Bratva Sinner: A Possessive Mafia Romance

by B. B. Hamel

  It fucked her up, and I knew she needed time. But I couldn’t leave her home alone, and didn’t want to spare any men to watch her, and so she came with me.

  “What are you going to do to him?” Cara asked as we sat outside of the house. It was a simple row home in Fishtown. There was nothing special about it, and that was the point—it was supposed to be anonymous, a place to hide.

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly.

  “I’m not sure I can watch you kill him.”

  “I’ll warn you before I do then.”

  She chewed her lip then sucked in a breath. “Okay, okay, yeah. I can do this. Let’s just go get it over with, okay?”

  I pushed open the door and stepped outside. She followed me into a humid night, the air sticky and dripping. I walked up the front stoop and looked to my left where German and Yuri stood under a neighbor’s awning watching silently. German wanted to go in and finish Maher himself, but I had too much history with the man for that.

  I knocked hard three times then tried the knob—it wasn’t locked. I stepped in with Cara on my heels.

  The place was furnished like a safe house. The couch looked like it’d been picked from the trash and the coffee table was scratched and beat up. The TV was years old, and there was no kitchen table, nothing on the walls. It was bare bones, as basic as necessary, and the downstairs was empty.

  “Maybe he’s not here,” Cara said.

  I only nodded at the coffee table. There was an empty bottle of whiskey lying on its side. “He’s here.”

  I went upstairs. Cara followed slowly. I checked the first room and found nothing, only a mattress on the floor. The bathroom at the far end of the hall was empty, and there was only one more room, the door shut tight.

  I knocked again.

  Maher answered. “You might as well come in and get it over with.” His voice sounded tight, like he was in pain.

  I glanced at Cara and opened the door slowly.

  Nothing happened. I hesitated then stepped into the room, gun gripped in my hands.

  Maher was on a mattress with his back propped up by pillows. A phone lay beside him and a gun beside that, but his hands were empty. He sneered at me, his skin sallow and pale, big bags under his eyes, sweat rolling down his forehead.

  “Took you long enough,” he said.

  “My guys found you a little while ago. I wanted to come talk in person.” I nodded at the gun. “You going to use that?”

  “Only on myself.” He made a face and gestured. “Go ahead and take it if you want.”

  I walked over and grabbed it. He didn’t move to try to stop me, only watched placidly as I tossed the gun aside and kept my own trained on him.

  “I guess things aren’t going great for you.” I glanced down at his leg. It was wrapped in dirty bandages. Another dirty bandage was pulled tight across his chest. “Have you seen a doctor?”

  He laughed then coughed painfully. “Doctors won’t see me. And I know if I go to a hospital, I might as well kill myself. Lionetti will get me there.”

  “What about your family? Turned their backs on you?”

  “I never got permission to do any of this shit and you know it. As far as they’re concerned, I was acting on my own and deserve all this shit.”

  I rocked back on my heels. Cara hovered behind me, over toward the door. “What should I do with you, Maher?”

  “Kill me, I expect.” He showed his teeth. Yellow and crooked. “It’s what I’d do to you.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why were you so intent on this?”

  He sighed and leaned his head back against the pillows. His wounds must be bad, possibly infected, and he was likely in terrible pain if the doctors wouldn’t see him. No wonder that bottle of whiskey was empty.

  “Lionetti wants you bad,” he said, his voice a hollow version of its normal growl. “They think that dossier’s the end of them.”

  I tightened my grip on the gun. “What’s that mean?”

  “Existential threat. You know what I’m saying? The Lionettis think that dossier can bring them down.”

  “Destroy the Lionettis?” I couldn’t fathom it. They were strong—one of the biggest crime families in the city with connections that ran deep.

  But if the dossier represented the base of their power, then maybe—

  “Damn, Luke, that’s always been your problem.” Maher laughed then sucked in a breath through his teeth. “You’ve never been much of a thinker. More into breaking down doors and punching people in the face.”

