I’d do anything that I could to help her get through that. It amazes me, I don’t even know the woman, and here I am falling at her feet, willing to give her the world when it should be the opposite, she should be thanking me for saving her. Not once have I heard it.
It was a few hours until I had to go to a meeting of my clan along with a few members of the Balan clan. They were very cooperative with me, unlike some of the others as of late. Hopefully, news of Mariana would spread quickly and would calm down all the trouble between clans. There would be no disputing my reign anymore after that.
I had just gotten off the phone to confirm my car for the meeting when a knock came at the door of my office of sorts. It was really just a room full of ambiguous documents, a desk and chair, and some books that looked good to have. I didn’t have much time or will to read, though I had enjoyed a few of the classics.
I looked up to see Mariana standing there, her blonde hair swinging over to the side as she craned her head into the room. She looked both hesitant to approach me and determined at the same time. I shook my head. She was quite the woman. There was no arguing with that.
“Did you need something?” I asked, maintaining my aura of superiority. I didn’t want her to lose that fire, but I also did need her to begin complying, especially if I was ever going to take her out in front of the other clans. If they saw her defiant nature towards me, there would be talks about how I was unfit to lead – about how my woman held the leash, and that simply would never happen.
“Yes, I do need something,” she said, coming all the way into the room. I couldn’t help but let my eyes trail down her body. She was wearing some of the clothes that had been purchased for her and put in the closet. The black jeans hugged her legs, and the shirt left a little peek of her cleavage. It made me think of the way her nipples felt up against my chest just a few days earlier. I held myself back that day, given the circumstances. I won’t do it again, the next time she’s clad against my chest with hardened nipples, I will take her the way I want.
My boner would be short lived, though, as she began yet another of her tirades. This one, I could, unfortunately, understand, though. “I need my daughter!” she said, her fist coming down on the desk hard. It was a move I had used once or twice and wondered if it was something she had seen her father do when she was younger.
“I already know that Ana, and I am working on it. You know how Jonas is with evading everyone when he wants to. He is not an easy man to find,” I explained, trying to nip the problem in the bud.
“Are you even really looking for her, or are you just going along with all of it?” she asked angrily. I could see the pain hidden behind her chocolate eyes. I did not know what it was like to have a child, but I could only imagine what she must have been feeling, knowing her daughter was out there with that monster. I hated that I could sympathize with this woman, a woman that was just supposed to be mine; easy as pie. But there was no denying anymore that the situation had changed things a little from what our fate would have been. It grated on my nerves, but I couldn’t fight against it all the time, or everything would crash and burn.
“Why would I do that?” I asked, trying to dismiss what she was saying and move on. If stern didn’t work, then non-caring denial would be my next move.
I knew it was a mistake, though, as I watched the light in her eyes catch on fire. She was about to snap. “So that I’ll fuck you and become your little breeder so you can secure your line! That’s all you want from me, isn’t it, Ion? My blood, my power. You don’t give a shit about me, or about Bianca. You just want your prize, your trophy, your compliant little betrothed who will suck you and fuck you whenever you command!” The words came out like the roar of a lion, and I have been reminded yet again of the horrors she went through that I was just beginning to learn. Cutting and burning a woman? That was some sick shit.
“Just fucking hang on a minute,” I told her, standing up so that I was above her. Yeah, I was a bit of a controlling and cocky asshole, but that was what it was going to take to take over for the Vasile’s and the remaining clans. “I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you, and while having children with you is a top priority, and I will never deny that I am most certainly looking for your daughter. I am not going to let a child suffer at the hands of that monster, regardless of her being mine or not. Now, if you want an update on finding her, then you can wait until after my meeting with the clan and the Balan’s later today,” I told her, brushing off the insult that made it feel like I was no better than a man like Jonas.
She stared at me with fire in her eyes, the same look in her eyes from our chat the other day. She said nothing, and neither did I, at least, not for a moment.
“For the record, Mariana Adriana Vasile, I do give a shit about you. Don’t you ever fucking say that shit to me again, do you understand? I’ve given a damn about you since I was three years old, and you of all people should know better. Don’t act like you don’t understand what I’m saying. I will take a lot from you privately, draga, but one thing I will not tolerate is what you’ve just said. I have cared about you since the day you were born, and I will continue to carry those feelings until the day I die. There was a reason I was the one chosen for you, don’t you believe that?”
“You said there was a meeting?” she said, trying to change the subject, stepping in my way so that I would have to push her aside to escape the room. Damn it; she had to have noticed my attraction to her with the way she was using her body to make me listen.
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” I asked her angrily.
“I’m going with you. I want to see if my you will be a good ruler or not,” she said, she glanced up at me, a small smirk forming at the sides of her mouth.
“I’ll be the best-damned leader you’ve ever seen,” I mumbled as she let me through. “If you’re going, you will look perfect, and you will keep quiet unless you are asked a direct question!” I called to her from far away. She walked down the hallway and slid into our bedroom entryway.
