Page 34 of Cruel Bratva King
“Relax, Sergey. I was only joking,” she said. “You wouldn’t actually kill me.”
I leaned forward with interest. It appeared as though she trusted me more than she let on. “You can’t be too sure.”
She cocked her brows and scanned me for a minute. “I think I can. You might be a horrible bastard, but I think you love your unborn child too much to kill its mother.”
“Hmm.” I sipped in how beautiful she was. “Maybe you’re right.”
“I know I am.” She poured orange juice into an empty glass and quaffed half of it. “Tell me a little about yourself. How did you become the boss?”
The room was silent for a moment. I was amused that she wanted to know about me, even if she was asking to put up a charade. “My father was boss, and so was his father before him. I inherited the throne as the eldest son of the Vadim family.”
“So it’s like a monarchy passed down from generation to generation?”
“Something like that.”
“Interesting.” She propped her elbows on the table and focused all her attention on me. It was obvious I’d piqued her interest. “Does that mean our child will become the next boss? What if she’s a girl? Will she be like a mafia queen?”
“Well, it depends. There’s no escape if it’s a boy. We don’t just inherit the throne, we inherit the enemies as well, and they would be more threatened if I had a son.”
“And if it’s a daughter?”
“She could pass the throne to anyone else in the family if she wishes to,” I explained. “But yes, she could also become the next mafia queen with the right amount of fierceness and training. I wouldn’t go easy on my daughter, though. There are still bastards who wouldn’t mind hurting a girl.”
“That’s a lot to take in.”
“I know.”
She dished some pancakes onto an empty plate. “How old were you when you became the head?”
“Twenty-two.”
“What?” She gasped loudly. “That’s too…young.”
“I lost my father. It was either take the throne and save myself and my brothers or die. My uncle, Sebastian, wanted the throne, and he was ready to kill all of us to get it.”
“Where is he now?”
Six feet under, missing a limb or two with a bullet buried in his skull. He was the first to die the minute I became pakhan. In our world, only the brutal and merciless survived. More leaders had been killed at the hand of traitors than they had at the hand of their enemies. I didn’t spare anyone who betrayed me or wanted what was mine.
“Never coming back,” I said simply. It was for her own good that I didn’t tell her how I’d ended Sebastian.
She took the hint and didn’t press further. “The lady from last night and her father, who are they?”
I hesitated, wondering if it was time to let her in or not. Taking her and marrying her against her will was probably already too much. I couldn’t cause her more distress by telling her I was about to start a war with the Italian mafia. It wasn’t good for her condition.
But I can spare her this, at least.
“They’re enemies. Avoid them as best as you can.”
She raised her shoulder, sighed, and allowed her shoulders to fall. “I know there’s more to the story. Tell me the details when you’re ready.”
I grinned.My wife was smart as hell. She knew when to ask questions and when to let matters rest.
“Isn’t there anything you’d like to know about me?”
“I know everything about you.”
Lilianna didn’t look surprised. “You’re such a stalker,” she joked, widening her grin. “Do you mind if I shop for new clothes today? I don’t have much to wear.”