by Kay Loren
Audrina chuckled in disbelief. He had never told her this before.
“When I saw you that day, I knew in my heart you were going to be mine,” he stated lowly. Nikolai reached out and interlaced his fingers with Audrina’s. “I love you Audrina.”
The last hour had been full of revelations for Audrina. There was no doubt in her heart that she loved him too. Despite Tatiana and what she revealed about Nikolai, all the death and murder surrounding him, she only saw his kind, gentle loving side. The one that adored his sister and the one that loved her and all her flaws. Audrina loved him immensely.
She wrapped her hand through his and pressed a sweet kiss to his cheek. “I love you too.”
He kissed her with sweet little pecks before she pulled away. She placed her hands over his and looked him in the eyes.
“Is there anything else Nikolai? Anything else you need to tell me?”
He looked down for a moment before looking back up at her. She could tell he was struggling to say something but instead he answered ‘no’.
“No more wives I have to worry about?”
“You have nothing to worry about in that regard,” he stated with a wistful smile.
“No girlfriend back home or child that will come one day?”
“Nothing,” he swore.
He looked as if something was still holding him back yet she could not place what it was. She didn’t want to hound him any further either.
“Just anything you think that I should know… just promise me you will tell me,” she whispered. “Even if you know it’s going to hurt me. Nothing you say will change the way I feel about you.”
He looked as if he wanted to say something but instead leaned in for a kiss.
Her lips hovered over his for a moment before he crashed them against hers, grabbing onto her face and devouring her. She moaned into his mouth, relishing in the feel of his mint and cigarette tinged tongue against her own making her lower parts tighten. He grabbed ahold of her and lowered her onto the soft cushion of the lounge chair, pinning her beneath him. From this angle she felt suffocated.
“Wait,” she said. It was too soon. And she knew he was holding something back. Tatiana wasn’t the last thing he was keeping from me.
Tatiana. Her face popped up into her mind and she got angered all over again. Nikolai was hers. Hers and hers alone.
She got ahold of his large shoulders and directed him to lay on his back. She straddled his hips and brought her dress up to her hips. “Like this.”
She crashed her lips to his again and felt his strong hands cup her backside and then hold onto her thighs. He groaned into her mouth when she started grinding her hips into his erection finding a sweet friction between the bulge of his slacks and his zipper. She moaned as he moved his pelvis to her movements.
Her lips went to his thick neck, kissing him sweetly a few times before she sucked and bit at his flesh, marking him- claiming him as hers. He groaned when her teeth pulled at his skin and then soothed it with a tender kiss.
“Whoa!” a voice exclaimed from behind them.
Audrina turned quickly to see the shocked expression on Alek’s face. Nikolai sat up and she clung to him, burying her face into his neck to hide her embarrassment. Despite the language barrier, she could tell he was scolding Alek by the way his chest vibrated and his stern tone. Alek responded in a quick yet calm tone that made Nikolai instantly tense up.
“Sorry,” she heard Alek mumble before the quick retreating of his footsteps. When she was sure he was gone she lifted up her head up from the crook of Nikolai’s neck.
“I’m so mortified,” Audrina chuckled when her eyes met his.
Nikolai laughed lightly and lifted her off his lap and onto the cushion when he stood. He smoothed her dress back over her thighs and leaned over, kissing her deeply. “Don’t be.”
Audrina could still see his erection visible through his slacks as he adjusted himself and smoothed out his jacket. His neck already had the deep red marks she had placed for all to see. She bit her lip and sat up on her knees wrapping her hands around his midsection.
“Where you going?” she looked up at him.
“I have to go,” he kissed the top of her head. “I have a meeting and then some other work to attend to. ”
Audrina pressed her lips together. She did not want to know a thing but she could not help but wonder what his meetings were about. He seemed tense but tried hard not to show it.
“We will have to finish this up later my love,” he said giving her a delicious deep kiss.
