Trapped with the Mob Boss: A Mafia Romance (Petrov Bratva) by Nicole Fox (best book recommendations txt) 📗

My stomach drops. If something has happened to him, Bella will be devastated. Liar or not, he’s her father. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” he snaps, looking at me like I might be contagious. “Though I’m not sure why that would be your first question.”

I run my tongue over my front teeth and shrug. “Because if he’s dead, then I won’t need to be on guard duty anymore.”

The answer seems to placate my father enough that he drops the subject and continues. “The note was from The Society. I told the senator we would kill his daughter if he did not reach out, and The Society told us to go ahead.”

“Go ahead with killing her?” I think of Bella, sleeping with her dark hair spread around her when I left. Then I think of someone coming after her, trying to hurt her. Twenty-four hours before, that someone might have been me. But not now. Not ever.

“She’s useless to them,” he says. “Which means she’s useless to us.”

“So, why bother with her, then?” I say, hoping the desperation isn’t obvious in my voice. “We’ll just let her go.”

“The girl is not my priority,” he says, waving me away with a dismissive hand. “My priority is our reputation. The Society is stepping on our toes and interfering in our business. And we can’t stand for it.”

I wait for him to explain further, but several silent seconds go by, and I assume he’s waiting for me to offer my services in whatever way I can to help the family. Just the way he taught me. “We aren’t going to kill Bella, then?”

“Dammit, Yuri,” he barks. “Forget about that damned girl.”

If only it were that easy.

“Kill her, fuck her, sell her, I don’t care. Just stop talking about the bitch.”

I want to wrap my hand around his throat and squeeze until I force out an apology. Until he takes back the awful things he just said about her. But I don’t. Because he doesn’t care about her anymore, and when it comes to my father, that’s the best possible thing you can hope for.

“What do you need me to do?” I ask, stepping into my role as dutiful son and servant now that Bella’s safety is ensured.

He tilts his head to the side and looks out the windshield. There’s just a concrete wall in front of us, but based on his smile, I would have assumed he was looking out over a beautiful landscape. “I want you to take care of it, Yuri. I want you to remind The Society and anyone else who is paying attention who the Petrovs are.”

“How?” I know how, but my father likes delivering a dramatic final line, so I set him up for it when I can.

He turns to me, lips quivering with anger and anticipation. “Kill them. Kill them all.”

Chapter Thirteen

Bella

I wake up when the front door shuts, and even though I can feel the lack of him next to me, I swing my arm out across the bed to feel for Yuri.

“Yuri?” I wrap the sheet around my naked body and sit up. “Is that you?”

“Yeah.” The single word sounds strained, tired. It’s enough to pull me out of my post-sex haze and force me to get up and get dressed. I pull on my jeans and T-shirt and am scraping my tangled hair back into a ponytail when Yuri walks in. He has his leather jacket on, his car key dangling from the pocket.

“Are we going somewhere?”

He looks down at the floor. “I am.”

The air feels heavy and it’s crushing down on my chest, making it hard to breathe. Still, I take a shuddery inhale and ask, “What does that mean?”

“Stay here for twenty-four hours once I leave,” he says without looking up at me. He’s playing with the sleeve of his jacket, and I can’t tell if it’s a nervous habit or his way of looking aloof.

“Where are you going?” I say, fear turning into anger. “I thought things were ... I thought we were ... ”

A team. I don’t say it. It sounds juvenile now. Naïve. Why can’t I wrap my head around the fact that this is all a game to Yuri? That I’m a game? He has been toying with my emotions since the moment he grabbed me on the street, and I’ve let him. And why? Because he has a chiseled jaw, a muscled body, and eyes that make me think there’s more to him than I could ever uncover? Who wants that?

But then he closes the distance between us and clasps my hands in his. He lowers his face to mine, eyes shining. “We are. But I have to take care of something.”

My heart finally feels like it’s beating again, and my breathing is coming a bit easier. “Then take me with you.”

He shakes his head and presses a kiss to my temple. “I can’t. It isn’t safe for you. It isn’t safe for me, either.”

“Then don’t do it.” I squeeze his hand, pleading. “Whatever they want you to do, don’t. We can go somewhere. Just the two of us. Figure it out.”

He smiles and the sadness in the simple gesture breaks my heart. “I can’t. I have to do this. But you’ll be fine. Stay here for twenty-four hours once I leave, and if I don’t come back by then, go back to your life.”

“Go back?” I ask, wondering if that’s even possible.

“Go back to your apartment and your friends and your life. But be careful,” he warns. “The Society might still come for you. We don’t know what they want with your dad or why we haven’t heard from him, so you should look into getting extra security. An alarm system if you don’t already have one. And always carry a weapon.”

“This is crazy.” I drop his hands and spin away, pacing across the floor. “Why are you risking your life? For what? Loyalty? Damn loyalty.”

“It’s more than that,” he argues.

“Then tell me, Yuri. Please,” I beg, walking