Chapter 18

eighteen

Alexandr

I watch the love of my life walk out of the conference room, and I lose my shit; I swipe everything off the table in front of me in a rage.

My father looks ready to grab hold of me in a hug but won't because it's a sign of weakness with the Family heads in the room. I look at Basil and point my finger at him like there isn't a dead body on the floor next to him. Damn him for bringing this shit up right now when I'm trying to win my girl back.

"You need to get your fucking priorities straight, old man. The shit you just spewed was out of line; you're listening to a cokehead instead of getting everyone's side of the story, and you wonder why she doesn't want anything to fucking do with you?" His face goes red as Sergi stands to leave.

He looks at me and Damian and says, "As you heard, I have an ice cream date with my favorite cousin." I raise my brow; that was a nice little dig toward Basil because of Selene. He looks at his uncle, shit, his uncle, by marriage, but still, I chuckle a little, and he glares at me, reading my mind, then sneers at Basil, "If I stay any longer, I won't be held accountable for my actions."

Then he storms out. Basil sighs, running a hand through his hair, and says, "Selene wouldn't lie; she has no reason to, either."

I let out a dark chuckle and state, "No reason except the source of her income; I take it she told you about when she came looking for me at the club two months ago, then? When I fucked her ass in the alleyway, trying to punish Phoebe for leaving me, not realizing at the time she was the cause for my girl leaving in the first place?" He pales. "You knew we were fucking. I told you it's the reason Phoebe left, but clearly, Selene told you it was false, so it must have been, right? Do I need to show you proof?

You were supposed to be watching her like a hawk to gain proof of her working with Christian, but now I think you were living in coocoo land and decided to bury your head in the sand."

Basil jumps up from his seat and says, "How fucking dare you talk to me like this? I am the fucking Nonos !"

I shout back, my patience gone, "Then fucking act like it!"

He growls in frustration and leaves. I sit and bang my head on the table, while the other men stay silent.

My brother is the first to speak. "It'll be alright, Al."

I chuckle darkly and lift my head. "She wouldn't even fucking look at me as she walked out, so how in the hell am I going to get her to forgive me before eleven months are up? I've only just got her to hold my fucking hand, doubt even that'll happen ever again now." I sigh, get up, and wave my hand, leaving the room and heading for my office, feeling fucking pissed and defeated. I won't see her tonight because she's decided to stay at her uncle's while in New York this week instead of my penthouse. If I stay at her ranch, it's with Ares in the spare bedroom.

I shut the door behind me and sit at my desk, sighing. I have plenty of legitimate paperwork to do, so that's what I will do. Hopefully, it'll clear my head.

A few hours later, I've made a dent in the paperwork, when my work phone rings. I know my secretary is not here today. I knew Phoebe was coming in, and I doubt she would have taken it very well seeing her here, too. I'm pretty sure if she knows about me making Candy my mistress, then she knows about the evening fuckfests I have with Bethany, Selene, and Mindy a couple of times a month. I really need to fire Bethany.

"Alexandr speaking."

"Hey baby, I've finally caught you. Where have you been? I have been trying to reach you, but one of the men made me leave my hotel room." Candy's whiny voice comes through the line, and I sigh. For fuck's sake, I can't catch a break. I run my hand through my hair before I realize I need to take out my frustrations, and I smile. A plan is forming. A plan that I didn't know at the time would cause me the most unbearable pain.

"Sorry, babe, I've been busy. And as for the hotel room, I decided to make something more permanent for you; it was supposed to be a surprise, but I found a nice three-story brownstone for us. What do you think?" She squeals on the other end of the phone, making me move the handset away from my ear. Why the fuck did I make her my mistress again? Oh yeah, to punish my girl for something I forced her to do.

"Oh, baby, that sounds amazing. Can we go see it today?" I chuckle. She sounds so eager; she probably thinks I'm the stupidest guy going. Well, to be fair, I used to be until Phoebe opened my fucking eyes.

"I can't today, babe; I have to go out of town again tonight, so it'll have to be next week."

She sighs. "I miss you when you're gone, and we haven't seen each other in a month. Can I still use your office while you are out of town? The guards wouldn't let me the last few times, and you know how I like taking a nap in between my sets." She whines, and I smile, hook, line, and sinker. "Of course, gorgeous. I'll see you in a week, okay?"

She sighs happily. "Okay, baby, I love you so much."

I try not to gag, and hang up, then text the men at the club, granting her access to my office. I should expect a call in around, say, three minutes from my brother, asking what the fuck, and I smile; he'll love to be involved in this.