  “Explain what you’re talking about, Maher.”

  “The Lionettis think that if they lose control of that dossier, then they lose control of everyone inside of it. Then what do you think would happen?”

  Cara spoke up. “They’d want revenge.”

  Maher nodded. “That’s right. Smart girl. The Lionettis think their victims will go on the offensive if they no longer have their magical file.”

  “Fucking idiots,” I said softly. “I can’t believe they didn’t make a copy.”

  “Would you?” Maher raised his eyebrows. “Actually, don’t answer that. Of course they didn’t make a copy. If that stuff leaked, the game would be over. Safer to have one master file with everything in it, protected as best they could. Who knows how a dumb fuck like this one’s father ever got his hands on it, no offense, sweetheart.”

  “None taken.” Cara stepped closer. “That’s why they’re so desperate then. No copies, no nothing. They think if they don’t get the files back, they’re finished.”

  “That’s it then. The girl’s a winner.” Maher looked at me and I could see the rage and hurt deep in his gaze. “I took the Lionetti job because I thought I could grab it from you, no problem, but you turned out to be a real pain in my ass.”

  “I want to say sorry, but I’m really not.”

  “Yeah, well, here we are. I fucked up, my family’s thrown me out, and the Lionettis are still going to come for you. So what do we do, huh, Luke?”

  I stood up slowly and stared down at the half-dead bastard. He’d been such a pain in my ass for so long, and yet I still couldn’t see him as anything other than the guy I grew up with, the friend I used to have. All my bitterness and anger dissipated as I stared down at him and I slowly sucked in a breath and let it out.

  “You need a doctor. When you’re patched up, I’m going to give you some money and you’re going to leave town.”

  Maher’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “You’ll leave town, go start over somewhere else. I don’t give a fuck where you go. California, Mexico, Colorado. Go start over somewhere else, Maher.”

  “You’re going to save me?” He shook his head. “I don’t get it. I’ve been trying to kill you.”

  “You’re already beat. What’s the point of putting a bullet in your head now?” I leaned toward him and could smell the sickly-sweet scent of his rotting wounds. “You’re fucked. You might still die, who knows, but you’re finished. I owned you and you know it. Now I’m going to let you go, and that means you owe me your life. You understand that, right?”

  He nodded slowly. “I don’t want to die.”

  “Good.” I stood up and walked to the door. Cara stared at me with shocked eyes. “I’ll send a doctor and cash. Then you’ll leave town. I’ll give you five days to heal up, then I’ll check back in. You understand? Five days.”

  “Send the doctor and I’m gone. I don’t need the cash.”

  I nodded and rapped my knuckles on the doorframe. “Five days. Good luck, Maher.”

  I walked out of there. Cara hurried after me and didn’t say anything until we stepped out onto the street. Cara touched my arm and went to speak, but I held up a hand as German approached.

  “It’s done?” he asked.

  “Get Dr. Fisher in there. Make sure he understands Maher should survive.”

  German didn’t react, but Yuri scowled, clearly unhappy with that.

  “I’ll make th
e call.” German turned away.

  “Why would you spare him, boss?” Yuri didn’t move to follow German. “That guy doesn’t deserve it.”

  I glanced back at the house. How could I explain this to him? Yuri was a good soldier, but he was a simple man, didn’t think beyond his own little world, his wants and his needs. Maher thought I was stupid, nothing more than a pair of biceps and a loaded gun, but that wasn’t true. I saw further than most guys on the street, which was how I got to where I was.

  “He’s more use to me alive.” I stared at Yuri. “You gonna make trouble?”

  He stared back then shook his head. “Nah, boss. I trust you.”

  “Good. Go help German.”

  I walked off, back to the car, and Cara followed. Once we were inside and I started the engine, she leaned toward me.

  “You couldn’t do it, could you?”

