining room; I have the guests being seated now. I want her brought in once they are all comfortable.”

“I’ll escort her to dinner,” I interject, but my father shakes his head.

“No. Niko will bring her down in fifteen minutes. You will already be in your seat.”

“What are you planning?” I ask him.

“Go, Niko.” My father waves him away and opens the door for him.

“What’s going on?” I ask as soon as the door shuts.

“I have the same question for you.” His eyes narrow again, giving him a wary appearance. The longer I look at him, the more aged he seems. Deep wrinkles line his cheeks; his hair is lighter, thinner. Heavy bags rest under his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“I told you I what I wanted for that Staszek girl. I want her father and her brothers to reek of humiliation when they come tomorrow. Instead, you have her signing up for college? She’s going out for coffee with friends? She’s living a charmed life with you down there in the city.”

“You’re having me watched?” Anger burns my chest. Which of my men have been tasked with babysitting me?

“You will do what I ask, Micah. You will make them pay for what they’ve done.” Spittle collects at the corners of his mouth and as he talks it falls.

“She’s to be my wife. Her humiliation is mine as well,” I point out. “You would have me make her sit in the house all day staring at the walls? For what purpose?”

“Because it’s what she deserves!” he yells.

I take a moment to breathe. Lena deserves many things from this life, but retribution for the acts of others is not one of them.

“She’s done nothing to you or to me. She’s taken this entire situation with more grace than I could have hoped.”

“She ran away from you the first night. Is that what you call grace?”

“Lena went to a club.”

“She went to her brothers’ club! Jakub Staszek is trouble. You need to keep her away from him.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

I can’t keep up with his orders or his reasoning.

“Niko will have Lena down here any minute. If you want me positioned at the table when he does, we should get in the dining room with the rest of the guests.”

“You will not undermine me tonight, Micah.” He points a finger at me. His cheeks are blotched with red, and his lips have curled into a pale thin line.

“It’s a celebration dinner,” I say. “Lena will behave herself and we’ll get through this. Tomorrow I’ll marry her. The Staszek mess will be done with.”

He drops his hand and huffs. “And when she gives birth to your heir and they have to watch him brought up in our family, with our name, our blood in his veins, they’ll be sick to their stomachs watching from the outside.”

I pause in my step. “What does that mean?”

“After tomorrow, she won’t be seeing her family again. She will be an Ivanov, no longer one of them.” He yanks the door open and walks out before the words sink in, but once they do my hands close into tight fists.

“What is your obsession with the Staszek family? We’ve held a peace with them for years. They fucked up our shipment, I get that, and they’ve more than paid for it. Why are you so hell bent on ruining them this way? Do you want to provoke an all-out war with the Polish? Joseph Staszek is a small part of a much bigger problem we would have.”

“Igor would understand.” The exasperation in his voice grates against my already on edge nerves.

“Would he?” I challenge.

He puffs out his chest, seeking dominance between us. He holds the power, I won’t challenge that, but I won’t cower in the shadow of the dead anymore.

“Maybe you should explain it to me then, since I’m here and he isn’t.”

In three steps he’s in my face. “Your brother built me an empire. The Staszek family is getting in the way of it. If you can’t see that, if you can’t see our enemies then maybe we have a problem.”

“And Lena is our enemy too?”

“Once she’s firmly put in her place, she’ll earn her place in our family. I expect you to keep her on a much tighter leash than you have so far, Micah.” He tugs on the lapel of my jacket. “Don’t disappoint me, son.” A dark warning hangs off his words.

“Did Igor ever disappoint you?” I can’t recall a minute of my life that Igor didn’t put the sun in the sky for my father.

“Your brother was a good man. He would have put his family above everything.” He backs off a step and adjusts the cuffs of his shirt. “Now. Let’s get back to our guests.”

Hopefully, Lena will be better at hiding her emotions tonight than my father.