Married to the Mafia Boss

Alessandro

“It’s gotten out of hand now,” Frankie said with a scowl on his face, as if nobody could tell by watching a reporting channel or reading a fucking newspaper. The situation with the Trievs was well beyond “out of hand”. “The Calientes, Marnovzs, Viskovas. Yesterday, they planted a bomb in one of Yuri Petrenko’s strip clubs. They’re like wild dogs!”

Dom was relaxed on the couch, legs widely apart, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world, like all of this was of no interest. “Well, all that isn’t technically all that bad for us. They’re all high-standing mafia families that aren’t allies…kind of sounds like a not-our-problem type of thing.”

Despite his words, he wasn’t drinking, hadn’t even looked at the fridge since he got here, and had been toying with his flick knife. Both my brothers were deeply bothered by the matter. It didn’t take much to get Dom pissed. But it took a lot, a whole fucking lot, to get him anxious about anything.

Frankie let out an exasperated sigh. “That’s not the point, Dom.”

“Yes, I know, but still….”

“They’re trying to start something,” I said finally, drawing myself out of the sea of thoughts I’d almost drowned in just moments ago.

Since Katya had run off at lunch yesterday, I hadn’t been able to think about much else. Then, I heard the news about Nebesa, and I’d almost grabbed the keys to my car and gone to her house to see if she was okay.

But that wouldn’t have gone well. I knew enough about her to know that she was not somebody that needed a hug at times like this.

She’d be pissed off and out looking for blood. Even worse, she had it in her to go find it too.

Since the stunt with the first property, she had tried to take from under my nose, I’d had Katya’s number saved on my phone.

I had debated all night about calling her, just to hear her voice so I could finally fucking relax. In fact, even up until this meeting, my fingers had been itching.

We’d never talked on the phone before. I didn’t want her mixed up in all this.

Mixed up with me.

But it was changing now. Perhaps they had already changed, and all I wanted was to see her. To know she was ok.

Fuck, even just hearing her voice would have been something.

Pushing thoughts of Katya away took a lot of effort, but there were too many things on the table now. I had to trust that Katya knew how to take care of herself.

“I think they’ve already started it.”

I shook my head, disagreeing with Frankie. “Not yet. We’d know if there was a fucking clan war in the city.”

“Well, yes, but families have already started merging up. That mutual agreement that the mafia families here could only have alliances with families outside the city isn’t holding much water. I think it’s only a matter of time before the Trievs actually start breaking ground.”

“Fuck.” Dom threw his head back and let out an exaggerated sigh. “This is why you should have let me bomb them a long time ago.”

Frankie was quiet for a while.

But maybe Dom was right. “I hate to admit that your plan might have been a better idea than I’d originally thought.”

Sure, there would have been consequences, but they would not have cost my family forty million dollars, connections with officials in the state, and control over our part of the city.

It wouldn’t have disturbed the systems that the mafia families had already implemented.

“Well,” Frankie said, “we can’t bomb them now. They’ve grown and gained a reputation. I’m sure they have deals in place with some of the city officials. Attacking might jeopardize our own relationships.”

I leaned back into my chair, sitting behind my desk.

“Maybe,” I suggested, “it’s time to work together with another family.”

Both my brothers looked at me, then at each other. “What?” Dom asked.

“I think working with the Petrenkos is what we need right now. You disagree?”

Frankie looked as if he was thinking about what I’d just said but wasn’t convinced.

“I think that’s a decision you should think about.” He said finally. “We haven’t clashed with the Petrenkos, but they’ve tried to take our property twice now. Having them as allies would make us susceptible to being backstabbed.”

He didn’t say anymore, but I could see it in his expression. Is that what we really want?

It wasn’t, and something like that wouldn’t happen. Yuri was a very…unusual man to be the head of a mafia family. He had all the blood-curdling qualities you needed to attain a level of power in this damned city, but he was not one to feign or pretend loyalty.

And Katya…

Dom stood up, picking at his sleeves as if he’d ever been one to focus on primping. “It’s already three. I’ve got people to beat, stab, and or shoot.”

Frankie glanced at his watch and stood too, giving me a nod. “I think you should really mull the alliance idea over.”

I smiled as they left, thinking about Yuri and the alliance.

I needed to have a meeting with Yuri.

Yes, joining hands would be the best. The Trievs were wild and unpredictable, having somebody to watch your back was very well needed, and who better to do that for the Sorvinos than the Petrenkos.

“Are you sure?” Yuri asked, surprised at my proposal. I noticed that he did not refute me right away. “As Don, you can make the decision on your own, but I think counseling with your brothers would be better, they are sub-heads, aren’t they?”

Frankie was second in command, and Dom oversaw the muscle of the family, protecting the clubs and bars.

“I already did, they were hesitant, but I wasn’t refused right away. The hesitation is understandable, but they’re very sensible, they might accept with enough reason.”

“Well then,” Yuri said, leaning forward across the desk, “I have told you that you’re a very persuasive man. I suppose I can’t turn you down, as long as we can come up with a way to have our families accept this arrangement.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

He offered his hand, and I shook it.

Now came the more difficult part, what we had to do to have our families accept the decision. We needed to cooperate fully and have commands flow seamlessly to stop the Trievs from zeroing in and tearing our organizations to shreds.

“Would you like a drink while you brood, Mr. Sorvino?” Yuri offered.

I chuckled. “Gladly. I don’t want to leave this meeting without concluding this.” He was a busy man, yet even though I had come without an appointment time, he’d received me immediately.

Yuri called his secretary for brandy, and two shots of vodka. “Well, have you considered marriage?”

I looked at him. “Marriage?”

“Yes. Some might think it’s old-fashioned, but that’s still the best way to join families, by becoming as part of each other.”

But a marriage meant more than that. Yuri had only one child, only one heir. “A marriage would mean-”

“-that you would have influence over Petrenkos affairs,” Yuri gave me a small smile, “especially after I retire.” A knock came in while I thought over everything he was proposing, and the secretary brought in a tray of brandy and vodka. “Of course, that would be only if Katya allows it. She isn’t very good with listening, in my experience.”

In mine too, if the past few weeks had been any indication.

Yuri served me a glass of brandy. “You can take your time to think, Ales. You are still young. I can understand your hesitation to marry. And I can only imagine the impression Katya has made so far with the…incidents.”

I laughed. “You have no idea.”

Thinking about it, marriage was the only sensible solution. As an extension of our family, there wouldn’t be much opposition.

“Have you decided? You look resolved.”

“I am. Maybe it’s about time I settled down.”

Yuri looked very pleased. “Then wait, let us start with the vodka.”

He took back the glass of brandy and put the shot of vodka instead.

“A toast?” I proposed.

“Yes. To duty and family,” Yuri said, raising his glass. I raised mine too.

“Za nas!”

“A noi!”