Chapter 4
Dad would have to wait for Ivana to wake up and make him crepes with Nutella.
Done serving pancakes, I sat at the table, away from people, and ate breakfast, sipping orange juice while the girls chatted at the kitchen bar.
I made a few calls and checked in on my businesses, keeping an ear out for the girl.
She was only quiet with me. With her friends, she chatted just fine.
One of them leaned in toward her and whispered, “So how was he?”
I read lips. Something that came in handy in my line of work.
My girl’s gaze briefly locked with mine. I hung up the phone, put it on the table, and drummed my fingers.
“He was private,” she said.
Her friend groaned. “Oh, come on.”
My girl smiled and took a drink of her juice.
I bet there was vodka in there. When I was their age, every day rolled into the next with a drink in hand.
Occasionally, I studied and passed exams so when I inherited dad’s position in the family, I’d know how to run the numbers, and people, all the things that needed running.
I tapped my phone’s screen. Ludi hadn’t answered his.
Ivana was still sleeping, and I wanted a quick brief about the Russian last night.
I flipped my phone, again and again thinking about calling Sokol in New York.
I wanted to get the latest on the Italians, but if I called Sokol, we’d ended up spending hours mining the data he’d collected.
Come Monday, I wanted all the details ironed out, and had planned to work over the weekend. But now, I was reconsidering.
“Stay the weekend,” I said.
The room went silent, and I waited.
She nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear, gaze on the floor. I licked my lips.
At the prospect of a weekend in the mansion with food and booze and likely my men, her friends squealed, and I winced.
I placed the com units in my ears and tapped them for noise cancellation.
Ah, much better. Mouths opened and closed, but I heard nothing as I finished my breakfast in silence while reading business review articles on my phone.
One particular article talked about life and work balance. Normally, I skipped right over those, but not today. Today, I read it and got really into it, soaking up as much information as possible so that I didn’t notice when the girls left the kitchen for the pool.
I glanced their way and noticed piles of clothes on one lawn chair. They didn’t worry about bathing suits anymore. I shook my head. Neven sat beside me, and I took out my com unit.
Eyes glued on the naked women, he said, “Some of the guys in the front wanna come.”
“For as long as the women want to have fun. Ivana is here. Remember that.”
“I got it, Boss.” He kept sitting there.
“What?” I asked.
“You heading out?”
I snorted. At twenty-one, much like a puppy, Neven regarded me as the big dog he didn’t want in the house on the weekend while he partied with a bunch of girls. “No.”
“Bummer,” he said.
I clapped him on the back and stood, swiped the tech off the table, and headed for my think tank on autopilot. Midway there, I turned. “When Lovac comes, tell him to bring my sunglasses.”
“Which ones?”
I collected sunglasses. “The new ones.”
Neven scratched his head. “Ivana bought you three pairs yesterday.”
Christ. “Pick one.” I rounded the pool and lay on the chair farther away from the girls.
They giggled and whispered and drank, carefree, never mind the lions—my men—who’d arrived and would start circling soon.
I crossed my legs at the ankles and dialed Ludi again.
At this point, I was becoming paranoid, but if there was something I needed to hear, I’d have heard about it already. Sokol’s name came up on the screen.
Now, this was his public, or what most people call a regular, phone line, so we wouldn’t talk business, which I welcomed for a change. I couldn’t remember the last time I spent a weekend at home, and if I had, I spent it either in the think patio or in my office working.
When we entertained at my house, it was mainly Ivana’s thing, and I rarely attended unless other bosses forced my hand by coming here. And even then, none of them came for pleasure, always business.
My men grabbed beers and sat by the pool, near the girls. Lovac, my driver, wasn’t with them, and the sun’s rays blinding my eyes annoyed me. Ah, there he was, and limping, a big wound dressing on his shin.
He handed me the shades, and I slipped them on. “What happened?” I asked.
“It’s from last night.”
Some days I felt like I spoke Chinese. “What happened, not when it happened.”
“Got between you and the Russian. Just a scratch. Don’t worry about it. You need somethin’?”
“I need the men to know not to touch the little blonde.”