Her heart contracted when he called her ‘my love’. She could feel her cheeks burn red. She hugged him close for a quick moment. “Be careful.”
“Of course,” he kissed her again and then her stomach.
She froze for a spilt second but then she chuckled. She watched him leave the room and then she too left the room after a few minutes and wandered through the house until Nikki and Svetlana returned.
Chapter Thirty-One
The stout balding man sat in his grand chair, stroking his round chin as he glared at Nikolai. Carlo D’Amuri was not a man to cross even though his organization was a small one and not nearly as powerful as Nikolai’s, Carlo still held a lot of power in his own right. Nikolai sat across from him with narrowed eyes not backing down from Carlo’s intense dark gaze.
“So you’re telling me that you have known about the Cathan heir for over a year?” he stated in his raspy voice.
“No. I said I met her over a year ago on my own precedence,” Nikolai stated. “This was long before I got into this Cathan bullshit. I just found out a few days ago from Michael Mancini that she was the child you were looking for all these years.”
“And where is the girl now?”
“I have her,” he stated.
“Bring her to me.”
“I will not do that,” Nikolai said.
“Why not?” Carlo huffed, puffing on his cigar.
“Because I said no,” he replied. He then volunteered, “She is carrying my child.”
Carlo laughed. A full belly laugh that surprised Nikolai since Carlo’s tight round face always had a scowl attached to it. “You’ve been fucking her? How convenient… you knew I needed this girl and you’ve been fucking her. Just knocked her up. Since when did you get so sloppy Nikolai?”
Nikolai shook his head. “Since you dragged me into this bullshit. Thanks to you and your lying associates who gave everything to Michael, both our sides have been sloppy. But to tell you again, to get it straight, whether you believe me or not, I met her last year. We spent one night together, she left, came back and thanks to your brother in law Sarg, the man you trust so damn much, he introduced her to Michael, knowing all along who she was and knowing that he would be fucking you over in the end. And yes, I had an affair with her for many months, but I swear I never knew who she was. As far as that fortune, I don’t need it. I was never after it in the first place just like now it is of no importance to me… I told you that.”
Carlo stroked his chin again, deep in thought. After a long while of silence he sighed. “How do I know you wont fuck me for that fortune? You have the girl, she is carrying your child, the ball is in your court and you’re swearing to me you don’t want anything from it.”
Nikolai sighed. “I am giving you my word and that is all I can do.”
“You gave Michael your word,” he retorted with a scowl.
Nikolai shrugged. “We both know how this business works. Some of us stay partners, others of us sever ties. Michael has nothing that benefits me anymore.”
“Except the girl.”
“She is mine,” he stated. “Anyone who wants to make a move where she is concerned will be killed.”
“Even me?”
Nikolai narrowed his eyes. “Especially you. You want her to come here and sign away what was left for her as if you deserve it?”
“It belongs to me,” Carlo stated arrogantly. “I am the last male heir. Diana Cathan ch
anged every thing when everyone around her died. That fortune should have only been left to a male descendent!”
“But it is hers,” Nikolai said. “At first, yes, that was our agreement. That I help you attain the fortune while you provided the gateway I needed for the eastern states. But now that I know the full truth and know that she is tied to it, my plans have changed.”
“So you do want the fortune?”
“No,” he stated again for the what felt like the hundredth time. “That is hers. But you and everyone else will know that if she decides to keep it, she will be protected by my organization and several others that have sworn allegiance to me."
Carlo gritted his teeth and exhaled deeply as he regained control of his breath. Nikolai did not see why the old man wanted the fortune. He was too old and had no living sons to carry on the vast fortune if he had attained it.
“When I first met Audrina I pulled a file on her,” Nikolai began. “She was in foster care from a very young age and she confirmed what I had on file… Everything. There was nothing of Cathan blood ties related to her whatsoever.”
