[ARTEMY]
None of them were innocent. There was no innocence when it came to Raffaele’s men. I still remembered when Rebecca was telling me about her abuse. How Raffaele’s men would rape her while the sick bastard watched.
I was going to avenge my Angel the only way I knew how.
I was going to destroy the Italians. One by one, until they bowed down to me. To Rebecca.
Reaching forward, I touched Rebecca’s cheek through the photo. Wait for me, Angel.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when the door banged open. I looked away from Rebecca to find my father and Howard walking in.
Damian was fuming, his chest heaving with each breath he took. “The Families are questioning your capabilities as the Boss.”
Brayden swiveled around to face them. “What?” he growled, getting to his feet.
Damian ignored Brayden’s outburst. Instead, he leveled me with a glare, daring me to reply. But I had no answer. I knew it would come to this.
“While looking for Rebecca, you forgot that you are the Boss of four Families. You are not taking care of the business or anything else. When there is a problem, you send them to Brayden. The Families have every right to question you as their Boss,” Howard added as he came to stand beside Damian.
“You are the Pakhan. The Boss of the bosses. If it continues like this, they will lose faith in you,” Damian muttered.
“Like eleven years ago? When they lost faith in you? When you had no other choice but to make me the Boss, so that the Ivanshovs wouldn’t lose the title?” I retorted with a shake of my head.
His eyes went wild at the mention of his downfall, when we almost lost everything. “I taught you better than this, Artemy,” he growled, stepping forward.
“If you fail, like I did, we lose everything,” Damian snapped. He walked forward, stopping in front of my desk.
He bent forward until his face was mere inches away from mine. “If you continue this downward spiral, Solonik could take over as the Godfather. You fucking know that. He has been looking for every opportunity to do so, and now you are giving him an invitation.”
The Russian Mafia consisted of four families. The Ivanshovs, Pirro, Beccari, and Votto.
Each family had their own Boss, but I was the Boss of them all. The Godfather. The other families were underneath the Ivanshovs. But Solonik had wanted to take over. If Damian hadn’t handed this empire over to me, he would have been the Pakhan a long time ago.
And now he was looking for another opportunity, only because I’d proved myself weak.
Damian grabbed my collar, pulling me forward. “I told you not to fall in love. And now you have become useless. I thought you were stronger than I was. Clearly I was mistaken.”
Releasing my collar, he stood up, his gaze unflinching as he stared me down. “I’m taking over.”
I wasn’t surprised when the words were uttered. No, I knew it was coming. I expected it, and I was prepared for it.
But Brayden wasn’t. “What?” he exploded, moving forward, but Howard stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“You are useless while you look for Rebecca. So it’s better if you concentrate on finding her. I’ll take care of the Families. When you find her and she is safe, you will have your position back,” Damian announced.
He didn’t wait for my answer. Not that he cared. He walked out of my office, Howard right behind him.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Brayden demanded as soon as the door closed behind them.
“It’s better this way. I don’t want to worry about the Families while looking for Rebecca. She is my priority,” I mumbled, my gaze drawn to her photo again.
There were a few minutes of silence between Brayden and me before I finally stood up. “Call the others. We have business to take care of.”
Next man on the list. Another step toward my Angel. They were small steps, but I knew in the end, they would lead me to where I wanted. They had to. I wasn’t going to stop until I had what I wanted, what I needed.
I walked out of the office with Brayden following closely behind. When my steps faltered in front of the room next to the office, Brayden walked away without another word. He always knew what I needed even without me saying it.
And right now, I needed privacy.
Opening the door of the sitting room, I walked inside before closing the door softly. The light was already on, although not surprisingly. Only two people were allowed in this room. If it wasn’t me, then it was my father.
We just happened to be in the room at the same time.
He stood facing the wall, his hand behind his back, his legs shoulder-width apart in a defensive stance. Damian looked very much like the powerful man he was known as.
But he was hurting inside.
I knew that because he stood staring at my mother’s portrait. It was a family portrait, actually. The frame was big, taking almost half of the wall. My mother was sitting on a sofa chair, fit for a queen, wearing a beautiful golden dress. My father stood beside her, while a younger version of me sat on her lap. Her stomach was rounded with my baby sister.
Next to the portrait was another photo of my mother with my father standing beside her. But that was before I was born, just after my parents were married.
It was a tradition.
And I could almost see another portrait on that wall. Of Rebecca and me, while she sat on the very same chair my mother did, looking very much like the queen she would be.
But the image was suddenly shattered by Damian’s voice.
“I miss your mother every day. Every day, I wonder why I’m still alive while she is gone. I loved her more than I should have.” He paused and then chuckled dryly. “Who am I kidding? I still love her as much as I did before. That type of love never dies, Artemy.”
He was right. It would never die. Several months ago, I would have laughed in his face, but not now. Because I knew how he felt. The pain of losing the woman you love with every fiber of your being.
“How much do you love her?” he asked suddenly.
I flinched at the question and stared blankly at the wall. “I will kill for her,” I replied. “And I will die for her. Does that answer your question?”
No words were spoken at first. Only silence between us before Damian finally continued in the same monotone voice, his back still facing mine.
My heart clenched at his words, and I rubbed at my chest, trying to get rid of the burning sensation. “You have that type of love. If I’m honest, I never wanted you to feel this way. When I first saw Rebecca, I saw your mother. And I just knew it would be impossible for you not to fall. Now that you have fallen, there’s nothing we can do.”
I stayed silent, too overwhelmed with emotions to speak. But my father spoke enough for the both of us. “Just get her back, protect her with your life, and love her the way she needs and deserves.”
“I will,” I stated firmly, looking at the portrait of my mother and father. With a final glance, I turned around to walk out of the room, but Damian’s voice stopped me again.
“Your mother would be proud of you.”
Letting out a shaky emotionless laugh, I shook my head. “Don’t lie.”
I heard him huff. When he spoke this time, his voice was heavy, laced with so much emotion that it made my heart ache. “If she found it in her heart to love me, a monster, then she would have loved you just as much, if not more. Your mother’s heart was pure and so full with love. She would have wanted you to be happy. Nothing else mattered. Not who you are or what you do. Always remember that.”
My chest tightened at his words. Without saying anything, I walked out of the room. My heart was heavy, and it hurt. It hurt for many different reasons. But they all meshed together until all I felt was blinding pain. It hurt without Rebecca. It hurt more knowing I was helpless.
But it also hurt because I always wanted to hear those words from my father. I had craved for those words and his support. And now that I had them, I didn’t know what to do with them.
Shaking my head to clear my sudden foggy mind, I walked down the hall with only one purpose in mind. To find my Angel. That was all that mattered.
But even with my purposeful stride and determined mind, I couldn’t shake away one thought.
In the sitting room, that was the most my father and I had spoken with each other in twenty-two years.