The Jersey Vignettes: A Russian Guns Novella (The Russian Guns Book 6) Read online

“You did or you wouldn’t be in Little Odessa right now,” Anton argued.

  “Stop it,” Ana whispered, willing the tears away.

  She couldn’t stop the damned things. They were like a constant flood of her emotions and hurt streaking down her face. How she made the two and a half hour drive from Jersey to Brooklyn without crashing, Ana wasn’t sure.

  “I just need a couple of days,” Ana said, hoping her heart would calm. “Just to think and get away from that so I can go back and not be angry with him.”

  Anton nodded. “Okay.”

  “Please don’t be angry with me, Daddy.”

  “For what?” Anton asked. “Why on earth would I ever be angry with you, my dushka?”

  “Because I’m not like Ma, and I can’t always be okay.”

  Viviana Avdonin was the strongest woman Ana knew. Her mother had seen and experienced more things because of the mafia than some of the men who worked for Ana’s father. Viviana rarely seemed to blink a lash at any of it. Ana tried to be that kind of person, the Bratva wife, unaffected.

  But she couldn’t always do that.

  She’d failed.

  People, angry with her husband, had come into their house and could have killed Ana and her children. How was she supposed to turn her cheek to that?

  “Oh, Ana,” Anton said, sighing heavily. “I’m not mad at you. You’re not your mother. You don’t have to be.”

  “Don’t I?” Ana asked.

  She was the wife of a Bratva boss, after all.

  “No, because you’re just perfect for him. Nobody else matters.”

  • • •

  Ana stepped out of the car, hugging her middle as she glanced up at the man sitting on the front steps of the large home. Koldan rested his arms over his knees and watched her like he was waiting for her to bolt.

  Ana’s heart broke.

  Maybe her father had been right.

  Maybe she had run.

  Ana let the boys out of their car and booster seat from the back of the Benz. Adrik and Daniil wasted no time getting out and running across the large driveway to their father’s waiting arms. Koldan laughed as the boys climbed into his lap. Ana smiled as her husband kissed her boys’ heads and hugged them tight.

  The police tape was gone.

  The broken windows were fixed.

  The glass that had sprinkled the driveway and Koldan’s shot up car had been removed.

  It was like the ambush and attack hadn’t even happened.

  Not physically, anyway.

  Ana could still feel the aftereffects lingering, especially in her heart.

  She grabbed Sasha’s car seat from the backseat, balanced the seat on her hip and crossed the driveway. Koldan stood to greet his wife, sadness playing in his gaze even though he smiled.

  “Krasivyy,” Koldan murmured. “The house doesn’t feel right when the boys aren’t tearing it apart.”

  Ana smiled. It was honest and true. She’d missed him over the last two weeks. Her unexpected trip to Brooklyn kept her there longer than she first meant to stay. “Oh?”

  “No.” Koldan took the car seat from Ana and set it to the step. Bending down, he played with little Sasha’s kicking feet. “Hello my princess. Papa missed you, baby girl.”

  Sasha cooed. “Pa, pa, pa.”

  Adrik and Daniil had already made their way into the house like nothing was amiss. They weren’t frightened or worried. Ana wished she could say the same.

  Standing straight, Koldan held out a hand for Ana. She took it without question. “And I missed you, Ana.”

  “Did you?”

  “Yes,” Koldan said. “So much.”

  “I’m sorry I took off.”

  Koldan shrugged. “I’m sorry you felt like you had to.”

  Ana let him tug her into his chest. She let herself be suffocated by that feeling of his warmth and love. It was a constant in their life. No matter what happened, that was always there. Koldan’s lips brushed over Ana’s cheekbone, seeking her mouth. She took his kiss, needing it.

  Their life certainly wasn’t perfect. Ana wasn’t perfect.

  “We’re okay,” Ana whispered.

  Koldan nodded and held her tighter. “As long as you’re here, everything is beautiful.”

  Because she was his.

  “Always.”

  About the Author

  Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to three very young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, a snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a spouse calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something ... when she can find the time.

  Find her on Facebook, on her Website or Twitter - @BethanyKris.

  Sign up to Bethany-Kris’s New Release Newsletter to be notified when new releases are out.

  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost, I want to thank the main hero of this series. The Avdonin family was just a silly dream of mine. A Russian man who talked to me like my characters do sometimes, and one day I decided to indulge his voice and put him on paper. He was my first mob boss, and while he wasn’t as violent or as bloody as some of the ones I wrote after him, he was the first. And that made him so incredibly important to me. He shaped how I wrote heroes each time I sat down to pen a new man once I was done writing Anton’s story. He continues to shape how I write them. And so, he deserves mentioning and gratitude, even if he is only fictional.

  To my readers, the ones who have stuck through this series, the ones who begged for the story to continue, even when I said it wouldn’t be pretty, thank you. I don’t think you realize it, but you made this series worth it for me. You made it worth writing when it seemed more difficult than fun. You made it worth my time and effort. Your messages and time means the world to me. Thank you for loving this series, this fictional family of mine, as much as you have. In some ways, it was you who made this family more real to me.

  To the girls who worked on this series with me in one way or another, editing, proofing and pre-reading, thank you. Tracy, Elle, and Eli. Words just aren’t good enough. My biggest fans, always in my corner.

  Jay Aheer … your work on the Guns covers have always been some of my favorites. Your talent is amazing, and you always hit on just what I’m looking for or needing. It’s invaluable. You capture my words in a cover, and for that, I am forever grateful. Thank you.

  I know I said once that Shattered was the end of The Russian Guns. In a way, it was. The Jersey Vignettes was simply my thank you to the readers, my gift for your enjoyment and love, while saying goodbye in my own way to the Avdonins.

  And thank you.

  —Kris

  Other Books in The Russian Guns

  The Arrangement, Book One

  The Life, Book Two

  The Score, Book Three

  Demyan & Ana, Book Four

  Shattered, Book Five

  Find out more about this series on Bethany-Kris’s website at www.bethanykris.com.

  Other Books by Bethany-Kris

  Filthy Marcellos

  Filthy Marcellos: Lucian

  Filthy Marcellos: Giovanni

  Filthy Marcellos: Dante

  Filthy Marcellos: Legacy

  Filthy Marcellos: The Complete Collection

  Find out more on Bethany-Kris’s website at www.bethanykris.com.

  Copyright © 2016 by Bethany-Kris. All rights reserved.

  WARNING: The unauthorized distribution or reproduction of this copyrighted work is illegal. No parts of this work may be used, reproduced, or printed without expressed written consent by the author/publisher. Exceptions are made for small excerpts used in reviews.

  ISBN: 978-1-988197-06-7

  Cover Design © Jay Aheer

  This is work of fiction. Characters, names, places, corporations, organizations, institutions, locales, and so forth are all the product of the author’s imagination, or if real, used fictitiously
. Any resemblance to a person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.