Chapter 27 - Tia

"No one will be able to stop us," Giorgio's rant comes to an end, and everyone seems to be staring at him in disbelief.

He sounds crazy.

Yefim shakes his head.

"So, I was doing well in business, and to get back at me you took my wife? Have you lost your mind?"

"No," Giorgio laughs, a sick and twisted sound that makes me shudder in disgust. "I was hoping that if your wife died, you'd be so traumatized, so lost in grief, that you would finally fail. I was hoping that without her, you'd lose your mind. "

I can't believe him. He is horrible. He's cruel and twisted. Why would a human being do that to another? I will never understand men like him.

Yefim's eyes look like glaciers. Ice-cold and deadly. He is glaring at Giorgio. A dark smile crosses his lips, and my chest tightens with fear. He looks dangerous.

"I would lose my mind. But not in the way you imagine," he snarls. "I would lose my mind and I would hunt you down. I would tear you limb from limb and make you suffer unimaginable pain as a consequence of what you did. I wouldn't break apart and crumble like you think. I would become your worst nightmare."

Fuck. This is so bad.

This is getting worse by the second.

Yefim is so angry he looks like he's about to murder Giorgio right in front of Clara. My heart breaks for her to see all of this happening, to see the cruelty in her uncle. It looked like they were close. Like she loved him. Now she is seeing the real him.

This situation is very quickly turning dark, and I need to do something to stop it.

If Yefim acts violently, his brothers will all join in without questions. They will support him, and if they start shooting, Giorgio and his men will retaliate violently, and people will die. Everyone in this room will die. There is no way for one side to overpower the other when the odds are even.

These two families are equally matched in power, and it's a fight that won't end here. It'll get bloodier and darker and too many people will die.

I can't lose Yefim, and I can't watch him lose any of his brothers, and I can't watch Clara get hurt after being dragged into her uncle's shitty plan. She doesn't deserve any of this. She's only ever been nice to me.

Yefim steps towards Giorgio. He's fuming, on the edge of breaking apart, ready to tear the world down.

I catch his eye and shake my head, desperately trying to get him to stop. There are a million thoughts running through my mind.

No . Don't do this. We have to do something else.

He knots his brows at me, confused. Why would I stop him?

No . I shake my head again. Please. Don't.

I take a deep breath. I have to take control, somehow. I have to do something.

"If you let me go, they'll let Clara go as well," I say loudly, and everyone in the room turns to look at me. I feel the intensity of their stares. The expectation. The pause. The heaviness as this moment settles down onto my shoulders.

I have their attention—now what am I going to do with it?

I take a deep breath.

Giorgio Vitali sneers at my remark.

"And then what?" he snaps, his hand still tight on the grip of his gun, his finger hovering over the trigger.

"Your niece, your family , will be unharmed. What more do you want?" I ask, surprised that it isn't enough.

"I want my territory," he remarks. I see Clara's face drop a little. His reaction has hurt her. She expected more from him.

"You have your territory. We won't come into it, and you can stay out of ours. This city is massive; there is plenty of space, plenty of business, and plenty of clientele to go around for both families. There is no reason for us to be at war. We can coexist."

In my own mind, what I'm suggesting makes the most sense. Why start a senseless war?

"You're just a girl. What do you know?" Giorgio spits.

"I know enough to understand that if our two families do go to war, it will be to the death of both sides. We are both strong, we both have an infinite amount of resources and weaponry. There would be no end to the bloodshed. We have to stop this before we get to that point."

Giorgio finally looks like he's at least considering my words.

Then he nods his chin towards me.

"You can't speak for the Dubrov family."

Yefim steps forward. "She can. And I agree with her. You have my word as well, and my brothers'. We will offer a tentative truce. A test, to see if we can coexist rather than start a war. There is plenty of money to be made and if— if —things work out, then in the future we might even find that by working together in some areas, we can make even more money."

Giorgio is lost in thought for a long moment, then turns towards Leon, Oleg and Alexei. "You all agree with this?" he asks, waving his hand through the air.

Leon pulls his mouth tight. He has known Giorgio for the longest of all of them. He's been in Boston, established, working and dealing with the rival families.

"Leon?" Giorgio says. "We have been rivals for many years."

