Page 2 of Untouchable Queen
“And you think marrying one of my daughters off to an Italian is something I would stoop to in order to make business easier?” Placing his cigar between his teeth once more, Boris takes a long drag and blows the cloud of cloying smoke in my direction. “Interesting.”
“Tatiana isn’t getting any younger. I’m well aware you’re in a precarious position when it comes to her inheritance, so I’m ready to offer you something no other man in New York possibly could.”
“And what is that?” he asks, as if he’s only humoring me.
“Protection against the Kings,” I state.
I know how much Boris hates Killian King. The Irish mafia boss has done nothing but ruffle the Russianpakhan’s feathers since he took over his family, and rumor has it that Killian’s vying for the same thing I am—a marriage alliance. OnlyKillian’s sure to be after Boris’s empire, and he’ll likely take it by force if he can’t coerce Boris to marry Tatiana to him.
My plan would not only benefit the Russian’s business—it would safeguard Tatiana from having to marry Killian and avoid the territory of Manhattan falling into the hands of the Irish. Not that I particularly mind Killian. But if the choice is between him and me, I can’t imagine Boris would want the Irishman marrying his eldest daughter.
“Hmm,” Boris huffs, sending another plume of smoke in my direction. “That would almost be tempting…if I intended to marry Tatiana off to anyone at all.”
“You can’t possibly expect her to stay unwed her entire life,” I counter. “This would bring our families together and give her the protection she’ll need when you’re gone. Otherwise, who knows whose hands she could fall into?”
Boris’s brows buckle into a dark scowl. “Funny how you would exclude yourself from that list, Lucian. You see, from where I stand, you’re just another greedy don looking to take my territory, and you think I’ll just willingly give it up to you because I have two daughters and no son to pass it on to. But I assure you, my daughter is too good for you, and I would rather die than see her or my empire fall into the hands of an Italian gangster.”
Fury bristles up my spine, and I clench my fists at his blatant insult. He’s not even pretending to consider my offer—a more generous offer than anyone else will ever give him. The reckless fool is going to destroy his daughters if he doesn’t start looking toward their future. In our world, women left with a massive inheritance don’t survive long when their father dies and they have no one else to protect them.
And while Boris isn’t quite on his deathbed, our world isn’t a kind one. Most mafia bosses are dead before sixty, and I doubt he’ll be an exception. Not when he’s pissed so many powerful people off.
“You would condemn your daughters to a fend for themselves, then? You don’t intend to do anything to ensure their protection?” I press.
“You’re suggesting they cannot protect themselves,” Boris says lowly, his gray eyes deadly as they bore into mine. “This meeting is over. Come find me if you have a legitimate business proposal, and let me spare you any further embarrassment, Don Lucian. You will never marry either of my daughters. I don’t care how worthy of an offer you think you might have.”
Boris rises from his chair, stubbing his cigar out directly onto my table, intentionally ignoring the ashtray just to his left. Then, with a curt nod, he turns and sweeps from the terrace, his men flanking him as he leaves me to fume.
I’ve had my eye on Tatiana for years now—and I want her more than I want money or power or territory. I refuse to take no for an answer simply because Boris is a prejudiced old fool who thinks he can have everything his way.
Where is Tatiana in all her father’s plotting and schemes? Does she get any say in her own future?From where I stand, she and her sister are a pair of Rapunzels, locked in their tower so their father can keep them all to himself. Surely, a woman as intelligent and opinionated as Tatiana wants more than that from life. She’s beautiful, articulate, charming. But Boris Sokolov would keep that hidden from the world. No doubt the shy, demure performance she puts on in public is at his command as well.
It must be exhausting to be her. Trapped in the hands of a tyrant who would squander her talents and keep her isolated. She’s probably an innocent victim of her father’s overbearing ways—a delicate songbird trapped in a cage, ready to break free and experience all that the world has to offer. And I intend to be the one who shows it to her.
Getting rid of Boris might just give Tatiana the freedom to be with a man she wants—to be with any man, really, since her father finds us all so unworthy. When that time comes, I fully intend to prove to Tatiana thatIam the man who can make her happy. I will give her the world on a silver platter if she’ll only give me her heart, her body—and if I’m lucky, her soul.
I will do whatever it takes to make Tatiana Sokolov mine. Even if it means killing the man who raised her.
1
TATIANA
How did we get here?I feel as though I could vomit as I stand helplessly in the courtyard of Lucian Agosti’s luxurious compound, the muzzle of his gun pressed to my sister’s temple. I never should have agreed to let Natasha come here. I should have known that the man who killed my father would be despicable enough to take her captive—to hold my sister hostage.
Since that horrific night when Lucian’s men gunned down my parents at our family’s charity event, he’s done nothing but rip my world apart. And once again, he holds the fate of the person I hold most dear in his hands. While he makes jokes.
“You don’t mind if I call you Tatiana do you?” he asks, his hazel eyes dancing as they find mine.
“You can call me whatever the hell you want,” I growl, “so long as youget that gun out of my sister’s face.”
He hums with amusement, his proud features feigning a thoughtful look. “Funny you should say it like that, because what I would love most to call you right about now iswife.”
My stomach drops, my blood running cold at the horrifying thought, and a gasp escapes my lips before I can composemyself.How could he possibly think I would marry him after everything he’s done?
Flashes of my father’s final moments burst into brilliant relief behind my mind’s eye.All that blood…It turns my skin to ice. Don Lucian Agosti murdered my father brutally and without hesitation.And for what? My father’s territory?I’ll never give it to him. I would rather die.
Then again, with my sister’s life on the line, I would do just about anything to protect her.What is the price of an unhappy marriage compared to watching my sister die?I’ve already watched Lucian kill both my parents. He won’t take Natasha from me too. No matter what I have to sacrifice. Still, my skin crawls with the thought of tying myself to the man I hate more than anyone in the world.
“So, what do you say, Tatiana?” he prods, his eyes greedy with the look of a man who knows he has me cornered and is about to get exactly what he wants. “Marry me. Today. And before you say a hasty no, just think of it. We could form a lasting alliance between our two great families. Any sons you bear me will rule overbothour territories when they come of age. Hell, I’ll even agree to leave you in charge of the Sokolov men for as long as you desire. The rest of our lives if that’s what you want.”
