6.

ALEKSEI

I STILL HAD A SMILE ON MY face as I tidied up work in my office later that day.

Ariana was an enigma.

I found her amusing, and that was the last thing I’d expected the day I walked into her father’s mansion.

She came as a surprise. A pleasant one. And spoiled, too.

I’d done some research on my wife-to-be, and she hadn’t been lying when she implied she lived a luxurious life. It was unsurprising for a Cosa Nostra princess. One whose father had the second-largest stake in their family business before his death.

They liked to pamper their daughters until marriage, while their sons were thrust into a world full of blood, betrayal, and guns.

She also owned a bridal couture store with a list longer than Hell’s. Her dresses were sought after by the elites in New York. It was safe to say she’d made a name for herself without the backing of her family. Her work spoke for itself. Those were my assistant's words, not mine. He'd done the research on my behalf.

“You look like a love-sick fool. It’s utterly sickening,” Mikhail said from the door, interrupting my train of thought.

I snorted as I rounded my desk. “I don’t do love, brother.”

Rough and hard fucking I could do, but count me out of the shenanigans that came with a relationship and love.

I had a front-row seat to the train wreck that was my parents’ relationship. I’d be stupid to subject myself to the mercy of another human as my mother had.

She lived for the days the father of her children remembered she even existed. My obsessed mother didn’t want to understand that was the barest fucking minimum. Or maybe she understood, and like the lovesick fool Mikhail just accused me of being, she chose to ignore it, clinging on to the good ol’ days.

Mikhail leaned against the doorway, crossing his legs at his ankles. “Smartest thing you’ve said in a while. Igor is pissed. He said, and I quote: how is the dumb bitch supposed to benefit us?”

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes he could be so daft, it surprised me that he was still alive and ruling as Pakhan. “That was the same doubt he had when I said I was moving the family business abroad. Wait a few months, and he’ll be singing my praises again.”

“I don’t think so, Aleksei. At least not this time. He called me a few hours ago.”

“And what did he say?”

“He wants me to be ready for whenever he decides you’re not fit to be the head of our New York operations anymore.”

I had low expectations of my father, but dragging my little brother into this was the lowest of the low. “And what did you say?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “Of course, I said no. I’m not betraying you now or ever, Aleksei. It’s me and you against the world. Remember?”

I nodded, pushing past him to walk out of my office. “Good. Everything Igor brags about today is a result of our hard work. I’m not letting him throw me away just like that.”

I was done with him constantly undermining my authority and threatening to kick me out.

He’d be nothing without me.

If anyone else had tried this, I would have dealt with the issue long ago, but he was my father, and I still had a semblance of respect for him. Fighting him was the last thing I wanted to do, but he kept backing me up against the wall with every passing day.

“So, what are you saying? You’re going to war against Igor.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t do wars, Mikhail. That’s a foolish man’s game. It suggests the other side has a chance to conquer you. I just need one blow to hit them where it hurts the most.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“Easy. If he pushes me again, I’ll pull the funds, and the brotherhood crumbles. They lose the extra cash and the main cover for their dirty money. In the end, I win.”

Mikhail grinned at me, a twisted spark lighting his eyes up. “It’s about damn time. I was getting sick of you letting him boss you around like that.”

Mikhail, like me, had a strained relationship with our father, and he moved to New York the first chance he got. Let's just say his hatred for our father ran deeper than mine.

“Keep an ear and eye out for me. Let me know the next move Igor takes before I shuffle the pieces on my chess board.”

He gave me a two-finger salute, a pleased smirk taking over his face. “Yes, boss.”

As far as the outside world was concerned, Tarasov Corporations belonged to me, and I was going to make Igor remember that before he ran his mouth again.