Catch National Bestselling Author Latrivia Nelson today on Dialogue with Deidre @DeidreMalone, as she talks about the fifth book in the Lonely Heart Series, Highness, her upcoming contribution to the 12 Alphas, 12 Months Box set dropping on July 7th, Seeking Santa, and her last book as Latrivia S. Nelson before she marries, The Grunt 2. It’s all happening today Live at 12:00 p.m. on Dialogue with Deidre. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mutv1-channel-31
4th Annual Swirl Awards Now Open
Vote: Vasily’s Revenge by Latrivia Nelson for Romantic Suspense
Message from Koko:
Today we’ve opened the awards for nominations. The Swirl Awards was created to recognize and promote excellence in romance within the multicultural/interracial genre. So of course, all books are welcome regardless of race, nationality, gender or sexual orientation of the main characters. However, one of the main characters must be a person of color.
Nominations for Interracial/Multicultural novels published in 2014 ONLY will be solicited from authors for the following categories:
• Best Contemporary (non-erotic)
• Best Erotic Contemporary
• Best Historical
• Best Fantasy/Futuristic
• Best Paranormal
• Best Romantic Suspense
• Best Short Novella (10,000-20,000 words) •
All heat levels from erotic to sweet are welcome. But if for some reason, there are fewer than four nominees in a given category, that category will be eliminated from the competition. Entry into the contest is FREE. All submissions should be submitted by July 18, 2015 to theswirlnet@gmail.com.
Koko Brown
The Grunt 2
Synopsis:
“Marines don’t know how to spell the word defeat.” Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis
Staff Sergeant Brett Black is a decorated, career force recon Marine dedicated to Country, Family and God. Married to the colonel’s daughter, Courtney Black, the father of two and prepping for a promotion, his world is finally on track after a long history of unfortunate events.
However, while on a special op in in Afghanistan, Brett is severely wounded trying to save the life of a friend. Immediately, he is shipped back to the U.S. with the expectation of being medically retired for injuries sustained in the line of duty. Only for a man who has only known one way of life his entire adulthood, the prospect of being kicked of out the Marine Corps creates an internal crisis and an external family conflict. Will he be able to fight back to the man he was to stay in his beloved Corps?
Courtney Black is a new bride with a bubbling stepson and a brand new baby girl; however, she doesn’t want to just be a military wife her entire life. So, when her husband is injured, she sees an opportunity for them to leave Camp LeJeune and start a new adventure across the country, especially when Brett’s son’s biological father comes out of the shadows and threatens to fight for full custody. It’s her job to keep her family together, and for once in her life, she has a new found respect for her mother. Will she be able to find the balance between personal aspirations and family obligation?
Looks like the honeymoon is officially over the Black family. Read the love story about two young hearts as they discover that marriage is nothing about convenience but everything about sacrifice, honor and unity.
The 6th book in the Lonely Heart Series, The Grunt 2, by national bestselling author Latrivia S. Nelson.
Prologue
Oxford University
Oxfordshire, England
On a classic British autumn Wednesday of metallic gray skies, clean, brisk winds and multi-colored Sycamore trees, an afternoon lecture was taking place on the campus of Oxford University that was causing the masses to converge upon one of its most sacred buildings in record-breaking numbers.
The Sheldonian Theatre, situated in the city’s center, has long been a ceremonial gem. The eight-sided, historic fixture adorned with detailed tapestry, awe-striking brick masonry and overall old world opulence, was perfectly fitting for hosting the world’s most, powerful and wealthy crime lord.
Dmitry Medlov remembered visiting the campus many years back as a young man, when he attended his former lover Elsa’s graduation. Even then, after seeing so much in the world, he had been in complete won-der of the stately institution’s beauty. He still remembered feeling small and insignificant on campus and in comparison to the great thinkers who had matriculated here.
However, never in a million years, did he think that he would be a guest lecturer for its most prominent criminal justice academic community.
The appeal had come via FedEx and de-livered to the front door of his palatial mansion in Prague. Royal had delivered it with urgency, thinking that it had something to do with their son.
When he had first received the invitation from Oxford, he had understandably dis-missed it. There was no way that he was going to allow himself to be put on display for greenhorns and their ridiculous journals.
