He's Strong. He's Hot. He's Foreign. (And He's in the Mafia?)

“Markov cannot be serious!” Dmitri laughed when I gathered my brothers together in my father’s office on the top floor of our hotel. I had just told them of Jane’s situation, holding a cigarette between my shaking fingers. I only smoked when Jane was not around. Now that I had no idea where she was or what amount of danger she was in, I went through a pack a day.

“I have no idea what his intentions are…why would he only take Jane? He knows that she will not be enough to sway Father,” I contemplated, taking a long shuddering drag.

“Maybe this is just the beginning,” Nicholas said dryly. He seemed to be the only one unamused by the situation, “Maybe he wants to tear us apart from the inside.”

“Going to lock up Natasha?” Ivan snickered.

Nicholas pursed his lips and said, rolling his eyes, “I have no need to. I do not make the foolish mistake of keeping my family in an apartment in the city. I would have been surprised if Jane had not been kidnapped. Natasha is safe and sound in my mansion, miles away from here. I would have thought you’d have known to move after getting married.”

“Peter could not have seen this coming, they were married not even a week ago…” Viktor came to my defense, but I cut across him, my voice growing ever weaker, “No, he’s right…he’s right.”

“Peter, not even a day without your pathetic wife and you are falling apart? Father underestimates your strength,” Ivan commented, that irritating grin still playing on his face.

In flash, my cigarette bud had been crushed under my foot and I had pushed Ivan up against the wall, my hand encasing his throat, the wrath back in my eyes, “Do you underestimate me now? You covet her, Ivan, do not lie to me. I see that look in your eyes as you gaze at her. I can think of nothing more pathetic than hiding one’s true feelings under spite.”

The others watched us cautiously, though not intervening. This was what we had been taught. Fight your own fights.

Ivan stared at me, breathing heavily, but still with a humorous glint in his eye, “Maybe I want her, but seeing you weep over her dead body will be far more entertaining than fucking your little country girl.”

That was the trigger. I threw Ivan to the ground and began hitting him mercilessly. My mind had gone out of control of myself. My fury at Markov was pouring out of me now as I fought with my older brother, who was beginning to fight back. He pushed me onto the ground, taking out his gun and putting it up against my Adam’s apple, making me choke.

“You think you can take me?” he growled, “Don’t you ever forget who the big brother is.”

I glared up at him with hatred. Viktor chimed in with a slight hint of nervousness, “Now Ivan, there’s no need to bring guns into this. Peter isn’t in his right mind right now.”

“All because of a stupid girl,” Ivan spat, taking his gun away from my throat and putting it back underneath his blazer. He stood up, wiping the blood from his face. I stood up after him, glaring and still breathing heavily.

“I’m getting her back,” I said, turning to the rest of my brothers, “And I don’t give a fuck if you want to help me or not, but you better not get in my way.”

“And Father won’t hesitate to kill you if you betray him,” Nicholas said coolly, “He always said that girl was a waste of your time.”

“She’s the only worthwhile thing in my life actually,” I growled.
“Not anymore,” Dmitri snickered, causing me to glare at him, my eyes still blazing.

Nicholas let out an exasperated sigh and put a hand on my shoulder, “Look, Peter, we’re not saying we won’t help you out. If she shows up on any of our doorsteps, we’ll give you a call, alright?”

I rolled my eyes and shrugged out of his grip, walking away from them, “Don’t expect any of my sympathy when you find Natasha stolen as well.”

“I told you, that is not going to happen,” Nicholas said, smirking.

“Markov is capable of driving outside the city, and as for the address, well if turning her in means Jane is set free…” before I could finish Nicholas had me bent over in a half nelson, choking and sputtering.

“You do that and I will kill you myself,” Nicholas growled in my ear dangerously. Nicholas was the strongest out of the five of us, and his chokeholds were considered deadly. My head was spinning as I fought to keep my mind straight.

“Then help me,” I said, my voice hoarse, “Help me find her, brother, please.”

Nicholas released me and I backed away from him quickly, panting. My brother looked upon me thoughtfully as the others watched. If Nicholas agreed to help me the others were bound to do so.

“What is in it for me besides your pitiful threat?” Nicholas asked, walking behind father’s desk, “You know I do not give in to terrorists.”

I relaxed into a grin as I saw the amusement on my oldest brother’s face, “Anything you want, brother.”

“I’ll get back to you on that, I suppose,” he said, folding his arms.

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I walked the stairs up to the apartment, the apartment that until recently had housed two. I couldn’t take the elevator. I couldn’t stand there and be left alone with my thoughts. The unadulterated loneliness was killing me. I knew that if I just kept myself preoccupied, just maybe I could pull through this.

To my surprise, there was a girl waiting for me when I arrived at the door, but not the girl I wanted. Diane turned around, looking distressed.

“Oh thank God Peter!” Diane sighed, “Have you seen Jane? She said she’d be home this afternoon, but she won’t come to the door. I tried calling her phone a couple times but she never picked up.”