  I hesitated as I put the car into gear. “There’s a difference between not wanting to do it and not being able to do it.”

  “I know. That’s not what I asked.”

  I stared at the road as I slid slowly back toward home. “I’ve known Maher a long time. We’ve been enemies for most of that, but for a while we were friends, back before we got involved in all this shit. If I had to kill him, I wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in his head. I’ve pulled the trigger before and I’ll pull it again. It’s only luck that he survived.”

  “So why spare him then?”

  “Because he really is more useful alive. I don’t know if he’ll ever be in the position to help me, but I know him, and he won’t forget about this. Maybe one day I’ll need him.”

  She sighed. “Here I was thinking you were a big softie.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you.”

  “I think you still might be.”

  I put my hand on her thigh. “Don’t be so sure, princess.”

  “What do we do now?”

  I squeezed her leg then let it go. “You heard the man back there. The Lionettis think the dossier could be the end of them, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.”

  “Well, my Pakhan wants me to hurt the Lionettis. So I think it’s time that we hurt the Lionettis.”

  She chewed on her lip and nodded slowly. “All right, I think I know where this is going.”

  “I’m sure you do.” I tapped on the steering wheel and drifted along a side street. “Find someone from that folder, and make sure they have enough firepower to do some damage. Can you do that for me?”

  “I think I can handle it.”

  “Good girl.”

  18

  Cara

  Mercy looked good on Luke.

  After that shootout, I was starting to think I was trapped with a soulless murderer, with a beast from my nightmares, with a real-world devil and monster and demon. I was terrified that he’d turn on me and rip me into tiny pieces, all because it served his purposes.

  But then he saved Maher.

  It made no sense. Not really, not even after he explained it. Maher was his enemy and always had been, and the man had a strong incentive to try to get some revenge one day in the future. It would’ve been safer to kill Maher and move on.

  But that isn’t what Luke chose to do, and I still couldn’t make myself totally understand it.

  At least it made me think maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t as broken and evil as he seemed.

  We parked outside of a gray stone home on the outskirts of Chestnut Hill on a small side street with large mature oak trees casting long skirts of shade across the manicured lawn. The driveway was long and winding, and the house was set back from the street. It was vaguely Victorian-style with crosshatching along the front and new, modern windows. The door was rounded at the top and a huge American flag flew from the front.

  “Are you going to tell me who we’re visiting today?” Luke killed the engine and peered at the house. “Someone rich, I’m guessing.”

  “Someone comfortable.” I opened the dossier and held up a photo.

  Luke asked me to pick out the target, but he hadn’t been specific. He gave me free rein, and I figured if we were going to hit the Lionettis, we might as well go big.

  His eyes went wide when he saw the photo. It showed an older man, buzz-cut hair, thick mustache, heavy chest and shoulders, railing that bored-looking prostitute from behind.

  “Fuck, no,” Luke said, shaking his head. “Nope, that’s a terrible idea.”

  “It’s a great idea. Think about it. Who can really hurt the Lionettis?”

  “Cara, you don’t understand.”

  “I think you don’t understand. You want firepower and money? Here you go.” I waved the picture in his face.

  He grimaced and looked at the house. “Police Chief Bryant James is a very, very bad idea.”

  I grinned and tried not to laugh. I knew he wouldn’t like this, which was why I refused to tell him until we were at the house. I found Chief James’s address online, which was surprisingly easy probably because he’s a public official, and insisted on taking a drive before we made any decisions final.

  “He’s the perfect idea. Of all the people in this folder, he’s the one man that can do the most damage to the Lionettis. I guarantee he’s going to want to hit them really hard if he has the chance.”

  “And he’ll take us down in the process.” Luke rubbed his face with both hands. “No, Cara, we’re definitely not doing this.”

  I leaned toward him, eyes glittering with joy. “How much time do you think we have?”

  “Until what?” He leaned back in the seat, arms crossed, looking annoyed and petulant.