Two minutes and thirty-eight seconds later, instead of my phone ringing, my brother barges into my office, his face red from rage. I smirk and lean back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest.

"That's impressive, brother; I expected a phone call." He growls at me, narrowing his eyes.

"What the fuck are you doing, Al? You have one setback and go to your mistress again, granting her access to your office, where she was stealing from us. Do you want to lose your woman and your fucking job?" I chuckle, making his face even more red.

"I have already ensured all paperwork and passwords are locked in the safe under the floorboards, a safe that only you, Sergi, Dad, and I know about. I thought we could finally get rid of a problem. You are my little brother." His eyes light up, his frown turns into a devious smirk, and I smile.

"Want to get some frustrations out tonight, do we, big brother?"

I chuckle, damn right, I fucking do.

"She should be fucking her drug dealer at roughly 9 PM, after they try to get into my draws and wall safe, so we have…." I look at the clock on the wall; it's nearly 5PM "…four hours."

He smiles. "Enough time to finish some meetings. I'll message Sofia so she knows I'll be late and that I'll be at the club. I don't want her hormones going haywire on me again, though if it were the other way around, there would have been blood spilled, so I do understand."

I chuckle. He slept on the couch for a week after visiting the club. He was there to check on things, but someone had sent her a picture of him talking to one of the strippers, which happened to be Savannah, who he let get off on him several times when Sofia was gone raising their little girl alone, so it was a sore subject. It turns out it was Misty, a new stripper who wanted the big boss and tried to ruin their marriage, so she no longer works for us, but is still alive, just in another country.

"I'll message Sergi, and we'll meet at the garage at 8:40 PM." He smiles, then walks out while putting his phone to his ear. "Hey Malyshka , how are you feeling?" I smile, proud of my little brother for getting his act together. Now, if only I could. I sigh. I really should have listened to him instead of thinking I knew better. I grab my phone to message Sergi.

Me: 8:40 p.m. parking garage at Volkov we're going to torture him.

"He introduced you first, the Angel of fucking Death," Damian rages while I say, "That's not fucking fair," while she literally cackles.

"See you in a bit, gentleman," she says, then hangs up.

I look at Damian and say, "I'm going to fucking kill him!" I sneer, and he growls, "Not before I fucking do!" Then storms out. Yeah, she dished out the right payback! And I bet there's more to fucking come. It's a good thing I love her!

At 8:35 PM, I meet Damian at the elevators; we're both still pissed that Phoebe met Sergi's girl first. I know she doesn't know about our lives, but we can dress fucking casually and hide our fucking weapons!

Once we reach the parking lot, Phoebe is leaning against my Mercedes, her leather gear on, while the traitor stands near my brother's SUV. We both walk over to him while Phoebe laughs her ass off, and Sergi just smirks as both Damian and I talk at the same time.

"Seriously, the Angel of Death can meet her, but not us?

"I was the fucking first person you told, for fuck's sake."

"I'm your best fucking friend."

"We've known each other for years; we're fucking family!"

He loses it and laughs his ass off, before getting in Damian's car, making us both scowl. I growled, walking over to my car and opening the door for Phoebe.

"Get in, you hyena."

She laughs harder, and I grab her hand, helping her up after she falls on the ground laughing, unable to keep my smile at bay. What a fucking infuriating woman! I help her into the car, go to the driver's seat, and place my hand in between her thighs while she still laughs. I shake my head and say, "You're lucky. I love you, my hyena."

She laughs harder again, making me chuckle.

Damian has already turned his SUV around, waiting for me to follow, so I ignore my hyena and start the car while stroking my thumb along her leg.

Twenty minutes later, we're pulling into the underground parking lot for our strip club, and we park near the elevators. All the men know not to acknowledge our presence, to not tip Candy off. We get out of our cars, and I put my arm around Phoebe's waist, grateful she doesn't move out of the way, and we head to the elevator and go up two floors. Once on the floor, Andrew, our doorman, lets us in with a nod, keeping his eyes off of my girl. He values his life. We head to my office.

I can already hear Candy's moaning mixed in with the music from downstairs, and I furrow my brow when I realize she sounds the same as when she was with me. She fucking faked with me? I scowl, and Phoebe snorts, noticing my look and making me narrow my eyes at her, but she just smirks at me, and I shake my head, moving forward.

I open my office door, and the sight that greets us is quite sickening, to be fair. Candy is on all fours, a fat, greasy man is fucking her ass, while Savannah is standing in front of Candy, holding her head to her pussy, and all my paperwork is messed up over my desk, where they've gone through it all.

