Cold-Hearted : (Horsemen Series) (Horsemen Mafia Romance Series), page 1
Table of Contents
Cold-Hearted
Excerpt from:
Godfather’s Daughter
(Elijah Prequel Novel)
Horsemen Book List and Release Dates
Contact Info
Description:
Am I an ice queen? No, I don’t think so.
I simply took care of something that should have been taken care of a long time ago.
The money and power I gained by taking over the Bratva are just icing on the cake.
Years of servitude coming to fruition.
One thing is for sure.
I’ll never be tied down to a man again.
I have an empire to keep my mind busy and an endless supply of men who quench my physical thirst when needed.
But then he came along...
My newest assassin.
He’s beautiful, with a heart as cold as mine.
He has me intrigued.
Admittedly captivated.
If I’m not careful, he could be my undoing.
Welcome to Helka Island!
Crystal blue waters and a thriving nightlife.
Helka Island is the most sought-after vacation destination in the world.
At first glance, a girl might think it's paradise...
But even paradise has its underworld. And four dangerous men who rule it.
The Horsemen have united four of the most powerful organized crime families of North and South America and Europe and brought them together on a remote island in the Caribbean, creating an unstoppable force.
The four rulers of the island are a woman's fantasy, but a nightmare to anyone who defies the rules. They're sexy. They're single but untouchable. Expanding their empires comes first for them... sex a close second... Love... well, that hasn't even been a blip on their radar.
But that’s all about to change...
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Cold-Hearted
(Horsemen Novella, Jacob Prequel)
By
Terry Towers
Description:
Am I an ice queen? No, I don’t think so.
I simply took care of something that should have been taken care of a long time ago.
The money and power I gained by taking over the Bratva are just icing on the cake.
Years of servitude coming to fruition.
One thing is for sure.
I’ll never be tied down to a man again.
I have an empire to keep my mind busy and an endless supply of men who quench my physical thirst when needed.
But then he came along...
My newest assassin.
He’s beautiful, with a heart as cold as mine.
He has me intrigued.
Admittedly captivated.
If I’m not careful, he could be my undoing.
Prologue
Milaslava
Why couldn’t he just die already?
Even when in the process of dying, Dimitri Stepanov was exasperating. Nothing with that man was easy. But it would be over soon, I’d waited a long time for this moment, I could wait a few more minutes.
“Milaslava,” he gasped from the floor next to the table. He’d fallen from his chair at the other end of the table several feet away close to ten minutes ago now.
Groaning, I leaned around the table and craned my head to look at him, a hint of a smile on my lips unable to feign sympathy for his turmoil. “Yes, my love.”
“You need to call someone. Get help,” his voice was more of a wheezing sound now as he struggled to get to his feet, but just fell again. “I think someone did something to the food.”
I shrugged. “I would- ”
He looked up, his glassy eyes looking up at me.
“-But since I’m the one who poisoned you it would be rather counterproductive to save you. Just relax and let nature take its course. It’ll be over soon.”
At least I hoped. I wanted this over and done with. There was lots to do once I took over the Bratva. I had so many plans for the future. Big plans.
“You bitch.” Anger flashed in his eyes, his voice remarkably clear again. “After everything that I’ve done for you! I got your whore ass off the streets.”
Cocking a brow at him, I laughed. “All that you’ve done? Does that include the beatings and the affairs? Treating me like property, as if I didn’t have a brain and ambitions of my own?”
Another groan as he slumped back down onto the floor again, his eyes closing as he coughed. “Fuck you. You were a - a pussy of co-convenience.”
He hadn’t fucked me in a very long time, not that I wanted his shriveled sixty-five-year-old cock anyhow. He had a slew of whores at his beck and call. He no longer had use for a fifty-two-year-old woman. He wanted them barely legal and fresh out of school when their tits were perky and they had an ass that you could bounce quarters off of. I’d aged extremely well, but I couldn’t compete with the naive young women with dollar signs in their eyes when they looked at him.
I had been one of those women when I met him at the tender age of eighteen, with a three-year-old son to care for. It had been me and my son, Jacob, with no money, praying I could scrape enough money together to feed my child and pay for a place to live.
He’d changed that. In return, he required obedience. I was to be seen, but not have an opinion. It hadn’t always been like that. It changed quickly when we’d gotten married. The true monster in him came out. I didn’t know at the time that by accepting his offer I was also selling my soul.
“Alina!” The name was barely more than a whisper.
Did he seriously think that our chef was going to save him?
