19. Luka
19
LUKA
H e knows .
Lucia sits on the bed not making a sound while I pace the bedroom, my crooked tie flopping as I stomp. I’m dressed like I’m going to fucking church and am reminded of the last time I wore a tie—my father’s funeral. I wasn’t nearly as distressed then.
“Would you please calm down?” Lucia says, her calm voice irritating.
I throw her a glare. “How the fuck could you think this dinner was a good idea?”
She sighs. “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?”
“As many as it takes.” I grumble, pulling at my tie. “He’s setting me up. He knows you aren’t my fucking girlfriend.”
When Lucia sighs again, I stop my pacing to stare down at her, my hands in fists at my sides.
She frowns. “I’m saw-ry. Okay? He seemed like a man genuinely interested in getting to know his brother-in-law. I had no idea he’d invite the rest of your family when I accepted the invitation, and I didn’t know how to decline the invitation in the first place.”
“So you mentioned.”
“And yet,” she says, her voice wavering as her face reddens. “You keep demanding an explanation. That is the explanation. Accept it and move on.”
Her fingers splay over her knees as her chest lifts with a breath. In a moment, she looks at peace again, the red glow leaving her cheeks.
I flick my gaze over her, my eyes narrowing. “How are you so calm?”
Her jaw clenches at the question, but with another breath, she relaxes. She looks more irritated than afraid. “Because I must be. Because unlike you, my life depends on this dinner and the opinion of your brother-in-law. It isn’t just fear that my siblings won’t like me anymore.”
I scoff, my mouth opening to counter, but Lucia cuts me off.
“If Vitaly knew for certain there was something nefarious going on between us, he wouldn’t be allowing us to stay here. Right?” she asks, her head tilting pointedly.
I don’t answer, but the thought does loosen some of the panic picking me apart.
“Right,” Lucia confirms for herself. “So it is important, no, it is vital that we go to this dinner looking calm and poised.”
“And what happens when Leo says something that contradicts what I told Mila?” I wander toward Lucia like she’s an anchor, which doesn’t feel far off right now. My voice sounds more hopeful than anything.
“Then I will back you up . They’ll believe the both of us over him.” Lucia stands, her lips sloped with a frown as she straightens my tie. “I know it’s impossible to expect you of all people to trust , but … I’m going to ask you to trust me anyway. Tonight, we’re a team. For better or worse.”
When her eyes meet mine, my breath catches. If I could look away, I would.
Something comes over me, something heavy. It’s thick and uncomfortable, and at the same time I want to back up a step, it makes me want to lean in. To press my lips against hers.
My discomfort for this evening eases only to be replaced by the same discomfort I felt a week ago when I lied on top of this woman. She does something to me that I don’t understand. My stomach flips when she looks at me this way. The sweat on my skin turns cold.
And I don’t know what to say. I can tell she’s expecting a reply, but my tongue is tied in a knot as I stare at her like an idiot trying to figure out what the hell she’s doing to me. But I can’t. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t.
Something she said earlier hits me and flips my stomach the other direction, sending bile up my throat.
My life depends on this dinner and the opinion of your brother-in-law. It isn’t just fear that my siblings won’t like me anymore.
Since she told me about this dinner, I’ve been a wreck, but it isn’t until this moment that I realize why. It isn’t me I’m worried for. It’s her.
A knock on the door saves me from having to respond, and I slump with a breath when Lucia breaks away from my gaze, releasing me from a hold I’m not sure she was aware of.
I rub my jaw and go to take Lucia’s hand but pause. I grip her arm instead and roughly lead her to the door like I’m trying to prove something to myself.
“Let’s just get this the fuck over with,” I growl under my breath.
It’s Mila on the other side of the door. She looks as sick as I feel.
“Hi.” She forces a smile, her eyes drawing to my hold on Lucia’s arm. I let go and tuck my sweaty hands into my pockets.
“Sorry to intrude, but Mama’s getting impatient.”
“She’s here?” I ask, feeling like I’m burning alive in this fucking suit.
Mila taps her wrist and nods. I don’t bother pulling out my phone to check the time, and I’m not posh enough to accessorize my wrist with a watch. Obviously, we’re late.
