• Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
HEN HOUSE PUBLISHING
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact

Hens Lay Eggs

food for thought

Russian Pride by Holly Bargo #MFRWhooks

8/5/2020

 

August Book Of The Month 
Buy The Series ​

Picture

Russian Pride 
 (Russian Love Book 4) 
​by Holly Bargo

​Rescued from domestic abuse, Bratva princess Inessa recuperates from the latest beating in the home of Giovanni Maglione, the mafia captain of Cleveland. Learning that her husband double-crossed the Chinese triad, and they want their pound of flesh--and they're happy to take it out of Inessa--her parents ask Giovanni to marry their newly widowed daughter. The Chinese triad will be looking for a Russian mobster's wife, not the wife of an Italian mobster. Inessa agrees to this marriage of convenience which, of course, isn't so convenient. The ruse fails, which forces Giovanni into a violent and bloody mob war, because he protects what's his... and Inessa is most definitely his.

Excerpt 

Inessa whimpered, cowered in a corner, and tried to protect her head from the blows raining down on her.
“Yebanaya suka!” Ruslan shouted as he switched from using his fists to kicking her with his booted feet. He preferred pointy-toed cowboy boots.
Inessa moaned as she felt another rib give way, the crack inaudible beneath the thud of his boot against her side and his bellowed curses.
“Cheat on me, will you? You dare to sleep with another man?” he yelled in Russian. “Fucking bitch! No man will want to touch you after I’m through with you!”
She groaned again, her voice hoarse and no singular pain distinguishable from another among the contusions and broken bones resulting from yet another perceived infraction of Ruslan’s many rules. She should have known better than to smile when thanking the nice young man for helping to carry and then load the groceries into the car. But it had been so nice to have someone do something for her just that once, especially since she hadn’t quite healed from the last beating.
Inessa felt the blackness of oblivion cloud her mind. She welcomed it and hoped it would stay.
“It’s your damned fault that I can’t pay my debts!” Ruslan screamed at her, the words landing on the edge of her fading consciousness.
With an incongruous sound, the doorbell rang. Ruslan set his booted foot back on the floor and muttered, “Stay put.”
He turned and walked through the house to answer the door. Chest heaving, body sweating, and red-faced with the exertion of pummeling his wife, he flung open the door and gaped. Whipcord lean and sharp-featured, Gennady faced him. The man’s eagle-eyed gaze flickered over him, missing nothing.
“What are you doing in Seattle, Gennady?” Ruslan demanded as he positioned his body to block the man’s entry.
“Maksim and Olivia haven’t heard from Inessa lately and they sent me to check up on her.” Gennady caught sight of the swollen and abraded knuckles on the other man’s hands, the dark, shiny liquid splattered on his black, alligator hide boots.
“She’s fine,” Ruslan answered curtly. “Now go.”
Gennady raised an eyebrow and managed to look down his nose at the bigger man. “I don’t think so. Step aside, Ruslan.”
“What? You don’t trust my word?”
Gennady’s expression turned from skepticism to open contempt. “You’re a worthless shit, Ruslan. You always have been.  So, no, I don’t trust your word. Now, step aside.”
Ruslan puffed himself in an attempt to intimidate his father’s man-of-all-work. Faster than his eye could follow, Gennady pulled out a knife and dug the tip of it into the soft bulge of his belly.
“Step aside, Ruslan,” Gennady ordered. “I won’t ask again.”
Ruslan raised his hands, palms open and outward, and stepped back. He pointed in the opposite direction of the kitchen and said, “Inessa’s out.”
“I’ll just check around,” Gennady said as he stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind him with a quiet click. In his peripheral vision, he saw Ruslan gather his courage and coil his body. “Don’t try anything stupid.”
“You invade my house, you pipsqueak,” Ruslan blustered.
“Maksim’s house,” Gennady corrected as he walked in the direction of the bedrooms. “He paid for it and he holds the deed.”
“But I live here.”
Gennady pushed open a door and peered inside. Gleaming and, he suspected, disused exercise equipment filled the room. He walked to the next room and looked into another spotless room devoid of personality, with just a few knickknacks on the shelves. A guest bedroom, he supposed. He proceeded to the third bedroom and wrinkled his nose at the lingering smell of Ruslan emanating from it. Although the room appeared clean, a miasma of despair hung in the air.
“See? The bitch is gone,” Ruslan snapped. “Now get out.”
Losing his patience with the boor, Gennady’s other hand snapped out and struck Ruslan in the throat. With a gasp and a wheeze, the big man dropped to his knees and clutched his throat. Gennady set the razor edge of his knife to Ruslan’s sweaty neck and said, “Shut up.”
Ruslan nodded as the hot smell of urine filled the air. Gennady nearly smiled at the rapidly spreading stain on the bully’s jeans. Straightening, he walked with purpose toward the other side of the house and peered into the kitchen. Dark, wet spatters caught his notice. Muttering an oath, he rushed into the room and gurgled with horror at the bloody bit of hamburger, hair, and fabric that lay curled up and insensible on the tile floor. He reached out to touch the woman. The skin was still warm. He found her arm and followed its line to her wrist, which was obviously broken. Swallowing a bellow of rage and horror, he extended two fingers and pressed them to what he hoped was the pulse point of her neck. Nothing. He slid his fingers around the bloody mess of her until the sensitive fingertips found the right spot. He sighed. Though her heartbeat was rapid and weak, Inessa still lived.
Gennady drew back his hand and pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed 911. When assured that an ambulance was on its way, he went back to deal with Ruslan.
Ruslan had fled.
Gennady cursed. He returned to squat beside Inessa and found her other hand. He held her limp hand in his, hoping to impart some small measure of warmth and caring to the young woman he’d always regarded as an innocent little sister to be protected from depraved men like himself and bullies like Ruslan. Suddenly, the sight of a woman’s bruised and broken body nauseated him. Releasing Inessa’s hand, he lurched to the scrupulously clean bathroom and vomited. Gennady vowed to be more gentle with his beloved Suzanne when he returned to Cleveland. She’d given him her trust and he would not abuse it.

