Bratva Bride (Bratva Series Book 1)

“Is she here yet?” Vin asked, stepping into the basement downstairs that served as our torture dungeon.

I pummelled the fucker strapped to the chair we had bolted to the floor in the middle of the room, punching him repeatedly in the face even though he was knocked out.

I didn’t fucking care. I had anger to work out and this guy was the perfect option.

He was a Cosa Nostra man…until he decided to open his stupid fucking mouth and insult my wife.

“She’s on the way.”

One final punch and I was done. For now. I grabbed a cloth sitting on the metal table off to the side of the room and wiped the blood from my knuckles.

Vin watched me with intense eyes. “Have you told her yet?”

“No, I’ll tell her when she gets here.”

Vin frowned. “You sure that’s wise? She’ll be within hitting range.”

I blew out a breath. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure if it was wise. And once I told her what I needed to tell her, she was going to lose it. I was sure of it.

After returning to New York, I spent days dealing with the Outfit. They were still causing us trouble, their new Don, Franco, trying to make a name for himself by stepping into my territory with his men and drugs. It was pissing me the fuck off.

Add in the fact that there was also dissension in my ranks due to me marrying outside the famiglia meant that I was getting problems from all sides.

The Los Zetas had been quiet, but it would be stupid to count them out of the game. Whatever reason they had for following Nero’s orders wouldn’t keep them down.

My father had officially stepped down as head of the family, relinquishing control entirely to me. He was still somewhat in the picture (more so on an advisory level than anything else).

Vin was my number two.

Even with all the shit that happened, I was still expecting Illayana days ago. But she was hesitant to leave her family when so much crap was still up in the air. I understood, but that didn’t mean I was fucking happy about it.

“Wise? No. Unavoidable, yes,” I said, finally answering Vin’s question.

“Is she the jealous type?”

I scoffed and threw the bloody cloth back on the table. I walked up the stairs, heading back into the house. “If the way she acted when Gabriella touched me is any indication, I’d say yes.”

Vin followed and slammed the steel door shut behind him. It locked immediately. When he stepped away from the door, I clicked the button underneath my desk and the bookcase moved back into place, concealing the door.

“Right. I forgot she threatened to kill her.”

I started to undress, taking off my tie and unbuttoning my shirt. “I didn’t think Gabriella was capable of being so manipulative. She always seemed so-”

“Docile? Passive?

“To say the least,” I grunted, shrugging out of my shirt. “Anyway, let’s talk about something else. Any news on the Zetas?” I asked, eager to change the subject.

“Nothing of merit. I’ve put word out on the streets to keep an eye out for them. If anything substantial comes through, I’ll let you know.”

“Good. Keep a close eye on it. What of Franco?”

“He’s stepped back after we butchered his last round of dealers. But I have a feeling he’ll be back.”

I moved to the closet and pulled out a fresh clean shirt, placing my dirty bloody one in the basket on the floor to be disposed of. “Me too. We’ll have to hit him first, show him that we’re not to be fucked with.”

Vin sat in my chair and kicked his feet up on my desk. “Whatcha got in mind?”

“First, kicking your ass for sitting in my fucking chair,” I growled, scowling at my younger brother.

He rolled his eyes and got up. “You’re like a big overgrown baby. Tell me the plan so I can get it started.”

I slipped my new shirt on, buttoning it up. “Get a couple of the men together. We’ll go into his territory tonight and hit them back. Do some research first. Find out what businesses they own and which one makes the most money. I want to know the comings and goings of their people and who sits where in the hierarchy,” I strapped a holster to my chest and placed my guns in the pouches. “Now that Franco has taken over, we need to find out who his most trusted men are.”

“Gotcha. You gonna try and turn them? Like Nero did to Diego?”

I growled at the mention of that fucker’s name. When I watched the video of Illayana’s attack and saw Diego there, fighting her, trying to be one of the men to rape her, I felt like I could burst, there was so much rage inside me. It should have occurred to me that Nero had converted Diego to his side, but it didn’t. I just assumed the little bitch took my money and fled the country, not that he went running to my enemy and gave him every fucking dime.