Carlo licked his bottom lip. “That was Diana’s doing. Her mother… I asked for the child to keep in my care but Diana was under the impression that all I wanted was the fortune when her husband died. I did want the fortune since it was my half brother’s and my father’s before him so naturally it belongs to me. It was a family thing and just because my mother was of their biggest rival, the D’Amuri family… Diana felt the need to take it from me.
“Everyone was after her when my brother Anthony was killed… Trying to either marry her or kill her. I offered to marry her to protect her and join our families together, but she refused. Michael’s father had it out for her. He tried several times to have her killed but each time she escaped. I believed she knew her days were numbered. Everyone around her was dying, so she made one last effort to make sure no one got the fortune. The reason why I need the child was because she is not my brother’s child after all…no… Diana had a great secret. She knew many secrets yet her own was the biggest scandal of them all… you see, the child was not my brother’s at all but in fact my father’s. My brother could not have children so Diana slept with my father to keep the Cathan bloodline afloat.”
Nikolai stayed silent. As much as the whole story surprised him he did not flinch. He was trying to understand Audrina’s back story as much as he possibly could so he could tell her when he decided to tell her the full truth. He wondered how she would take it.
“I don’t know the full details to it all, no one does, but Diana made sure that everything related to her child was sealed and voided. She trusted no one with her child and I believe that is why she so cleverly put her child into the system and changed her name and made everyone believe that the girl had died.”
“Why can’t you get the fortune, if you are the son of DeMarco Cathan?” Nikolai asked.
Carlo put out his cigar and shook his head. “Because of my mother’s D’Amuri blood. You do know that the D’Amuri and Cathan families had bad blood for many years. Some old beef that originated over two generations ago. The lawyer who knew the real truth about Diana and DeMarco died a year ago, and he left behind everything the Cathan family acquired over a hundred years. The only person who can touch it is your Audrina woman…Do you know the girl’s real name?”
Nikolai’s eyebrows shot up. He couldn’t imagine Audrina’s name being anything but. He shook his head slowly.
“Juliette Cathan, after her grandmother,” Carlo smiled fondly. “DeMarco named her himself. It was his hope that she would marry the son of the extinct Gadson crime family. The one the Mancini’s wiped out soon after Diana’s death.”
Nikolai’s jaw tightened and his heart beat dangerously slow. He could not imagine Audrina being passed off like cattle for the purpose of business. He was too glad that she was his now. He would protect her at any cost.
“Where do we go from here?” Nikolai sighed hoping to wrap up the meeting.
“Bring me the girl,” Carlo stated. “I want to ask her for myself. It’s a large fortune. I need to know what she plans on doing.”
“I have to speak to her,” Nikolai said. “She knows nothing of who she is or anything of the Cathan fortune.”
“I’ll give you a two days,” Carlo said. “Then I want her brought here.”
“And if I don’t?” he challenged.
A dark look flashed across Carlo’s face. “Then we will deal with it then.”
Nikolai smirked at Carlo’s last statement. He already knew what he was in for. For now he just sighed and stood up. “I have to go now.”
Carlo stood up and extended his hand to Nikolai. “I do hope see you soon Mr. Stratauv.”
Nikolai shook Carlo’s hand and exited the dim room. He was led out a back door by one of Carlo’s henchmen and out to the private driveway where Vanya -Nikolai’s driver for the day- waited out front by the car. He was on the phone when Nikolai came up to the car.
“He is here now. I will tell him,” Vanya said and then shut off his phone.
“Tell me what?” Nikolai asked.
“Dimitri was killed,” Vanya stated.
Nikolai closed his eyes with a deep sigh. Dimitri was one of Nikolai’s best men. Before Nikolai could ask how he died Vanya spoke again.
“That is not all Boss,” Vanya said. “Tatiana’s bar was shot up as well and five of our men died in there.”
Nikolai was infuriated the more Vanya went on. He knew Michael was just getting warmed up. He could only imagine how it would be once Michael found out he had Audrina. All hell would break loose once he finds out.
“Drive me to the bar,” Nikolai commanded and slid into the backseat of the car.