"We have. But Yefim leads that branch of the business now. So, whatever he decides, I will follow. If he wants a truce with you, then I will honor it as well. I have to agree that I would prefer to avoid war. But if you choose it—know we will come at you with everything."

"Interesting," Giorgio comments, tucking his gun into the back of his belt, indicating that he might be willing to accept this truce. I'm holding my breath, tense, fearful, wanting this moment to end peacefully.

"We need your word, Giorgio Vitali," Oleg says.

"You have my word." He sighs, sounding bored. "We are entering a truce. A trial . Should we find that it isn't to our benefit, we will notify each other before it ends."

"Fair."

"Agreed."

The brothers all nod. Giorgio turns to the guard holding me. "Let her go," he says, sounding disappointed.

Yefim runs straight to me, grabbing me in his arms and pulling me tight against his body. He whispers into my ear, "I thought I lost you."

"Take me home," I whisper back. All I want to do is get out of here and to be safe with Yefim. I want this night to be over.

We turn to leave Giorgio Vitali's house. Clara is standing with her uncle, her face sullen, sad, hurt. I guess she has a lot she wants to say to him. I hope he at least hears her out. She deserves to be heard.

I smile tightly at her, and she smiles tightly back at me.

Just before we walk out of the door, Yefim turns back to face Clara's uncle.

"Giorgio. If you decide to go rogue, and not honor our deal, I promise you one thing. You will learn that the rumors about how ruthless the Dubrov family can be are true."

Giorgio pulls his mouth tight, clenching his jaw, not liking the threat, but also not responding in words.

He nods. One quick nod.

Yefim seems satisfied with this, and with his arm around me, he leads me out to the car.

***

On the way driving to back Oleg's place, where Yefim left his car, I am leaning against his chest in the back seat. I look up at him and relief washes over me.

I can't believe I'm with him again. I thought it was over. I thought I was going to die without ever getting to see him again. The pain of knowing that was tearing me apart, and now—now I'm back in his arms, and for some reason, all I am thinking about is that stupid fucking crocodile that I so badly wanted to give him.

"I won, you know. At the game." I smile softly, looking up at him.

"Mm?" he says, looking down at me. "What game?"

"The crocodile. I won it for you. I mean, I lost it after that. But I did win." I smile sadly. It's a small thing to lose in the bigger picture. It just meant a lot to me for some reason. To give it to him.

He starts laughing. His laughter vibrates against my body.

"Why is that so funny?" I laugh too, realizing that I'm talking about a silly stuffed animal when we all almost died a moment ago. Maybe it's shock. Maybe my mind is just trying to focus on something random instead of focusing on what just happened.

"I found it," he chuckles. "I found it and it's in my car. It might need a wash, though."

"You found it? Are you kidding me?" I am smiling so broadly, as though the crocodile represents our future, our love, everything we could be. And we still have it. We have our lives, we have so much more to experience together.

"Yeah. I found that stupid crocodile. It's in the back seat of the car, next to the even more ridiculous giant red octopus."

I shake my head, grinning, leaning against him again.

Everything is going to be okay.

The danger is over.

He wants to be with me.

Everything is going to be perfectly fine.

***

At home, after a night that felt like it would never end, Yefim runs us a deep, hot bubble bath, and we both climb in to soak away the stress of all the things that happened today.

I'm leaning my back against Yefim's toned chest, my hair spilling around us, floating in the water, catching the bubbles.

Yefim is running his fingers in circles over my skin. It's soothing and methodical, letting my drift peacefully in thought.

We are both lying there in silence, just taking in the moment, acknowledging the fact that we are both alive.

After a long while, when the water is starting to get a little colder, Yefim leans close to my ear and whispers, "I love you, baby girl. I love you more than the entire world."

I turn in the bath, splashing water, so that I am lying on his chest. I stare up into his bright blue eyes as they pierce into my soul.

My heart is singing wildly. I wanted to tell him that, before all of this happened. I wanted to tell him how much I love him, and I wanted to show him, too.

I wiggle close to him, lifting my face up to his lips, my mouth is hovering over his.

"I love you too, Yefim. More than you can understand. More than words can explain. But I'll show you," I grin. Then I press my lips against his and kiss him with a passion so deep and intense that fire seems to erupt around us.

He slides his arms around my body, pulling me up against his, and I feel his cock growing harder as we continue to kiss.