“Is Leo here yet?” I ask, hating myself when my voice rises too many octaves. I cringe and resist fanning myself with this ridiculous jacket.
Mila looks at Lucia and frowns sympathetically for a moment before coming back to me. “I told him the dinner is tomorrow night.”
I’m slow to register her words, afraid to get too hopeful.
“He isn’t coming?”
Mila shakes her head. “Just the five of us.”
Lucia
I’m thankful Luka doesn’t hold my hand as his sister leads us to the dining room. If he did, he would feel how sweaty my palms are, how fast my heart thumps in the pulsing vein of my wrist.
I’m terrified.
But outwardly, I look like my father taught me to look. I do know how to do these dinners, although Luka obviously doesn’t. Just when it seems like we grew up in similar worlds, he proves to me how incapable he is of living in mine.
It’s cute. Seeing him flustered gives me a sick sort of satisfaction, but right now, it’s unwanted. I’d rather he pull himself together.
I suck in through my nose and lift my shoulders as I enter the dining room before Luka. A woman’s high tone filtered outside, but at our arrival, she stops talking. Our eyes find each other as Luka pulls out a chair for me.
“Nice of you to join us,” the woman says, her hands steepling together. I glance around in search of another woman in the room, confused at her voice. It sounds flatter than it did outside.
“It takes time to look this good, Mother,” Luka says, all trace of nervousness in his voice gone. I stare at him through slitted eyes as he sits down beside me. He sits tall, and his face becomes a blank mask I recognize well but haven’t seen in over a week. I search for the sweat I saw coating his forehead, but it’s disappeared. There’s no sign of the nervous wreck I spoke to upstairs.
Good. This is good, but … strange. Maybe his acting is better than I thought.
“It’s nice to see you again, Lucia,” Vitaly says, pulling my attention to him.
I force a smile and nod. “You too. Thank you for inviting me.”
“Have you met Aly?” Vitaly extends his hand to the woman, forcing me to turn her way again. There’s something unsettling about her eyes the same shade of blue as Luka’s. They have a deep coldness to them that makes me want to shiver. Her blonde hair is pulled back except for two curled strands she lets frame her oval face. She’s pretty, but it’s hard to fully say so with her current blank expression. It’s hard to picture what she looks like smiling.
“No, I haven’t.” I smile wider and dip my chin. “I’m Lucia. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Aly just stares at me, so long I take it as a challenge and force myself not to look away. Finally, she turns to Luka just as the kind woman who showed me the garden today pushes a cart of food into the dining room. “Where did you meet?”
“Cooligan’s Pub, right?” Mila asks, leaning on the table next to her mother. She turns to Aly instead of waiting for an answer. “Luka bet her a beer she couldn’t do a handstand, and they talked until the sun rose. Adorable . I thought I told you this, Mama?”
Aly turns to Mila with a straight face. “You tell me many lies, dear. It’s hard to remember them all.”
Mila’s face falls.
“Lucia is an illegal immigrant,” Luka says, making my eyes widen as I turn toward him. He leans back as a covered dish of food is placed in front of him, then me. The scent of braised lamb hits my senses, but I don’t take my eyes off Luka. “She was drowning in the Rio Grande, and I swam out to get her. One taste of those lips while I was giving mouth-to-mouth, and I was,” he clucks his tongue and presses his thumb and finger together. “ Hooked .”
His mother says nothing.
“I’m kidding.” He waves a hand. “She was a prostitute, and I was just a man on a business trip, looking for a local to show me around. Imagine my surprise when?—”
“ Enough ,” his mother says, her pink-painted lips pinching with a scowl.
Silverware clatters as people pick up forks and knives and start on the lamb, but I take a moment to peer at Luka. He doesn’t meet my eyes, and I’m glad for it. I’m struck by how hard his face looks. Even when Aly starts talking to Vitaly, her tone energized like she’s coming to life, Luka doesn’t show the slightest bit of relief. He just looks hardened.
I was wrong. He would do fine in my world.
I pick at the lamb, grateful that no one is speaking to me. I try to feel Luka’s panic or nerves, but there’s nothing. I almost wonder if he was faking it upstairs. Maybe all his anxiety was due to his brother’s impending arrival?