Russian Love Series 

Janet link
8/5/2020 04:30:06 pm

Rather brutal bit here

Holly Bargo
8/6/2020 09:14:02 am

Inessa's life improves from here on.

Tena link
8/5/2020 06:29:15 pm

too brutal for me.

Holly Bargo
8/6/2020 09:14:47 am

Inessa's rescue leads to better things.

Beverley Bateman link
8/6/2020 01:07:02 am

Interesting characters and plot, but appears to be very violent.

Holly Bargo
8/6/2020 09:16:46 am

Organized crime is violent with little regard for human life. The series doesn't flinch from that. However, the heroes in the series treat their women with great care.

Lisabet Sarai link
8/7/2020 09:17:28 am

This is, unfortunately, what reality is like for far too many women... and not just the wives of Russian mobsters.

Hard to stomach, but very vivid, Holly. Very brave.


Comments are closed.

    Share!

    Picture

    Author

    Hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, and sunny side up: eggs are the musings of Holly Bargo, the pseudonym for the author.

    Follow
    Karen (Holly)

    Blog Swaps
    View Guest Author Posts
    Looking for a place to swap blogs? Holly Bargo at Hen House Publishing is happy to reciprocate Blog Swaps in 2019.
    For more information: 
    Email Us

    Get Your Copy of
    Hen House Publishing Blog via Email:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Categories

    All
    Books By Holly Bargo
    Egg Reviews
    Events
    Guest Author
    Interviews
    Mfrw
    Mfrwauthor
    #MFRWHooks
    Reviews
    #SpringfieldOHBookFair
    Status
    #WinterBookFair

    Share

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

HOME | ABOUT US | SERVICES | PORTFOLIO | TESTIMONIALS | BOOK CATALOG | FREE READS | BLOG | EVENTS | CONTACT
Copyright © 2015 - 2023
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact