31. Gio

31

GIO

DAYS LATER

I 'd called this meeting with Dmitry and Nikolai since all of this shit between us had to come to a stop. We needed to settle this because I wasn't giving up Tatiana. In fact, I planned on making her mine in all ways. It wasn't enough that she was mine and the mother of my baby and all future children. I wanted to make her my wife, too.

Even days later, the tension between the three of us was so thick, even a fucking knife couldn't cut through it.

As I sat across from Dmitry and Nikolai, the weight of the situation bore down on us like an anvil hanging over our heads. Nikolai sipped on a whiskey, and Dmitry drummed his fingers on the tabletop. Both of their blue gazes were laser-locked on me.

But while the tension between us was fucking suffocating, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I was pleased to see Nikolai's black-and-blue eye and the cut on his cheek, and Dmitry sporting a busted-as-fuck lip and bruising on his neck.

All three of us had bruised and scabbed knuckles.

We'd met at a neutral bar, one that was a "safe" place for all parties. I'd promised Tatiana I wouldn't get into another brawl with her brothers—or, at the very least, I wouldn't kill them.

If I were being honest, I wasn't sure I'd ever felt such violence directed at me like I did right now with Dmitry and Nikolai staring at me. I'm sure they were envisioning all the ways they could kill me in the same way I was with them.

The silence and barely restrained aggression reflected from both sides. I was pretty sure, right at this moment, there was nothing as dangerous in the entire world as the three of us.

"Let's just cut through any pleasantries," Dmitry finally tossed in, Nikolai snorting smugly after his brother spoke.

I shrugged and leaned back. "I killed that fucker because he was hurting Tatiana. In fact, you bastards should say thank you." They both kept apathetic expressions, but I didn't miss the way their jaws clenched after my statement. "He had planned on killing her just to get at you guys." I hated fucking talking about it like this… like I did a damn job.

Sure, I didn't have the strength of these feelings for Tatiana when I killed that fucker, but something had made me take his life other than just my thirst for blood. I would have beaten any motherfucker to a goddamn pulp for hurting a woman, but I'd known actually killing someone on the Petrovs' turf—other than the fighters inside the cage—could cause issues. Yet, I'd done it anyway for Tatiana, and I wanted these fuckers to see it the way it was.

My patience was fraying. "I killed that fucker because Tatiana deserved better. She deserves someone who will protect her at all costs. No matter what."

"Why didn't you come to us after?"

I met Nikolai's gaze head-on.

"Arrogant as fuck to think you had the right to act on your own. To not even let us know you killed on our territory without approval—what was that?"

I didn't respond because that was the least of the issues we had. And when the Petrovs glanced at each other, I knew they realized that as well.

"What's the fucking deal with Maksim?"

I thought about Dmitry's words and how much I should reveal. At the end of this, I knew I had to be honest, at least partially. "I was given orders," I replied, my words sharp. "You know how shit goes down when we're given orders."

Nikolai laughed. "Fucker, we don't follow orders. We give them."

I had the urge to roll my eyes like I was an adolescent.

We all had to follow orders. The Petrovs were powerful, but there was always someone above everyone.

I couldn't tell them everything—couldn't reveal I had my own issues with the Cosa Nostra, that I was sure Carmine was doing rogue shit. I couldn't drag the leader of Italy into it, at least not yet. I needed to wait and see how this played out first.

"And because of those orders, I did what needed to be done."

Dmitry's jaw tightened. It was clear he wanted more information from me. "Orders from who?"

I smirked at him and didn't break eye contact. "Come on, motherfucker. Like I'm going to give you more than I have to." I shrugged. "You know how this works."

Nikolai scoffed, shaking his head. "The arrogance of this fucker. Pretty wild you think that you get to take out our men on our territory, and we're just supposed to accept it?"

The room fell into a heavier silence. My mind raced with the immediate issue, but the more I thought about Carmine, the more it settled that I was in this shit because of him and his directive.

The Head of Italy—who I was supposed to trust above all else because he was famiglia —was keeping things from me. And I couldn't shake the feeling that Carmine was playing a game… that he was playing me … in order to better his own position.

He was putting everything and everyone at risk. I had to find out what the fuck was going on. Although I knew I could dig and find this shit out for myself, I knew having the Bratva on my side could help expedite that.

