Page 13 of Mafia Men Need Love Too
“A man named Jeremy Lang owes you a significant amount of money, yes?”
“Yes. He does. But he’s in the wind. So, the debt naturally falls to his only living relative.” Alexi shifted his gaze to River before saying, “Which, I assume, is this lovely young woman.”
Nico felt his blood pressure rise a few notches as River squirmed under the Russian’s gaze. But telling this asshole he didn’t even have the right to think about her wouldn’t serve anyone. Staying calm and appearing unaffected was necessary, even though he was anything but. “This is Mr. Lang’s ex-wife, yes. But when she told one of your men she didn’t have any money, they said she could service the debt by delivering one of my men, Ricky LaRusso to a meeting in your territory. Are you aware of that?”
Alexi gave a slight nod. “I was told LaRusso and Lang were acquaintances. They had a plan to pay Lang’s debt.”
Nico narrowed his eyes. “How did they intend to do that?”
“Apparently, Lang had a plan to improve…commerce between our territories. LaRusso was going to be the go-between.”
And since Ricky had been asking him about drugs earlier, Nico assumed commerce in this instance was either heroin or coke. Ricky and Lang probably thought they could do a bunch of backdoor deals with the Russians and skim off the profits. Fucking idiots. “I see.”
“I knew nothing about this until today, of course,” Alexi added. “One of my men took it upon himself to…recruit Ms. Lang here to bring Ricky to him to discuss Lang’s plan. You can understand why he didn’t want to approach your territory himself.”
Because Nico’s men would’ve shot him on sight. “I do. But why didn’t your man bring his concerns to you immediately?”
Alexi’s eyes darkened. “He has been punished for that mistake.”
Meaning he was dead. So, Lang and Ricky were in the wind, and neither Nico nor Alexi knew exactly how deep this little mutiny against them went. Just fucking great. “Well, I think you know where I stand on this issue. There will be no commerce between our territories. Ricky had no authority to speak for me. He will be dealt with.”
Meaning I’m going to find him, skin him alive, and maybe hang his head on a pike in my garden.
Alexi offered a stiff nod. “I assumed as much. I assure you, I have no designs on your territory. This was all just an unfortunate misunderstanding, I’m afraid. A truly regrettable one.”
“I never doubted you, my friend,” he replied with as much sincerity as he could muster, which, sadly, wasn’t much. “Let’s just put this unpleasantness behind us. Will you stay for a drink?”
Alexi stood and buttoned his suit jacket. “I’m afraid I must return home. I still have some business to attend to.”
The same business Nico would be attending to, he imagined. Gathering all the trusted members of his inner circle and determining if Ricky and Lang had dragged anyone else into their foolishness. It would be a time-consuming affair. But at least they’d made it through the meeting without a trade war breaking out. Nico would happily take the win on that front.
“So,” Alexi went on, “I’ll just take the girl and we’ll be on our way.”
The wheels turning in Nico’s brain ground to a halt when he realized this bastard was talking about River. This stronzo thought he’d be leaving with River.
His River.
Maybe they were going to war tonight after all.
And if that was the case…
So. Fucking. Be. It.
“A-E-I-O Fuck you,” River whispered.
Chapter 8
River now knew how it felt to be so nervous she couldn’t think of a single weird fact to spew. Not one.
And it wasn’t Alexi and his apparent need to take her with him to work off her ex’s debt in God-knows-what methods. Although, admittedly, that thought was not pleasant, because Alexi was one nightmare-inducing motherfucker. But in this moment, the giant Russian wasn’t the biggest threat in the room.
That honor belonged to Nico.
She realized she didn’t know Nico very well. But since she’d physically assaulted him and kidnapped him in their short time together, if he had a psycho killer inside him, she would’ve assumed she’d already seen it.
And she would’ve been wrong.
The stare Nico was currently aiming at his rival was so cold River shivered in her seat, causing Feather Locklear to bury her head in the crook of River’s neck, which is what she did when she was too nervous to recite her vowels.