However, his son Maxim – one of those reluctant greenhorns – had begged him profusely to change his mind, arguing that, “Everyone already knows who you are and what you do. Now the University would like to understand why. Do this for me, please, Papa?”
His boy. His very own greenhorn.
The rest was history.
Unable to deny his son’s request, he accepted the invitation against his other children’s wishes. It was probably their urging not to do it that made him want to speak. He might have retired but he was by no means….soft.
After all, it wasn’t him who was in charge of the Medlov Crime Family any-more, and it wasn’t as if he was going to give any real specifics about any illegal activities that had taken place over the years.
In essence, he would just speak on the perception the world had of him throughout the decades, and how wrong they all were.
Now in front of a lecture hall full of over 1,000 hungry college students, professors, reporters, and curious fans with eyes glued to him and ears opened wide ready to receive his every word, Dmitry stood behind the podium in his signature, tailored black three-piece suit in complete silence.
The entire lecture hall was ominously still, waiting on bated breath for an answer to the question just posed by the student standing at that microphone.
A woman, whose resemblance to Elsa was uncanny, stood up during the Q&A and posed very specific questions to him. “Why did you feel the need to acquire so much wealth in your life? And do you feel that that greed has affected your ability to really be human?”
Dmitry raised a brow at the question. He could tell that despite the department’s previous assurances, this was not going to be a soft ball interrogation. With careful thought, he mulled through endless experi-ences to arrive at an answer appropriate for her delicate mind.
She deserved an answer and in some way, it was karma-like that he’d be addressed by a woman who reminded him so much of a past that started right here on the campus where Elsa had experienced some of her most exciting and turbulent times.
The gray on the sides of his golden blonde hair was accented even more by the gold rimmed glasses angled downward on his perfect nose. He rubbed his brow and looked down at his hand-scribbled notes under the desk light. Clearing his throat, he balled up the papers.
Bending toward the microphone, his bari-tone voice boomed and echoed throughout the acoustically superior room. “I never set out to acquire the wealth that I have been blessed to have acquired. I actually just wanted to not starve to death, and more than that, I didn’t want my little brother, a man whom I saw more like a son, to starve to death. This is one of those times when the saying the road to hell is paved with good intentions actually fits.”
Dmitry smiled a little, thinking of Ivan when he was yet a boy standing on the pavement outside of their old apartment in Moscow waiting on him to return from prison. A tear started to form in the side of his eye, but he quickly pushed it back. In his older years, he often thought of his brother often and often with painful side effects.
“We were beyond poor, and so alone, but we were determined to take our destiny into our own hands and make something of our futures. When you have that type of deter-mination, nothing is impossible, not even becoming a billionaire. And when you have that type of experience, nothing makes you more human.”
Maxim Medlov was sitting in the front row of the large group with the other col-leagues of his class in a pair of tweed slacks, a white button down shirt and a sweater, looking as splendid as a man of his stature should.
More of an academic than any other child of Dmitry’s, Maxim had grown into a hand-some, tall, young man with dark striking features and an equally striking thirst for knowledge.
Boasting ink black wavy hair curled at the nape of his neck, wearing silver-rimmed glasses over his bright blue eyes the color of a London topaz and looking so much like Ivan until it made his mother sick, he often was referred to as the “Clark Kent of the Medlov men.”
Only, despite all of his heavenly features, there was nothing adventurous about Max-im. He was a settled man who believed in reasoning and non-violence.
Even as a boy, he had always asked the question why and now in his adulthood, he sought out the reasons as a budding educa-tor, destined to be a professor at this very same institution. In fact, if his future was simply based upon the large endowment that Dmitry had given the school, Maxim’s grandchildren would also be professors here as well.
Watching his father answer the questions so candidly made him shift in his seat in discomfort. Maxim knew this scene would only anger Konstantin, his twin brother, more. He looked over across the room to find Konstantin glaring at him with an angry scowl on his face.
Dutifully standing guard over their be-loved father, Konstantin looked around the room covertly, scanning for threats. To say that he did not want to be here was a su-preme understatement. He loathed these philosophical types with all their tree hug-ging and non-violent ideals. He had seen that the world was made up of wolves and sheep, and nothing in between. It was sick-ening to him that their father had indulged his wimpy, simple-minded brother with this blasphemous request, and he had made sure to tell everyone just that at dinner last night right before he stormed off to be alone and brood.