“Who do you think prepared the meal with the poison in it, jackass?” I never cooked. He felt I was a horrible chef so if I were to prepare the meal, he’d immediately know something was amiss. I’d taken a chance on asking her to help me, but it’s amazing how persuasive money can be, especially when the amount offered would take care of her, her grandkids and great-grandkids for the rest of their lives.
His eyes didn’t open this time. His breaths became more labored as his body began trembling.
I looked over at the steak knife next to my plate, my fingers wrapping around the knife. I could just slit his throat and end it, but that would cause questions. At his age and with the amount of stress he endured being one of the most powerful men in Russia no one would second guess a heart attack.
A slit throat – that would get a look or two.
Would it matter in the grand scheme of things? Probably not. But I didn’t like loose ends.
“Is it done?” Dropping the knife back onto the table, I looked towards the entrance to the kitchen to the Alina peering inside, her gaze focused on my soon-to-be late husband.
“Almost. You don’t need to be here.” I waved a dismissive hand at Dimitri, “As you can see, I’m fine.”
“I felt that I needed to see this through. To see what I’m responsible for.” She looked scared and regretful, like at any moment she’d pull out her mobile phone and call for help. I could see the anguish in her blue eyes. If she did there was only one thing I could do… I looked back down at the knife. I didn’t want to hurt her. She was innocent and loyal to my family, and this couldn’t have happened without her. But I would do what was necessary. I only hoped she didn’t end up being another loose end in need of tying up.
“You know the type of man that he is, Alina. You know how many people he’s hurt and killed over the years – families destroyed.”
“I know.” She didn’t look convinced.
Pushing the chair back, I stood and crossed the room, walking towards her, the sound of my heels making an echoing click-clack sound on the black and gold marble floor. Seeing me approach I didn’t miss the fact that she flinched or the tiny shuffle of her feet backward.
Standing before her, I grasped her upper arms in my hands. She was a tiny woman, nearly eight inches shorter than my 5’10 with a petite frame. Her body trembled under my touch as she avoided eye contact.
She’d never look at me the same way again. Not after this.
I really didn’t want to kill her. I hate to say my regret for killing her was simply because I was a good person – because I knew I wasn’t. My life been so fucked up for too long for me to have any type of conscience or morality anymore. Dimitri had seen to that. But she was an excellent cook and a confidant in many ways, for many years now. Losing her would be unfortunate.
“Things are going to be so much better now, for so many people.” I looked over my shoulder at him. There were no sounds coming from him and his body was motionless. The sporadic up-and-down motion of his body with each breath had stopped.
Her gaze followed mine and eyes widened. “Is he dead?”
“Probably. But that doesn’t matter for you.” Slipping an arm over her shoulders, I led her from the room and into the wine cooler attached to the dining room. After some consideration, I chose one of Dimitri’s prized bottles of wine and passed it to her. “As a thank you and for you to use to celebrate.”
She accepted it with trembling hands as she looked up at me again. “Celebrate?”
“Yes, of course.” I led her back through the dining room and into the
I didn’t have to remind her that if she opened her fucking mouth about this to anyone, I’d kill her and everyone she ever loved. She’d worked for our family for over two decades. She knew the score. She knew the Stephano Bratva was not one to be messed with, regardless of who was at the helm of the organization. Not that it would matter either way. There wasn’t a single person who could touch me now, not even the authorities. But for simplicity sake, I’d rather people think his death was of natural causes.
From this day forward I’d be an unstoppable force and God help anyone who attempted to stand in my way.
Chapter 1
Milaslava
“Well, that’s a problem isn’t it.” I wanted to strangle the man in front of me. I didn’t care for bad news and the bad news that he was delivering was really packing a wallop.
“Umm… No, it’s not ideal, Boss.”
Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on the top of the desk and steeped my fingers in front of me, my gray eyes staring into his dark ones. “Ten of my men are dead and my shipment of weapons has just disappeared. I heard that correctly?”
“Yes ma’am.” Nikolay, my second in command squirmed in his chair. After I’d taken over there had been a little unrest. It wasn’t overly problematic but had to be dealt with. Loyalists to my deceased husband were executed. It only took a few deaths for all of the others to realize that I wasn’t fucking around and they began to fall into place.
Most fell into place.
“And you have no idea who is behind it?”
His face blanched. “We’re working on it.”
“You’re working on it. Forgive me for not feeling optimistic.”
He gulped. “There’s more ma’am.”
Lifting a brow I sat back into the chair, attempting to keep my cool when all I really wanted to do was grab the crystal lion paperweight on my deck and chuck it at his head. “What more could you have to tell me?”
“One of the men who was killed was Yury.”
I nodded, keeping my expression blank as I processed the fact that my best assassin was now dead. It’s not like they grew on trees. It wasn’t easy to find men of Yury’s skillset. How in the hell someone managed to kill him was a shock in itself.
