Russian Mafia Boss's Heir (3 page)

“Excuse me,” Mikhail said roughly. “I believe you’re touching a woman who does not belong to you.”

Beside him, Mikhail could feel Dimitri’s relief when the other two thugs let go of Mara and Jamie to join their two buddies for what was obviously going to be a confrontation. Tori’s friends were sniffling and looking pale as they huddled together behind Dimitri and Mikhail’s bulk.

Mikhail focused on the man who held Tori prisoner over his shoulder. “Put her down before I remove your arm from its socket.”

“Bullshit!” the man blustered. “There are four of us and two of you.”

“And you’re stupid enough to believe that puts the odds in your favor,” Mikhail said quickly. “Fine.”

Before the man could even take a breath to speak another word, Mikhail reached out and grabbed the man’s forearm. He wrenched it down and sideways, twisting as he did and feeling the entire thing pull out of socket. Tori began to fall. Mikhail snatched her out of thin air and set her right side up on her feet. She was obviously dazed, but he didn’t have time to worry about that now. He nudged her toward her friends who gladly pulled her into the safety of their embrace.

Now Mikhail could focus on the imbeciles he was about to dismember. The first man was still staring dumbly at his ruined arm. Then his mouth opened, and a strangled sound of pain erupted. The noise seemed to spur his friends into action. They all rushed Mikhail at the same time.

Dimitri snagged one and planted the heel of his hand right into the man’s nose. The guy went down with his hands over his face and didn’t rise again. Mikhail chopped a second man in the throat and then kicked his feet out from under him. He fell to the floor on top of his comrades. The last man turned and ran without even attempting to throw a single punch.

This left Mikhail free to turn and look at his bride-to-be. “Are you ready to go home now, Tori?”

He saw her swallow, the delicate column of her throat moving as she tried to maintain her control. “Yes. I think we’re all ready to leave.”

“Good.” Mikhail glanced around, noting the bouncers that were headed in their direction. “Because I think we’re probably about to be asked to leave anyway.”

***

TORI WAS HAVING difficulty breathing. Every time she tried to get some air, she choked. There was a tightness in her lungs and throat. She felt as if she were suffocating. Mikhail was still talking to her, but she couldn’t seem to register what he was saying. Instead, she reached out and clutched his sleeve. Her fingers dug into the strong muscle of his forearm.

He finally stopped talking and gazed down at her. The quizzical expression on his face disappeared as he seemed to realize that she was only seconds from losing her composure. “It’s all right, Tori. I’ve got you.”

Mikhail swept her up into his arms and began striding toward the exit. Behind them, Tori could see Dimitri herding Jamie and Mara along in front of him. The two of them looked pale and drawn. Nothing like this had ever happened to them before. It was unsettling to think that they could come to a place where they had been safe on so many nights before, but one bad bunch of guys ruined
everything
!

One of the bouncers lifted a hand, trying to flag down Mikhail. “Excuse me, sir?”

“I don’t have time to chat,” Mikhail growled. “These women were assaulted in your club. Don’t make me reconsider my decision to let this incident go for tonight.”

The bouncer stopped, letting Mikhail and Dimitri pass on their way to the door.

The big metal door bounced open when Mikhail hit the breaker bar with his hip. Cool air hit Tori’s flushed cheeks, and she nearly wept with relief. It was almost cold outside after the heat and energy of the club’s interior. She shivered a little.

“The car is right around the corner,” Mikhail told her softly. “We’ll get you inside and get you warm and safe.”

She tried to open her mouth to tell him thank you, but her lips wouldn’t seem to move. They didn’t do anything but tremble. Why did she have to be so weak right now? If anything, she needed to be showing this man how strong she was. After tomorrow, he would be her husband. She couldn’t afford to have him believe her weak.

The black SUV with the dark-tinted windows gleamed beneath the streetlamps. The engine was already humming, the lights cutting a swath through the darkness in the street. Before Mikhail could reach the vehicle, a man popped out of the driver’s door and opened the rear passenger door for them.

Dimitri helped Jamie and Mara into the driver’s side of the backseat. Mikhail gently placed Tori in the other side before he and Dimitri piled in behind them. It was a tight fit with everyone, but that seemed to have no affect on the driver. As soon as the doors were closed, they took off as though someone was in hot pursuit.

***

MIKHAIL WAS SEETHING inside. How could Tori be so foolish? Worse. How could he have let it go on the way he did? He had been trying to be reasonable. As he’d told Dimitri, he had no issue with Tori having fun. But her severe reaction to the stress was making him change his mind. He had thought she was made of stronger stuff than this! He hadn’t believed she would faint dead away at the first sign of danger. That didn’t bode particularly well for the wife of a
mafiya
man. He had always made the assumption that his wife would be a partner in his enterprise, not just a pretty flower to keep on the shelf.

“What?” Tori whispered. “You’re looking at me as if I’m going to shatter into a million pieces at any second.”

“Are you?” He knew his voice sounded harsh, but he wasn’t all that happy at the moment.

“No.” She sounded affronted, but then she blushed. “I’m not usually a wimp. I just—I guess I freaked out a little. That’s never happened to us before.”

Jamie piped up from the backseat. “It really hasn’t! I don’t know what the deal was with those guys!”

“I’ve never seen them there before,” Mara added. “And we go there at least twice a month on the weekends.”

“So the fact that this has never happened before means what?” Mikhail knew he was being harsh. He was still seeing Tori slung over a man’s shoulder, some stranger’s hand touching her rounded bottom. It was going to take him a good while to get over that.

“What do you mean?” Tori frowned. “You can’t judge me based on my reaction to one incident. You don’t even know me!”

“I don’t have to judge you.” He turned and faced forward, staring over the dash at the dark streets. “Stanislas has already told me everything I need to know.”

“Oh, this will be a
great
marriage then!” Tori burst out. “Let me just tell you now. My stepfather doesn’t know a damn thing about me! He thinks he does. He thinks he knows everything! But if you base your opinion of me on what Stanislas says—” She mocked her stepfather, waggling her eyebrows and pulling a horrible face. “—then you might as well figure our marriage will be done before it begins.”

“So disrespectful to a man who took you in and raised you though you weren’t even his responsibility.” Mikhail shook his head in disgust. He couldn’t abide ungratefulness or entitlement.

Tori snorted. “Yes. And can I just say how tiring it is to be reminded of that fact every single day of your life? How would you like to be force fed a constant stream of reminders that you don’t really belong? Would it make you loyal? Or would it piss you off? What if Stanislas reminded you every damned day that you owe him your position of power? That he
chose
you to be his successor and
trusted
you to lead? What if he rubbed your nose in that for the next twenty years? Would you be grateful? Or would you be tired?”

Mikhail thought of the many, many times that Stanislas had indeed said things that made it seem as if he were issuing a gentle reminder that Mikhail’s future rested on Stanislas’s good opinion. Was that really what Tori’s life had been like? And could he fault her bitterness if it had?

Chapter Four

Tori rolled over in bed, squeezing her eyes closed and wishing it were tomorrow. Or better yet, she wished it were yesterday. In fact, she wished it could be yesterday every single morning for the rest of her life. That way she would never reach her unwanted wedding day. She could just live out a happy existence as a single girl with a life of possibility ahead.

She groaned and sat up. She caught sight of her reflection in the dresser mirror and flung a pillow at the offending sight. A hard night of crying did not make for a happy morning. She was all raccoon eyes, puffy red skin, blotchy cheeks, and a rat’s nest of black hair forming a knotted halo around her face. All in all, she looked like the bride of Frankenstein.

“Not inaccurate actually,” she mused thoughtfully. “I think you could definitely classify Mikhail as a Frankenstein character. Except he’s not ugly.”

She lapsed into silence, thinking about his handsome face and the way it had felt to have him carry her against his chest. He was so incredibly strong. She’d felt like a tiny bit of nothing in his arms. And really, the guy had ripped apart those men who had attacked her and her friends as if they’d been playground bullies and not grown thugs.

Someone banged on her bedroom door. “Get out of bed!” The housekeeper’s voice drifted through the thick wooden door. “Your stepfather requests that you be dressed in your wedding clothes and ready to join him for breakfast in an hour.”

“An hour?” Tori swung around to glare at the clock on her end table. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Then I might suggest you stop dawdling.”

