Chapter 27 #3
Kolya’s body had grown rigid. Worried, I looked over at Aralina.
She was already typing on her phone and then showed me the screen.
“That’s Rurik. Kolya gets irritated with him easily, and it’s better if you’re not around him. Kirill punched him in one meeting where he made an off-color joke about Lucy.”
Whoa. “Okay, keep the peace.”
Aralina nodded.
A muscle was twitching in Theo’s jaw while his gaze followed where Kolya went.
To distract him, I asked, “Are you learning sign language?”
Theo reluctantly returned his attention to us. “Some. Aralina is trying to teach me.”
“He’s a terrible student.” She pouted.
“I’m learning,” Gage announced, then he and Aralina exchanged smiles. Oh good. At least no tension there, I hoped. Or maybe they were ganging up on Theo.
“Oh, we are such a terrible host and hostess.” Ivan appeared with Irina.
“There was trouble with the catering crew,” Irina said. “But it’s all fixed.”
Lucy came around them with a pastry in her hand, and she was chewing and making delicious sounds.
“Oh, were you part of the taste-test crew?” I teased.
She winked. “You know it.”
“Mamamamama.” Sebastian reached for Lucy’s snack.
“He’s saying mama,” Lucy exclaimed.
“I really think he means something to eat, but I’ll take it. If he equates food with mama, that works for me.”
Kirill moseyed over with Maksim.
I felt the tension leave Theo’s body when he finally found someone he could talk business and numbers with.
Aralina needed to work on my brother and loosen him up.
Kirill took a bite out of the pastry in Lucy’s hand.
“Hey, get your own,” she said.
“Just helping you out, Lusenka. She’s still eating too much sugar,” he explained to us.
“And you’re still the food police,” she shot back.
Aralina signed at Kirill.
“I left him with Rurik. That man was talking my ear off,” Kirill muttered. He grinned at me slyly. “He might just be the person to convince Kolya to assume the other brigadier position.”
“That would mean managing people,” Ivan said.
“Who knows?” Kirill said. “It might be time.” His mouth twitched, but I was sure he directed that statement at me. Would being a brigadier be like a managerial position?
I rearranged Sebastian in my arms. This boy was getting heavy.
“Chloe,” Irina said. “Sorcha is managing the children. She has a full staff with her, and one of the bratva wives is a nurse and has volunteered to help.”
“I saw a bounce house,” Lucy told Gage. “There are soccer balls there too if you’re into that.”
“He’s wearing a suit,” I told her.
“Roll up your sleeves.” Lucy winked. “The buffet is up for fried chicken tenders and fries and mini burgers.”
“Oh, man,” Gage mumbled. “Can I go, Dad?”
Theo glanced away from Maksim to look at his son, then at me.
“I’ll deliver him to Sorcha safely,” I promised.
“All right.” Theo pointed at his watch.
Gage raised his wrist. “I got it.”
“Oh, is that like an alarm?” Lucy asked.
“Yes,” Theo answered. “And GPS.”
“We should get you one,” Kirill told his wife.
“You already put a tracker on me.”
“This is different. You can alert us instantly instead of fumbling for your phone.”
“Not a watch. A bracelet is better.”
“Where do we go?” I asked.
“End of this hall.” Irina pointed. “You can’t miss it.”
She was right; it was hard to miss. Gage skipped ahead toward the sound of children’s laughter.
I was heartened to see how the bratva was family oriented although it wasn’t like this before, according to Sorcha.
It was Lucy’s influence because of her Italian side.
Kirill’s improved relationship with Ivan also strengthened the bratva’s core.
I thought about Theo. I hoped he’d let himself take a break from the King empire and build a life with Aralina. They were awkward as hell earlier.
Sorcha spotted me and grinned. “There’s my favorite boy.”
“I thought I was your favorite,” another kid of about five piped up.
Gage had already found the soccer ball and was kicking it around with another boy around his age. He also had a chicken finger in his hand.
Boys will be boys.
“He hasn’t eaten,” I told Sorcha. “Doesn’t he look so cute in his suit?”
We both gushed over Sebastian. For a few minutes, I watched him and the kids bouncing around in the inflatable castle. Kolya was right. We needed a backyard. I wanted Sebastian to be active. Not locked up in an apartment to be taken to a park once in a while.
“I'd better head back before Kolya looks for me.”
I stopped by the powder room to make sure I didn’t have baby drool on my cocktail dress. I also refreshed my lipstick. If Marena was part of a kidnapping ring as some of the evidence implied, then why would she continue to haunt me and Sebastian knowing her jig was up?
Or was it?
This had to do specifically with Sebastian. Or then it was the Vozhokari.
I opened the door to the powder room, but a bulky man stood there, startling me. A man I hadn’t seen before but who exuded the same lethal energy as Kolya.
But, no. I would recognize a blue-eyed Petrov anywhere.
The penetrating stare was too unique to miss.
“Hello, Chloe.”