“Um, yeah, they know, Boss. The entire city and all the bosses know by now.”
I sighed. “Tell me.”
“That’s Mikhail’s niece. Vlad’s daughter.”
“Fuck,” I groaned and slammed the back of my head on the chair’s cushion wishing it to be harder so it hurt more.
“Vlad’s only child,” he continued. “Lost both parents when she was a baby.”
“Mikhail raised her?”
“Not really, but he’s financed her life. She remained in Russia until a few years ago, when she moved here for school. She’s twenty-one, Boss. A k—”
I lifted my hand and my head, pierced him with a glare. “If you say kid, I’m gonna put a bullet between your eyes.”
He lifted his hands, palms up. “Last night, Maks was trying to protect her.”
“That implies that I would hurt her.”
Lovac stroked his beard. “Not you, personally.”
“It’s my house, so whatever happens here, I’m responsible, no? So how is that not me personally, then? He thought because she was here that she was in trouble or that she would be sent home in a fucking bag? I take that shit personally.”
“Maks thinks all women are whores,” Ivana said by way of greeting.
“By default, they should all be sitting at home waiting for mercy from their husbands, boyfriends, or lovers. Meanwhile, those same husbands, boyfriends, and lovers are putting their dicks into other holes and bringing home diseases.”
“Jesus,” Lovac said. “Good morning to you too.”
Ivana sat next to me, and I squeezed her knee. “Make crepes with Nutella for my dad.”
She smiled. “You gonna put me in the kitchen after that speech?”
I slid off my shades. “What the fuck crawled up everyone’s asses? I need a tan and crepes with Nutella.”
“Fine.” She stood with a pout. “You put your dick into her, you’re gonna have to marry her. Mikhail won’t settle for less.”
I gaped as she retreated, chuckling.
Shades back on, I lay back down. I wanted to move to China. They spoke my language of obedience and pleasing thy dictator.
“Maks is in the hospital,” Lovac said.
Jesus.
“You pounded him pretty bad. Ludi’s with the Russians, ironing things out, but you’ll have to show face. I hope the pussy was good.”
I leapt out of the chair and grabbed the back of his head, then slammed my forehead into his face.
Blood gushed out of his nose, and my men jumped out of the pool, running for us.
I sat back down, licking his blood from my lips.
Mm-hm. “Get a bandage for that too. Maybe now you understand what I meant when I said not to touch the blonde.”
Holding his hand to the bleeding nose, Lovac left with a nod.
Okay, then. I lay down once more, glaring at the puppy who should’ve known and probably did know better than to mingle with anyone who wasn’t her family and especially not me. I didn’t like feeling as if she had manipulated me, and I liked it even less that I gave a shit.
Under the black shades, she couldn’t see my death stare, but my eyes felt like Darth Vader’s lightsaber. Flaming red, ready to stab her nice cookie from the light side. Nah, that wasn’t my eyes. That was something else of mine I’d need to control around her.
I flicked two fingers ,and she left the pool, then walked toward me in a way that complemented her body, all swaying little tits and hips. She crawled over me and lay right on top of me.
The sun had heated my body, so her wet cold one felt fantastic. She traced a finger over my bottom lip, and I snapped and bit her finger like a dog, held it in my mouth, and sucked. She started squirming and rubbing on me, making my saber—there ya go, Vader fandom—harden.
My jaw worked. I was mad, and she was cute. Perfect, if I might say so, and I knew life had dealt me a woman I could have babies with. But life was also cruel and cunning. The girl was not simple. She was fucking complicated.
Well, so was I. I slapped her ass cheek. One, then the other, then grabbed them both, digging my fingers into her flesh.
Not batting an eye, she rested her elbows on my chest.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Lana.”
“Full name.”
“Svetlana Boriskova.”
“And you didn’t think it was important to tell me that?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Don’t fucking call me boss. I’m not your boss. Mikhail would bury you if he heard you.”
She shrugged.
I tapped my finger on her bare bottom. Spoiled, no doubt. No parents, and Mikhail had gone into protect-and-cherish mode. I’d spoil her too. So be it. “You’re staying in this house.”