“Vitaly told me you walked the property today,” Mila says to me before bringing her wine glass to her lips. “Tomorrow, you’ll have to let me show you around more.”
No thanks .
I nod. “I’d like that.” An awkwardness forms between us, and I hurry to break it. “I’ve never seen a garden as exquisite as yours.”
I stab a piece of lamb but hesitate to bring it to my lips. Mila’s face reddens with a blush, and when she puts a carrot into her mouth, I wonder if it’s an escape from having to respond.
I said the wrong thing, didn’t I?
Luka’s mother scoffs.
“ Don’t ,” Luka says to her, his voice low with a warning. “It was an honest mistake.”
She turns to Vitaly without acknowledging Luka. “I can’t believe you haven’t burned that thing down.”
When I glance at Vitaly, my throat closes.
The other Pakhan. It was the other Pakhan’s. Why do I keep mentioning it?
Because it truly is magnificent, and I have nothing else to say to these people.
Vitaly doesn’t answer. Instead, he addresses me . “So what does your family think of Luka?”
Luka snorts, and if I wasn’t struck by having to speak to the Pakhan, I might find it amusing along with him.
“He hasn’t met them.”
Vitaly’s brow raises. “Oh?”
I shrug. “I don’t speak to my parents much. And, to be honest, I don’t think they’d approve.”
Aly’s head snapping toward me catches my attention. Her face is no longer blank. It’s pinched with anger. “Are you seriously suggesting my son isn’t good enough for you?”
I rear back, my lips parting. “N-no. Of course not. I just meant?—”
“Lucia is way too good for me,” Luka says.
I turn to meet his eyes, and his lips quirk just the slightest bit. It cuts through the chill Aly throws my way. A single blade of grass pushing through a layer of frost. He winks.
“What is it that you meant ?” Aly asks.
I stutter out a nervous laugh. “Just that… I mean, you know…” I gesture around. “He’s a criminal. I don’t think most parents would approve of criminals.”
“Very true.” Mila nods. “Plus, Luka’s an asshole.”
Vitaly chuckles, making Mila smile, but Aly’s lips don’t so much as twitch.
“I see,” Aly says, sitting back in her chair and pushing her plate away. “I suppose it’s only natural for parents to want a mate who will fit into their child’s life.”
That feels pointed.
“Mate?” Mila chuckles. “Come on, Mama. This isn’t animal kingdom.”
“ My son’s world is not for the faint of heart, you know,” Aly says to me. “He needs a woman who will be able to handle herself.”
Luka pushes his plate away as well and leans forward, his defensive eyes trained on his mother. “ Luka is sitting right here and is perfectly capable of making his own decisions.”
“I can handle myself just fine,” I say, my voice firm. “I wouldn’t be here if I was afraid of Luka’s world. He’s important to me. He means the world to me.” Luka turns to me, surprise shining in his blue irises, but I only glance at him before straightening my spine and facing his mother.
She laughs, her lips curling into a cruel smile. “If you had any clue who my son was, you would run , little girl. He is an Alekseev. Look that up, and when you do, remember what I’m telling you now. I would take my last breath before I ever let him marry someone like you.”
“Well, Mother, if you’d like help taking it, Mila is right there.” Luka gestures toward Mila who pins him with a glare, but underneath it, I spot the shame pinkening her cheeks.
She really did kill her father.
“I think we’ve let things get a little too heated,” Vitaly starts. Luka jerks his head toward him like he’s about to unleash an avalanche of ice-cold rage.
“Could you possibly be any more fake?”
Vitaly blinks like he’s confused. “What?”
Luka scoffs and flings his hand at Aly. “You invited us all here so you could watch the viper take strikes at us. Don’t fucking talk about things getting heated. Just eat your lamb and enjoy the show.”
Vitaly lays his forearms on the table and shakes his head. “That is not true. We’re family. I’m just trying to?—”
“ Don’t ,” Luka snaps so viciously, I flinch. “I will burn every bridge you try to build, so save yourself the energy.”
