Roses & Ruin

Chapter 80 (Lexi)

I don't know how Mia knew what happened the other night, and what to say to get me out of it, but Andrei came home from the fitting telling Dmitriy that it was Mia I was with the other night. Thank god I was listening from the door because I corroborated her story perfectly.

Dmitriy was stubborn and didn't want to believe it. He kept saying, "Then why wouldn't she just tell us that." But Andrei said it's because I'm stubborn, and on principle I didn't want to give in to what they wanted, which were answers.

And he's not wrong either. I spent three full days locked inside that bedroom, and I didn't budge once when they inevitably visited my room each morning asking if there was anything I wanted to confess yet.

I won't speak to Dmitriy for as long as I can help it. Vitaly too. I'm so incredibly angry with them that I don't think my tongue could resist speaking my mind. And what's playing and replaying inside my mind is hatred.

And scenarios of all the ways I could embarrass them. Weaken them. Take something precious away from them. What do the Petrov's value most in life? Their empire. I want to watch it burn.

The way the Bratva works when forming contract alliances is like what actual business contracts involve. They set out the basis of the operation, they draw up the territories, and give share percentages to shared business channels. Like any family owned business each member of said family is supposed to have a stake in the place.

So picture the women of the Bratva being silent partners. We have a share in the business, but we aren't so openly involved. They do this so that let's say daughters of the boss's wouldn't lose their claim if something were to happen to a family member.

Like if Vitaly passed along his title it would bring shame to the Petrov's if my brother casted me out of the business as a commoner. So for that reason I have a split share of the whole pot.

When the Italians agreed to have me married into their bloodline as a lifelong agreement to this expansion of business they were essentially saying, 'her shares are now joined with your percentage of the pot in this specific endeavor'.

That's a big part of why there are contracted marriages in the mafia. Not everyone understands that part of it.

At the end of the day that's all organized crime is. A business. A little more violent, and a little less practical or legal, but a business. The reason I say all this is because if the Italians let me I could become active in my shares of the contract. I would have a say, I would have a vote in matters all directly linked to the Vitaly agreement.

There is a saying in Russian. It translates to 'if you're afraid of wolves don't go into the woods.'

Most women don't even think about that. They are comfortable being mob wives and mafia princess daughters, but I do have a right to step into my birth given role. I'm sure many would protest that fact. They'd be appalled and outraged that a woman should step into her power in that way...which makes me wanna do it all the more.

Originally I wanted nothing to do with the family business. When Vitaly appeared in my life after my mother was gone I was shaken by what the Petrov name really meant. They showed me their empire, and all the gritty details, and I swore I wanted no part in that.

They're criminals. Bad people. And all of that is still true, but what have I gotten by standing behind a powerful man instead of standing with him?

My mother taught me how to evade powerful and dangerous men. That was her life's lesson to me and I am grateful for it. Vitaly's presence in my life has now taught me something different. It's taught me that if you can't evade, you have to let the powerful and dangerous men underestimate you at every turn, because then they'll never see it coming when you beat them at their own game.