***
Mariana
I sat there politely with my legs crossed under the table as I listened to the meeting Ion was running with his clan and some of the Balan’s, who was the clan south of us. Apparently, in all the chaos that had ensued after my capture and the death of my family, Ion and Anton Balan had struck up an easy alliance – as they should have. It made entirely no sense to me why the clans weren’t all on the same page. We’re all part of the same mob; it’s not like we’re the Irish and the Russians. We’re on the same team. From what I’ve witnessed they had been working together to keep the peace as well as find me.
Anton was older than Ion by about a decade, but he had a lot of respect for me as well as Ion. The first thing he had done is give his condolences to me for the loss of my family. It was strange to see how everyone gravitated towards Ion as the natural leader, and it didn’t seem to have to do with my presence at all. He had commanded it from them long before I had arrived.
I listened as they talked about drugs, prostitution, alliances, and gun trade. “We also need to address Rafael,” one of the men spoke up, one of the Balan clan members.
Ion nodded, and I wanted to hear what this was about. I was not familiar with the name. “Yes, for those that do not know, Rafael is the leader of the Mexican Cartel, trading drugs, guns, but mostly, women. He is a bit of a nasty individual to deal with, so I had previously stopped buying women from him. But now, Rafael will not allow any of us to cross the border when we need to because he is upset with us.”
“Who have you been getting your women from, then?” Anton asked, seemingly curious for his own purposes.
“Russia. I have had to appease my customers. The women from Russia are very pleasing to my clients,” Ion explained, making me cringe a little. I hoped no one saw. I knew that it was an ugly world they lived and played in. I had grown up around all of it and knew what it was, but perhaps my own experience had made me feel a little sorry for these wo
men. I doubted it would ever change since the sex trade was one of the biggest underground industries in the world. The entire mob relied on income from such dealings. It was just something I would have to get used to over time.
“I suggest that we go ahead and begin having dealings with Rafael again, for the sake of keeping the peace. We will be able to transport the drugs again, but we will only buy what we absolutely need from him. The rest will still come from Russia as it is a preference for many. Rafael has a good stock of very young women. We will stick to that,” Ion told them with authority.
“And one last thing,” Ion said, sitting up in his seat in a regal way. I could see the beginnings of the reason he was the one chosen to take over. He knew what the hell he was doing. “I need an around the clock team to track Mariana’s daughter. No more excuses. Jonas is to be found immediately and held from leaving with the girl until I arrive.”
I was happy and surprised with his decision to put all his resources into one basket like that, but she needed to be found. Bianca would come back to me. She had to.
When the meeting was over, we sat in the back of the car together on our way back to his place. “Are you satisfied?” he asked, looking at me in frustration that resembled that of a child.
“Not quite,” I told him, unable to resist the challenge. Maybe Ion Petran needed to be knocked down a couple of rungs. “But thank you.”
CHAPTER 10
Ion
I didn’t know why he was there or how the weasel had gotten so far, but Jonas had made it into Balan territory before he was finally caught. I’d received a phone call early this morning regarding his whereabouts. He was staying in some run-down shack of a hotel, the kind where one wrong move meant you disappeared. Anton had men stationed there around the clock until I could get there, to make sure that Jonas could not get anywhere else with Bianca. I was going to bring Mariana’s daughter back.
I had taken a fast flight down to Nashville before taking a car out to the small industrial town where the Balan clan said they found him. I looked out my tinted window and watched as the scenery around me turned from trees and busy streets to eighteen-wheelers and ran down factories and warehouses. I knew we were getting close, and my hand went instinctively to the gun I was carrying with me. I did not trust that Jonas would not do something crazy like fight me over Bianca. I knew what he was trying to do by hanging onto her. She was Vasile, and I had no way of knowing for sure if Bianca had survived or not. In fact, I assumed that she didn’t, it would be right to assume the worst – to think that Jonas Masterson, the disgusting filth that he had killed his own daughter.
I was prepared to do whatever was necessary as we pulled up to the joint Jonas was holed up in. I again wondered what he was thinking, living like a piece of scum when he could have made bank many times due to his dealings with the mob. I also wondered how much it was going to take to get that little girl back. I’d like to think that he didn’t kill her, she was too valuable, but to keep her out of my hands, I wouldn’t put it past him to consider it once he realized I was there.
My men and I burst from the car, and I led the way to the door to his room. I knocked a few times and hoped I would not have to draw any attention by busting the door down. Jonas must have been expecting somebody because one of his men came to the door, and one of my men swiftly aimed between the goon’s eyes, he dropped to the floor like dead weight and immediately I went inside. His other associates must have been staying in other rooms or were out because Jonas and Bianca were the only two individuals left in the room.
