outrageous

“Nadia!”

Upon hearing Pietro's voice, the woman rolled her eyes. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the nightclub staff preparing for the evening's customers, the last thing Nadia wanted was to run into Pietro today while sitting at an empty table sipping her coffee.

The man who entered looked quite angry as he threw his cigarette to the ground.

Nadia shouted at the man approaching her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you do this again, I’ll shove you back into the hole you crawled out of, Maximoff?”

Pietro grabbed the woman's arm as he leaned toward her face. “Let’s go!”

Nadia defiantly lifted her chin. “Sit down and have a coffee.”

The man hissed through clenched teeth, “Move, or I swear I’ll drag you out of here!”

Knowing Pietro had done this several times before, Nadia reluctantly got to her feet because she didn’t want her authority to be undermined in front of her staff, but she still held her coffee cup. When Pietro swatted her coffee cup with the back of his hand, the unprepared woman dropped it. Nadia's mouth formed an "O" as she walked with the man who was tugging at her, and when they reached the office where she managed the nightclub, she freed her arm from him and opened the door. Once they entered, Pietro locked the door behind them and turned to the woman. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?!”

Nadia sat down at her desk and pulled out an envelope filled with money from the drawer. “You heard the news, and you’ve come to collect your last tribute, right?”

She handed the envelope of money to the man. “I’m grateful for your services, Mr. Maximoff. It’s been a pleasure working together. As you’ve heard, I’m getting married soon. My husband will take over the job of protecting my establishment.”

Pietro took the envelope, threw it to the ground, and in a flash, circled around the table, grabbing Nadia by the waist and sitting her down on the table. Ignoring her attempts to adjust her hiked-up skirt, he placed himself between her legs and laughed, “Did you really think I would stand by while you marry that fur-wearing bastard who just drinks borscht?”

Nadia pushed him away from her chest. “He doesn’t just drink borscht and wear fur. He’s also mafia in his spare time.”

Pietro threw his head back and laughed. “What am I, Nadia? Do you think I sell pineapples and kiwis in my free time?”

“You don’t understand…”

He grabbed both of her hands that were pushing against his chest and pinned them behind her back. Now their chests were touching. “I don’t need to understand anything, darling,” he said, leaning toward Nadia's lips. “Before you even sign that contract, I’ll turn that guy into a pasta strainer with my gun. Even if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make sure of it. Did you hear me?”

“Pietro…”

“Shut up!”

Nadia flinched at the man’s shouting. She didn’t want to anger him further, knowing he would do what he said, and then her fiancé—who was the son of the Russian mafia—would kill Pietro.

“I’m leaving the city for a week… You’re leaving a wedding invitation at my door when I return! Are you trying to drive me crazy, Nadia? Huh? Speak!”

“But you just told me to shut up! Make up your mind!”

“What happened? Tell me!”

Nadia tried to look brave, but she was already trembling under the lightning flashing in Pietro's eyes. “I want to get married, okay? Dimitri is handsome and single. That’s all.”

Pietro clenched his teeth. After taking a deep breath, he pulled back a little and leaned in closer to the woman, tilting his head slightly to look into her eyes, whispering, “I’ll tear this place apart, Nadia! I’ll destroy it so thoroughly that there won’t even be a handful of ash left to blow away in the wind! Then I’ll take you and descend to the seven layers of hell. I will do it, you know that, right? God is my witness that I will!”

Nadia swallowed discreetly and smiled. “Darling, I appreciate your passion, but you don’t think my fiancé is just sitting around doing nothing, do you?”

With a smile that made her heart leap, Pietro replied, “By the time I’m done with him, he won’t even remember what is his name.” He leaned in closer. “Now, you either talk, or I swear on my daughter, I’ll shoot one of your employees every five minutes until you tell me what’s going on.”

Nadia shouted in panic, “Have you lost your mind?”

“I TOLD YOU TO TALK!” Pietro shouted so loudly that her heart skipped a beat.

“Don’t shout at me!”

“THEN TEST MY PATIENCE!”

Pietro had actually come to find out what was going on. Nadia was the aunt of the Gallagher kids. She was Monica’s stepsister. It could be said that she mothered the children more than their own mother did. At the very least, she sent them money whenever she could and never left the kids alone by running away at odd hours.