My face hardened. I had completely overlooked this. Of course her friends would notice she was gone. And of course they would want to know why. And I, as her husband, would be the first one they came to. I used the most believable excuse I could think of.

“I’m sorry, Diane, Jane has been sick ever since we came back from Kentucky, she’s been sleeping all day today,” I explained, my face tight.

Diane’s face fell, “Oh, well tell her to give me a call when she’s feeling better. She was talking to me about getting me a job waitressing at that fancy restaurant she works at, and I really hate being a bother to your family, Peter. I’ll be out as soon as possible.”

I gave her a faint smile, digging cigarettes out of my pocket and putting one between my lips, “You are no burden, any friend of Jane’s is a friend of mine. I really do hope you get the job.”

Diane sighed, “I wish Mitch could have been more like you. Jane’s so lucky she has you to take care of her.”

My jaw clenched as I lit my cigarette, almost biting down on it. If only Diane knew how horribly I had failed in that respect.

Diane seemed to take my blank expression as disinterest and said quickly, “I hope Jane gets better. Thanks again!”

I took a long drag off my cigarette and watched as Diane walked down the hallway, dreading going into the empty apartment. For two short minutes I had to pretend like Jane was on the other side of that door, quite ill, but still there. A vision passed through my mind. Jane in bed, her face flushed with fever and I was by her side, holding her hand and making her smile. But it faded as I opened the door, staring into the empty space. I set my keys on the table. This whole place felt haunted without her here.

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I was checking my e-mail for the tenth time that night. I had nothing to do but could not simply sit there. Jane was gone, but I had no idea where she was or how I could help her. I had an itching to just jump into the car and drive and drive until I found her, but that wouldn’t help. Markov could have taken her to Russia for all I know. For all I know, she could be dead.

My eyes widened when I found an untitled e-mail from an unknown sender with a document attachment. I quickly opened it. It simply read, “This might interest you. It’s about your wife.”

I felt my heart twist around in its cage. I opened the attachment. It was a scanned picture of first-class plane tickets, four of them. All were one-way tickets to Saint Petersburg. One was for Markov; another was for Ben, his slimeball of an assistant. The other two were printed for Jane Xavier and Natasha Kotova.

He used Jane’s maiden name. Markov must be mocking me. And wasn’t Kotova Natasha’s maiden name? That must mean he had her too. So maybe he was trying to sway the whole family. But there was no person he could kidnap that would sway our father. Probably the only way to sway him was to put a gun to his head. Selfish bastard.

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“Brother! It’s me, Peter! Nicholas, open the door!” I shouted, banging on the door of his mansion in upstate New York, about an hour away from the city.

“Peter what the hell are you doing here?” Nicholas opened the door, in a tank top and sweatpants, his face groggy.

“Have you seen Natasha lately?” I asked, folding my arms.

“Yes I saw her last night before she went off to visit some of her family in Russia, why?” he asked, half asleep.

“Since when did she fly with Markov?” I snapped shoving the scanned plane tickets into his hands. He looked down at it and his eyes widened. His head snapped up to face me, any trace of sleep gone.

“Why would she use her maiden name?” he said, “Both her and Jane have.”

“Markov is mocking us,” I frowned, “Like they were never married to us in the first place.”

“No! How could have Markov taken her? I sent her to the airport in with a chauffeur and he was armed. There is no way he could have gotten through him,” Nicholas shouted in denial.

“He did, and we have to go after him before he makes his next move. Every second I stand her trying to convince you she’s gone is a second wasted,” I growled, “Now we need to get our asses to St. Petersburg or both of our wives could be in serious danger.”

Nicholas studied me with an expression I had never seen before: fear. After a while, he rolled his eyes in defeat and muttered, “Fine, but we’re not going alone.”

“Should we take Viktor or…?” I said unsurely.

“No Peter, we need to bring Ivan, he is the most aggressive out of all of us. He will show Markov no mercy. You know Ivan hates him the most out of all of us,” Nicholas smirked.

“I really don’t think that’s possible,” I growled, “I want to tear him limb from limb.”

“Trust me, brother, I will gladly help you when we find him, but know we have to focus on actually making sure Natasha and Jane are found and taken home safely,” Nicholas said, his tone oddly comforting.

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“This should be fun,” Ivan snickered as we drove to the airport the next morning with Nicholas driving, me in the passenger seat, and Ivan in the back. I was trying to ignore the fact that I was travelling with my two least favorite brothers. Jane needed me, and if this was the way I was going to find her, then so be it.

“I guess Natasha wasn’t so safe all locked up in that mansion, was she Nicholas,” Ivan grinned, looking over at Nicholas.

“I swear to God Ivan if I wasn’t driving I would flatten that smug face of yours,” Nicholas growled, tightening his grip on the wheel.

“Okay guys let’s stop bickering like old maids and actually focus on the task at hand,” I snapped. I was going through pictures of Jane and me on my Blackberry. Even though every inch of her face and body had been engrained into my memory, I couldn’t stop from delving myself into those happy memories which seemed like decades ago.