The extensive spewing of Russian from Ivan’s mouth made it clear he wasn’t exactly happy about the conception of his great grandchild.
“It could be a boy.” Doubtful, but I knew how to work a situation. “Would that be better?”
The swearing in Russian continued. Rome and I stood there patiently.
We’d decided to tackle Ivan before another doctor’s appointment. There wouldn’t be a way to keep the news under wraps much longer with the underground gangs leaking it anyway. Every one of our partners needed to get on board. Especially Ivan.
Especially my only living relative.
“It’s the wrong blood, Katalina.”
“There’s no right or wrong.” I planted a hand on my hip and decided to wait him out. The more he simmered now, the less he’d spout off in the future.
“There were so many plans. Too many ruined layers.” He laser-focused on my stomach. “That seed has ruined everything.”
The motion was fast, faster than I expected, especially because I hadn’t expected it at all.
Ivan’s gun was at my belly as quick as Rome’s gun was at Ivan’s head.
“Don’t fuck with me, old man,” Rome growled, his other hand holding Ivan’s jaw so that the barrel of his gun dug hard into Ivan’s head.
“This baby should be dead.” His cold azure eyes shot daggers into mine.
Showing weakness would have fed him.
I didn’t gasp; I didn’t step away either. I stepped forward, pushing into his line of fire.
Tempting him to pull the trigger would rile him. He’d only pulled the gun to prove he had one, never intending to shoot. He just wanted my fear.
It whipped through me fast enough, though. Fear roared through my veins like a lit match to a dry forest. It grew fast, like gasoline-and-kerosene-poured-on-it fast. The impact almost crippled me.
This was real fear, not the kind I used to have. Before, I was in the mob, I was in men’s beds, I was in a dark alley all alone without any thought of losing anything. I had nothing to lose. That’s what made so many in the mob dangerous. They were willing to do anything because their life didn’t matter to anyone else, barely mattered to themselves. They lived, breathed, and died for the only thing that was relevant: their mob family.
This was different. It wasn’t fear for my mob family or even my own life, but for an innocent bystander, one that I suddenly loved more than myself. Was it evolution or the animal in me? Maybe. The maternal instinct was visceral and vicious.
I almost fell to my knees, begging for the life of my baby, a tiny little human I didn’t know yet but wanted to know more than anything in the world.
I almost did.
Strength was finding what had been bred into you and digging it up at those life and death moments. My father bred love into me. He died for me so that I could protect and love the way he had.
Rome and I deserved to breed that love into someone else too. If Ivan took away our opportunity, how would we get to see the monster and my mayhem mixed up all together in one tiny little innocent body?
The more I stared at that man protecting the hell out of me, willing to go to bat for me, willing to believe in me, in our baby, in the future of what we could create, the more I wanted to see the offspring I created with him.
I deserved that. My father deserved that. Rome deserved that.
And Rome should have gotten a medal for his restraint in those moments. He was ready to kill my grandfather, but waiting for my move.
The little girl in me that had been silent since her innocence was stolen wanted another little innocent human to have a chance. It was her time to shine.
The longer that gun was held to my belly, the less scared I became. How dare he think he could do this to me after all I’d done for the bratva already?
“You feel small, Katalina? Helpless?” Ivan asked in a voice that snaked around my bones and tried to constrict me with fear.
“I’ve always been small, grandfather.” Dante had taught me well enough to know that I had to act fast. I maneuvered like we’d practiced, one hand quick to knock the gun from his grip with a hit to his wrist while I snapped my body out of range. My other hand snatched the gun from his loosened grasp. “But never helpless.”
The disarm wouldn’t have worked on someone younger or more alert, but Ivan had gotten comfortable in his role and his old age. He didn’t think I’d do it, and it left him vulnerable.
Rome’s jaw ticked at my move, but he didn’t comment. I’d hear about my actions later, surely. Right now, the battle I waged was between Ivan and myself. He’d been the teacher, the enforcer, and the bratva boss for as long as he could remember.
Now, he needed to step aside. He needed to accept the choices I was making for the bratva and for my own life as queen.
“You’re quick, but you won’t be quick enough for the bratva you rule, Katalina.” He sighed and lifted his hands in the air, knowing there was no way out with us aiming both guns at his organs.
“I only have to be quick enough for you right now, Ivan.”
“I’ve taught you enough, huh? Spare my life for that at least. I won’t bless that child though. You know I can’t do that. You are full of hormones and carrying a baby. No one will respect that.” He shook his head in disgust at what he believed would ruin me. “I didn’t see your weakness until now. Your father loved you too much, Katalina. You have some notion that you can make him proud by changing how we do things and that you can love a baby like he did.” The man scoffed, phlegm catching in his throat. “You can’t fill my shoes, Katalina. I’m not sure that you ever would have been able to.”
“Fill your shoes?” A laugh escaped from deep in my gut. The Russians barely trusted him. He had no good ties to the families in other cities, and the men under us were circling like sharks, ready to attack as soon as they saw blood. “What have you accomplished? Have you solidified contracts with the Stonewoods, made peace with the Armanellis?”
“You had a leg up on all that. It was because of your—”
“Careful what you say, Ivan.” Rome finally spoke, backing me when he couldn’t take the blatant disrespect any longer. “Choose your next words very carefully. You’re speaking to the woman who’s carrying my child.”
Ivan glanced at him. “You going to stand beside her when the bratva bring her down?”
“It would take the whole international bratva, Ivan, and even then, you couldn’t fight the tsunami coming your way. The tide is changing. Get on board or drown.”
Ivan threw up his hands and stormed past us.
Rome and I stared at each other, the guns in our hands hanging at our sides for a moment.
A laugh bubbled out of me. I slapped my arm over my mouth. “I’m sorry…” He looked at me like I was insane. “I might be a little hormonal. Or this shit is just funny. I’m pregnant and having to point a gun at my grandfather?”
He shook his head as I started laughing harder. “You’ve got a problem, Katalina.”
“Come on, Rome.” I walked up to him so I could wrap my arms around his waist and look up into those mean eyes of his. “It’s sort of funny.”
“It’s sort of fucking scary, woman.” He sighed into my hair. “I’m going to lose my mind before this is all over.”
“I think we lost our minds a long time ago.” I rubbed my face into his shirt, taking in his smell, taking in the place I felt safe.
“Ain’t that right. Let’s call Bastian and the boys and make sure everyone’s on board with merging. We need the bratva and the Armanellis of Chicago on the same page all the time now. We watch each other’s backs, everyone on the damn boat. And let’s make sure it doesn’t sink like the Titanic.”
His gun at my back and the gun in my hand at his, I got up on my tiptoes and kissed the hell out of him. “Buckle up, monster. We’ve got a rollercoaster from hell to ride through.”
