The Mafia's Bride (Book 2)

chapter 1

Klaus's POV

I sat back on the black leather chair staring at a painting at the wall, trying to figure out why the man I called father had bought it. It was a picture of a man sitting on a stone looking down at the sunset. My  father was a man who valued money and to buy such a painting... it must have meant something to him.

The room was dark as per usual, the sun had set, leaving nothing but darkness. Now was my favorite time of a day because the demons came out to play. Besides being dark, the room was quite, so quiet I could hear myself faintly breathe. As quiet as the room was, my mind was quite the opposite of that, busy and loud. Thoughts overflowed my mind. Most people, as they should, feared me because I barely talked. I saw no point to the miniscule chore that nobody could seem to live without. Talking was a waste of time, I was a man of actions.

I didn't just magically become the leader of  the underground world over night. I worked, sweat, cried. Whoever said men don't cry was a liar, because I have cried and bled for this throne. To become a leader, you had to shred the little humanity you have left, enjoy the pain, and devour anyone that stands in your way.

The sad part is, being forced into this lifestyle and have this ideology drilled into you so much makes you crave for blood.

I sat on that chair, not reminiscing about past events, no I didn't have that luxury, but instead pondering my next move. The thing was, someone was killing my brothers in crime. Just yesterday, Alex, who is in charge of the East territories, called to tell me that Jack had been found dead in his home.  Someone had slaughtered the entire cartel. At that point I was in a mess of taking over all the Asian cartel. Talk about a bloody war.

The Asians could be responsible for what happened yesterday, but I needed to be sure. I won't look over anyone. It may also be one of the mafia leaders who're under me like Elijah,Rafeal, or Alex himself, wanting to rule the Russian mafia as a whole, with a burning desire to take my crown. Not like I'd ever let that happen.

My family had been the biggest cartel in Russian for as long as I could remember. We were in charge of half the country but my bastard of a father had wanted everything, so he called war to all the other cartels including the Vintagè, Xender, and the five other cartels. Obviously he'd won, it was better to be by his side than fight against him and he had took over everything.

I called it being greedy, he called it showing them who's boss. When he died ten years ago, which was funny really, I had given back the old cartels their territories and we had formed an alliance of some sort.

My eyes didn't flicker from the painting. It didn't flicker to the furniture all around the  room or the laptop on the desk but just stayed in place as I figured out who was a fo and who was a friend.

The phone on the table buzzed and I picked it up on the third ring.

"Rafeal has fallen," the panicked voice simply said before cutting the line, leaving me to quickly place the phone on the chocolate  table and stand up before walking to the window to watch the dark sky.

As I said before, the demons come to play at this time. Something clicked in my mind and I quickly rushed to the desk to grab the phone and dialed the number.

On the second ring the person picked up.

"Status on Harley?" I asked, my heart pounding with anxiety, something it rarely did.

"Fallen," the person answered and I let the phone drop from my hands and shut my eyes, feeling the pit in my stomach grow.

My sweet Harley was gone? Just like that? I trudged to the mini bar and poured myself a glass of scotch and gulped it down in one swig and poured another glass to the rim.

How could this be? Harley had captured my heart with her innocence at that poker game but rules were rules. I couldn't touch what another brother has declared property, but Harley wasn't property. She had the beauty that could paralyze a man and the innocence that would kill a man. She was one of a kind and the way Rafeal treated her broke my heart, but he refused to give her to me.

I took the whole bottle of scotch and went to sit at the couch by the door and gulped the bottle down.

People seemed really creeped out at the fact that I knew everything.  The staying that says walls have ears, it was exactly that. There is nothing significant that happened in this country that I didn't know of. The man who sat in that house could call himself president all he wants but everyone in Russia knows who runs this country.

My feelings for this woman perplexed me though as I'd never felt like that before. In a way, seeing her had showed me that I indeed had the little humanity I thought I'd long lost.

"May your soul rest in peace lovely lady. You were one of a kind." I said loudly to thin air as I slid my slim hard hand through my short brown silky hair.

A knock brought me back from my deep trail of thoughts. I put the bottle on the table as the door squeaked open.

"Sir, Tom; Rafeal's second in hand, is here to see you" My second in hand Alejandro stated.

"Let him in and lead him to the living room. I'll meet him there," I said and Alejandro quickly nodded and left my office.

I returned the bottle of scotch back to its rightful place, and then straightened my suite before walking out.

I left the office and my personal guard, Ruse, trailed behind me. I prided myself on running a tight ship, and as much as I didn't know all my workers names, I knew their faces and most of my workers names, especially the ones I worked closely with. There were guards everywhere, standing in fours at each and every corner of the house. Motion sensor cameras surrounded the castle.

The house was an old one which had been passed from generation to generation. It was, I suppose you could say... quite large with a total of 250 bedrooms. Each and every guard had a room and some had rooms in the guards' house to minimize movements in and out of the castle.

I took the elevator down, still thinking about what news Tom had for me as I knew he'd already knew that I know that his boss had fallen.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, I was greeted by qeous, people were running around like ants, there was noise, too much noise and as soon as I walked out everyone just stopped what they were doing and froze.

"What is going on here?" I asked loudly, irritated that people were running around like headless chickens in my house.

No one answered, infuriating me even more. The workers cleared a path for me as I walked to the origin of the disturbance as I could still here noise coming from there.

I walked in the living room and there was blood everywhere.

"What is going on here?" I asked again.

Angry wasn't the right term to describe me right now. I was more than furious and today wasn't the best day to piss me off me.

"Sorry sir," a voice spoke, only it wasn't a voice I recognized.

" I need your help sir. Rafeal Vintage has been shot to death and his baby mama was caught in the crossfire. She got shot but she's still alive. Please, can you help us?" The tall man with a beard covered in blood said.

"My name is Tom and I was Mr. Vintage' s right hand man. I couldn't take her to the hospital because the people who were shooting at us would kill her there. You're my only hope Don klaus, please!"  Tom said as tears rolled down his cheeks. He sniffled as my heart beat faster and faster.

Harley!

Was it Harley?

I quickly walked to Tom and scooped Harley from his bloody arms. She was covered in blood, and looked like she could die any second now.

"Ruse, get the doctor now and find me in the operating room." I said as I quickly rushed to the elevator.

I got inside and Fernando, who had taken Ruse's post as he went to fetch the doctor, clicked the button to the ground floor where our indoor hospital was located.

The elevator seemed to take forever and I watched with scared eyes as the life of the girl I was so obsessed with drain out of her body.