"Are you ready?"
I nodded preparing myself for what was ahead of me. Six different men in front of me, none of them willing to hold back. It had been three years already and it was time to finally be done with my combat training.
The first man lunged as I escaped his grip by moving to the left and kneeing him in the crotch, he doubled over when the next one grabbed my wrist and aimed to punch me in the face, I dodged it and stepped on his leg, launching myself in the air and wrapping my thighs around his neck until he fell to the floor.
I flipped backwards just missing the next mans fists by an inch, I ran forwards skipping two of them and kicked the last one on the chest rounding my foot around and kicking the second in the face. I landed on my knee as the last man hesitated. Idiot, I thought to myself.
I flipped frontwards and launched both of my feet in the center of his chest as I fell on my ass and he flew backwards.
I felt myself get grabbed by my shoulders and pinned to the floor. Enzo...
I knocked his nose with the back of my head allowing me to free myself, and I immediately stood up.
He had already recovered and was staring me down. Three years and he some how managed to look even better. Damn, I thought to myself.
I lunged for him but he blocked it with his forearm and twisted my arms behind my back painfully pinning me to the wall.
"That's all you got Petrov?" he whispered in my ear.
I stomped on his foot and he stumbled backwards slight loosening his grip on my arms. I leaned on his chest as I ran my feet on the wall flipping backwards over his head and onto my feet.
I dropped to the floor and extended my leg in one swift motion forcing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor.
"Are you ever going to not fall for that?" I asked smugly.
He kicked my ankle causing me to fall to the floor next to him as I painfully knocked my back on the floor.
"Alright end it. If I wanted to be here all day, I'd let you two fight it out," my grandfather said laughing.
Enzo got up and offered me his hand with a smug look on his face, "I guess I'm a slow learner Aleksandra."
I rolled my eyes and reluctantly took his hand as he helped me up.
"Come, both of you," my grandfather said starting to walk out of the room.
We both followed him as he led us to the mansions basement, which was a makeshift dungeon of sorts.
After passing five guards, we finally got to the door all the way at the end of the hall and once he opened it up there was man tied to the chair.
I immediately recognized him as Pablo Del Castillo, Guillermo's cousin.
"This is it little rose, this is the final step of your training. If you can extract information from him about how Guillermo infiltrated your family home, I'll give you the information in this file," he held up a manila folder, "With details for your very first field operation."
He started to leave the room with Enzo, "You have one hour exactly little rose. I suggest you start now."
_______
Enzo
"It's good to see you Lorenzo," Lana said as she stood next to me on the balcony.
"It's been a long time Lana," I smiled at her.
"I wish it was under better circumstances," she said sadly, "Sometimes I wonder.."
"No."
"No?" she faced me.
"You shot Guillermo's mother. Now you think that if you hadn't none of this would have happened," I turned and faced her, "If you hadn't, she would've killed Adalia along with Aleksandra, Nikolai, and Aiya and Valeria would've never been born. You made no mistake killing that woman. She almost killed your husband."
"You're right," she started, "But she was mother. At the time I didn't know I was pregnant with Sebastian, but once he was born I suddenly understood why'd she'd want to kill my brother and Adalia. Tell me Lorenzo, do you think she was wrong?"
"Adalia didn't kill Guillermo, Lana. She was guilty only of falling in love with a Petrov," I smiled, "Can't blame her," I said shrugging my shoulders.
She raised her eyebrows, "Aleksandra, huh?"
I reluctantly nodded.
"To be honest with you Lorenzo, I didn't think she'd ever give you the time of day," she laughed, "I'm glad to see things have changed."
"You and me both," I laughed, "I loved the women for almost four damn years. No one has a talent for pushing people away like she does."
"Must be a family trait."
I turned around and saw Yeremy smiling at Lana. He walked towards her and she smiled as she kissed him on the cheek, "I was well worth the wait, no?"
"My love you were worth the wait and the bullet I took to the chest," he said kissing her on the lips.
After a few seconds, it became clear they didn't plan on stopping, "Excuse me before this turns rated R," I said laughing.
I quickly shut the door behind me and caught my breath. Suddenly Sebastian walked towards me, "Can I-
"Trust me, you of all people don't wanna go in there right now," I said.
"Ew," he said as I started laughing.
"Why don't you come with me? I have some business to attend to for your grandfather collecting information from your cousin Boris," I said.
"Definitely better than the alternative."
After an hour we got a call from Boris about his location at a bar. Once we got inside the bar wasn't too packed, and we saw Boris sitting there on his own.
"Drinks?" he asked us.
"Nothing for me," I said sitting down on the chair next to him.
"Vodka," Bash said sitting down.
After a few minutes, Boris started to look around nervously.
"Let's cut the crap, huh, Boris. What information did you have to give to Mikhail?" I asked getting slightly annoyed.
"Calm down Lorenzo, I have the information, but not all ears are friendly ones," he said finishing up his drink.
I sighed and quickly whipped my gun out of its holster and shot the ceiling twice, quickly enough panic arose in the bar and everyone cleared out.
"Problem solved," I said putting my gun back in its holster.
"What information do you have cousin?" Sebastian asked putting his drink down.
"Guillermo isn't planning on marrying his son to the Mexican Cartel princess," he said pouring himself some more, "Think about it. After forcefully taking over the Spanish mafia, he doesn't have the reach over everyone like he needs to finish his plans for your family and even with the cartel it won't be enough."
