Chapter 28
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
KIRA
I'm jolted awake far too early by raised voices outside the bedroom. Morning light filters through the curtains, and the distant hum of Manhattan traffic buzzes below. Considering I only slept a few hours, my body is heavy and tired.
I've barely propped myself up against the pillows when Maxim reenters the bedroom looking way too fresh despite the few hours of sleep he's had. Instead of his typical perfectly tailored suit, he's dressed in gray sweatpants and ... nothing else.
I find it hard to tear my eyes away from his chiseled torso. He's fine with a capital F. No, scratch that. I don't even try to look away as he grips the door frame overhead, causing his biceps to flex.
My breath catches seeing Maxim so unlike the uptight business oligarch who, up until last night, I would have happily killed in his sleep. It feels as if the world has shifted on its axis between yesterday and now. My chaffed breasts and sore thighs are proof of all that we shared.
He’s looking at me with the same hungry expression I’m surely giving him. I crook my fingers, inviting him back into bed. If he’s going to look that delicious, we need to finish what we started.
He stalks forward with a chuckle. “I wish we could, but we have guests.”
Guests?
“So early?” I make a face.
“It’s ten. Not too early. But I think you’ll want to come out and greet them.”
My eyebrows knit together as I tug the duvet up to my chin. “Why?” I’m not usually involved in Maxim’s business.
"Because..." His thumb traces over the swell of my bottom lip. "It's your family."
“What?! My brothers? Why the hell are you being so casual about this?”
I fling the duvet off and stalk through the room, looking for something decent to wear. There’s no one in the world I love more than my family and friends, but this seems like a very inopportune time to have a family reunion.
“And Alyona.”
“Jesus Christ, you told me her and Leo are in Italy.”
“They were, but now they’re back. And they want to see you.”
In the bureau mirror, I catch sight of myself—hair mussed, eyeliner smudged, lips swollen, my cheeks flushed with a satisfied glow. I consider taking a shower so I look less disheveled, but an insistent knock at the door relieves me of that idea.
“Kira? What’s going on?” Alyona sounds worried.
“I’ll be one second,” I holler back, wrestling to get a T-shirt over my head while Maxim looks on with amusement.
I narrow my eyes. “What’s so funny?” I whisper-yell.
“We’re married. It’s not a crime to have relations with your husband.”
I hold up my hand so he stops talking. I can’t even begin to go there. Maxim is Aly’s father and the man my brothers hate. They’d probably declare war on him if they could. So yeah, them seeing proof that we’ve been intimate is beyond awkward.
I fling one of his dress shirts off a chair towards him. “Can you put on some clothes please? Your bare chest is distracting me.”
He shrugs, leaning back against the wall. “I’m good.”
“Ugh,” I let out a thoroughly annoyed groan. He’s doing this to torture me, I’m sure of it.
I dart into the bathroom, pee, brush my teeth, and run my fingers through my hair, but honestly, it’s a lost cause. I can’t put this off any longer, so I slip on last night's hoodie and head out of the en suite. Maxim isn’t in the bedroom, so I assume he’s already with our guests—or my guests.
I swallow down my pride and head to the main sitting area. Raised voices float to me as I round the corner into the open space.
"What the hell do you mean the Black Company was behind the attack?" Andrei, my eldest brother and the Kozlov Bratva pakhan, stands by the floor-to-ceiling window, his broad shoulders tense and his jaw held tight as he addresses Maxim.
Unfazed, Maxim doesn't respond when he sees me enter the room. Instead, he rises, pours a coffee, and brings it to me before I can say otherwise.
All eyes in the room shift towards us and his small act of thoughtfulness.
"Kira!" Aly is the first person out of her seat, her eyes filling with tears that she attempts to blink away. Her arms circle me tightly, her breath shaky against my neck.
The scent of her familiar perfume wraps around us, and emotions clog my throat because I’ve missed her so much. Trying to keep my best friend and brothers at bay this whole time has been exhausting.
“I was so worried when we heard…”
Heard about what? It takes me a minute for my brain to figure out she means yesterday’s attack at the auction house. With everything that happened afterwards, the attack seems like a distant memory. Which is messed up.
“Sis!” Daniil’s booming voice sounds beside me and as Aly releases me, my middle brother wraps me in his arms, kissing the side of my head.
Leo is the next to embrace me in his big, powerful arms, and finally Andrei steps in with a tense hug.
“You okay?” he whispers into my hair.
