AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Apparently, they have more fun arguing in a language the other doesn’t understand.” He sets his glass on a coaster. “Three pakhans and two oligarchs requested permission for their sons to fly into the territory.”
Feeling whiplash at the quick change in subject, I shake my head. “Is there a pop-up junior mobster convention we didn’t know about?”
“No. Apparently, we have the Tarasov heiress living among us. The offspring of the criminal elite are about to descend on the city so they can woo and win the woman who will inherit the fortune.”
“They don’t have enough heiresses in the Motherland to keep them busy?”
“Word on the street is that this one comes with a valuable real estate portfolio.”
“It’s going to be the Bachelorette for mobsters,” Gianna announces as she strolls in and perches on the corner of the desk. “Only the lucky lady won’t have a chance to hand out roses since she’ll be too busy avoiding stray bullets from the competing suitors.”
“It sounds like the circus is coming to town.”
“And somehow, I’ve been anointed the ringmaster,” Alexey grouses.
“At least you made them pay,” Gianna says brightly as she takes Alexey’s hand. “My brilliant husband demanded that each bachelor candidate deposit ten million dollars before his Prada clad feet hit US soil.”
“It will cost at least that much to sweep their sins under the rug.” I down my drink. “Just tell me which ones I need to keep alive.”
“None.” He swirls the whiskey in his glass. “We run an empire, not a daycare center. If they want to kill each other, then so be it.”
“Do we know the identity of the lucky bachelorette?”
“Anastasia Tarasov,” Alexey answers. “I spoke with my uncle in Moscow and learned she and her mother disappeared from Russia twenty-five years ago. The will is going to be read in a week, and the terms of the inheritance will be revealed.”
“No shit.” I sit back. “How do they know the heiress is living here?”
“I have no idea,” Alexey replies. “According to my uncle, no one expected the estate to go to the daughter.”
“Doesn’t make any sense. Why would the oligarch leave everything to someone he was estranged from, not his nearest and dearest?”
“Clearly, he didn’t like them very much,” Gianna interjects. “Otherwise, they would be the ones collecting rent from half of Moscow. Viktor Tarasov was the king of luxury retail shopping centers and multimillion-dollar apartment complexes.”
“I wonder if the woman has a clue that she’s about to become the center of a cutthroat courtship.”
“The impression I got from my uncle is that the daughter was kept in the dark and doesn’t know about the family or its wealth,” Alexey replies before sipping his whisky.
“Does the name sound familiar,” Gianna asks. “Maybe we can warn her.”
Rifling through my mental Rolodex, I shake my head. “Not to me.”
Alexey sets his glass on the desk. “Uncle said the wife was a reluctant star of society one day and gone the next. Disappeared into thin air.”
“It’s the perfect plot for one of your dark Russian dramas,” Gianna adds. “I should do a little digging and see if I can locate the heiress before the Russki boys land. That way, the Volkov bratoks will get a head start on the race to the altar.”
Alexey smiles like a shark. “How do you feel about a rich wife, Yuri? Would you like the first crack at the elusive heiress?”
“If you order me to marry, I will.”
“That means he has no interest,” Gianna says with a laugh. “Good for you. Hold out for your one true love.”
Heavy footsteps echo off the marble floors, and I see my brother, Dmitri, standing in the doorway. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes.” He holds up a phone. “G. It’s your sister.”
“Finally.” She slips off the desk. “See you two later.”
I watch her leave the office and feel Alexey’s eyes on me. “I’m not holding out for a love match. I simply have no interest in the institution and would like to avoid it as long as possible.”