Konstantin was the polar opposite of Maxim. While both were over 7’ tall, Kon-stantin was an extremely muscular, pure blonde, blue-eyed, olive-skinned monster of a man with a deep voice, brooding, rugged good looks, and possessing true Vor mental-ity.
He had quit college in his third year, re-fusing to further his education. Instead, he took a job under Anya and served as the Head of Security for Medlov Enterprises.
He had been the second of the children to move out of the family home, and was al-ways the one with the shortest temper.
His mother, Royal, was completely against it all, knowing that the company was a front for the Medlov Organized Crime Family’s larger and more criminal global operations. She wanted more for her son than be relegated to the same rules of his previous generation. But he wanted to fol-low in the footsteps of his father, his big brother Anatoly, and sister.
Still, what could anyone do about the boy quitting school?
Dmitry’s final word was that Konstantin was a man, capable of making his own decisions. He felt that he had equipped him with all the tools he needed to make his own life decisions. And if Konstantin wanted to follow in the Vor way, there was no way that he would deny him the opportunity.
Anatoly, was completely behind their fa-ther’s decision and had become his biggest advocate in all family decisions.
Anya could think of nothing better than having one of her baby brothers by her side, along with her husband, Semyon. As the first woman to reign in such a capacity, loyalty was a hard commodity to come by and she would never turn down someone she knew that she could trust.
Maxim was too much of an intellect to even weigh in on the decision. And even if he had, no one would have listened.
Then there was the baby girl of the fami-ly. Demi was, as usual, unaffected by the family feud. She was off planning a wedding and refusing to even accept that her family was associated with the Vor. Maxim would always comment that Demi had drunk the Kool-Aid and was now hopelessly blind to what their family had done in the world while gaining personal wealth.
Dmitry huffed and gazed out over the crowd. “The question of nature versus nurture could be better evaluated at my home. Do you breed criminals or are they born? Some in this world, though I’ve never been convicted of a crime as an adult, would say that I am a criminal.” His eye twitched. “I would ask the question, what billionaire is not a criminal?”
Everyone laughed.
“Show me one, and I’ll show you a man or woman who inherited billions but does not yet control it, because any time that you have that type of wealth and you are in control, something is bound to go wrong.” Scratching his throat, he straightened his long back. “My children have truly made me see what’s important in this life. They have also shown me that despite your best efforts, once they are adults, you have to let them make their own decisions. Even if you tell them a 100 times not to do what you have done…sometimes they still follow in your footsteps.”
Just then, the doors in the back of the lec-ture hall opened and with it came a bright light, cool air and a breathtakingly beautiful tall woman. She appeared through the double doors wearing a black leather jacket cut to fit her small waist and wide shoulders and a matching black leather skirt tapered to fit her wide hips and long legs down to the knee. Although she was well over 6’ tall, she wore leather stilettos that tied at the ankle making her appear even larger than life.
Busty and voluptuous, she walked with a powerful stride, hips moving with a mean sway. The diamonds in her ears, on her neck, her wrist, and finger caught the light and reflected across the room. Throwing her silky black hair over her shoulder, it landed perfectly down her back and feathered around her angelic face.
She strode in with all eyes watching in sheer admiration and curiosity. Right be-hind her were five enormous men, all wear-ing suits, and all very menacing in their appearance.
Dmitry paused, giving his daughter the moment her presence commanded. How she reminded him of her mother. She was al-ways draped in diamonds, always beautiful and always powerful.
“Speak of the devil,” he said, winking at Anya.
“Better late than never, Papa,” she said, walking down the aisle to the very front of the room.
Five scholars on the front row opposite Maxim stood up and moved as if on cue, far too intimidated by the woman to wait for her entourage to ask them to relocate.
Arrogantly, she removed her designer shades and sat down beside her brother. With a venomous glare, she smiled at him. “Enjoying your little show Maxim?” she asked under her breath.
She looked over at Konstantin who was eyeing her every move and smiled at him proudly. How she loved her Konstantin.
