The Trade

by Elizabeth Knox

  “Well, it looks like we have what's a completely split vote here, but it looks like some of you have some interesting ideas a way to compromise here.” When he says it and smiles at me, and I know it has to do with what I said about the man and the woman ruling together. The way that Mariana and Ion already do, even if it's unofficial. “From this day forward, I declare as king of the Clans, women are allowed to rule their Clan. If a woman marries, the man will rule with her as a unified team. The duties will be split between the two of them as they see fit. The vote will also be between the two of them. So, when we find Willow, she will rule. Also, I think that may change things for Natasha, right Anton? I guess we will be seeing her from now on.” Ion smirks at me like he knows I have a handful to take care of now. We will hopefully be married before she even gets a chance to try and wreck all of this. She is my hot mess, but she would totally be a fucking hot mess when it came to the Clans right now. She is a Kolosov. It's in her blood to be crazy as shit.

  “Yes, it looks like it,” I say as I meet his eyes. Then, I turn to Mariana. “Congratulations on changing things. Sorry I was so harsh before, but I never saw it coming.” Mariana and nods at me, and not like she is angry, just happy. I can't wait to tell Natasha.

  Epilogue

  All of me, loves all of you.

  - John Legend

  Natasha

  Nina begins to stir in her bassinet, and I know what that means. Even though she is so small and helpless this child has a clock inside of her. She nails being right on the dot when it's time for Mama to feed her.

  As I get up to scoop her into my arms and bring her to the sofa with me, I still can't believe even after 7 months since her birth that I am a mother. Other than my body, I think I should feel different, and yet, I don’t. It doesn’t feel real. I love it, don't get me wrong. It's nothing like I thought it would be.. It's just not exactly where I saw myself, and yet it works so well. It doesn't help that she is so beautiful. It is hard to think that Anton and I created this. Created this beautiful life form that is going to grow up to take on the world. I can feel it. She is a strong one. Hopefully stronger than I ever was in the beginning. Maybe stronger than I am now.

  She coos as I hold her against my body, and I am filled with this overwhelming fuzzy feeling, this love that I have for her. When I look down at her, I see me. A miniature version of myself even though she's only 7 months old. She has my delicate skin and a tuft of deep red hair on top of her head. My cheekbones, my everything, except for one thing. When she opens her eyes and looks at me I can’t help but smile into the depths of those eyes. They are Anton's eyes, dark and filled with mystery.

  Anton enters the room, he watches me begin to feed our daughter. He seems to think I'm the most beautiful thing on the planet, especially now that I've had his child. I almost feel like a goddess sometimes the way he looks at me, the way he worships me. He even still worships my body even though it feels a little different to me.

  “So, it seems that Clan Constantin is warmed up to you,” Anton brings up, and I make sure that Nina got settled and is doing well before I look up at him again to have this conversation. I didn’t think I would be a breastfeeding mother but after Anton showed me all these articles on how it is for bonding and for Nina’s health, I hopped on board. It feels entirely natural now, not weird at all.

  “I think it has something to do with my last name, or at least my former last name. They probably think my father is going to make an appearance at some point, not that I would be surprised considering he likes to show up at the most inconvenient times and places,” I say with an eye roll.

  “No, I don't think it's just that. I think you have this commanding presence that is close to the same as your father's without quite the amount of cruelty. It is mesmerizing.”

  I shake my head at this man with a smile on my face. He always jumps at the chance to give me a compliment these days. I don't know if he's making up for what this child has done to my body or for all the times that he fucked up before we finally got this right. It’s not perfect, but it's better.

  As Nina finishes feeding I pull my shirt back together and cradle her as I go over to the window. I look out and I'm so happy that I can see the Space Needle. We are in Seattle right now for the summer, because back in Miami it's the middle of tourist Season, and I was not wanting to be there at this time of year while getting used to being a mother.

  We split our time now between the two cities, Seattle and Miami, because we have to keep our faces scene for the Clans. We are running two of them right now, after all.

  My cell phone goes off and instinctively I know who it is. It is Bethany, probably wanting to tell me about the date she had last night. She's found yet another man, but in my opinion this one is a keeper. Not only is he good looking, but he is also responsible. He's a little mysterious because he is always quiet when I see him, I think that's okay for Beth. Beth is so loud, she is enough for both of them in that department. The thought of that makes me laugh, and I make sure not to say that to her when I look down at the text message.

  “Is that from Bethany?” Anton asks as he comes closer, his hands sliding across my shoulder and giving me a chill.

  “Yes, it actually is Bethany. She's telling me all about her date last night.” Anton nods, and I think it's a little sweet. They've developed a good friendship between the two of them. I think he's almost as protective of her as he is of me. It's a great thing considering Bethany is really my family. She's much more my family than my father Sergei is. I am pretty sure Anton knows that. “She says he was a total gentleman always opening doors and pulling out chairs for her, and she was getting a little bit suspicious of him doing that for that. I told her that that's ridiculous that she must have just finally found her good man. She deserves a good man. Maybe she'll get married and have a baby too and our babies can be best friends, wouldn't that be nice?” Oh, my fucking god, being a mama has turned me to mush. I want all these silly things. I have different dreams now, dreams that I have never wanted before. I still love my shop, but now I want things having to do with babies and marriage and all of that yuck stuff. But you know what, Anton told me something once, that many people believe that love makes you weak, but it actually makes you stronger. I think I believe that more than ever now. And maybe that's how Nina, the beautiful baby in my arms will grow up to be strong, because both of us love her more than anyone has ever loved either of us before.