Phoebe enters the room first and chuckles before she looks at me. "Seriously, that is what you tried to replace me with?" I smirk at her and playfully narrow my eyes, causing her to grin wide while my brother and friend snort, enjoying her roasting me, assholes. The three on the floor quickly get up in surprise when they hear us, as Candy starts to fake cry.

"Alexandr, baby, it's not what it looks like, I swear." Mascara rolls down her cheeks, and Savannah pales when she notices Damian, who's smirking while the greasy man freezes, his small dick getting smaller as it deflates, his face going ashen.

Phoebe chuckles when she notices him standing there frozen, butt naked, while Candy quickly covers herself with the guy's dirty shirt. Savannah goes to Damian like he can save her. Before she can get near him, Phoebe grabs her hair in a tight twist and pulls it down hard in her fist, causing Savannah's head to tilt back in an awkward angle. Phoebe then chuckles evilly. Candy is watching her, wide-eyed, not knowing who my girl is.

"Now, what kind of friend would I be, letting your skank naked ass anywhere near Sofia's man? You going over to Damian, my brother , for a reason?" she sneers.

Damian smiles at her words, loving the brother title. Savannah tries to yank her hair out of Phoebe's grip but cries out in pain. Instead, my girl smirks, and I must readjust my pants, causing Sergi and Damian to chuckle. Candy notices and smirks, thinking it's because of her, and walks toward me, before she wraps her arms around my waist and presses her sweaty body against mine before I can move. Now, I don't like hitting women, but come on, she's covered in the guy's fucking sweat. I hold my breath so I don't gag and go to move, but she tightens her grip and pouts at me.

I look up when Phoebe says, "Well, it looks like you're off the hook for a little while, Sav; why don't you sit next to Greasy there?" Savannah is shoved onto the couch. She lands face-first in the guy's cock, making Daman and Sergi lose it. I look at Damian and see he's recording everything for Sofia, and I have to bite my lip from smirking. I don't want Candy to get the wrong idea; it's bad enough that she has a grip on me.

She starts to whisper to me without realizing the danger she's now in.

I look down at her and glare hard.

"Let's go have a look at that house, baby. This here…I owed money, so I was just paying him back. That's all. I didn't want to worry you. Please, baby."

Just as she finishes, Phoebe leans over her shoulder and says, "Oh, so you haven't been stealing millions from Volkov he's standing behind Greasy to ensure he stays seated on the couch I'll be burning later. Greasy is next to Savannah, who's visibly shaking, and he looks uneasy, too.

I look back at Phoebe, and she's now looking at me. Peace washes over her face.

No, no! " Malen'kaya ptitsa …" I say, panic I can't hide straining my voice as I try to move out of this bitch's grip, a bitch who's smirking at the situation, probably thinking she's saved. Phoebe smiles at me, grabs her gun, and turns, shooting Savannah in the kneecap. Savannah screams out in pain while Greasy vomits on the floor. Great, now I've got to strip the wooden flooring, too.

Damian looks at Phoebe in shock, and she shrugs. "For Sofia," she remarks, making him grin wide at her. Then she puts her gun back behind her and goes to walk out. At the last second, she turns and looks at me. Candy's arm is still tightly gripping my shirt, her head near my chest as I'm leaning back away from her to stop the contact, and instead of shoving her to the floor, I just stand there with my arms hanging down like a fucking idiot.

"Goodbye, Agapi Mou ," she rasps, then turns and leaves.

My heart feels like it's being torn in two. Both my brother and Sergi tense, knowing I'm about to blow.

I shove Candy off me, and she stumbles back. "Baby, wha?—"

I don't let her finish as I grab my knife from the sheath behind my jeans and slice across her throat. Blood pours out of her neck, and she drops to her knees, looking at me in shock, her hands gripping her neck as she chokes on her own blood. Savannah screams, and I grab my gun, shooting her between the eyes. I look at Greasy, who's pissed himself and smells like he's shit himself, too, and is covered in his own vomit.

I approach him and he blabbers, "Look, man, I'm sorry, it was just easy money. Mihai offered me a higher rank to grab all your information. Candy was his mistress; please, dude, I'm?—"

I stab him in the ribcage, shutting him up, then slice the knife up toward his neck, hitting his windpipe. I slice through it, and watch as he slowly dies in front of me. My whole body is now cold and numb from the mistakes I've made that not only risked our Bratva and Mafia but also my girl's love for me.