19. Alek

19

ALEK

T easing Mila in the bathroom caused more harm than good. I had her right where I wanted her, but I'd also made myself distracted with lust.

She wasn't going to run. I couldn't know that with one hundred percent confidence, but she wasn't stupid. She'd heard Yusef. She realized the real and waiting risks that she would face if she decided to bolt from me. I'd proven to her that she would be better off with me. I'd protected her under gunfire. I'd pleasured her like no one else ever had. I didn't want to assume that she would think she owed it to me to stay and not run. But I hadn't hesitated to manipulate her, to taunt her into being so close to an orgasm, only to stop her before she could find her release.

Stupid. It was a huge mistake on my part because I'd gotten turned on too. Shoving my cock along her ass had tempted me too far, and as I rubbed my erection, letting her watch me and see what she did to me, I pushed myself too far.

We'd left the studio apartment and headed toward the location Maxim had secured for our impromptu wedding. And with every step I took to close the distance to that address, I fought the lingering threads of potent desire.

She wore the mismatched outfit that I'd cobbled together, and walking alongside me, she couldn't have been more gorgeous. A plain brown sack would have done her justice. She had that classic, bone-deep kind of graceful beauty, such that she would be appealing no matter what she wore.

Especially when she wears nothing. I gritted my teeth at the vision of her in the shower, naked and tempting with all that water streaming over her smooth skin.

She was messing with my mind, and as I tried to ignore the burning ache of desire, I worried that I would be too distracted to keep her safe on the streets. Already, I'd glanced at her more than a handful of times. Her hand remained tight in mine, but my focus was skewed. Anyone could try to get a jump on us out here. I didn't need to be looking at her. I had to maintain a careful diligence and scope our surroundings, to be alert and keep a lookout.

Soon enough, we encountered trouble on the way. I was armed. I was ready to fight, but with Mila with me and no backup that I could see, I didn't want to risk her being hurt at all.

"Look." A thug from the Ortez Cartel elbowed his buddy, and a group of five of them turned toward us as we moved to walk by.

"A Valkov?" another taunted. "You a lil' lost, man?"

Two approached with a glint of metal reflecting light. They'd flicked their knives open upon seeing me, and I stepped in front of Mila as they tried to surround us.

She stayed behind me, close, until it would've been dangerous to stay near my arms as I fought back. They were green, too new to this life of crime, and I easily fought them back. Three ran, and two remained unconscious on the ground.

"You all right?" I asked Mila once I settled that interruption. My protective instincts kicked into high gear, but seeing her close by and not looking that rattled, I calmed down faster.

She accepted my hand and commenced walking down the sidewalk with me. We headed out of there faster, and she glanced back over her shoulder just the once. "Yeah. I'm fine."

And she was. I saw that she was. She hadn't fainted or cowered. No screams left her mouth and attracted more trouble. This was twice that she'd been subjected to violence firsthand, and she hadn't freaked out. Then again, I recalled that she hadn't acted like a baby or wimped out when I fucked her roughly. She wasn't so sheltered that she couldn't stomach some ugliness from life.

Maybe she is the perfect woman for me, after all. Dealing with a more delicate woman who couldn't handle the high stakes of our world would be a headache.

First and foremost, marrying her was a necessary power play. She was part of my strategy now. I would undermine Sergei's attempt to con my bratva. And I would begin the process of overthrowing Pavel and Andrey by taking her for myself.

At the same time, it didn't hurt to consider a mutually beneficial union. It seemed too foolhardy to wish for a happy life full of love with this woman, but something like a simpler compromise of partnership wouldn't hurt anything. She'd more than proven how stalwart and unshakable she could be in the most stressful moments.

Without any further interruptions or incidents, we arrived at the location Maxim had directed me to. It wasn't a warehouse, but a mostly abandoned office building. Offices stood empty and bare, showing signs of neglect and disrepair. The tall structure was likely on a list of condemned buildings to be torn down, and it was perfect for a clandestine meetup with a priest for a hasty wedding. No one would be in here to stop us.

