Vladimir didn't say another word, instead, he stood up immediately and began striding back to the dining room where everyone else was.
I tried to catch up to him and when I did I saw the panic on everyone's faces, even Alexander but not Nikolai or Joziah. They looked as if him being furious was an every day thing.
"How the fuck could you let her get hurt?" Vladimir roars, causing me to take a few steps back and Nikolai to stand up instantly.
"We didn't know where‐" Alexi tries to explain.
"You didn't fucking know where? How stupid can you actually be, you have so many fucking sources. I bet you were sitting on your asses doing nothing while Victoria was obviously being abused." His tone doesn't lower and he looked as if he was about to unleash his anger on someone.
"Vladimir-" Alexi begins again in attempt to calm him down.
Nikolai begins walking toward me and around Vladimir who doesn't bat and eye toward him. I tune out the arguing as Nikolai places a hand on my shoulder and begins to guide me away from the room.
"Let's go Victoria, where's your room?" He asks in a reassuring tone.
"Upstairs." I answer mindlessly and he looks down at me with an amused grin.
"I didn't know that." He says sarcastically, making me laugh slightly.
We both walk upstairs and I push the door to my room open. He follows behind me and I sit down on the bed while he takes my desk chair and swivels it around.
I sit there for a minute before deciding to ask all the questions that had been building up in my mind the past few days.
"Who are you guys? Like, I know you're Joziah's brothers but I saw the fear in everyone's eyes when Vladimir began shouting. And don't expect me to believe Joziah is just a bodyguard." I explain, watching as he nods with a small chuckle.
"You're smart. But I can't tell you, well I can but it will cause problems for you and your brothers. You'll think differently of them and us when we're not overly bad guys." He rests his arms on the back of the chair.
"Oh come on. At this point I don't even care, I just want to know what's happening. Reuben basically threatened that if I told that cop something incriminating I was be in trouble. And they were barely fazed when someone was killed right in front of them." I huff, crossing my legs and moving further backward on the bed.
"I don't want to be one of those annoying idiots from books who doesn't tell someone something and they get into something dangerous but..." he trails off, looking as if he didn't know whether to tell me or not.
"Please, Nikolai. My brothers won't ever tell me anything and I won't think less of them. Maybe Reubem and Alexi but anyway." I mumble the last part causing him to laugh.
"Look I can tell you, but I don't know how and your brothers will probably swing at me." He states, weighing his options.
"Let me tell you what I know. From the first day I arrived here, they forbid me from going into basement where they work. They have said that their line of work is dangerous and even requires me to have a bodyguard. They didn't seem fazed when someone's life was took right before their eyes and they were angry when I could have possibly told a cop something to put them in deep shit...are they in the mafia?" I hold my breath in anticipation.
All of a sudden, Nikolai starts laughing hysterically and I was afraid he might not be getting enough air in his lungs. His laughter doesn't die down and I wait patiently for the funny part of what I said to hit.
He calms down slightly, placing his head in his hands while his body basically vibrates from the laughter. Eventually he starts calming down after a good few minutes and wipes the tears from his eyes.
"You- you think your brothers are in the mafia. You've been reading too many wattpad books Victoria." He chuckles normally, spinning round on my chair.
"Well. I don't know, are they?" I ask again.
"No, no, obviously not. Have you heard of the White Rose Association?" He questions and I rack my brains for the familiarity of the name.
Eventually, it hits, I heard some people talking about it at my old school,"Yeah, what about it?" I ask.
"They run the New York casino parts of the mafia, but they aren't a part of it, just deal with letting on who betrays the American mafia and why. They deal with betrayals and money." He explains thoroughly, looking up at me a few times.
"Wait- so you're saying my, my brothers are the White Rose Association?" I clarify.
He nods.
Holy motherfucking fuckity fuck.
"Fucking hell." I whisper.
"So, wait, what are you guys? What is Vladimir?" I ask.
He looks at me with a small smile,"Vladimir is the under boss of the American mafia."
My jaw slacks and I stare wide eyed st him,"The whole, whole, of America." I clarify further.
"He's the under boss so kind of."
I immediately stand up and begin pacing around my room.
"No, no. I don't think any less of my brothers but this means danger. I can't handle that, I don't- I don't want to be hurt again." I whisper, coming to a stop.
Nikolai pushes the chair to the side and walks over, pulling me into a warm hug.
"We won't let you be hurt again. Vladimir looks after all the families that are loyal to him. And even then, he wouldn't let any harm come to you. When your father took you away he took you away because he betrayed our father. But your brothers talked it out and explained. From that day, Vladimir vowed he would get you back to them. He was only eight and to our father it was funny at such a young age he vowed to protect someone he never knew." Nikolai explains in a fond tone.
I look up at him with half frown half smile.
"I understand than now. But what about Joziah? I could tell Alexi was lying about him being my so called bodyguard." I replied hesitantly.
"True. Joziah is supposed to be your bodyguard but you were also right in what you first believed." He sighs, pulling away and gesturing for me to sit down across from him.
I take a seat at the head of the bed while he sits at the bottom.
"Wyatt was only trying to dissuade you from the truth because this whole thing is messed up. Like I said, our father, Alexander, found it amusing Vlad had basically vowed to protect you so he made the most out the opportunity. All in all, you are supposed to marry one of the three of us. When we came today it was supposed to be to see who you got along with best. You and Joziah could marry at eighteen whereas when you reach that age Vlad would be 26 and I 20." He continues.
I don't say anything but annoyance and sadness fills me.
"So basically, I don't have a choice in who I marry. Well I do but only between the three of you?" I ask.
"Yes. But Vladimir is working to get us all out of it. The whole ordeal is that Logan, your father, didn't tell ours about a certain betrayal which cost us millions. Our father never really forgave him and forced us into an illegal contract." He furthers and I lean back, setting my legs straight on the bed.
"This is so fucked up my mind just doesn't have the ability to sort through it all, anything else I should know?" I ask and a solemn and fearful expression crosses his face.
I sit up," Oh God, what is it?"
"There is one person you haven't met, someone higher up than all of us, even Vladimir." He sighs.
"Just tell me at this point. My brothers run all the casinos in America. Vladimir is the under boss of the American mafia, who else could be higher. What, the capo?" I joke with a humourless laugh.
"Yes." He says, catching my attention.
"So this guy, higher than Vlad, what's his name?" I gulp.
"Blaze King."
________________________________________
Guys I had this character planned out for a while. After all, I couldn't not have a mafia king in the book, what kind of author would I be?
Impact has a long way to go and I doubt I won't be making a sequel when I finish.
If you do want a sequel, even though I still have like, 40 chapters left to write before the end of this book, don't forget to comment!
Also, what do you think of Nikolai abruptly telling Victoria everything?