Jonas immediately stood up, scrambling as I approached him and shut the door behind us. The little girl who could only be the one and only Bianca was cowering in the corner of the room, looking confused. What had she been exposed to over the last several days while she had no one to care for her but Jonas? Knowing what he had done to my Ana, I didn’t know that I wanted every detail. All I know as I considered her deep eyes and her blonde hair identical to her mother’s, was that I was pissed.
“Hand the girl over, and I will let you leave here with your life,” I told him in a cold and warning tone. I was not messing around, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew that. Maybe he knew who I was and was starting to realize there was a possibility Mariana had survived. That would scare the shit out of the guy.
Bianca stood up and moved closer to me, into the light. She looked at me with curiosity, and I looked her up and down for signs of abuse. Sure enough, I could make out bruises around her wrists and go up her arms. This child was only four, and she was being treated this way by her own father. What a sick fuck this Masterson guy was. I knew at that moment, regardless of whether he cooperated or not, he was not going to survive our encounter. Mariana wanted to be the one to end his pathetic life, but how could I let her when I saw Bianca with marks over her body?
“Woah, hang on there, Petran,” Jonas said with one of his signature smirks. I was tempted to shoot him right then and there, but I didn’t like the idea of his brains blowing out all over the girl. “None of the Vasile’s are any use to you anymore, especially with this child not being yours. And her mother is a little whore. There’s nothing you want with her. You can’t possibly seek to rule the mob with such a tainted bitch. I have a proposition for you, my daughter. When she becomes of age, she will be yours. I will guarantee that she remains a virgin – she will never be as tainted as Mariana is”
His words appalled me. How dare he offer me his daughter after he inflicted so much abuse against them both. He is a sick fuck. How could he call her a whore when he spent years raping an innocent young girl and held her captive? He was the first and only one who had laid a hand on her. I was going to be the last, and it would never be in a harmful way. I would cut off my arm before I became that kind of monster. Mariana was mine – no, is mine. She has been since we were children, she is my family, her daughter is my family. He hurt both, and I will not stand for it. Jonas Masterson took her from me, took memories that we were supposed to have. Hell, that little girl would’ve been my own blood if he hadn’t taken her that day.
I took a different approach, seeing that Jonas was not going to make things easy on me. I remembered Mariana telling me that she usually called Bianca, Puff, a nickname she had given to her daughter when she was just a baby. “Puff, that’s what your mother calls you, right?” I asked her, looking at Bianca now while still keeping Jonas within my sights. I didn’t trust him one bit. Bianca nodded, her head of blonde hair shaking with it. “I am a friend of your mother’s. She sent me here to get you and bring you to her. Could you come over to me, Puff?” I asked, not expecting it to be so easy. The last man she had trusted in any way had taken her captive, away from her mother, and hurt her.
Bianca ran to my side instantly. There was no struggle. What had they done to her that made her run to a stranger so easily? I scooped her up in my arms agilely, placing her against one of my hips. I whispered in her ear for her to place her head against my chest and not to look at anything or anyone until she was in the car with me.
Bianca listened, and I went for my weapon, lightning fast, making use of the silencer as I shot straight into Jonas’ legs. I don’t know what prompted me not to end his pathetic life. Maybe it was Mariana in the back of my mind; her need to be the one to do it. He collapsed to the floor, making a gut wrenching scream as he fell, blood spurting on the walls and the bed before I turned and got out of there, tucking the gun into the back of my pants. Bianca still wasn’t looking, just as I had asked of her when we got in the back of the car together. My men and I drove away, and I caught a glimpse of some of the Balan’s departing as well, though I assumed a couple of them would stay back to grab Jonas. I instructed Anton that given the circumstances I let Jonas live, he would move him to an undisclosed location until I could deal with him appropriately.
I sat Bianca down beside me and held her close as the car jostled. I did not have a car seat or anything to keep her still and safe. I guess i
t was something I would have to invest in now. I looked down at her seeing there was still fear in her eyes. It wasn’t the first time she’d been taken into a vehicle by a man who drives off to who knows where. “You are safe now,” I told her trying to reassure her.
Bianca looked up at me with her dark eyes which were such a contrast to that hair. It was both frightening and beautiful. “You really know Mommy?” she asked tentatively. I didn’t blame her for questioning. She had just wanted to get away from Jonas.
“Yes, I do,” I told her.
“And Mommy is safe?” she asked. I remembered Mariana mentioning that Bianca had seen her get shot. She would know Mariana had been badly hurt.
“Yes, she is safe now, and we are going to get on a big plane and go and see her,” I explained.
I yanked out my cell phone from my coat pocket, pulling up Mariana’s number. I’d given her a cell phone a few days after she moved in and selected the video option as it rang. I handed it over to Bianca “Now my little Puff, hold it like this so your mommy can see you” I put her small hands on the cell phone, one on the back and the other on the front. Bianca moved her small body onto my lap, I’d never had children or been around many, but this made me feel like she had given me trust. The cell phone rang and rang until Mariana answered, the look on her face when she saw who was on the other end was all I needed to know I made her happy.
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