Hell, if he was using me, using the Cosa Nostra as pawns, I needed to know. I needed to find out as soon as possible before anything else happened.

I was about to bring up the Carmine situation with the Petrovs when Dmitry's deep voice cut through my thoughts .

"And what about Tatiana?" he asked low, with obvious hints of brotherly protection woven in his tone.

I felt my own protectiveness over my girl rise. "What about her?" I growled, matching his aggression.

If they even try to start any bullshit about me not keeping her as mine, I'll have to break my promise to Tatiana that I won't kill them.

"You got her pregnant." Nikolai's voice was a mixture of royally pissed off and slightly disgusted at the idea that I'd knocked up his sister.

I felt male pride and possessiveness over it.

I clenched my jaw but didn't have time to respond before they were talking again.

"What's your plan?"

I counted to ten and ran my hand over my jaw, trying to grapple with my anger issues where the Petrov bastards were concerned.

"She's mine," I stated matter-of-factly. "And I'm not letting her go." I leaned forward, clasped my hands together, and stared them in the eyes. "She'll be my wife, and I'll protect her and our baby with my life."

Nikolai exchanged a glance with his brother, their unspoken communication clear. They were worried about their sister. I knew they were also worried about what this meant in the long run—not just for her world but for all of ours.

"Listen," I said, putting myself in their situation because I'd been in their shoes. Twice. "I know how you feel. I've had to deal with the same shit you two are feeling right now… with your wives." I cocked an eyebrow when they didn't respond. "Seeing my sisters married off to you two dangerous fuckers was hard to accept, but I went with my gut and watched how you treated them." I leaned back in the booth, glancing between them when I told each of them individually, "And I knew you cared about Amara, and you cared about Claudia. I knew both of you would kill to protect them. You'd die to keep them safe."

They leaned back, and I felt some of the tension and their animosity fade as my words hung between us.

"That's how I feel about Tatiana, your sister. She's mine forever, capisci ?"

After a long moment of silence, they let out identical exhales, as if what I said was good enough… for the time being.

"Good. That's what we wanted to hear," Dmitry said. "Now, back to business." He sat up in his chair, and I switched gears and focused on the ugly and gritty part of my world. "There's some shit we want to talk about. Shit that'll affect not only us but you and yours as well."

I was all ears now, focused on what needed to be done.

"We've learned about a new threat."

Instantly, I was on the offense, and my mind immediately thought of Carmine. "What kind of new threat?"

Dmitry didn't speak right away. He gestured for another round of drinks, and once we were left alone again, Nikolai was the one to start talking.

"They call themselves The Stygian Syndicate." His tone was dark and menacing.

I frowned, leaning forward slightly. "What do you know?"

"We've learned of a new rogue group that is trying to infiltrate and rise in power. They're clearly working with another group, one that has insider knowledge in order for them to know the shit they know," Nikolai said, his voice growing deeper from his anger.

The tension was edging back in, and mine grew the more I thought about what Nikolai stated —"...has insider knowledge… "

Again, Carmine was the forefront of my mind, and the more I thought about it, the more I needed to broach this with the Petrovs.

"They're staying underground, and it's been a bitch finding any useful information about them." Nikolai slowly grinned. "But it's been fun as fuck experimenting with how far motherfuckers can be pushed to get what I want."

I knew the sick Russian fucker was talking about torturing people to get information. Hell, I knew he did heinous shit to his enemies. There was even talk that Nikolai had torn the finger and toenails off a man for just cutting him off in traffic. That was always the rumor that popped into my head whenever I thought about just how crazy my brother-in-law was.

"Had to get creative just to get the minuscule shit we got."

Dmitry snorted and shook his head after his psycho sibling spoke. "They're organized and know their shit, given they've been able to do what they've done on our territory so far." He cracked his knuckles. "They're obviously powerful in their own right, and it's clear they're slowly making moves against not only us, but you and yours, too. "

"Maksim was just one piece in their plans," I murmured to myself.

I thought about what they said, let that shit sink in, and knew I had to bring up my suspicions with them about Carmine. It was dangerous, though. We might've been allies because of family bonds, but we were still two very different sides of the same coin.

