CHAPTER-2

Aria stared at herself in the mirror. She was dressed in her black leather pants and a top with the same black leather jacket. Her hair was tied into a tight bun and she finished her look with a chunky heeled calf-length black leather boots.

She was slaying the image of the confident female leader, just like the queen of Cosa Nostra. She needed to show her soldiers that even though she was a woman she feared no one. Not even the man known as the Merciless Monster, Aleksandr Fedorov.

Sighing, she closed her eyes when her cell phone went off.

“You need patience, Aria. Patience not Havoc." She muttered before opening her eyes and taking the phone from the dressing table. "The car is ready, Madam."

Aria ended the call and left to meet the infamous Pakhan to establish peace with him. Her brother and guards were following her in their own vehicles.

The car stopped near an abandoned warehouse. Aria's eyebrows pulled together, it was the same warehouse where her father butchered two combatants Bratva a few weeks ago.

Is this some kind of trick? She couldn't help but think, yet she stepped out of the car but with her gun unlocked in her pants. Her brother and the two underbosses of Cosa Nostra stood behind her. "Keep your guns unlocked. I don't feel good about the place." She muttered silently.

"It's a peace talk," Massimo cued her. She turned her eyes to him, "We have seen bloody weddings too Massimo. A peace talk is nothing in front of it," she reminded him sternly.

Leonus ate a snorty reply but did as she said anyways. When they walked inside a man with blue eyes and blonde hair stopped them. "No woman is allowed in the meeting. If you want to exchange gifts," The man said to Leonus while ogling Aria. "We can do that after the meeting, not before that, the lady must leave. It's a men's table."

The men standing behind the guard laughed at the suggestion.

Fire ran though Aria's body and her eyes turned into ice. Leonus looked at his sister while Massimo and Enzo observed Aria. But they all remained silent and let Aria handle the situation on her own as per their Capo's order.

Aria moved forward and stood in front of the man eye to eye who dared to stop her from entering the meeting. Her eyes stern and body tight with anger. "Is your Pakhan scared of losing his wits seeing a woman. If that's the case, I must say He should learn self-control in these matters. A man who can't control his desires is not fit to lead."

The man's blue eyes turned hard. "How dare you speak against my Pakhan? Who do you think you are?" The man snarled.

"Aria Salvatore Knight. Daughter of the Velenoso and the person who came to talk to your merciless Monster. Now if you get my introduction, shall we go ahead and start the meeting?"

"Has Velenoso lost his men to some disease that a woman came to lead to a men's table?" Came a deep husky voice from behind the man stopping Aria and her soldiers from walking ahead.

The blue-eyed man took a step back. "Pakhan." Aria shifted her gaze to the man as her eyes landed on him.

Aleksandr Fedorov!

The man known for his mercilessness. He moved with an ease and confidence as if He didnt care about anything in the world.

"Aria Salvatore Knight. Velenoso’s daughter and the person who came to lead the peace talk for Cosa Nostra with me," He stated as He stood in front of Aria. His powerful aura oozed intense energy in the air as He pinned her with his intimidating ocean blue eyes.

His gaze went to Leonus and Massimo for a moment, they both were vigilant and ready to take action. No matter what it would be. Peace Talk or Gun war. He squinted his eyes back to Aria. The woman was standing in front of him without any fear in her eyes.

"The table is for men, not women. Go and ask your Capo to come to my table himself if he wants peace." He declared, eyeing Aria from head to toe mockingly before turning around to walk away.

Aria gritted her jaws at the insult. No matter how powerful, and devilishly handsome this merciless monster was, She wanted to pull out her dagger and slash his tongue for insulting her but then she decided to slash his ego instead.

She chuckled. "I understand your fear of not getting on the peace table with a woman, Aleksandr Fedorov. After all, you guys have a history of a queen overthrowing a king. Are you scared of history repeating itself?"

She mocked him just like the way He mocked and smiled proudly when she noticed him getting stiffened. She got the reaction she needed from him.

If He was the Merciless Monster then Aria was the cunning Ogress!

The place turned dangerously silent. Mikhail, a blue-eyed man stiffened hearing someone insulting his Pakhan and that too a woman. He looked at Aleksandr from the corner of his eyes, trying to see if He wanted him to use a gun but didn't find any sign of it. So he remained standing silently and watched his Pakhan once again facing Velenoso's daughter.

Aleksandr raised his chin and once again fixed his magnetic eyes on Aria. "The Queen who overthrew the King was his wife. And you, moy dorogoy are not my wife. And unlike that king, My commander is loyal to me and so will be my wife when I take her," his brows plucked together and his lips stretched into a proud grin.