“Nice of you to add to the conversation, sestra,” Maxim said, rolling his eyes. He adjusted his glasses in frustration. “If you had let me know that you were coming, there would have been no need to strong arm innocent students for their seats. I would have reserved a few seats for you and your private army.” He looked at the men sitting beside her, so large until they barely fit in the chairs, and sucked in a frustrated breath.
Without asking, he was certain there were more of them outside, causing a scene and circling the perimeter of the building as if she was the Queen of England.
Anya huffed. “Well, there was no way in hell that I was going to allow you to just throw just Papa to these wolves.”
“They are not wolves,” Maxim answered suggestively.
“Really? Then why are they circling like wolves around him? Anyway…you know the saying, where there is one Medlov, there are many. Admit it or not, brother, you knew that I’d be here. I’ll always be here.” Anya crossed her long legs and blew her father an endearing kiss. “Please continue, Papa. Forgive my tardiness and interrup-tion.”
“No apologies needed, princess. I would wait for you until the end of time,” Dmitry said, picking up where he left off with more vigor. “Where was I? Yes, nature versus nurture…”
Are you a serious Medlovian? Do you love Nicola Agosto? Are you dying to know when the next Lonely Heart Series title will come out? Do you have questions about the backstories or ideas of how to make the series more complete? Well you need to join us at Latrivia Nelson’s Love Pub, where Fans go to Get Drunk on Fantasy (Facebook).
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I am very happy to announce that Vasily’s Revenge will be out as a part of the Scandalous Heroes Box Set on July 6th.
Vasily’s Revenge Synopsis Vasily Kavlov is head of security for the most feared and revered Russian mafia organization in the free world, The Medlov Crime Family. A quiet henchmen with no family, no love life and unyielding loyalty to his bosses, the thirties something bad boy is all work and no play. However, his past quickly comes back to haunt him, when the woman he nearly gave his life for ten years ago is threatened once again by an old enemy. Going to Lilly Rasputin’s aid won’t just be a journey down memory lane, it’s also a jolt to the system when he learns that he’s the father to her child.
Will changing everything in his life, give him new lust for it? And can he trust a woman who was the cause of his near death before?
Excerpt from Vasily’s Revenge
Latrivia Nelson (c) 2014
Please do not copy without expressed permission from the Author or Publisher
Prologue
Manhattan, NYC
Ten Years Ago
Prologue
Manhattan, NYC
Ten Years Ago
Even from downstairs in the Upper East Side three-story, luxury brownstone, Vasily could hear Lilly and his boss Leo arguing. The sound of raised voices and heavy objects hitting the wall and breaking were like nails on a chalkboard for him, reminding him of his less-than-fortunate childhood and the grizzly scenes that had unfolded at his father’s hand.
After so many years of being around constant and abhorrent violence from a toddler to a grown man, he knew trouble brewing when he heard it. He also knew when a man was headed toward a vehement eruption, and based upon the growl in his boss’s voice and aggressive words coming from his mouth, Lilly would be in trouble soon, if they both didn’t calm down.
Lilly was a voluptuous woman, the kind who looked like she was born to be a centerfold pinup. With a large, double-D bosom, a freakishly small waist and wide sculpted hips, she had captured everyone’s attention in the house, including
Vasily’s but he never let on about it.
There was something charming about her raspy, seductive voice and smooth coco skin, the way her lips curved into a heart and her almond-shaped, brown eyes always showed all of her emotions. Her hair was like soft black feathers and the dimples in the sides of both of her high-cheeks seem to explode every time that she smiled at him.
And Lilly smiled often, despite his attempt to be as dull and quiet as possible around her.
In fact, he often avoided her just so that he wouldn’t have to take in her intoxicating scent or try to hide the primitive reaction she caused in him.
Fresh out of hair school and going nowhere fast, she had fallen into Leo’s arms at an upscale night club in Manhattan where she was a waitress. His romance of her was quick and to the point. He wanted her. So, he took her.
In exchange, she got this…
A lesson in the fact that all that glitters is not gold.
Looking up at the crown molding ceiling of the parlor Vasily shook his head at the vibrations coming from above.
They were not calming down. If anything, they were ramping it up.