  Anton just laughs at me, so I change the subject. It’s like he knows what I am thinking, but it’s not so scary anymore and is actually warming to me. I go back to talking about Clan business particularly a piece of business that I myself am worrying about. “Can you tell me if there has been any luck and tracking down Willow?” The Clan leader has been hanging on by a thread for a long time now. In fact, we have almost lost him in the hospital a few times now. The Clan is very stressed, and they need a leader. Now that women can rule a Clan, Willow has the potential to inherit a great deal of things. She'll have a lot on her shoulders. I can see how someone might run from that especially if she's gotten word of any of this. But apparently, she's been running for a long time. I have quite the harsh father myself, so I can understand. But she needs to be found in order to maintain the structure of the Clans.

  “Unfortunately, there have not been any developments at all. I still have my men out there like everyone else. I guess this one is just good at hiding. I promise that you will be the first one to know when I find out anything, okay?”

  I nod and sigh feeling pretty bad for the girl. She is traumatized because her father's been searching this long for her, she wouldn't dare trust any of us. I wish I could find her and take her under my wing. But I have my own things to deal with here in like two Clans and a 7-month-old baby.

  Anton keeps looking at me, and I can feel his eyes on me. It's starting to get kind of creepy even though I love the way he looks at me sometimes. So, I go back to the couch humming a little song to Nina, and I catch h
is eyes with mine. I want to know what in the world he's thinking right now. “What the hell are you looking at? Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

  “Would you believe me if I said it was because you were so beautiful?” I laugh at that knowing he is up to something, though I'm not quite sure what. I shake my head at him and look back down at Nina. He looks at us again, looking down at Nina and then back up at me and he gets this goofy grin on his face, one that I don't get to see very often considering he's always so composed. “I want another one,” Anton says simply. It's kind of ironic considering the news that I have for him than I've been holding back on because I didn't know quite how he would feel about it. I guess I know the answer to that now though.

  I start laughing, and he looks at me sideways. “Well that's good because I'm pregnant again by the way.” In an instant he is coming to sit with us and giving a kiss to both of our foreheads.

  “Are you serious?” he asks with a sparkle in his eyes. Anton loves the idea of children and a big family. I could tell the moment he reacted the way he did about me being pregnant with Nina. I am glad that I got through all my hang ups and married this man.

  “I don’t think it’s something I would joke about,” I tell him, feeling slightly amused. He kisses me all over my face and leans down to kiss my abdomen like he did the very first time.

  “I don’t think I could be any happier than I am right now. You are amazing and beautiful, and I love you. I fucking love you, Natasha,” he says. I don’t think I will ever tire of hearing it.

  “Well, I fucking love you too.”

  The End

  Turn the page for Chapters 1 – 3 of Promised, the first book in The Clans series, plus a sneak peek of book 3, Cherished, to be released soon!

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  Free Chapters 1 - 3 - Promised

  (The Clans #1)

  Chapter 1

  Ion

  I turned my green eyes towards the window of my penthouse apartment which overlooked the upper west side of Manhattan. I flicked my wrist to make the scotch in my glass slosh around impatiently as if I expected her to just show up on the street someday, looking up towards me as if she could see me. Yet, I spent eight years looking for both her and the bastards that took her, with no success. Most would not have waited so long, but I had my reasons. They were all selfish, and all valid.

  The she in question was Mariana Vasile, the last remaining heir to the Romanian mob; a princess in her own right. She was the rightful next in line to run the clans, but she was a woman, and Romanians just did not see fit for a woman to be a leader. Maybe the Russians or the Irish did it, but the Romanians were all about tradition. So, the clans would pass on to her husband instead.

  That would be where I come in.

  She was promised to me when she was just days old.

  Mariana was to be my queen, and I would be the king of the mob; the power of the infamous Vasile clan passing onto my shoulders as it had been planned since the day she was born. By now, I should have been married to her for at least six of the years she had been missing, but someone had seen fit to slaughter the Vasile line and take her, the last of the bloodline as the prize, probably believing that one day they would have the claim to the throne. The saddest part of it all is that she was she had only been 16 when they took her. I’d been working tirelessly, putting all of my resources into finding her. It had been years, and not one single trace of where she could be found had surfaced.

  I’ll look, I’ll hunt, and one day I will bring my Ana home. She took my heart when she was just a child, at one of the few times we met. I knew from the time I was a small boy that she was mine, and that first meeting she took my heart with her.

