His Juliet: An Age Gap Hurt Comfort Mafia Romance (Empire of Royals Book 2)

Dimitri’s club was dark and luxurious, exactly the sort of place I would expect the new, mysterious Pakhan to own.

It was also the exact sort of place I would have loved to come and play in the past. But now, as we headed deeper inside, I no longer found the appeal in the almost-naked women trying to catch my attention. The only thing I wanted to do was to check my phone to see if Juliet had texted. How was it that a woman I’d never had sex with, hadn’t even seen naked, could capture my attention like this? The longer I was away from her, the more sure I became in my decision—I wanted more with her. I wanted her to be mine.

Dimitri led us to a large booth in the corner. Maxim sat beside the Pakhan, and his enforcer stood with my guys in front of the booth.

A topless woman with pierced nipples came over. She leaned down slightly, pushing her breasts with their dangling jewelry closer to my face. My jaw tightened.

“What can I get you, gentlemen?”

“Scotch neat,” I said before angling my body away from her.

The others ordered, and the woman left our table. The air was filled with low pulsing music, moans of pleasure, and the occasional scream. A raised stage at the front of the room showed a naked woman tied to a St. Andrew’s Cross as a man dressed in leather whipped her with a flogger. In the booth next to ours, a woman with a collar and leash knelt in front of a group of men. One of them gently stroked her hair as he spoke to the others. A picture of Juliet kneeling in front of me flashed before my eyes, but I immediately rejected it. If she were here, I’d want her in her rightful place—perched on my lap like the queen she was.

“What do you think?” Dimitri asked, leaning back in his seat.

“Impressive.” It wasn’t a lie. Everything had been designed with extravagance in mind, and I noticed staff members around the room monitoring everything to ensure safety.

“We’ve been working hard to clean things up.” From what I knew, Dimitri had no love for his deceased father, the former Pakhan. “We have safeguards to ensure everyone who enters is here willingly, and profits are up significantly even after raising staff salaries.”

Laughter drew my eyes to another corner of the large room, and I spotted our waitress sitting on the lap of a U.S. senator. Matteo had clubs as well, and we used them for similar purposes. Some of our businesses existed as fronts for laundering money, weapons, or drugs. Others existed to gain information and influence.

“What do you know of Ronan Finnegan?” Maxim asked.noveldrama

I arched an eyebrow. “You interested in an alliance with the Irish?”

“I’m a businessman,” Dimitri said. “I need to consider all potential avenues, and Boston is a good port to access.”

I drummed my fingers on the table. “We have a truce with the Irish. Not a formal alliance.”

Matteo owed Ronan a life debt after the Mob Boss saved his life following a gunshot wound inflicted by the Russians. Matteo would always honor a life debt, even though he was bitter that Leona, the Irish’s top assassin, had endangered Sofiya’s life last year.

The waitress returned with our drinks. “Anything else I can get you, gentlemen?” Her eyes lingered on me and it made my skin crawl. I shook my head, and Dimitri gestured for her to leave us.

“If she’s not to your liking, is there anyone else who interests you?” Maxim asked, an easy smile on his face.

I made a noncommittal noise, which just made Maxim chuckle. “This is not what I expected from famous playboy Romeo.”

“I didn’t know my reputation preceded me,” I said dryly. The reputation I had carefully crafted so that people would underestimate me. I should have played into it tonight, but it felt wrong to even pretend to be interested in someone else.

“We can set you up in a private room if you prefer,” Dimitri said, taking a sip of his vodka.

“Not tonight. But if you had plans—” I gestured at the club.

The Pakhan gave me a rare, knowing smile. “What’s her name?”

My expression remained unchanging as I took a drink. “Whose name?”

“The girl you’re clearly obsessed with.”

I threw back the rest of the scotch. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Maxim let out a bark of laughter. “Sure you don’t.” He clasped his boss on the shoulder. “Should we show lover boy over here our other club instead?”

Dimitri lifted his chin. “Only the best for our new allies, connected to us through the bonds of family.”

I let out a laugh as we stepped into a large warehouse space. Raucous shouts filled this other “club,” which was clearly an underground fighting ring. The rough exterior belied the luxurious interior—a long, glossy bar lined the side of the room where men and women dressed in their finery came to watch the spectacle.

“Is this more to your liking?” Maxim asked, slapping me on the shoulder.

I cracked my neck, the energy of the crowd pulsing through me. “It’s something. Did this belong to the previous Pakhan?”

“Nah. Dimitri started this place a few months ago, and it’s exploded.”

The crowd here was just as wealthy and powerful as the one at the sex club. Celebrities and politicians lounged at the bar, placing bets and waiting for the fight to start.

“Who fights?” I asked. My blood was rising, and I had the urge to jump into the ring myself. After all the meetings, I was ready to do something.

“You’ll see.” Maxim inclined his head and I turned to face the ring.

Dimitri Ivanov stepped onto the raised platform, his bare chest revealing slabs of muscle covered by dark tattoos and layers of scars. He turned, revealing a back even more thickly layered with scars. I narrowed my eyes. It was evident we knew very little of this new Pakhan. No one knew the specifics of what he’d done the past ten years for his father, except that he had spent most of his time in Russia.

Maxim seemed unsurprised at his boss stepping into the ring. A hulking opponent entered opposite Dimitri—a man with a shaved head and Bratva tattoos lining his muscular chest.

Everyone crowded around, shouting and placing last minute bets. The other man in the ring was a monster—close to seven feet tall with huge limbs—but my money was on the Pakhan. There was a dark intensity in his gaze… the same darkness I sometimes saw staring back at me in the mirror.

The bell rang and the carnage started. Violence saturated the air as the two men faced off, circling each other in the ring. Dimitri’s opponent threw the first punch, which he dodged before lashing out again with a sharp jab to the ribs. They danced around each other, the Pakhan light on his feet just like I’d predicted. He took a hard hit to his jaw, causing a few of the women in the crowd to scream. But he just spat the blood out of his mouth and delivered a series of hard hits to his opponent, eventually knocking him off balance by sweeping his legs from underneath him. They were a whirlwind of tangled limbs on the mat, but Dimitri made quick work of getting his opponent in a chokehold, not releasing him until he lost consciousness.

Maxim met my gaze, eyebrow cocked. One thing was certain—the new Pakhan was not someone to underestimate.