Chapter 35: Five days later - Being sent away

Five days later, I was still being held at the safe house where they’d brought me after the beating. Two of our men guarded me at all times to ensure I couldn’t leave.

They were the only two here, and they’d been sworn to secrecy. None of the other men knew what was going on. My absence had been explained away. Apparently, the story was that I had returned to Russia on some family business. At least they hadn’t been made privy to my current state of disgrace.

The two guys who were here weren’t allowed to interact with me, so apart from one of them entering in order to give me meals and my pain meds, nobody had come in or out of my room for the last two days.

Although I was healing well, I was bored out of my mind and bloody sick of being stuck here, separated from the woman I loved. I huffed out an exasperated breath.

Unable to do anything else, I thought through my various options for escape.

Eventually, the door opened, and Luca, Anton and Marko entered.

I remained seated and watched them approach.

“Romi, what the hell were you thinking?” Anton asked, shaking his head at me.

“I love her!” I said, lifting my chin in a gesture of defiance.

“You should have talked to us!” Luca said, sounding exasperated.

Just like last time, Marko didn’t say a word to me.

“I’d planned to, but then Miki made that bloody stupid arrangement with Glowacki, and we didn’t know what to do. We’d hoped to find an alternative, get the wedding called off and then tell everyone,” I told them wearily.

Marko continued to say nothing and simply looked at me, an unfriendly look on his face.

“How long has this been going on?” Luca finally asked.

So, I told them, pouring everything out, relieved to finally be able to talk about it. I explained how I loved Sonia but had desperately tried to fight my feelings. However, once I realised that she loved me too, I couldn’t deny them any longer.

As I talked, they listened, and by the end, Luca and Anton even looked sympathetic. It was a better reaction than I’d hoped for.

“By going behind his back, you’ve not only betrayed Miki, but you’ve put Miki in a bad position. Glowacki needs to strengthen his alliance with us because he has had so many traitors over the last few years, and now he needs to not only solidify his position but also recruit new soldiers. That will all take time, and the backing of the Bratva is essential to him right now. Miki needs Glowacki because we have unknown enemies working behind the scenes, and until they are routed out, we need as much support and backup as we can get,” Marko said, finally breaking his silence.

“Miki can’t be seen as weak, and he can’t be seen to let you or anyone else away with going up against him without punishing you,” Luca added.

“Luckily, the marriage arrangement is not common knowledge. So far, only ourselves, Glowacki’s family and some of our closest men know about it. That should help because few people know that you were fooling around with Sonia while she was technically engaged to Dariusz,” Marko said, obviously thinking aloud.

“If we can keep it that way and also come up with an alternative arrangement that suits Glowacki, then neither he nor Miki will lose face. Something neither man can afford to do when we are all vulnerable to our enemies,” Luca said in direct reply to Marko.

My breath hitched as hope blossomed inside me. I didn’t want to build my hopes up too soon, but it sounded like the guys were coming around to the situation.

“We’ve been trying to think of an alternative since we found out about it. I even asked Uncle Maxim, but so far, he has failed to think of anything either,” I said.

Marko raised his eyebrows, then slowly nodded.

“I will talk with Miki. I might have an idea. In the meantime, you are being sent back to Russia tomorrow until Miki calms down,” he stated.

“I won’t leave her!” I shouted as I shot to my feet.

“Those are Miki’s instructions. He is your pakhan, and you will obey him,” Marko shouted back.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I stated defiantly.

“If you want my help, you will do what is required. You are lucky that you’ve only been separated. Something worse could have happened to you,” Marko replied, his tone brooking no argument.

Narrowing my gaze at him, I clenched and unclenched my fists, just barely holding myself back from punching his face. Marko looked like he was having the same problem.

Tension fizzled between us as we stood facing off to one another. No bloody way was I leaving the country without my woman.

“Romi, you need to do what Miki says until he calms down. You’ve poked the bear enough. Defiance will only cause you more trouble. You need to be smart about this,” Anton warned.

My gaze flickered to him. He was right. I did need to be smart.

“Fine, I will go along with that as long as her marriage is called off,” I barked in annoyance.

Marko nodded stiffly.

“I have an idea. I’ll see what I can do,” Marko promised before leaving the room without another word.

Anton shook his head at me but patted my shoulder in a gesture of support as he followed. Luca watched me intently for a minute, then sighed heavily and left.

Anxiousness made my chest tighten at the thought of being forced to leave Sonia and go to Russia without her; being separated by only a few miles was one thing, but being separated by oceans was soul-crushing. I wasn’t sure how I would cope with that, and I wasn’t sure how Sonia would either, but it seemed we had no choice. For now, at least. If Marko really did have an idea, then there was hope for us, so I had to go along with this situation for a bit longer.

At least I knew I had allies in Russia who would help me if Marko failed to. If he did, I would be on the first flight back and nothing, and nobody would stop me from getting to my Little Miss Trouble then.