When they pulled up to the bar, all the large, black windows that covered the front of the bar were broken and shattered, splattering all over the sidewalk and into the street. Nikolai stepped out of the car and was immediately greeted by Sergei.
“When did you get here?” Nikolai asked Sergei.
“A few minutes ago,” he said as they stepped into bar.
Nikolai had not set foot in the bar in over three years. He was shocked to see the walls covered in blood and bullet holes and the bodies of his men covered in white sheets soaked in blood. Nikolai rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger.
“What happened here!” the shriek of Tatiana stated, jerking Nikolai’s head to the front door of the bar. Tatiana put a delicate hand over her mouth seeing the carnage left in her bar. Her pride.
“I will take care of it Tati,” Nikolai swore and then turned to Vanya and Sergei. “The cops?”
“We turned them away,” Sergei said. “They gave us an hour to get the bodies out before they return and make a report.”
Nikolai then turned to the few men who had come before his arrival. “Take them to Vladimir’s family mortuary. Contact their wives, mother’s, girlfriend’s, kids, whoever. Let them know we will take care of them all.”
The men nodded and quickly got to work moving the deceased through the back door of the bar. Sergei took charge in calling Alek to deliver the news to the families. Nikolai was beyond livid.
“What about me?” Tatiana asked. “They shot my bar! Do you think they are after me?”
Nikolai shrugged. It was a high possibility given they were still married on paper and anyone who was digging far enough to get to him would find that out. He had to make this right. “Vanya, take Tatiana back to the house. She will be staying with us till this is all sorted out.”
“I can’t go!” Tatiana exclaimed. “I don’t have my things!”
Nikolai sighed. “Vanya will take you to gather a few things. You have fifteen minutes to get in and get out.”
Tatiana wanted to argue but Nikolai shut her up with a death glare. He was in no mood to argue with anybody. He wanted to save all his pent up anger and frustration for Michael.
“Go,” he said. Vanya gestured for Tatiana to go ahead of him an
d she quickly stomped off to the car.
“What’s our next move?” Sergei asked lighting a cigarette. He offered Nikolai but he declined remembering he promised himself earlier in the day that he would stop for Audrina and the baby’s sake.
“We still have the brother right?”
“Gino, yeah,” Sergei nodded.
“Have Vladimir dump him in front of their stronghold,” Nikolai commanded. “He can organize it any way he wants just make sure to shove a bird into his mouth and have him delivered before morning tomorrow.”
Sergei nodded and took out his throwaway phone, quickly speaking to Vladimir in code. He turned to Nikolai after a few moments. “He’s on it.”
Nikolai took in a deep breath to steady the rage in him. “I want to kill that son of a bitch with my bare hands.”
“Michael is smart,” Sergei stated. “He wouldn’t do anything unless it gets him closer to what he wants.”
“He doesn’t know I have Audrina,” Nikolai said. “No one does.”
“He’s going to work it out soon. If he shot up Tatiana’s bar then he either A, thinks you are still with Tati and just hid her for all these years, or B, just wants to send a message,” Sergei said. “Either way. We have to move quick or he will kill every single last one of us. He already turned the majority of the crime families here against us.”
“I don’t know,” Nikolai said for once not knowing what to do next. “What do I do? He’s only doing this since I’m working with D’Amuri. For Audrina, who knows what he’ll do next.”
“Carlo just wants her to sign everything over right?” Sergei said. “Once she does that, no one can touch Carlo-“
“I’m not letting her anywhere near that fucker or sign anything until I know it is what she really wants,” he replied. “She doesn’t know anything and given her condition I don’t want to put stress on her and tell her.”
“You have to tell her Nik,” Sergei urged. “Let Carlo have that shit on his back and you just worry about getting to Michael before he gets to you. You don’t want that fortune right?”
“Of course not,” Nikolai shook his head. “The fortune is all bullshit to me. Who the fuck wants those kinds of ties?”