"Or are you here for that?" Aleksandr once again rolled his eyes over her body as He took in her feminine curves piece by piece on her body. "Is this Velenoso's way of forming peace between Bratva and Cosa Nostra? By sending his daughter to…"

Angry monster raised its head in her mind and it once again broke into havoc. But she curbed her fury. She reminded herself of the presence of her brother and the underbosses. She reminded herself what was at stake for her.

Swallowing her anger, she raked her eyes on his body too like He did a few minutes ago. "No, Aleksandr Fedorov. I don't need to marry you or sleep around with your commander to throw you out of the throne. This queen is capable of doing it on her own because she has her own army and own throne to rule over. Moreover, you are not man enough to handle a tigress like me. You just don't have it in you."

The smile on Alexander's face vanished like water under the burning sun. "Do you want to see how big of a man I am, tigritsa?” He asked, taking a step close to her but Aria remained standing on her ground. She was not affected by his lethal smirk, massive body and terrorising vibes. Their eyes bore into each other with intense gaze. Gray to blue.

"No. You don't interest me. And A tigress slays with the tiger only, not a street dog."

His brows plucked upward, if Aria was expecting a violent reaction she didn't get it. Instead the smirk on his face turned into a grin and it irked her. She clenched her jaws and spoke. He was silently infuriating her and wasting her time.

"I love the way you are talking, Tigrista. I never expected that this meeting would turn into a fun session. It will be hot with you. Spicy and wild," he inhaled deeply and rolled his eyes on her body. "I will enjoy you, thoroughly."

Aria was burning at the insult. The sexual blasphemy behind his words was adding fuel to her anger but she couldn't act on her anger. Patience was needed not havoc, she reminded herself and looked at the bastard standing in front of her. "I wish I could say the same. Only if you had the masculinity I want in man, I would have trained you for my pleasure. But as I said, you just don't have it in you." She answered in the equally mocking tone.

Aleksandr sharpened his eyes hearing her words. His enemy's daughter was not what he expected her to be. She was not the spoiled mafia princess he imagined. This princess has claws. Wild claws and temper. A dangerous combination.

Aria moved forward and got into his face. Her grey eyes wild with anger while His blue eyes were enjoying her turmoil. "I don't care from which hellhole you come from or who you are. For me, you are nothing but a stray dog who is sniffing around my territory. Unlike the Irish and the Irish mafia, Cosa Nostra don't want alliances to look strong. This is our kingdom and you have no place in it. So stop your activities in our Territory from this moment or a war will greet your door and this time my men won't butcher yours, they will parade the remains of their corpse for the world to see."

Aleksandr resisted to grab her mouth to shut it as being a shorty in front of him, she had a big and brat mouth.

"Do you have the authority to make such an announcement, moya Tigritsa." He asked in a mocking tone but his eyes were as hard as steel. He wanted to break this girl in front of him.

Break and torture her for insulting him.

Aria gave him a side nod. "You don't know who is standing in front of you," She stated, "Get the tell of my city before I throw you out of it. I don't want to see you or your men in my area. If you want to live Go back wherever you come from." She warned him, her eyes fearless and aura confident.

"Because New York is Cosa Nostra's territory. My territory!" she almost growled.

Aleksandr kept staring at her unblinking as He sensed her insanity for the Cosa Nostra. It didn't take him a second to know that this woman was not some typical woman, she possessed masculine personality and passion for the mafia world. He had never encountered a woman like her in his entire life and this somehow excited him in a different way.

A powerful woman hungry for the Mafia throne!

He recalled her hard grey eyes which resembled her father. A vicious smirk played on his face when something hit him.

He watched her turn around and walk out of the building. When she was out of his vision only then his gaze faltered to the men standing there. Leonus Knight gave him an aggressive glare before he walked out with Massimo.

Aleksandr chuckled. Though He hates women playing man’s role in the criminal world, it didn't hit his ego.

"The girl has got some balls, Mikhail." His eyes gleamed in rage as the words she said kept roaming in his mind and ears. "But my balls are bigger than yours, Tigritsa. And now Everything in New York belongs to me."

"Mikhail."

"Pakhan."

"I want the streets of New York filled with Russian weeds. Cut the price of our drugs, sell it at a discounted price but make sure people prefer Russian weed over Italian one. This tigritsa wants war, I will gladly give her one. The passionate one! Which she would love."

Mikhail nodded. "As you say Pakhan."

Aleksandr smirked. "You are going to regret your words soon, Tigritsa. Until now, I was playing with you but now I will show you what war really means."