Page 104 of Mafie Queen

“I used to think that you were the devil because every time he tried to do something to you, something happened. He gifted you a scotch for Christmas with a small amount of a chemical that would cause you to have a heart attack, but Cami accidently broke it. He also hired a chef for you a few years back. Before the man could even cook a meal for you, he got stuck in the freezer. Then, when he lost two of his fingers, he believed it was karma and refused to come back.”

“How many times?” I ask, stunned into possibly believing in a higher power because there is no way in fuck I survived all of that for nothing.

“I lost track. But it got to the point where I was afraid to help him. He called me a coward and threatened that if I told you anything, he had enough evidence to take me down with him.”

I stand and start pacing the floor as the people around me grow silent.How could all of this be happening right under my nose, and yet I had no idea?

“When I found out he killed Natalia, everything started to make sense, and I knew I had been on the wrong side for a while now.”

Lev shakes his head. He stands and leaves the room, bypassing Ivan without a second thought. Damien is frozen in his seat, hardly blinking. It is clear Evie is struggling with this as she watches our reactions, but it is my son who snaps first.

One by one he picks up every single wine bottle from the cart near the window and throws them across the room. He perfectly reflects how I feel on the inside, but I have kept my composure for long enough that I simply cannot let myself react on the outside.

“It gets worse,” Ivan says.

My hands begin to shake, so I put them in my pocket to listen, giving him my full attention while Alexi rages and storms out of the room.

“He’s been trading your supplies under your nose and undermining your deals in order to hurt your infrastructure. He hurt Cami too. It was why she had to take those three weeks off a year ago. He held her husband hostage to get what he could from her information wise.”

Ivan takes a sip of the water in his hands before continuing. “Her only saving grace was that she installed hidden cameras all around her house, and she was able to upload them onto a hard drive. She gave it to someone, and if anything happened to her or her husband, you would have received the file showing you everything.”

My brows draw together. I had not known anything happened to Cami, all I really remember was having so much more work to do without her.

Apparently, I have been out of touch for much longer than I realized. I need to give that girl a raise. I make a mental note to check with Nessa about that first though. I really cannot afford her killing my assistant.

I try to let those thoughts distract me from everything that is happening right now. Eventually, the distraction fails, and all Iam left with is the fact that not only could I not protect my wife, but that she was killed by someone close to me and I did not even see it coming.

I bet she is rolling over in her grave at that. I can see it now, her yelling at me and telling me I only pay attention to things that demand my attention. A fight we got into more often than I could even count.

But she always came back to me. She always crawled back into the bed and accepted my apologies. She would run her fingers through my hair and tell me she believed in my ability to be great, which meant I could learn to handle a family, the Bratva, and more.

She was wrong. Not only did she die, but I failed her again in raising Alexi. I let him struggle alone. And then I ignored him because looking into his eyes was too much like looking into hers. All I could see when he turned that tear-filled, hopeless gaze at me was her hollow eyes as she lay in the middle of the road, gone before I could even say goodbye.

As I fall to my knees, unable to take a full breath, one thing helps me see straight. Nessa’s arms wrap around me, and her red hair falls right in front of my face.

The color of blood would probably make things worse for any normal man. But for me, it reminds me of a man who has blood to be spilled.

As I take a few breaths, Nessa combs her fingers through my hair just like my late wife used to. I come back to myself and stand up.

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I dial a number out of pure anger and resentment. Rostya will not survive this war, no matter what I have to do to insure it.

Chapter 37

My phone starts to ring, and I look down at it on the desk. There are only three people who have this number. So, who the fuck could be calling me right now?Has Adrik not made it clear to those under him that I am an important man who needs time and space to think?

Flippantly, I hit the answer button on the off chance this is someoneactually worthmy time, and I am pleasantly surprised when a familiar voice comes over the line.

“Hello, old friend.”

I lean back in my desk chair, feeling a manic grin cross my face.

“Well, hello to you too. Tell me, how did you end up surviving that whore’s attempt at killing you?”

He chuckles, a dark sound that used to scare me.How I was ever so intimidated by such a small man I will never know.

“You’ll have to try harder than that to kill me. After all, Ivan here tells me you’ve been missing the mark for years.”

Cursing under my breath, I sit forward abruptly.That fucking traitor.

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