Another vase slammed against the wall upstairs, this time knocking down a painting with it. The clanging of the objects was only magnified by the constant name calling, not by her but by him. Leo berated her loudly, using his tongue instead of his hand for the moment to tear her down layer by layer.
There was only so much of this that Vasily could take, but the men sitting around the table with him seemed to be able to ignore it as they cleaned their guns, loaded their magazines and watched television like nothing was going on.
Some of them even ate their dinner and had sidebar conversations, never flinching as a woman just up the stairs screamed to the top of her lungs. To them, such a thing was typical, if not expected. Many of them had come from homes just like his, but had no better ideas of women than the men who had beat them and their mothers.
Vasily, on the other hand, swore to never hit a woman and never to allow one to be hit in his presence. Sure, there were evil women, no different from evil men in the world. But if he had to kill one, he did just that—respectfully with a bullet.
Taking a deep breath, he set down his Uzi on the round wooden table carefully and stood up, pushing his chair a few feet away in frustration.
Most of the men sitting around the table did not paid attention to him. They could not possibly fathom that he was actually about to do something as stupid as intervene between their boss and his girl. Besides, they were supposed to be getting ready for a meeting tonight where money and microchips would be exchanged at an undisclosed location, not dealing in things domestic.
“Don’t do it,” Yakov warned his friend in a thick Russian accent. He sat beside him at the table, watching Vasily’s demeanor change with each and every scream. “It’s not worth it.” He looked up at Vasily with old wisdom in his young features and shook his head, begging him to mind his own business.
Yakov had been with Leo longer than Vasily and knew his boss’s hellish temper and his history with women. What was going on upstairs was nothing new for the house. There had been many women before Lilly and would probably be many after her.
A hiss escaped him in anger. “I can’t just sit down here and listen to this,” Vasily said, clenching his square jaw. He looked up at the ceiling again impatiently. “He could be hurting her this time. Every argument gets one step closer.”
“They are just arguing. No big deal. Tomorrow they’ll be better,” Yakov promised. “Besides, she’s not your girlfriend. But he is your boss. Remember that.” He pointed at him to add levity to the situation. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Lilly yelled again, this time louder. The door to their bedroom flung open. “Fuck you, Leo!” she screamed. “I am so sick of dealing with your shit! You are not my father!”
“Get your black ass back here,” Leo ordered in a thick Russian accent, bolting out of the door after her with his black Armani shirt open to show his sinewy muscles and a tattooed chest.
Grabbing her by her slender arm, he swung her around and slapped her across the face all in one motion.
Instantly, she fell to the carpeted floor, grabbing her face and crying. She was stunned that he had actually hit her this time. With wide eyes of disbelief, she looked up at him deathly afraid.
The hit echoed as the men went silent in the room below.
His heart strained. “That’s it,” Vasily said, voice going sharp as he headed through the doorway.
“Vasily, no!”
Yakov was immediately torn. Vasily was his best friend and like a brother to him, but Leo was his boss and he was his second-in-charge. He knew that Vasily wasn’t wrong for wanting the fighting to stop. Lilly, after all, was a good and decent girl, but it was not their place to save her from a situation that she had put herself in.
Yakov stood up to go after Vasily, but gave him a moderate and intentional start. This was going to happen at one point or another. It might as well happen while he could help Vasily. He knew, while never saying anything, that Vasily had a thing for Lilly, but he also knew that his friend had never made one advance toward her. Vasily wasn’t like that. He was more honorable than any other man that he knew in the Vory v Zakone. And it would be his honor that would be his ultimate downfall.
“What do you want us to do?” one of the other men asked, not really alarmed by Vasily’s outburst.
Yakov motioned for the men to stay seated. “I’ve got this,” he said, refusing to put his friend into danger without cause.
Everyone sitting at the table was the shoot now, ask questions later type. Even if they had to kill Vasily, they wouldn’t care. He was one of them, but not really. He was newest to their small crew and only close to Yakov.
Headed up the elaborate alabaster wood staircase toward Lily’s cries, Vasily saw Leo look over the banister at him. He rushed as fast as he could, moving up the stairs two or three at a time, seeing red, determined to make the man stop his shouting and hitting.
