Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Alicia started to turn her head, but Maya stopped her. “Don’t look.”
“I need to see. I need to know they’re dead and can’t ever come after me again,” Alicia whispered hoarsely.
Maya understood completely, because wasn’t she the one still trying to track down and kill every man who had brutally assaulted her as a child? She let Alicia look her fill and then they went to the corner where her mother lay on the floor. She had been assaulted, but she was alive. Maya was calling that a win.
13
Braum Malcom looked around the large conference table at the thirty men he considered trustworthy serving under him. He’d spent a lifetime working up to this moment, and satisfaction always warred with the need to do more. To do better. To seek revenge. To do penance for his sins. He had no desire to be pakhan. The money man and the adviser/enforcer were the true powers. He was always both. Behind the scenes, directing the lair, running the territory. Running the pakhan. If the leader forgot who was really in charge, he simply had him killed and put another in power.
He always faced his weaknesses. He made himself look every day at how he’d failed, what he’d been responsible for. He vowed he’d make up for those weaknesses. Truth was, it was impossible. She was dead. His beloved Celine. She’d been his world. He’d loved her too much. Given her everything she’d wanted. Been too lenient with her. If he’d just been a man and taken charge as he should have, she’d still be alive today. With him. Raising their son. Giving him her brightness and beauty.
He’d failed her by giving in to her. She’d been too kind. Too compassionate. He’d seen the other women, known they were jealous. Petty. They pretended to be her friend, but they weren’t. They came on to him constantly, were upset that he hadn’t chosen them and wouldn’t succumb to their attentions. So they had targeted her.
He despised women. Despised them. Greedy, grasping, jealous bitches. Not all, he conceded. He’d watched Gedeon’s woman, Meiling, carefully. She was worthwhile. Devoted to her man. A woman worth having, but then Gedeon was a man who clearly took charge—as he should have done. Braum owned his mistake. Had he taken charge of Celine, put his foot down, dictated to her for her safety, she would still be alive.
He’d made promises to her. Stood over her burning body and made solemn vows to her. He meant every last one of his assurances to her, and he’d carry them out until the day he died. If he could come back from hell, he’d continue. Their son would never make the same mistakes he had. He’d be strong, and when he found the right woman, he would devote himself to her, but he would be able to tell her a firm no when she needed it.
His gaze settled on each of the men. Most of them were weak. Followers. They were needed, and they’d fight for their way of life, but they weren’t leaders. He needed a leader. It was too bad Gorya Amurov didn’t believe in trafficking. That had surprised him. Shocked him even. The Amurovs had been one of the wealthiest families in their homeland and they’d made a good portion of that money from trafficking.
They weren’t weak men, allowing their women to run them. They lived for the bratva. Were loyal to the brotherhood. They knew better than to put anything before their brotherhood. These thirty men—plus Derk, along with his private security, another five members—were the men in the lair he could count on no matter who was pakhan.
Any man in the lair who was not seated at the table was not as committed. Their women influenced them. They’d grown soft. They went along with the order of things, but they had never fully agreed to the one real profit-making deal the lair had started. Their businesses flourished, and he was generous, giving them shares, but those with mates found the idea distasteful. Any who remained alive after this cleansing would be obligated to participate in Albert’s parties. Inside he smirked. So would their wives.
His information on Gorya hadn’t been as good as it should have been. He’d been told he was the weakest of the Amurovs. He hadn’t just been given reports by his best investigators, he’d been told by Albert Krylov. The man had grown up with him. Known him. They’d all said Gorya’s cousins protected him. Fought his battles. It was whispered he might not even be an Amurov. He looked different.
Gorya Amurov had turned out to be a pain in the ass. A real one. His leopard was reputed to be extremely fast. Braum hadn’t seen the bastard in action. He always made certain he had an alibi just in case. Every eyewitness said the leopard killed within a minute, quite viciously. When every challenge had failed, Braum had brought in assassination teams, and somehow, those teams had been slaughtered. Gedeon and his woman, no doubt. The fucking bodyguards. Or just bad luck.