Russian Mafia Boss's Heir by Bella Rose Page A

but closed his mouth. Nothing he said would have any affect on Alexei. It was time to listen, not speak.
    “My father is a paranoid old bastard.” The bitterness in Alexei’s tone said far more than his words did. “Everyone thinks I’m weak. They think because of what I am—because I’m gay—that I can’t be mafiya . But that’s not true. It would be different, yes.” Alexei waved his hand dismissively. “But I would have been happy enough to rip out any tongues that were wagging.” He paused for a moment, as if he were gathering his thoughts. “Then, my father started having me followed. He wanted me with him every second of every day. I was running errands like a child. He would rant and rave every single day about all those he thought were conspiring against him. Then, he accused me of trying to have him killed.”
    “Did you?” Mikhail asked quietly. He could barely hear his own voice over the noise in the bar. “It wouldn’t have been the first time things were hurried along in such a way.”
    “No!” Alexei looked affronted. “I loved my father. I would never hurt him. That’s why I left. I packed up one night and left a bullshit note.”
    Dimitri picked up the thread of conversation. “I was there that night. You wrote your father and told him that you were gay and were going someplace where you would be accepted for who and what you are.”
    “But that’s not really why I left,” Alexei snapped. “I left before my father could have me killed. One of my friends had already come to me, worried, because my father had approached him with a contract on my life. My life! He wanted my own best friend to kill me.”
    “What happened to this friend?” Mikhail wanted to know.
    “Aloysha,” Dimitri supplied. “He was declared a traitor. Stanislas had him executed.”
    There were tears in Alexei’s eyes. “He was more than just my friend, you know. My father knew that. I told Aloysha not to go back. I wanted him to come with me. But he wanted to make sure that I was safe, that my father believed the note I had left.”
    Dimitri’s expression was grim. “Stanislas didn’t waste any time. Aloysha was killed the night after you left, Alexei.”
    “I know.” Alexei exhaled a ragged breath. “And if you are wise, Mikhail, you will remember my story when you are wondering why my father cannot seem to believe you when you say you are not plotting against him. You will remember me, and you will run.”
    ***
     
     “YOU KNOW THE last time you tried to run away, things didn’t necessarily work out in your favor,” Jamie pointed out.
    Tori relaxed on her back. She was lying on a fluffy beanbag in the middle of Jamie’s floor, just staring up at the ceiling. She laced her fingers behind her head and sighed. “That sort of depends on your definition of ‘working out in my favor.’ I’m tired of this crap! I shouldn’t have to put up with it.”
    “So,” Jamie began slowly. “Before, you were pissed because he never touched you and your sex life sucked. Now you’re pissed because you’re having sex all the time?” She pressed her face into a couch pillow. “Pardon me for saying it, but I just can’t feel sorry for the woman who’s having stellar sex with a super hot guy because he can’t get enough of her.”
    Tori turned her head, giving her friend a dirty look. “I want a relationship. Not just sex. The guy is treating me like a call girl. I’m not kidding! The only thing that’s missing is that lame pick up line where I ask him if he wants to party.”
    “Ooo, or where he asks what your name is and you ask what he wants it to be!” Jamie was rolling on her back, cackling with mirth.
    “You watch way too much television.” Tori opened her mouth to say something else, but the words never came out. Someone was knocking on Jamie’s front door. Tori stared at her friend, feeling a shot of adrenaline in her bloodstream. “Were you expecting someone? It’s three in the