As Vasily arrived on the third floor, heaving furious breaths, Leo scowled at him. His penetrating gray eyes were like a wolf locked on his prey. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he asked in a deep baritone, still standing over Lily like he was ready to attack again.
He looked down at the woman, wearing only a torn pink satin slip, lip bleeding and long black hair covering her bruised face. Unable to help himself, Vasily reached out for her. All he wanted to do was to protect and keep her safe, only he didn’t know why. “Get up,” he said to her with both authority and concern.
Leo snorted in response. “Are you serious?” He frowned; looking around like someone was playing a practical joke on him. “What is this?”
“She’s had enough,” Vasily snarled. “I’m not disillusioned by what kind of men we are, but we don’t beat women.”
Leo’s mouth dropped open when he realized that Vasily was serious. “I do whatever the fuck I want to do,” Leo reminded, hitting his chest like a caveman. He stood between Vasily and Lily, purposefully guarding his territory.
Leo was a big man, not easily pushed around or intimidated. Nearly as wide as Vasily, he boasted a thick, muscular chest and bulging arms and bottomed out with legs as large as tree trunks that were covered in tailored black slacks and leather dress shoes. His low black crew cut outlined his chiseled features—gray eyes, wide-lips, tanned skin, thick black brows and a splash of freckles across his face. He was menacingly handsome and overtly dangerous.
Leo gestured at the quivering woman while keeping his eyes on Vasily. “You’re fucking her, aren’t’ you?” He wiped his nose and planted his feet ready for a fight.
Vasily stepped closer. “No.” His tone was bitter and unapologetic. “If I were, I would not have let you lay the first hand on her.”
Lily pushed to her feet, forgetting the pain in her face for a second. She wiped her bloody mouth. “Leo, don’t. Let’s just go back inside and talk this out. There is no need to get anyone else involved.” Her voice nearly failed her. She didn’t want anything to happen to Vasily because of her. She liked him, more than he knew.
Leo laughed. “Oh, this is rich. You and my fucking foot boy? Really?” He looked between the both of them and put his hand on his hip in contemplation.
“Vasily has never touched me,” Lilly answered.
“I just don’t like men beating women,” Vasily said, eyes narrowing. “I don’t care who you are. I’m not going to let you put your hands on her again.”
“Is that a fact?” Leo’s fangs began to show. He was amused somewhat by the ridiculous attempt.
Yakov came up the stairs behind them, assessing the situation quietly. He looked over at Leo with faux-confusion. “What’s going on?” he asked, although he already knew.
“Are you fucking her too?” Leo asked Yakov.
“No, boss.” The look on Yakov’s face, a mix of surprise and denial, made Leo turn his attention back to the six-foot-four wall of muscle that was Vasily.
“Let me explain something to you,” Leo said walking over to Lilly and grabbing her up by her neck. “This is my property.” He pointed at Vasily. “You are my property, and if I choose to beat her or you then it’s my fucking business. Until you are boss, you don’t have a thing to say about it. Do I make myself clear?”
Vasily could feel the heat growing under his collar. “Let go of her,” he demanded. “I won’t say it again.”
Lilly’s brown eyes were filled with shame and fear. “Stop, Leo, please!” she begged.
Leo rubbed his jaw in contemplation. “Let go of her?” he asked, pushing her body against the banister as if he would push her over. “Here?” He pushed her harder and she screamed. “Or here?” He almost smiled at the reaction on Vasily’s face.
As half of Lilly’s body dangled over the edge of the railing, Vasily went for the gun in his holster at lightning fast speed.
Pointing it at Leo’s head with his finger on the trigger, he heard the distinctive click of a weapon behind him.
“Don’t do this,” Yakov begged, gun pointed. His friend had pushed his hand, leaving him no choice but to protect his boss.
“You throw her over, I pull this trigger and Yakov pulls his. Three people die. Won’t be the first three; won’t be the last. It’s that simple,” Vasily said without blinking. His greenish-blue eyes were intense under dark lashes and arched brows. “I really don’t give a fuck if I live or die as long as I take you with me. But one thing is for sure, if you push her over that railing, you’re next.”
Lilly screamed, crying for her life and looking down three floors at the daunting marble floor beneath. Her two-carat diamond necklace broke and fell below as Leo squeezed her neck. There was no doubt that if he pushed her over, she would fall to her death.