But the moment we entered the room I was instructed to find, I knew how wrong I was to hope and assume that we would have security and privacy here.

We opened the door and walked into a scene of chaos and gore.

Mila gasped. Her hand flew to cover her mouth, and her eyes opened wide with shock. I gripped her hand tighter as I held up my gun again.

Only one perpetrator stood in here, determined to stand in my way.

The priest lay slumped on the bare hardwood floor. Blood puddled around his chest as his body jerked with wheezy, labored breaths. The bald man was one inch from death, his eyes squinting at the ceiling as his thin lips trembled. He spoke, whispering to himself, no doubt in prayers as he dreaded his end coming near.

To the left of him, Maxim, slumped against a chair, had just taken a hit from my cousin. Blood streaked from my youngest brother's brow, and he pressed his hand to his side and hissed in pain.

He'd been beaten. I already knew he had been, but I hadn't planned on walking in here and witnessing a repeat of an attack in real time.

Another Valkov soldier remained unmoving on the other side of the room. He was likely the backup witness I'd requested my brother to find to further validate my wedding here.

In a bizarre twist of karma, Andrey had come here to stop my wedding. He bared his teeth at me as he turned to face us as we came into the room. As the door clicked shut after us, Mila flinched, stepping closer to me.

My fucking cousin. He was here, ready to try his best at ruining my agenda.

I tensed. All my muscles locked tight as I braced to fight him. Holding Mila's hand, I edged her to stand behind me, but she misinterpreted, damn near hiding right at my back. Her fingers curled into my suit jacket, and I loathed the slight tremor in her grip on me.

"You," Andrey spat, fuming with wild eyes as he looked between me and Mila. "Both of you." A long growl left his lips as he charged forward.

I didn't need an explanation to figure out that he must have learned about my plan. Maxim wouldn't have told him. All of my brothers knew better than to let anyone find out about what I'd tried to make happen here. But of all four of them, Maxim would be the least experienced with subterfuge. It was his only flaw, but a forgivable one at that. I couldn't count on completely slipping under the radar with war breaking out on the streets.

I had no doubt that Andrey had killed the other soldier I'd needed as a witness. He had to have wounded the priest, and Maxim too.

And that was where his wrath would end. I demanded it. His interference would stop now.

I met him head-on, fists slamming into him as he breathed ragged, hard heaves of air and tried to beat me to a pulp. In a frenzy of action, I stayed on him, determined to make him pay once and for all for getting in my way.

I'd be damned if he tried to foil me, but pure rage was driving him. Like a beast, not a man, he launched himself at me. Each time I got the upper hand with a strong hit or block, he'd double back against all odds and damn near change the tide.

One look at Mila was my downfall. I glanced at her, checking that she wasn't near the realm of danger as we fought, but that mere glimpse was all the opportunity he needed to knock me to my ass.

I skidded back, slamming my shoulder into the floor so hard that it pushed all the air out of my lungs.

By the time I slowed in the drop, grunting through the pain, he'd turned and reached for his gun. I hadn't understood why he didn't use it on me, but I realized too late that maybe he'd welcomed the fury of the fight. For the first time, he'd wanted his hands dirty—with my blood.

In slow motion, my world blurred. All my senses tripped into a smear of panic, and I felt trapped, paralyzed in place as I watched him twist and aim his gun at Mila.

She hadn't run. She stood there, creeping closer to Maxim and the priest. As soon as she spotted the real and present danger pointed her way, she went still, staring wide-eyed at Andrey snarling at her with a malicious grin.

"No." She didn't beg it weakly. It came out as a firm but too-quiet order.

"Fucking whore." He lifted his arm, and I scrambled to stand. Time stopped. My heart thundered faster with utter terror as he prepared to kill her himself.

I lurched in front of her just in time, hissing at the pain exploding in my side as I reached her.

"Alek! No!" She reached for me, her hands grabbing at my jacket as I slid right back down to the floor, landing harder than I had the first time.