My thoughts kept circling back to the Head of Italy. After hearing about this new syndicate and all the moves that had taken place up until this point, I had no doubt Carmine was involved. It was just too convenient, all the things falling into place about him being a major player.

Was he the leader of this new threat? Was he working with them in hopes he could gain more power? If I revealed all this shit to the Russians and I was wrong, this could blow up in the worst possible way.

But if I was right….

"We have a lot of shit between us, Gio," Dmitry said. "You didn't come to us after helping Tatiana, and you killed one of ours on our territory."

I knew that wasn't something they could just let go. It would eventually come back full circle. But it was clear that right now, we had bigger issues and threats .

I ran my hand over my jaw, and the sound of my palm moving over my scruff seemed overly loud.

Why had Carmine really ordered Maksim's death? Why did he want specifically me to do the kill?

"I think the Head of Italy is trying to drive a wedge between me and you two." I looked between the brothers. "I think he's trying to implode both of our bases, so he can make a move with this new syndicate."

Shit , I thought, as it really sank in and started making even more sense. Fuck . I grabbed my drink and tossed it back, the burn down my throat welcomed.

Nikolai and Dmitry studied me for a long moment, their expressions unreadable as they no doubt let what I said brew among the three of us. The tension surrounding us was still there, but everything had shifted to this new threat instead of each other.

I couldn't shake the feeling that Carmine was behind everything—The Stygian Syndicate, me being the one to carry out Maksim's death, and probably a whole host of other shitty betrayals.

It was all too connected to be a coincidence.

And the more I thought about it, how Carmine had to be in the thick of it, the more I realized he was probably involved in Tatiana's attack.

My blood boiled, and I curled my hands into tight fists until my nails tore into my palms and broke the skin.

I looked up at the men and said, "Tatiana's assault." It was the only thing I could speak aloud rationally and coherently. And judging by the tightness in their eyes and on their faces, they knew exactly what I meant by those two words.

"We need concrete proof that Carmine's involved with The Stygian Syndicate. If he planned all this shit or is behind any piece of this bullshit, we need to know," I told them when I could finally rein in my fury enough to get it out.

"If he had any hand in what happened to Tati, I'll flay his skin from his bones."

I had no doubts Nikolai would.

Dmitry nodded in agreement, and I was sure the eldest Petrov would have a few unique ideas in helping his crazy-ass brother out.

Carmine didn't make mistakes, but I knew with arrogance and power, everyone slipped eventually. When people thought they were untouchable, that's when they started fucking up. If he was involved, I'd find the trail .

Nikolai leaned in and had a sadistic smile curving his lips. "And if we find proof? What then?" He started rubbing his hands together. "How about you just send him our way?"

I held his gaze. "We'll cross that bridge if we get there."

Dmitry's eyes narrowed. "If Carmine is involved, this is going to destroy the Cosa Nostra from the inside out."

"It'll drag every-fucking-thing down. The Ruin will be turned upside down, and it'll cause an all-out war." I rubbed the back of my head.

"It's already a fucking war."

I nodded at Dmitry. I wouldn't let Carmine destroy everything I cared about.

There was a heavy fucking silence as the weight of it all settled on our shoulders. But I meant every word. "I'll kill Carmine myself if I find out he was involved in Tatiana's attack." And I'd revel in it.

"We're in this together," Dmitry inserted, and I felt my eyebrows reach up to my fucking hairline. Never thought I'd hear those words directed at me, coming out of a Bratva member.

"Let's be smart about this shit," Nikolai said, surprisingly being the one thinking rationally right now. "Everything could go to hell. "

Everything is already going to hell, just like Dmitry said.

"If Carmine betrayed the Cosa Nostra, his own people, he'll be dealt with. If he betrayed me , I'll castrate him and feed him his balls in a soup Tatiana makes." The silence was long and heavy, and then Nikolai burst out laughing and slammed his hand on the table.

"Fucking hell, man. You're crazier than me."

"When it concerns Tatiana and my baby, I'll burn the fucking world down, and it still wouldn't satiate my need for blood and vengeance," I told him, and I watched the brothers exchange a look, one that seemed eerily similar to one of approval.

A cold determination weighed down on all three of us then, and Dmitry ended our meeting with, "We'll do what needs to be done when the time comes."

Yeah, we fucking would.