Last week, while Frank was playing poker with the Russian mafia, they had wanted him to sign a paper saying he sold Valentina into prostitution after losing. But Frank replied, “Are you idiots? Slavery doesn’t count on paper in this country. Just show me as a million-dollar debtor, and if I don’t bring the money, you can sue me. Since I don’t have that much money, I’ll definitely bring my daughter.”

When Dimitri came to work and recounted what had happened, Nadia was initially shocked, but this wasn’t Frank’s first offense. He had sold Monica multiple times for drugs before. Dimitri and Nadia were good friends, so they had come up with a plan. Dimitri, whose father constantly pressured him to get married, had said he would marry Nadia in exchange for the debt, claiming the money would count as part of the dowry. His father, hearing that his son was getting married, didn’t care about anything else. To be honest, all Nadia could think about was rescuing Valentina. The last thing on her mind at that she needed to talk about this to Pietro. They had hoped to resolve the situation quietly within a few weeks. Dimitri would say he loved someone else and would break off the engagement. Since he would be the one ending the engagement, they wouldn’t ask for the dowry back, meaning Frank’s debt wouldn’t be an issue. However, they hadn’t anticipated that the Russian mafia would go door-to-door leaving invitations.

Pietro nearly lost his mind when he saw the invitation yesterday morning. When he went to Steve’s bar and learned the man was booked for the wedding, he was almost certain he would celebrate his daughter’s birthday one last time because he was going to go and shoot Dimitri. Meanwhile, he had done his research to find out what he was up against and had learned about the situation from one of Dimitri’s bodyguards.

“I’m still waiting, Nadia! The first five minutes are almost up!”

“Pietro…”

“Tell me!”

Finally unable to hold back any longer, the woman had to spill everything because she knew Pietro would go and shoot the man. She feared that someone else would come and shoot him in turn. She thought of poor Luna. If anything happened to the girl, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself. When she finished explaining everything, Pietro said, “I’m still going to shoot that bastard. He calls himself a friend, but is his solution to propose to you in your worst moment?”

Freeing her hands, Nadia grabbed the man’s arm. “Have you lost your mind? What about Luna?”

Pietro shrugged. “If something happens to me, Wanda will take care of her.”

“Oh my God!” Nadia pushed him away from her chest again. “Get out of here. I need to go have dinner with my fiancé.”

The man laughed, pulling his gun from his belt and placing it on the table. “You know, Luna turned twenty-two today.”

“I know. She called me. I’ll be going to her birthday party tonight.”

Pietro grinned. “I like how well you girls get along.”

“She thinks we’re just friends. She doesn’t know about... this weird thing between us, and it’s going to stay that way,” Nadia said.

“No, it won’t,” Pietro replied. “Don’t interrupt me. As I was saying, Luna’s twenty-two now, and she thinks I don’t know, but she has a boyfriend. Tomorrow, she might stand in front of me and say she’s getting married. Before I give my blessing, I’ll beat the hell out of her boyfriend just to test his resilience, and then I’ll let them marry.”

“You’re not beating anyone up, you crazy bastard. Wait. Do you know who Luna’s boyfriend is?”

Pietro narrowed his eyes. “She told you, didn’t she? I wasn’t sure, but you just confirmed it.”

The woman cursed under her breath. "I can’t believe I’m falling for this." But in reality, she was just trying to figure out whether Pietro actually knew who Luna's boyfriend was. It seemed like he didn’t. She relaxed.

Pietro gently grasped her chin and turned her gaze toward him. "Focus on me."

"My fian—"

“If you mention that bastard as your fiancé one more time, things are going to get really bad. Really, really bad, Nadia.”

Nadia swallowed hard.

“Where were we? Oh, right. Luna will be leaving soon, and I’ll be home alone. I don’t like living alone.”

“Then get a dog.”

He smiled at her, brushing his lips against hers. “Nadia, I love how you test my patience, especially when I’m already settled between your legs and could make you beg...”

Nadia cursed as the pulse between her legs quickened. "Damn it."

“I’m going to free you from Frank, Monica, and those Gallagher kids you didn’t even give birth to.”

“Hey! I love those kids.”

“I’m not saying you can’t love them, but from now on, you’re not going to get engaged to opportunistic friends just to save their asses because their dad is a piece of shit.”

“I’d do the same for Luna, and you know it.”

Pietro cupped her cheeks with both hands, forcing her to tilt her head up slightly. She tried to stay calm as she met his kiss.

