Page 1 of The Pakhan's Arranged Bride
Chapter 1 - Benedikt
“It feels like someone gave me seven Mondays in a row,” I groan, leaning back in my office chair and pressing my hands against my eyes.
“I’m sorry, sir, I wish I had better news,” Jadon says, leaning in the doorway of my home office.
I shake my head, standing up and stretching. Jadon has been head of my security team since I started running Las Vegas. He’s brilliant at what he does.
I look out of the window behind my office desk. I took the day to work from home, hoping I’d get more done.
My eyes trace over the view—it’s the reason I bought my house here, on the outskirts of the city, at the edge of Red Rock Canyon National Park.
It’s beautiful. A man can breathe with views like this.
“So, no sight of that little rat, and no one on the streets is talking?”
“Miron has disappeared. It was just that one-off sighting a few months ago.”
“It’s insane how good he is at hiding. Just like a rat. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he’s been tucked away in the sewer,” I huff. Jadon chuckles.
Miron is inmycity, and that makes him my responsibility. Besides, with my ties to his stepbrother—my alliance with Nestor—Miron is sure to make a move against me the first chance he gets. His arrogance is astounding.
He shouldn’t be able to say a word in Las Vegas without me knowing about it, yet he’s here, creeping around, hiding in plain sight. I want him gone.
“Sir, I have other news that you probably don’t want to hear,” Jadon says cautiously.
I shake my head. “I don’t know how much more bad news I can handle. Is it something you can sort out without me?” I ask, hopeful that it might be an easy handoff. The past few weeks have been insane. The constant drain on my energy is starting to get to me.
“Mm. Normally, you know I’d try to help you out—but this is a bit of apersonalmatter.” Jadon looks amused.
Personal?
I narrow my eyes towards him. “Spit it out.”
“It’s your mother—"
“What the fuck has that meddling woman done now?”
Of course, it’s my mother.I haven’t been keeping an eye on her because I’ve been so busy with other business, and she wouldn’t miss grabbing the opportunity to make my life harder. I like to think she means well, somewhere at the base of it all, but she can’t seem to let go of trying to control my life or make decisions on my behalf. It drives me crazy and it’s made me put up heavy walls between her and myself, damaging our relationship.
“She’s busy arranging a wedding. She has a wedding planner involved and everything.”
“What?” I blurt out in shock. Of all the things Jadon could have told me, that was probably the last thing I would have guessed. “Whose wedding?”
I clench my jaw, waiting for the answer. My sister? Belle would have been on the phone with me complaining already, it can’t be hers. My mother’s own wedding?What is going on?
“Yours, sir,” Jadon chuckles.
“What the fuck? Don’t fucking laugh, what the hell is going on?” I snarl angrily, pacing up and down the office to disperse the tension threatening to blow up inside me. I roll my shoulders and crack my knuckles. This is a whole new level of meddling for her.
“Sorry, sir, I know it’s not funny. It’s just—she doesn’t seem to have limits with the shit she pulls.”
Shaking my head, I stop pacing and sit on the edge of my desk. “She never ceases to amaze me. I’ll phone her. Please let me know if you hear anything more about Miron.” I sigh, resigned to the fact that today will not be the easier day I had hoped for.
“I’ll leave you to it.” Jadon nods and steps out of my office, leaving me in my own turmoil, wondering how the hell my mother is planning my wedding without my knowledge and disregarding the fact that I don’t even have a woman in my life.
The last thing I want to do is phone her, but it’s the most urgent thing I have to do, before whatever she’s up to gets out of hand.
I press her name on my phone, leaving it on my desk on speaker. It rings as I wait, getting tenser with each annoying chime.