  Whoever it was who took her must not know me well. Ion Petran was the name I would shove down the throat of my enemy before I made him rue the day he tried to take that blood right from me. Nobody was going to take what was mine and get away with it – Ana – my promised throne, none of it. I didn’t care if my brown hair turned gray by the time I found her, I was going to get what I was promised and save her from whatever horrible fate she had been forced into all these years.

  Just as it began to rain, water droplets pelting dramatically against the glass, I was pulled away by the incessant buzz of my cell phone. I was not in the mood to talk with anyone; obsessing over my next move to try and find the woman who was the key to everything I ever wanted, but I had to answer. The person on the other side could always have news of Mariana, and I was not going to miss that for the world.

  "Buna," I said impatiently into the receiver, waiting to hear why one of my men had disturbed me.

  "Domn, we have news that we thought you would like to hear," the thick voice of one of my associates came through the receiver. He was the leader of one of the several groups of men I had hired to hunt down those responsible for Mariana's disappearance and the murder of her parents. I’d spent millions on her search. It’s about time that they have something useful for me.

  "Vorbi repede! Speak quickly! What do you know? What have you found?" I asked in a state of excitement. I waited with bated breath for the answer to my unworthy prayers over the last eight years, when I had shifted from a hopeful young man to an angry one with a vendetta.

  "We believe we have a lead on the whereabouts of Miss Mariana Vasile." My heart skipped a beat at his words, and I wondered if I had misheard or maybe dreamed it. It had been years, and now they suddenly find a lead? What changed?

  "Meet me at my office immediately. We have important matters to discuss," I ordered, recovering almost instantly. It was the best news I had heard in a long time, and I hung up, downing the rest of my scotch before I went to the closet. I pulled out my black Armani coat and pulled it over the button down I still had on from my investment meeting earlier. Even a man of the mob had to keep up appearances. The upper west side was full of men just like me, pretending to be something they weren’t while doing devious but lucrative things in the dark of night or the privacy of their lofts. So, as I climbed into the back of the black car with the tinted windows, I faded into the idea of the rich, mysterious, New York man, while I pondered on how much information my associates would be able to give me.

  Eight years I had spent waiting for news of my Mariana, but her trail had gone dead far too soon. I had fallen into a routine of waiting; waiting for my life as head of the clans, beginning with, Mariana Valise by my side. No one could question me like the way they did now amidst the chaos that had become of the mob clans since the Valise king and queen had been brutally dethroned. If there was ever the perfect timing to find her, this was it.

  I tried to relax in the back seat of the car, pouring myself a flute of champagne from the supply my driver kept well stocked for me, but not even the bubbles served to calm my nerves. Champagne is a custom, a common one for celebrations. Maybe today I will be celebrating the news I’ve been waiting years to hear. I was on some kind of high as I took the elevator up to the office space I rented out for the purpose of making it seem that I ran a legitimate business. Part of being a mob leader was mastering such deceptions. My father had taught me well.

  As I sat on the only version of a throne I was afforded, for the time being, I looked expectantly at the man with the mustache and slicked back hair who was there representing his team of misfit investigators. They were the kind of men who were too dirty in their searching techniques for even the most crooked of police precincts.

  The man’s gold-capped tooth glinted in the light as he smiled with a sinister gleam in his eye. “We know who has Mariana, domn,” the man offered happily.

  I sat up in my seat, ready to leap into action at any moment. The name of my enemy was on the tip of this man’s tongue, and in knowing the name, I would have the power to bring my bride back to me. I could almost see her white blonde hair before me and smell her sweet scent that I remembered from when we were young children. She left that
kind of impression on me, but maybe that was the powerful blood of hers and the smell of victory.

  “Who was it?” I hissed impatiently.

  “Jonas Masterson”

  Chapter 2

  Mariana

  I screamed and fought, even though my body felt broken, and blood was everywhere. I screamed and kicked at the hacks that had just pulled the baby out of my womb after 20 agonizing hours of labor. That child was the only thing I had that was mine anymore, and even half of it belonged to my captor. I didn’t even know if it had blond hair or dark hair, or if it was a boy or a girl. It had been swooped up and led away from me.

  In any other world, it would be insane to think someone would kill a newborn baby, but these were special monsters. I thrashed, even knowing it could ruin my recovery. I could kill myself in the process, to make sure they understood four years as their prisoner did not mean all the fight was gone. I was a Vasile. The fight was in my blood even if I had not found a way to escape yet.

  Finally, concerned looks crossed their faces as one tried to hold me down to no avail. I screamed until there was nothing left, for that child. The man who took me four years ago, the one that brought this child into being, stepped into the room looking like he was disgusted. He looked upon the crying bundle in one of his associate’s arms as if it had leprosy, or worse. For a moment, panic came over me. After everything my body had undergone while pregnant, I did not know if that baby could come out alright.

  Jonas glanced at me with his evil gaze before nodding in my direction. The baby came closer and closer, and I calmed, reaching my arms out in relief and exhaustion. "Keep that thing away from me," Jonas spat in my face as I looked down at a healthy baby girl. I did not care what I had to do to protect her from that moment on; I would do it. My life had changed, it wasn’t just about me – it was about protecting her.