Page 8 of The Enemy of My Enemy: Pt. 2

“I thought you said that she wasn’t going to kill you,” he drawled out.

“She’s not,” I replied pointedly.“However, I can’t speak for her brothers or father.”

After a bit, he said, “I cannot have my heir walking into a deathtrap, Viktor.Surely, you can see this.”

I knew this wouldn’t work if I wasn’t completely honest with him, so I said, “I need to see it for myself,Otets.I need to see her, and I need to talk to her.We’ve gotten nowhere on our own, and talking on the phone isn’t going to earn me the trust that I need to get information from her.”

“Net,”he said again.“I need a guarantee that you are not walking into your own death.I need Roman Marchetti’s word that you will be unharmed.”

“This isn’t high school-”

“I know it’s not high school!”he yelled over the phone.“This is much more important!This is about my sons!This is about my legacy!”

“You either trust me or you don’t,” I snapped, not willing to budge on this.“I know what I’m doing, and unlike my wife, I’m not cavalier about my own life,Otets.I have every intention of leaving the meeting alive.”

“I want Roman Marchetti’s word,” he repeated.“And that is your Pakhan speaking.”

No longer speaking with my father, I knew that I had no choice.Blood ties or not, a Pakhan’s word was never to be challenged, and I’d never put my father in a position where he’d have to decide between killing me or not.

Chapter 4

Aurora~

“Have you lost your goddamn mind?”

I looked over at Stefano, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at him like when we’d been children.“No, I’m not out of my mind.”

“That’s debatable,” Santino snorted.

“Then why in the fuck would you invite a Korolev into Marchetti territory?”Stefano went on, ignoring Santino.“I mean, what the fuck?Couldn’t you have waited until you felt better to meet him on neutral ground?”

When Viktor had texted me that Aleksei wanted my father’s word that his son and heir wouldn’t be killed in a revenge plot, I hadn’t been surprised.If I were in Aleksei Korolev’s shoes, I’d be demanding the same thing or forbidding my son to go at all.So, even though I didn’t owe the Korolevs anything, I could understand the dynamics of such a demand.Plus, I had my own reasons for agreeing to such a thing.

“As far as I’m concerned, there is no neutral ground between us and the Korolevs anymore,” I told him honestly.“Until it’s proven that Viktor had nothing to do with this, I’m not taking any chances.”

“Then why allow him here?”Stefano asked, sounding like he might pop a vein from just the thought.“I don’t fucking get it.”