“You’re angry, son. I understand,” Aly says, her voice having no inflection. It’s unsettling. I try to picture this woman reading a bedtime story or hugging a crying toddler, but I can’t see it. “Your whole life, I’ve spoiled you, but I can’t give you what you want this time… A wife is meant to stand firmly at her husband’s side, and this woman could never give that to you.”
Luka leans toward her, his hands gripping the table. “Did you just say you’ve spoiled me?” He shakes his head. “Are you on a different fucking planet ? Stop talking about me like I’m your prized possession. I am a guard . My life means nothing to the Bratva, and Jesus, Aly, face it, our last name hasn’t meant a goddamn thing since we left Russia, so stop throwing it at people. It’s embarrassing.” He points at Vitaly without looking at him. “Mila gave you what you wanted. Butt the fuck out of my life.”
Now, to my amazement, one side of her lips quirk. Seconds tick by, and although I can feel Luka’s anger, he’s perfectly still.
He mimics her. I didn’t realize it until now, but his coldness, his hardness … it comes from this woman.
And it’s an act. A front. Who he was upstairs, that’s him. That’s Luka. This is the man who trusts no one, who lashes at those around him out of fear of being struck first. I’m starting to understand why.
“You’ve always been jealous,” Aly says, her voice a nail cutting glass. She taps her pink-painted nails together and shakes her head at him. “Ever since you were a small boy. First of Leo, and now of Vitaly… Do you know why he’s sitting there, silent and still, like a man , Luka?” Aly asks, pointing at Vitaly as her lips curl with a sneer.
“Because he isn’t the person you’re targeting?”
“Because his family didn’t make the same mistakes as yours. He was strengthened with pain instead of coddled and weakened.”
“Yeah, pretty sure it was the nine years in prison that did that, Mother.”
She stops tapping her nails to clench a fist as she speaks. “And I wish, with everything that I have , that it could’ve been your fate instead. Maybe then, you’d be the man I tried to raise you to be.”
Luka falls back against his chair and huffs, throwing his napkin onto his plate. “Well if getting gangbanged by Russian prison guards is what it takes to win your approval, I can’t say I’m sorry I fall short.”
“ Luka ,” Mila snaps in her husband’s honor, but Vitaly shakes his head at her and raises his hand.
Luka stands, his chair shoving backward with a force that nearly tips it over. I hurry to stand with him and follow him as he storms from the room. I expect to follow him upstairs, but a sense of dread washes over me when he passes the staircase and heads for the exit instead.
I stop dead in my tracks. It’s a few moments before Luka slows and turns.
“I can’t stay here anymore, Peach,” he says, his voice strangely even. He’s still wearing his shield. When I don’t move, he sighs and comes toward me.
“Look, if you want to stay, I’m sure you can, but I’m going fucking crazy here. It’s been a week. I did my part. Those guys might not even be looking for you anymore, I don’t know, but?—”
“Luka…” I don’t realize my eyes are welling with tears until his image blurs. When a tear falls onto my cheek, his eyes follow it. His face, hard and expressionless, gradually softens as the seconds tick by until he’s slouching with defeat.
He takes my shoulder and drags me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me while I seek sanctuary with him. I can feel his pity for me, similar to what I felt for him back at dinner. I don’t know when we started being human beings to each other, but it was long enough ago that I can’t put my finger on it.
“Come on,” he says, his hands running down my back just before he pulls away from me. He takes my hand and nods toward the exit. “Let’s get out of here.”
“And go where?” I ask, too scared to take so much as a step in his direction. The threat of the cartel feels heavier than it has the past week. Here with the Bratva, I could almost forget about them.
Luka shrugs. “North, maybe. You up for a drive?”
North.
Away from Vegas.
Footsteps sound behind me before I can make a decision, but when I look back, my stomach clenching, it’s just a guard. He gives Luka a friendly look as he passes.
The tension I feel makes my decision easy. I’m ready to leave this place too. We were never going to be able to stay forever.
I nod at Luka and try to relax as he squeezes my hand and leads me back to his car. It’s funny. When we drive away from the compound, there are no more guards with guns, no more walls to keep the enemy out.
But I feel just as safe.