Page 33 of Bedazzled
Why would he break his engagement to a Mafia princess for a girl from New Jersey?
Patrick’s words came back to me:“That’s something that does not go away, a love that gives the strength to endure all things.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I said, knocking my head lightly against the wall. “I amsogoing to make Yuri grovel for forgiveness when this shit is over.”
Grabbing my phone, I picked up Patrick’s card and dialed.
“I thought you’d have called sooner, but…”
“Stop gloating, ginger,” I snarled, “I need a plan and you’re the most cunning guy I’ve got in my corner right now.”
His voice is warm and a touch relieved. “I’m here. Let’s plot this out.”
Chapter Eleven
In which Tania’s audacious plan – which is a complete clusterfuck – does not turn out as expected. At all.
Yuri…
“You don’t have to do this.”
I straightened my bow tie again, irritated that Maksim would not give up. “No,Pakhan, I do have to do this. I have made an alliance with the Balabanov Bratva. Moscow has always been our white whale. Now, we have an in.”
“Literary allusion noted,” he said, still pacing the room.
“Gentlemen, we are thirty minutes away.” Yulia, the wedding planner tapped deferentially on the door. I found it entertaining since I had heard her screaming at the catering group earlier. But she was Ksenia’s choice. I left everything regarding the wedding to her and her voraciously greedy mother. I was footing the bill, and I suspected it was going to be one of the most expensive weddings in recent history.
“Thank you,” Maksim said in a tone better suited to ‘get out or I will kill you and everyone you love.’
She took the hint and disappeared.
I downed my drink and winced at the burn. My gut was already churning and another one wouldn’t make it any worse. I held the glass out to him with a raised brow and pulled on my tuxedo jacket.
When he handed it back to me, full to slopping over the edge, I raised it. “To new alliances.”
I downed mine in three gulps. Maksim didn’t drink, setting his aside.
“I am going to say this, and then I’ll accept whatever you want to do.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he stared out the window.
“When I decided to marry, it never occurred to me that it would make me happy. It was merely advantageous. I never expected to feel much of anything with Ella. But what we have…” Maksim turned me by the shoulder, forcing me to look at him.
“If a heartless, clueless fool like me could find a life that was shared with this incredible woman, so can you. And you had a love like that.”
“PakhanMaksim Morozov, talking about love?” I was mocking him, but it was half-hearted.
“Yuri…” he put his hands on my shoulders and shook me. “We were raised to believe there was nothing else for us than the life that father - the old bastard - demanded. I want you to believe that there is more for you. Youcan liveboththe life we are forced to lead, and the one you are meant to live with Tania. Don’t throw this away.”
“You expect me to abandon the only daughter of the Balabanov Bratva at the altar?” I was so angry- I wanted to punch Maksim hard enough to rearrange his face, I wanted to get married with bloody knuckles knowing my wife-to-be would ignore them because nothing mattered in her pretty little world but my net worth. I wanted him to stop talking.
“You arePakhanand yetImust be the one to remind you how these alliances work? You want open warfare between one of the biggest Bratvas in Moscow and us because… because you want me to live my best life?” I laughed harshly and grabbed the bottle of vodka by the neck, taking a drink. “This is reality, brother. Maybe you are strong enough to be soft and still survive. I am not!” I shouted the last in his face and waited for him to hit me. A bloody nose and a black eye for the wedding. Ksenia’s mother would change the wedding colors from peach and gold to black and blue before the archbishop even blessed us.
Outside, the noise from the wedding preparations got louder and louder, but in this room, it was silent as he stared at me.
“You are wrong. You are so much stronger than you’re willing to see. But you are my brother and I will support your decision, even if Ella can’t.”
We made an identical wince, recalling Ella’s heartbreak and fury the night before.
“Yuri, you can’t do this. You really want to be miserable for the rest of your life?”
