Page 18 of Unholy Matrimony

6. Shit!

7. baby

8. Hello

9. Yes

10. Hello

11. I'm sorry

12. piece of shit

13. father

14. Lord, have mercy

15. Yes

Chapter nine

Leonid

We’ve been at this fucking warehouse for an hour, and I already want to put a bullet in Lina’s father’s head. This motherfucker is hovering over everything we are doing and annoying the shit out of me. The Pakhan sent the twins and me with a group of men to get our men set up at the warehouse. He wanted our people in so that the laundering would go smoothly. Nikolai keeps trying to hide financial documents from Sasha, a brigadier whom my father trusts with money.

Sasha is flipping through pages of bank statements and contracts, and he shouts at Nikolai. “Who the fuck handles money like this? The accounts payable are all over the place. Accounts receivable are almost nonexistent. How the fuck are you profiting from anything? This place needs to have a digital system!” He throws the papers in a box next to the desk. Taking out a cigarette, he looks me as he lights up. “I fucking hope this bitch is worth it because I am going to age ten years just figuring out the fucking paperwork!”

I snatch Sasha up by the collar of his shirt, I reach back to deck him in the face. Oleg grabs my forearm to stop me. “It’s not worth it, Lenya, just cool off. Let’s just get this shit done and then we can head back to the house.”

“If Sasha knows what’s good for him, he will keep his fucking mouth shut.” I am fuming, but I understand why Sasha is mad. It's against the Thieves’ Code to have a family.

Sasha lost the woman he loved when he refused to marry her and give up his life in the Bratva. He is just a sour old man now. My father broke the rule when he married my mama, and then had me. I try to ignore his incessant bitching about how “back in the day, you’d get killed for having a family”.

My phone pings and I pull it out to read the text message. It's from Lina.

Lina: Why can't I go to the house? The driver blared on the horn at 7:50 in the morning, Lenya. They have neighbors.

Lenya: Knowing your Kusok der'ma, Otets1 those steps are still dangerous. So no you cannot. I will not risk you falling when I am not there to catch you.I really don't want to kill him before our wedding.

This woman! Worried about her family’s neighbors, it was sweet and irritating at the same time.

Lenya: I have to go, malyshka2. See you tonight.

After I send the last text, I turn the notifications off. I’m sitting on the desk across from Sasha and I can feel Nikolai’s eyes burning into the back of my head. “If you have something to say, Mudak3 just say it.” I turn around and look him dead in the eyes. I wait for him to make the first move. You can feel the atmosphere in the room shift, and then he lunges at me.

He grabs me by the front of my shirt and starts yelling, hurling insults and accusations. “Ty kusok der’ma!4 What have you been doing to my daughter? Beating her… raping her?” This fucker is already out of breath and he hasn’t even swung on me yet! He plays the caring father well, I will give him that.

A laugh rumbles deep in my chest as I push his old ass off of me. “I’ve done nothing to her she didn’t ask me to. Contrary to what most people say about me, I respect women. Unlike you, Nikolai.” Straightening my shirt, I glared at him, “What have you done to your daughter to make her so timid and yet so willing to be my wife?”

Nikolai never takes his eyes off me and he begins, “I’m a mean drunk, and I am more drunk than I am sober most days. Lina was my outlet for frustration and anger. She took all the abuse I gave out to protect her younger sister. She was an easy target because I never wanted her. Irina insisted on keeping the pregnancy and having her ruined everything. Raisa was a different story. We wanted her.”

Nikolai took a step back and pulled a chair to sit on. I stayed standing in front of him. He continued, “I never hurt her where people could see, and she always dressed fully covered. When she was seventeen, Grigory Ivanovich approached me about selling me his business. It would have made this business ten times more profitable. The only condition he posed was that he wanted Lina for his wife.”

Grigory Ivanovich was a sexual deviant who allegedly raped underage girls in Saint Petersburg. He moved to Moscow as soon as the charges didn’t stick. He deserves to die. To think that Lina’s father even considered for a second, giving Lina to that man, fills me full of rage. “So you were just going to trade off your daughter to a pedophile for the ownership of a business” I shake my head in disgust.

“She means nothing to me, nothing more than a bargaining chip. Ty sukin syn5, you ruined everything with your minor obsession with her. You are the son of Igor Borisov, you telling me you can’t get virgin pussy? Well, I hope hers is worth it.” I lunge forward and my fist contacts with his ribcage.

He juts forward in the chair, letting out all the air from his lungs. I lay a few more punches to his torso, making sure not to hit him in the face. Slumped over, I grab him by the hair of his head. I tip his face up to mine, “If you even think about touching a hair on Lina’s head after we are married, I will kill you. I will enjoy taking your life slowly. Drawing out your death, like you drew out the abuse of your daughter. I will enjoy every moment you suffer.”

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