“We can try, but if it doesn’t work, we always have the option of killing them.”

“True, true. Well, leave it all with me and I’ll handle it.” Vin gave me a thoughtful look, like there was something he wanted to ask but he didn’t want to question me.

I sighed. “What is it?”

“Illayana is due here within the next few hours, right? Do you think it’s a good idea to leave her here alone on her first night in New York? If you want, I can handle this so you can stay with her.”

“What makes you think I’m going to leave her here?”

Vin’s eyes widened in shock, his brows shooting up. “You’re-you’re gonna bring her along? Are you serious?”

I laughed at the look on his face. “Of course I am. She’s going to be pissed when I tell her what I need to tell her. I’m going to need something to divert her anger, too. Killing our enemies and burning a few of their buildings seems like the perfect outlet to me.”

I grabbed my phone and sent a few texts off in rapid fire. A few minutes later, my office door opened and Christian, Luca and Lorenzo hobbled in.

They were all still beaten and bruised and maybe I should have felt bad about it, but I didn’t. They now understood the consequences of disobeying me. And I highly doubted they would do it again. They stopped in front of my desk and bowed slightly.

“Boss,” Luca said, wincing slightly at the pain shooting through his dislocated shoulder.

“Illayana is due here in a matter of hours. I trust that once you’re all back to normal you’ll be more thorough when guarding her?”

They all nodded without hesitation.

“Good, now go recover.”

Vin chuckled as he watched them limp their way out. “You really fucked them up.”

“They deserved it,” I grunted, sitting down behind my desk.

Vin hummed and I raised my brows at him.

“You don’t think so?”

“Arturo, come on; you know your wife. She’s a hardass and does whatever she wants. In what world do you think those three could have stopped her from doing something she wanted to do? I mean, can you even do that?”

He had a point. But it didn’t matter. I needed someone to punish and those three were still partially responsible. If I could, I would have punished her other bodyguard, Adrian too. But he was a Bratva man.

I just shook my head and waved my brother away. “Get out of here, I got shit to do.”

He smirked, opening my office door. “Didn’t think so.”

I threw my stapler at him and he slammed the door shut before it could hit him.

We arrived a few hours ahead of schedule, so we ended up taking a cab to Arturo’s house. I thought about messaging him and letting him know we had arrived early but part of me wanted to surprise him. I told my three replacement guards not to call ahead and inform him we were here. They definitely weren’t as fun or as engaging as Christian, Luca and Lorenzo. They were boring. Barely spoke a word, just stood around with grumpy ass looks on their faces, like they wanted to be anywhere else except here with me.

I gave the cab driver the address and away we went. We had to get a maxi cab to fit us all in, plus my four huge suitcases.

I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. “Alrighty, you can do this. You’re just moving to a place where you have more enemies than friends. Ain’t no big deal. Easy peasy.” I spoke quietly to myself in the back of the cab, trying to reassure myself, but it wasn’t working. I was even more nervous at that moment than I was before I left.

“Relax,” Lukyan told me, taking a swig from his flask beside me. “You’re stressing over nothing.”

I glared and flicked him in the ear.

“Ow! Uncalled for.”

I rolled my eyes at his dramatics and stared out the window. Truth was, I was so fucking happy that he came with me, not that I’d ever tell the idiot that.

It was like a lifeline, someone to lean on from my old life, to remind me who I was when I got nervous and questioned myself, which I knew I would do.

“Your brother’s right, Illayana. You have nothing to worry about. You’re strong, smart and cunning. You’ll be able to hold your own amongst the Italians with ease,” Adrian said, eyes plastered to his phone. “And well, if you run into any trouble, you have us to back you up,” he winked.

We drove for at least thirty minutes, the beautiful sights of New York City flying by until eventually the cab slowed. We pulled up in front of large wrought iron gates and a man stepped out of the security booth, a hand raised in the air to halt us.