Tori made a face since the old fuddy duddy couldn’t see her. Mrs. Tobolovsky had been running Stanislas’s house since before he had married Tori’s mother. Tori secretly thought the woman had hated both mother and daughter because they were Orlovs. The Orlovs had been responsible for Mr. Tobolovsky’s death a million or so years ago. Regardless, the woman had never been particularly friendly to Tori.

“Fine!” Tori shouted. “I’ll be there, but I’m not going to be too worried about my appearance.”

The housekeeper snorted and said something Tori couldn’t hear. But if Tori’s grasp of that particular northern dialect was any good, she was pretty sure the woman had predicted that Tori would look like a whore anyway. Fine. Everyone was so sure they knew what Tori was like. She’d just live up to their expectations and see if
that
made them happy.

***

MIKHAIL SAT PATIENTLY in the dining chair as he watched Stanislas fidget irritably in his own seat. The older man was grumbling and picking at the cloth napkin folded intricately into the shape of a swan that sat on the plate before him.

“Sir, I’m sure you could go ahead and start your breakfast,” Mikhail began. “Surely Tori wouldn’t begrudge you that since she is quite late.”

It was as if Stanislas had been waiting for an invitation to unload. “I told the housekeeper to wake that girl at dawn! How can it take four hours to get ready? It isn’t like she required a maid to button her into some elaborate disaster of a dress!”

Mikhail was taken aback. He had no idea how to respond, and even less idea of whether or not he was supposed to agree or disagree. He was beginning to think that being stuck between Stanislas and his rebellious stepdaughter was worse than being between a rock and a hard place.

“Good morning, gentleman.” Tori sashayed into the dining room and sat down without a word of apology for being late.

“Where on earth have you been?” Stanislas burst out.

Tori frowned, reaching for the juice and pouring herself a glass. “Personally, I think an hour and fifteen minutes is pretty good for a woman who is prepping for her wedding.”

“An hour and fifteen minutes,” Stanislas said, his tone laced with obvious confusion. “But you were told to wake up more than four hours ago.”

“If you asked Mrs. Tobolovsky to do it, then you made a bad choice,” Tori told him matter-of-factly. “That woman hates me. She would do anything to make me look bad. Haven’t you noticed that over the years?”

“What?” Stanislas began to stammer, trying to come up with a response. Finally, he went with the obvious. “That’s ridiculous! You’re behaving like someone suffering from paranoid delusions.”

“Or,” Tori said with exaggerated slowness. “I’m telling the truth, and you’re the one who is suffering from a delusion. Who knows?” She waggled her eyebrows.

Mikhail was actually struggling not to chuckle. There was such a tone of playfulness in her manner. She was irreverent and perhaps even a little fun. In fact, he was a little in awe of her sassiness toward Stanislas. Surely someone who was so inclined toward good natured teasing couldn’t be an empty headed, entitled weakling.

“So.” Tori looked from Mikhail to Stanislas. “I guess we’re not even pretending that we care about that whole ‘it isn’t good luck to see the bride before the wedding’ thing. Hmm?”

“It’s traditional in my family to have a wedding brunch,” Stanislas said stiffly. “I was merely attempting to uphold my family traditions since it is my daughter and my successor getting married.”

“Stepdaughter,” Tori pointed out. “You might as well be clear about that since it’s practically the only reason I have to marry Mikhail anyway. If I was your real daughter, I wouldn’t have to worry about being disinherited.”

***

TORI WATCHED MIKHAIL’S expression grow exponentially darker when she listed such a mercenary reason for marriage. Why would the guy believe she was doing this for any other reason? Surely he couldn’t believe she was excited to do this duty for her family?

“I’m glad to see you dressed up.” If the sarcasm in his tone didn’t piss her off, the derisive expression on his face would have. The man was insufferable, and she was about to marry him!

Tori glanced down at her little black dress. The skirt hit her just above the knees. The bodice was fitted, and the scoop neck showed off an impressive amount of cleavage. Her little cap sleeves were very flattering to her arms, and she couldn’t help but think that the black kitten heels she was wearing made her feet look incredibly dainty too. She was perfectly happy with her choice of attire. And really, the black was both elegant and appropriate given the circumstances.