"So what's he planning?" Sebastian asked.
"He needs a De León. The union of a Del Castillo and a De León will easily smooth the ruffled feathers of many still loyal to Adalia's family. He's even seeking passage to the states as we speak."
"There's too many women with De León blood in my family to know which one he's after," Sebastian started, "He could be after Fiona, Brianna, Aiya, Valeria-
"He's after Aleksandra," I said cutting him off, "Nothing more poetic than marrying Juan Carlos and her."
"He can't possibly be seeking passage into the states to kidnap Aleks, that's suicide. He doesn't have the manpower," Sebastian said.
"No," I started, "But he could get some in the states."
Sebastian stood up, "It's time for us to go back home, now."
_______
Aleks
I shut the door behind me and took a deep breath. I started walking towards her bed as I tucked some of my hair behind my ear.
I sat down in the chair next to her bed and I stared at her, "Hi mama, long time no see."
I hadn't seen her in almost two years, coming to see her was just too hard. Especially when I didn't have any leads to present to her.
I grabbed her hand and held it softly, "I have a lead mama, I know where he'll be in six months. In six months the man that put you here will be a dead man."
The room fell silent, only the sound of her monitors beeping and her soft breathing filled my ears.
I felt myself beginning to get overwhelmed, "None of it will mean anything if you don't wake up, mama," I said almost whispering.
I paused eagerly staring at her hoping, desperately for a reaction. But, nothing happened.
Tears began to swell in my eyes as I stood up and made my way towards the door. I'd do anything just to talk to her again and even with everything I'm capable of, I can't save her no matter what I do.
I finally started to breath once I reached the hallway and I quickly dried my cheeks. Now isn't the time, not when you're so close, I thought.
Suddenly I saw a cloud of black suits pass by me as I leaned against the wall. I recognized the guards, they were all assigned to my brothers protection detail.
What is Nikolai doing here, I thought.
I decided to follow them and they led me to our fathers hospital room, "Nikolai?" I said calling after him, and instantly every man near him pulled out a gun and pointed at me.
"Lower your weapons," I heard Nik say as his face appear out of from the group of men he was with.
"What's going on?" I asked tentatively.
"Come," he said, "We have things we should discuss with father."
I nodded and followed him into our fathers hospital room, as his guards positioned themselves around the hospital hallway.
I shut the door, "Is the security detail really necessary? No one but family knows about this hospital."
"I can't be too sure about that anymore. I just finished having a meeting with Elijah Carter today and he assured me that Guillermo was seeking passage to the states," he said facing my father.
"How could he possibly be after our family with no backup?" my father asked sitting up in his bed.
"What if he came to the states to get backup?" Nikolai said, "Didn't he have an old colleague here in LA?"
"Ricardo Juan Poncé?" I asked, "He has no reason to hate us. The Russian mafia has no quarrel with any cartel but the Mexicans."
My father groaned, "Ricardo Juan Poncé has every reason to despise Aiden and Santana," he said rubbing his temples.
"But that doesn't make any sense," I said, "Why would he get extra muscle here in the states if he'll have it in six months once he marries his son to Alandra Rodriguez?"
"Strength in numbers, I suppose," Nik said shrugging his shoulders, "Regardless I'm upping the security in the hospital."
"Son, you don't need to worry about me," he started, "You need to warn you're aunt and uncle immediately. Guillermo might be making moves with Ricardo as we speak."
"It's already being handled," Nik said.
"How do we know that Ricardo will agree to go against us? A simple cartel doesn't exactly stand a chance against us," I said.
"You don't know Ricardo like Guillermo does. They've been friends for a long time. They grew up in the Spanish mafia together. If Ricardo isn't swayed by revenge on your aunt and uncle, he'll surely be tempted to get a foothold within the Spanish mafia again," my father said.
"This never ends does it?" Nik said sighing.
"If Ricardo wants to die along side Guillermo, let him," I said, "But believe me brother, I will end this."
_________
Guillermo
"What a pleasure it is to see you again, Ricardo," I said sitting down as he poured our drinks.
"I wish I could say the same," he said handing me my drink, "But I know exactly why you're here, and my answer is no."
"No?"
"Unlike you, I know how to move on, old friend. That shit that happened with Santana and Aiden over twenty years ago means nothing to me," he shrugged his shoulders, "I got married and I had my own children. I built this cartel up. I have everything I want. Why would I risk that?"
"Aside from me being an old friend," I said placing my drink on the coffee table, "I can offer you more than just your cartel. Real power comes from organized crime. No one knows that better than us."
"What exactly are you proposing?" he asked finishing his drink.
"I'm proposing a merge between your cartel, my mafia, and the Mexican cartel."
"From my understanding you haven't fully acquired the full support of the Spanish mafia, Guillermo."
"You're right, but I have a plan for that."
"And that is?"
"My son, Juan Carlos will be wed to Aleksandra Katya Svetlana Petrov in six months."
His eyes widened, "Forcefully I presume."
I nodded, "A plan has been set up, but with your endless resources, you can make moves that I can't exactly make from all the way in Spain. So, old friend, are you in?"
"You'll have her in a few months," he smiled. I raised my glass to him.
He paused for a moment then extended his hand, "It's a pleasure doing business with you once more, Guillermo."
I shook his hand, "The pleasure is all mine, Ricardo."
- - End of Chapter - -