When Pietro pulled back, he said, "That would never be necessary, and you know it. If anyone even thought about putting Luna on the gambling table, I’d tear them apart at the molecular level," he said, "because I'm a good father. So there’s no reason why you shouldn’t make dozens of babies with me."

Before the woman could groan in protest, he pulled out his phone and shoved it into her hand. "Call Dimitri and tell him to shove his solution where the sun doesn’t shine. We’ll protect Valentina. And next time you’re in trouble, you’ll come to me first because you’re going to be my wife."

Nadia shrieked, "WHAT?!"

“You wanted to get married, right? Dimitri was single and handsome? I’m fulfilling your wish,” Pietro said, gesturing to himself from head to toe with both hands. “But with someone much better. Not only am I single and handsome, but when I touch you, I pull your soul right out of your body, and after giving you what you need, I put it back again. You can't deny that!”

Nadia stood frozen, staring at him with her mouth agape.

Pietro pointed at the phone, “Call, Nadia. Please.”

She opened her mouth to speak but stopped. Then she tried again, “If you think you just proposed to me, you're wrong. We’ll keep this secret thing going between us, at least until you learn to stop acting like a caveman.”

“Will you call, please?”

The woman shrugged as if to say, "Whatever," and started dialing the number from memory.

“Are you kidding me? You memorized the guy’s number too?!”

“Calm down, Pietro. The guy’s a friend,” she said, holding the phone to her ear.

"What’s my number?"

Nadia waved him off, "Shut up."

The phone was answered. Nadia briefly explained the situation and hung up, handing the phone back to Pietro.

"What’s my number?"

Nadia groaned, "Oh my God! You’re forty years old! Stop acting like a jealous teenager!"

"You can’t blame me. I’ve been living as your secret lover for years!"

"Oh, please!"

"You either bring me here or take me to your place! You always screw me behind closed doors, away from prying eyes, and you buy me nice gifts! I’m your secret lover, no doubt!"

"How much more dramatic can you get? You buy me gifts too!"

"But I never wanted to hide you from the world!"

Nadia laughed, trying to provoke him, "I’m embarrassed by your mustache. That’s why I hid you from the world. It definitely wasn’t to protect the kids from the complications of our relationship."

"Complicated?!" Okay, Pietro was getting riled up. When he started kissing the woman sitting at the table roughly, Nadia gave in all too quickly. As Pietro’s hand slid between her legs, his lips traveled from her neck to her ear. "Tell me my number."

Nadia wanted to get angry, to shout, to scream, but for God’s sake! Pietro knew exactly where to touch, and she melted under his touch. She moaned with pleasure, "Are you serious?"

"More serious than ever."

When she finally recited his number, Pietro gave her what she wanted. Nadia was left sprawled across the table, breathless, clutching her chest. "God!"

Pietro leaned down and kissed her, "See you at the party tonight. And after the party, I’ll help you erase that guy’s number from your memory, babe."

* * *

The door pounded like it was about to be broken down. Lip set Liam down from his lap and went to answer it. Two men, each towering over two meters, asked where Valentina was. Lip froze. They shoved him aside and entered, and Lip rushed after them into the living room in a panic. Seeing that Liam wasn’t in the room, he felt slightly relieved. The men scanned the house and said Valentina had to come with them to pay off Frank’s debt. Lip raised his hands as if surrendering. "I’ll tell her the moment she gets home!" He was trying to get rid of them.

Satisfied by the expression on his face, the men left the house. As soon as they did, Lip saw Liam sitting in the crawl space under the stairs, holding his phone. "Liam? Were you scared? Come here."

Liam hugged his brother tightly. "I wasn’t scared at all," he said. "Iron Man is coming."

"Yeah, sure." Lip knew that his brother's imagination was a priceless gift in this grim life, but moments like this made him feel a bit sorry for the kid.

Hearing robotic sounds, Lip turned his head back. "Holy shit!"

Tony took off his sunglasses and set his helmet down on the coffee table. Before doing so, he wiped off a sticky piece of slime with the back of his hand, making sure it didn’t get on the helmet. "Since Liam sent an SOS to the urgent friendship hotline, there better be a damn planetary collision going on or something," he said, sitting down on the couch. "Mind grabbing me a cold drink?"

Lip paused for a second, eyebrows raised in disbelief, then said, "Sure," and headed to the fridge.

Liam touched the shiny chest plate of Tony’s armor with his tiny hand. "Mr. Iron Man," he said excitedly, "You have to protect Tina!"