Pushing her hands against the railing to keep from going over, she struggled. “Please, Leo. Don’t do this? I’m sorry. God, I’m sorry, just please let me go!”
Vasily gripped the gun tighter, a bead of sweat forming at his left temple. “I’m waiting,” he bit out.
Leo calculated the impending risk. In all the time that he had had Vasily under his employ, he’d never known him to bluff. This was not an idle threat, nor was it a good situation for him.
Yakov’s hand shook, not because he was afraid to kill, but because he didn’t want to kill the person in front of him. “Vasily, think of what you’re doing,” he said in a calm voice.
“I am thinking,” Vasily said, not taking his eyes off of Leo.
Leo wasn’t exactly anxious to end his life over a woman that he’d only met the year before. And there was no way that he wanted to be shot by one of his own men. There was no honorable death in that. He’d be the laughing stock of the Vory v Zakone in New York.
Snatching her back over the banister, he threw her on the floor against the wall.
Vasily looked down at her and reached for her again. “Come with me,” he said softly. “Don’t stay here and put up with this shit.”
Lilly looked at his hand and started to cry. She wanted to leave more than anything, but she was afraid. Where would they go? Where would they hide from a man like Leo Rasputin? He was everywhere and knew everyone. He would find them and kill them.
Vasily’s face was awash with disappointment and rejection as he watched her recoil away from him.
Leo laughed, already acutely aware of the outcome. “You see, you’re the only one here who doesn’t know his place.” He put his index finger over his lips as he gave a crooked smile. “But let me remind you.”
Suddenly, a gun went off behind him as a man, who had gone unseen the entire confrontation, standing in a few feet back from the four of them in the hallway released a round that went straight through Vasily’s back.
It seemed as though time slowed down.
As the bullet exited his chest, Vasily dropped to his knees and looked across at Lilly one last time. Falling forward on the carpet, blood splattering out of his mouth, he finally released his gun.
As Vasily wheezed a gurgling violent last breath, Leo spit on his open wound and kicked the gun across the floor. “Get this peace of shit out of here,” he said, stepping over him.
Even as the light faded from Vasily’s eyes, he could hear Lilly’s screams. She cried as Leo drug her down the stairs out of the view of the man who had tried and failed to protect her.
Books Currently Released and Order to Read:
The Agosto Series:
Ivy’s Twisted Vine (2008) paperback
Ivy’s Twisted Vine Redux (2011) paperback/eBook
The World in Reverse (2013) paperback/eBook
The Medlov Series:
Dmitry’s Closet (2010) paperback/eBook
Dmitry’s Royal Flush: Rise of the Queen (2010) paperback/eBook
Anatoly Medlov: Complete Reign (2011) paperback/eBook
Saving Anya (2012) paperback/eBook
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov:
Book One (Same as V1:V4) paperback/eBook
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov: Volume 1
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov: Volume 2
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov: Volume 3
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov: Volume 4
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov: Volume 5 (eBook only)
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov: Volume 6 (eBook only)
The Lonely Heart Series:
The Ugly Girlfriend (2010) eBook/paperback
Finding Opa! (2011) eBook/paperback
The Grunt (2011) eBook/paperback
The Contingency Plan (2012) eBook only
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is moving forward with a drama that will trace the origins of organized crime in Russia. The studio has hired Andrew Sodroski to write Vor V Zakone. That is a Russian term that translates to Thief In Law, which refers to a professional criminal who holds elite status among other law breakers. This traces back to the Russian Revolution of 1917, where Stalin attempted to exterminate the criminal underworld and filled the gulags with bandits and thugs of every stripe. Rather than weed them out, that effort united them and created a heirarchy that continues to this day, with soldiers wearing their rank in the form of tattoos bestowed by leaders from prison. The narrative thru line here is how one man, a leader of the Vor V Zakone, rose to become the very person his brethren swore never to serve: the Tsar himself.