“I’m okay, I promise. Can we … sit down and talk?”
In the space of a heartbeat, Maxim wraps a protective arm around my shoulder, lowering me beside him onto the couch.
My brothers take a seat opposite us. It feels like a standoff, with tension lacing the air.
Aly’s eyes ping-pong between all of us before she lowers into the space beside Leo.
Though it’s probably a really bad time to squeal in delight at seeing my brother and Aly in love and finally together, I can’t help but flash her a smile. She smiles warmly back at me.
My brothers don’t. They’re frowning, all three of them staring at Maxim’s arm slung around my shoulder and how close we’re sitting. I’m relieved to notice that Maxim threw on a T-shirt while I was in the shower. Still, we do look pretty damn cozy.
I clear my throat and try to put a few inches between us, but he straight-up stops me with a firm squeeze, his fingers lightly tracing circles on my knee. My brothers might look tense, but Maxim seems completely unbothered.
Talk about awkward. Last they saw us together, guns were pointed, Maxim was surrounded by legions of guards, and threats were being made. Now, well, the fact that Maxim practically pulled me down into his lap makes it pretty obvious where things stand.
Since no one speaks, I decide to break the ice. “I’m fine, really. I don’t know what you heard, but Maxim was on my attacker so fast I didn’t even register what happened.”
Aly arches an eyebrow at Maxim. Her father. “You risked your life to save her?” she asks in a quiet voice.
Maxim makes a dismissive gesture as if to say, Of course. “She’s my wife.”
His words ignite a warmth in my chest.
Leo points accusingly. “It’s your fault she was in danger in the first place. What the fuck were you thinking parading her out in New York if you’re about to go to war with the Black Company?”
Beside me, I can feel Maxim bristle at Leo’s aggression.
"You seem to forget," I say with a slight smirk, "I was born into this life. Danger is something I've always known."
Leo ignores my attempt at lightening the mood.
He sees Maxim as a twisted opportunist who granted his daughter freedom only when a better opportunity was presented.
From the outside, that’s exactly what happened, but I know that in his own fucked-up way, he cares about Aly.
He let her go because it was best for her.
Aly lays a hand on Leo’s shoulder and whispers something in his ear, likely telling him to take it down a notch since he’s still vibrating with anger.
“It’s okay, Leo.” I give my brother a weak smile. “We were well protected. Maxim’s men surrounded the room. It was one of those things…”
Leo continues to shake his head in disgust and I hold my breath, not sure how this is going to play out.
Maxim speaks, his tone low and serious. “My head of security believed they wouldn’t attack on American soil, and I agreed with him. We were wrong.”
My head snaps towards him. Why is Maxim blaming himself? It was a private event and we were well guarded, but he seems to think everything that happens is his responsibility, which is messed up.
Andrei crosses his ankle over his knee, his expression intense. “So you’re at war with the Black Company now?”
“Going to war,” Maxim clarifies. “They don’t appreciate competition in the wine fraud market.”
Daniil cocks a brow, raking a hand through his hair. “You’ve got more money than you know what to do with. How can selling a few bottles of fancy wine possibly be worth going to war for?”
Maxim chuckles and runs a thumb along his bottom lip. “It’s true, I’m not in it for the money.” His warm hand lands on my thigh, causing a shiver to blast up my spine. “I’m in it to prove a point.”
“And that is?” Aly asks, even though her eyes are glued to where Maxim rests his hand possessively on my body.
“There’s nothing more pretentious than rich people with more money than sense. If these idiots think it’s worth spending hundreds of thousands on a bottle of old wine, let them give their money to me and I’ll make sure it goes to a better cause.”
“What, like your palace on the sea?” Leo shoots back.
“Sure, something like that,” Maxim says, but I know there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
“Listen,” I say to my brothers because I suspect they need to hear this. “I’m happy here. I’m fine, I’m well protected, and Maxim and I have a deal. I need to see it through.”
“What kind of deal do you have?” Daniil asks, sitting forward.
I look towards Maxim, and he gives me a little nod of approval.
“Our marriage serves as a distraction, something for the press to focus on while Maxim deals with the Black Company. And in the meantime…” I hesitate, feeling a little nervous sharing something I’ve kept locked away for so long.
Aly and I have barely even spoken about it.
“He’s going to help me find the people that killed Aunt Masha. ”
Aly shakes her head, clearly confused. “Didn’t your father kill your aunt?”