29. Alek

29

ALEK

M orning came quickly, and I woke with a fierce excitement for how the day would likely end. With Mila's help, there was no doubt in my mind that we'd altered the details of the shipment due this afternoon.

I hadn't planned to ask her about any details because I assumed she wouldn't be privy to knowing any. And she hadn't. Her father expected her to mess around with busywork, but with the codes and secrecy, she'd never been able to follow any of it. She hadn't tried to, either, smart enough to know better.

With Nik and Maxim staying over late and picking at all the emails she'd fielded at that office, we could piece together enough of what was expected to happen at the Colver dock that we could change up the details of the sting. The DEA was expected to arrive too late, but changing the arrival documentation meant they'd be early , just in time to see the Kastavas get caught, not the Valkovs.

Mila agreed with me that she shouldn't sneak near her father's prized dock area. She trusted me to keep her safe, but she understood that Ivan would be a reliable bodyguard in the interim.

I wouldn't have missed this opportunity for the world. I wanted to be there, hiding in the distance and watching in real time as the Kastavas were fucked with this arms shipment coming in.

Sergei Kastava wouldn't have a clue what hit him, and I waited with giddy anticipation as the time crept closer to when the trap would spring.

Instead of accompanying me, Mila went to the shops to begin building a wardrobe fit for a woman in her position. At the top of the Valkov Bratva, she had to dress the part. She'd look good in anything. I already knew she had an eye for fashion and was practiced in accentuating her looks. All I cared to find out was what she purchased for me. Her lingerie would still be hers , but really, it was a treat for me, too. I couldn't wait to uncover and unwrap her and see her in naughty, teasing lingerie in bed.

Ivan would keep her safe. I trusted my brother without a doubt. In fact, I counted on all the men who'd heeded my orders under Pavel's leadership. I'd instructed every Valkov man to make himself scarce as the hour drew near. I wanted no one but the die-hard loyalists to my uncle to be here and caught.

The moment came, and with a swarm of activity, detectives, agents, and officers filled the dockyard. Kastava soldiers tried to run or open fire. The thugs on the ship fired as well, and a small war had broken out as the law enforcement agencies came down hard on the bratva men who hadn't learned of Mila's and my plan to thwart them.

I remained back in the shadows with Nikolai. We watched it all come crashing down, and at the end, we shared a knowing look and smile.

"You did it," he congratulated me.

" We did it." All my suspicions had paid off. From the beginning, I knew this shipment and supposed alliance with the Kastava Family would end in ruin. And it had. I'd helped to bring it all down, and I was walking away from the mess with a wife and a clear drive to lead instead of my uncle.

"You sure you don't want help this afternoon?" he asked as we strolled away, heading for our cars.

I shook my head. "I already have my help lined up. Thanks."

"Sure thing, Boss ." He smirked, clearly excited for this new path we were forging for the future.

I smiled, confident but not cocky.

As we'd planned, I drove to Pavel's mansion. It had once been the home that my grandparents had lived in, and soon enough, it would be filled with a family unit again. Whores and gamblers wouldn't hang out in the parlor and overstay their welcome anymore. Drunk soldiers wouldn't break dishes in the kitchen. Pavel wouldn't stain the furniture and waste away the fine heirlooms that had been in the house for generations.

Change was coming, and it would start here, in my uncle's office. Mila and Ivan arrived just after I did.

"How much?"

"Damage?" Ivan asked with a smirk.

Mila rolled her eyes at him. "Hush."

Ivan smiled and nodded at me on his way out.

"How much?" I asked again, curious whether Mila even knew.

She listed a number, and I was impressed.

"What?" she asked as I sat in my uncle's chair behind the antique desk that should have been my father's. I rubbed my hand over the smooth, polished wood.

"I just wanted to know if you even knew what you spent."

She nodded. "Until we can improve the Family's businesses, I don't need to be wasting money for no good reason."

As if I needed another reason to love you more. She wasn't a materialistic woman. I'd already guessed that much. She cared about deeper, more lasting things like love and freedom. She wasn't like other women, careless about their spending and oblivious to details. Of course, she paid attention. She was diligent and was always conscientious about her actions in everything she did. My wife wasn't a frivolous person.

She sat on my lap when I beckoned her closer. She'd arrived with Ivan right after I'd found my mother's ring, and with her seated on my thigh, I took her hand and slipped it on.

"This—" She huffed a laugh. "I just told you that I don't need riches and wealth. How much did you spend on this ?"

I kissed her finger just below where I'd placed the diamonds. "Not a thing. It was my mother's. I found it here, deep in a drawer of the desk."

"He took it?" she asked, scowling at what else my uncle had done.

"Among so much more," I replied bitterly before the man himself entered the room.

"What—" He sneered at us, locking his eyes on my wife. "What the fuck is that Kastava scum doing here?"

Then he turned his wrath to me, flustered and turning red in the face. "Explain yourself!" He flailed his fists, enraged and near exploding with the force of his anger. "First, I show up to that alliance that fell apart because of your actions?—"

"You mean the coup my father tried to pull on you?" Mila sassed.

He blustered, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water.

"Then you kill my son!" He smacked his fist to his chest. "The heir to the bratva!"

I would take it to the grave that the magnificent woman on my lap was my cousin's killer.

I shook my head. "You're looking at him." I tossed the birth certificates to the desktop. "You set my father up so you could kill him. Because Pyotr Valkov was the firstborn twin. He was the rightful Pakhan, and you killed him to have the power for yourself."

"That's bullshit!" he roared, reaching for the gun he never bothered to actually wear anymore.

"It was. And it's time for a new future for the family." I lifted the gun I'd rested on the desktop. "I'm the rightful heir, the rightful leader, and with my wife, we will lead the Valkov Bratva to its former glory and might."

I aimed and shot only once, sinking a bullet right between his eyes.

His mouth remained open in an O of surprise. Mila barely flinched. She stayed cool and collected as she sat on my lap, and together, we watched him drop to the floor. Within moments of his fall, Ivan and a couple of other soldiers came in to remove his body. After they'd taken him out, silence filled the office.

Peace and hope did as well, and as I felt Mila sigh and relax against me, I knew this was only the beginning.

Of my rule. Of my real Family. Right here, with the daughter of my enemy.

"It's all done now," she murmured, rubbing her hand along my jawline.

I gazed at her, letting her see all the love and commitment that I could offer her. With a slow smile, I shook my head. "As far as I'm concerned, my life can only truly begin now."

She bit her lip and leaned closer to kiss me, promising my prediction with the impatience to make that come true.