“If I can speak frankly for a moment.”
“Of course.”
“The other organizations, they’re testing you, boss. They’re looking for weakness.”
I knew this and it wasn’t surprising. It was expected really. Pushing my chair back, I stood and made my way over to the bar at the back of my office, pulled a bottle of vodka from the fridge and poured myself a cocktail.
Nikolay watched me as I sipped on my drink.
“We need to replace Yury. That’s imperative,” I finally said.
“Of course.”
“Do you have any suggestions?”
He rubbed his chin a moment, before speaking. “I do. He’s a freelancer. I suspect that he’s going to be expensive and might take a little persuasion to be brought into the fold. From what I’ve heard he doesn’t play well with others.”
Guzzling the remainder of my drink, I poured myself a shot. “Good, then let’s set up a meeting. We can’t fuck around. I’ll leave it up to you and your best judgment to replace the remaining men. Also, send the families of our men a little token of our appreciation for the years of service along with my deepest condolences.” Money made the world go round. While it may not be a substitute for what the families lost, aside from vengeance, it was all I had to offer them.
“Okay, make it happen. Set up a meeting for tomorrow.” Putting the crystal shot glass to my lips, I drank the shot down.
“Tomorrow? With all due respect, I don’t know if- ”
Anger welled up in me. Pushing the annoyance down, I shot him a smile. “Just make it happen.” although the smile didn’t carry through to my eyes. “My patience is wearing thin with this bullshit. I want everyone involved in the attack on our shipment dead.”
Andrei
I’d heard the rumors about Milaslava Stepano, or the Ice Queen, as many liked to refer to her as. Most in my line of business had. The rumor was that she murdered her husband Dimitri in order to take over operations. They had one son, Jacob who was in charge of operations on an island called Helka Island. With him in charge overseas, she was the logical successor.
When it came right down to it, I really didn’t care either way. I wasn’t really interested in working for the Stepano family, or anyone for that matter, I preferred to keep low-key and not have to answer to anyone. Having no official affiliations helped keep a target off my back. The thing was that I’m very interested in meeting the infamous Ice Queen. She was cold and calculating, a force to be reckoned with or was all the talk hype? My curiosity was getting the better of me, so against my better judgement, I agreed to a meeting.
The black SUV approached what could only be described as a castle surrounded by a massive wall with guard towers at strategic points long the estate. The car pulled up to the guard house and after a moment of discussion the gates were opened and we proceeded onto the estate.
I was always one for simplicity and couldn’t imagine navigating the hallways of such a home. Massive estates like this didn’t normally impress me, but everything about this estate screamed old-world money and power. It wasn’t trying to be impressive; it was impressive.
As the car pulled up to the front doors, the oversized, wooden double doors opened wide and several armed guards poured out.
Grabbing the doorhandle, I pulled it open and got out, immediately surrounded by several guards, two of which has their rifles pointed directly at me.
A smile spread across my lips as I put my hands up and laced my fingers behind my head, spreading my feet. “I was hoping the boss would be doing this personally,” I couldn’t help but joke.
The guard directly in front of me didn’t so much as crack a smile as he waved a metal detection wand up and down my body and then proceeded with a pat down, removing the gun I had in the holster strapped to my side and the knife that I had strapped under my pant leg, to my calve.
“I have a weapon in my pants if you want to search there as well.”
The guard pulled a bag from his jacket pocket and placed the gun and knife inside. “You’ll get these back once you leave the property.” Without another word he and the other guards disappeared into the house.
Nikolay came to my side and motioned towards the open front doors. “I’ll lead the way to the boss. Follow me,” When I didn’t move straight away, he added, “Please.”
Giving him a smirk and a nod, I proceeded after him into the house. “How do you find your way around this place, this is insane.” My eyes drank in my surroundings. The interior mimicked the outside with sculptures and paintings that were easily centuries old. It was almost as though I’d stepped into a museum. You could see that while they attempted to keep the original feel of the castle, there were definite upgrades to modernize it.
Did Milaslava decorate it herself or did someone do it for her? I didn’t know her, but I had a feeling that there wasn’t much in the home that she didn’t have a hand in.
Our excursion through the house ended up with Nikolay leading me to glass doors that led to what at first glance appeared to be a greenhouse, but as we walked through the doors and into the room, I discovered that it was in fact a massive dome of glass.
Looking overhead, I noticed that the snow was falling onto the glass, melting and sliding down the sides of the dome. This was impressive and certainly didn’t come with the original build. Bright and colorful birds chirped in the trees off in the distance while classical music played softly in the background.
