Page 53 of The Enemy of My Enemy: Pt. 2

Fuck.

“Baby, now is not the time,” I rushed out seriously.

Aurora just shrugged again.“Anyway, after that remark about our future kids, I figured that you deserved a crack at him, too.”

“Y...you...don’t...en...ha...have chil...ren...”Decio stammered painfully, his head lulling to the side, Aurora really having done a number on him already.

Ignoring him, I eyed my wife.“How did you get him here?”

With that one question, Aurora’s entire demeanor changed.No longer was she seemingly flippant or relaxed about having a man that she’d known most of her life beaten and tied to a chair.Instead, she was looking at me like the Mafia princess that she was.However, she was also holding herself up like I’d always imagined that a bratva wife should.

“While it’s true that Darya Orlova and Zoya Orlova-Kuzmin didn’t know anything about what Armen had been up to, Decio hadn’t known that,” she answered.“So, taking a chance, I had Darya text Decio, blackmailing him for her silence, and he bought it.”

Motherfucker, she was good.

“That’s why you insisted that Kasimir wait in the kitchen, isn’t it?”

Aurora nodded.“There’s also one more thing.”

“What?”

“In exchange for her help, I promised that nothing would ever happen to her daughter,” Aurora informed me, surprising me a bit since she was usually rather bloodthirsty.“Since they are completely innocent in all this, I guaranteed that no harm would come to Zoya at the hands of a Korolev.”

“Aurora-”

“And you need to honor it, or I’ll leave you,” she said, and she sounded serious enough that I believed her.This wasn’t a threat that she was issuing.Her word meant everything to her, and if I didn’t respect that, then I’d lose her for good; I knew this without even having to think about it for long.

I reached for her, cupping the right side of her face with my hand.“On my word as a Korolev, I promise you that no harm will come to either woman by our hands.”

“I mean it, Viktor,” she said, and the fact that she had called me Viktor just cemented how serious she really was.“I mean it.”

“I know, baby,” I said.“I know.”

“Wha...what...you...you’re-”

The sound of gunfire shook the rickety barn rafters, and enough dust kicked up that I was half-assed concerned that the entire structure was going to come crashing down on our heads.Still, I didn’t regret getting my gun out to shoot that motherfucker in the head.While it would have been nice to torture him some more, get some of my own personal licks in, I wanted to get my wife home more.

“Wow,” Aurora chuckled.“I hadn’t expected you to be such a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kind of killer.”

“Maybe I’m just eager to get out of Marchetti territory,” I suggested.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” she muttered quietly, and for the first time since our wedding, I cared that she had a legitimate reason not to feel comfortable in our home.

I took her face in my hands again as I said, “Aurora, I’m still pissed off.”

“I know,” she replied evenly, but she didn’t look the slightest bit worried about it.

“Let’s get you home,” I sighed, stepping back.

“After we talk to my dad first,” she said, and once again, I was picking my battles.