  “Until the Lionettis roll through and kill everyone? Because I can tell you, I think it’s days or hours, not weeks, and I’d rather not get murdered after surviving all this so far.”

  He grunted and looked out the window at the house. “There’s nobody else?”

  “Of course there are other candidates, but none of them are as remotely powerful as the chief of police.”

  “You’re almost as insane as I am, you realize that, right?”

  I had to admit he had a point.

  “You want to back down? Fine, go ahead, back down. I guess we can figure out something else to do.”

  His jaw worked before he shoved his door open. “Fine, you want to get us both killed, let’s go and get us both killed.”

  I laughed and followed him up the winding driveway. The house was quiet and covered in shade from massive trees. He hesitated then angled toward the front door, and I wondered how he’d start—he couldn’t exactly hold up a picture of the chief banging some dirty broad and expect open arms. He rang the bell twice then stepped back to wait.

  An older woman answered. She wore a light blouse and white pants, and had a smile plastered across her Botoxed faced. Her hair was bleach-blonde and her teeth were almost blindingly white, and everything about her screamed wealth, privilege, and way too much time on her hands.

  “Hello, can I help you?”

  “Hello Mrs. James, my name is Luke and I was wondering if your husband is around?”

  Her face faltered. “Luke? I’m afraid I don’t know you.”

  “Tell him I’m here from Morozov and Sons Roofing about that job in the city. I have the dossier he requested.”

  She frowned, looked over her shoulder, then back at Luke, and for a second, I thought she’d kick us out. “Stay here, I’ll see if he’s available.” She closed the door and disappeared.

  “Morozov and Sons?” I whispered.

  “He’ll know the name.” He shifted, foot to foot. “Part of me thinks he’ll just call his cop buddies to come beat the shit out of us.”

  “Speak for yourself, I’m a dainty little lady. They won’t beat me too badly.”

  He snorted, and a second later the door opened again. Police Chief Bryant was a mustached man with narrow eyes, round ruddy cheeks, a slight gut, and curly dark hair. He stepped outside in a pair of Crocs with gym shorts and a t-shirt, a slight sheen of
sweat on his forehead, and he pulled the door shut behind him. Luke had to step back to accommodate the chief’s bulk.

  There was a short, awkward silence, before the chief finally spoke.

  “Morozov and Sons Roofing, huh? My wife’s going to ask some follow-up questions about that one.”

  “Sorry to disturb your home,” Luke said, “but I think we need to talk.”

  Chief narrowed his eyes. “I know who you are, but who’s this girl?” He glanced at me.

  “My name’s Cara. My dad was Justin O’Shay.”

  The chief’s gaze softened. “Your old man was Justin O’Shay? Well, I’m sorry to hear that, I bet it wasn’t easy having a piece of shit for a father.”

  I tensed slightly. “It wasn’t.” I didn’t like this asshole talking like that about my dad, even if he was completely right.

  “What do you people want? This is my home, god damn it. I’m two seconds away from going inside, getting my service weapon, and putting you both down where you stand.”

  Luke casually reached inside of his jacket, took out his phone, pulled up the picture of Chief James banging the hooker, and held it up. The chief stared silently and his face paled as he glanced over his shoulder toward the front door. “Put that shit away,” he hissed.

  Luke slipped the phone back into his jacket. “So now you understand.”

  “What I understand is you have something you shouldn’t and I’m really starting to wonder why I don’t call for backup.”

  “I know you were under the Lionettis’ thumb,” Luke said viciously. “I’m guessing your wife wouldn’t love it if she found out about your proclivity for ladies of the night.”

  “My wife,” the chief started, but I interrupted him.

  “Your wife would leave you and take half of everything you own, right? I bet you wouldn’t be able to show your face at all your fancy country clubs anymore, especially not when the photo gets leaked online.” I showed my teeth in a snarl. I was tempted to tell Luke to walk away from this and let the asshole burn.