The driver lowered the window. “Just here to drop off a Mrs De Luca.”

The guard looked into the cab and I gave him a two-finger salute. He pursed his lips in what could only be perceived as dissatisfaction. He nodded to my three temporary guards and then flicked his eyes over Lukyan and Adrian.

“Who are they?” he asked, voice gruff.

“My brother and one of my guards.”

“Names?”

I narrowed my eyes. He was already starting to piss me off. “Lukyan and Adrian.”

He touched his earpiece and repeated the names. After a brief moment, he nodded. “Lukyan isn’t on the list.”

“That fucking bastard,” my brother hissed. “He did this on purpose.”

“Well, if you weren’t such an ass to him all the time, I’m sure he wouldn’t have.” I looked at the guard. “It’s fine. Just let us through.”

“Can’t do that. I’ll need to call the boss for verification.”

Anger blasted through me and I growled.

“Oh, no,” Adrian sighed.

I undid my seatbelt and opened the door, rounding the car until I was at the guard’s side. With zero hesitation, I kneed him in the balls.

A very ladylike shriek fell from his lips and he dropped to his knees, cupping his privates. The second guard in the booth came sprinting out, gun at the ready.

“Down! On your knees!” the guard barked at me.

I glared, unimpressed. “I only get on my knees for one man.”

Lukyan and Adrian jumped from the car, pointing their own guns at the guard. “Just give me the word,” Lukyan whispered darkly, cocking his gun.

“I said down! On the ground! Now!” the guard shouted

“You do realise you’re pointing a gun at your boss’s wife, right?”

The guard paled and lowered his weapon with a shaky hand.

“Better. Now, open the goddamn gates,” I demanded.

“Don’t do it,” the guard on his knees groaned. “We need verification on one of the men first.”

“Bitch, do you wanna get shot?” I snapped, pulling my gun and putting the barrel right against his temple. “I’ll blow your brains all over the fucking pavement if you don’t open that gate right. Fucking. Now.” I cocked my gun, so he knew I was 100% serious.

The other guard gaped and stumbled to the security booth. The gates swung open.

“Neil! What are you doing?! The boss will kill us when he finds out we opened the gate without checking with him first!”

“He’ll kill us for pointing a gun at his wife!” Neil yelled back. He levelled his gaze at me. “I apologise, Mrs De Luca. Please, head on through.”

I tucked my gun away and jumped back in the cab. Lukyan and Adrian did the same. I looked at my three temporary guards and glared. “Thanks for the help.”

They just shrugged.

I couldn’t wait to get Christian, Luca and Lorenzo back.

When we still hadn’t moved, I looked at the driver. He was pale, eyes wide open and frozen in fear. I lightly tapped his shoulder and motioned for him to drive up the long driveway to the house.

It was beautiful. A classic, modern-style mansion, somewhere between ten to fifteen-thousand square feet, with thick concrete pillars and tall glass windows. An antique water fountain lay in the centre of the front yard, the driveway curving around it and leading back out the way we came.

When the car stopped, I pulled a $100 bill from my pocket and handed it to the shaky cab driver. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Uh, no problem,” he gulped, taking the money. “Do you need help with your bags?”

“No thanks. We got it. Have a good day.” I smiled.

I went to the back of the car and opened the boot, dragging my suitcases out. Lukyan and Adrian gave me a hand. My three temporary guards followed along like robots, getting out of the car and waiting at my side like sentries. Once all my luggage was out of the car, the driver sped off like he couldn’t get away fast enough.

All Lukyan and Adrian brought was a duffel bag each. Me? I had four suitcases of stuff and it wasn’t even everything I owned.

Lukyan grabbed two of my suitcases, Adrian took the other two and we made our way to the front door. I rang the doorbell and froze, stunned by who answered the door.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

Gabriella gave a self satisfied smirk, her eyes alight with mischief. “Didn’t Arturo tell you? I live here now.”