Michael Andreen is producing. Sodroski’s script Holland, Michigan is getting made with Errol Morris directing and Naomi Watts starring, with John Lesher’s Le Grisbi producing. The scribe was a history major at Harvard and has lived in Kosovo and the Republic of Georgia. He’s repped by CAA, Principato Young and David Fox. Andreen, a longtime studio exec, hatched the original idea for the epic drama and Warner Bros’ Jon Berg will oversee it.
http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/warner-bros-plans-russian-mob-origin-drama-vor-v-zakone/
Article written by: | Wednesday September 18, 2013 @ 4:33pm PDT
Prince Michael has always been England’s bad boy. Handsome, confident and completely untraditional, many of his antics garnered front-page news and international headlines over the years. However, once he gets engaged to a woman of note, he finally become a man that his mother, The Queen of England, can be proud of. Too bad, the world wind romance is short lived.
Catastrophe: After calling off the wedding to Thalia, his brother Richard convinces him to get out of the public eye and covertly go to the United States for a while where he hopes that Michael will gain a little more respect for his title and position by living as a commoner, and so the media won’t keep catching him in other women’s beds. To make the situation a little more discrete, they pick the small town of Hernando, Mississippi for their experiment. Normally, Michael would have considered the entire proposal laughable, but the constant fallout from the breakup make what started out as a preposterous suggestion a pliable solution.
Hope Daniels is on top of the world. Working on a collection of art to display in a few months after signing a major deal, she feverishly is working toward her deadline, when suddenly disaster strikes. After being in a head-on collision with a drunk driver, she is left temporarily blind and completely alone. With no one to help take care of her, her agent pushes her to hire someone to help her around the house until her sight comes back. After the most ridiculous interview ever, she finally agrees to hire handyman, Beau Michaels, not knowing that her help is actually the royal variety.
Blessing: Michael’s never been understood, mostly because his beauty and title have always gotten in the way of any sincere connection with a woman, but with Hope blind to his looks and unaware of his true status, he is forced to be himself for the first time ever.
With his majesty waiting on Hope hand and foot, and Hope feeding Michael’s soul with more than pomp and circumstance, their connection becomes electric.
Only what happens when she can see again and he finally sees what he wants in life?
Read the fifth book in The Lonely Heart Series by National Bestselling Author Latrivia S. Nelson, Highness. Coming Soon.
Michelle Obama wears Carolina Herrera gown at state dinner
I can’t give you an actual account of what happened at last night’s state dinner because I wasn’t there. LOL. To say that I was invited but I had other things to do is like choosing to stay home and wash your hair the day of rapture. But I still kept up with all the excitement. I love most things French and was excited about the President of France coming to the states. Then there was a star-studded event worthy of a good romance novella all by it self. But what impressed me the most was not our debonair President or the celebrities, it was First Lady Michelle Obama’s dress. Damn, the girl killed it and I’m so proud of her. First Lady Obama is one of those women whom I just absolutely am proud of Monday through Sunday and she couldn’t have picked a better dress or hairstyle than last night’s for the big State Dinner. Read more below, but that was just my account on what I didn’t see for myself (snicker).
STATE DINNER
ABC News’ Chris Good: “Citizen-Stars Of The State Dinner” For the most part, Tuesday night’s state dinner was a star-studded affair. Marking the visit of French President Francois Hollande, President Obama and his French counterpart toasted each other’s countries before a lavish meal at the White House, and before an entertainment- and political-celebrity-filled crowd that included the likes of Bradley Cooper and his supermodel girlfriend, Mindy Kaling, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, outgoing NBA Commissioner David Stern, Stephen Colbert, and members of Congress and cabinet secretaries. LINK
USA Today’s Maria Puente: “Obamas Bid Bon Appetit To Hollande (And Bradley Cooper)” Guess who came to dinner at the White House state affair for French President François Hollande? Well, besides Bradley Cooper. Well, besides Bradley Cooper. Not Hollande’s wife, because he doesn’t have one. Not his gorgeous girlfriends, because he’s already dumped two of them. And not his current gorgeous girlfriend, because, well, she’s just too new to display to the Yanks, already agog at the details of his complicated romantic life. But the show must go on when it’s a grand state dinner at stake, and so President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed a solo Hollande for tonight’s gala at the White House, where the celebrity guests included French-speaking heartthrob movie star Bradley Cooper and his girlfriend Suki Waterhouse. LINK
Another hot first lady look…
Author Latrivia Welch Official Blog 