Chapter 2 #2
“I want to feel prepared,” Kira says, her voice nervous.
“I’d appreciate going over it again. The only thing more embarrassing than going to face them all alone would be for them to find out I’m paying you to be with me…
Oh, crap. I can’t do this. Even the thought that they’ll find out makes me feel sick to my stomach–”
“Kira, breathe,” Lexie says, leaning across the table and putting her hands on Kira’s face, squishing her cheeks.
“You can do this. You’re amazing, and you’ve got us in your corner.
We’re gonna show those idiots how awesome and desirable you are, and that they’re the ones missing out, they’re the ones who messed up, not you. We got this, okay?”
Kira manages to calm down a bit with Lexie’s coaching, and I pet her shoulder gently and hope it helps. She’s such an anxious little ball of nerves. Poor thing.
“We can do this,” I say, smacking a kiss on her temple. “It’s in the bag.”
She huffs a little laugh and wipes her eyes. “Alright, okay, yeah. Let’s go over it all again.”
I don’t really want to, but if that’s what helps my precious fake girlfriend with her panic attack, I’m willing to go along with it.
We diligently spend the next hour asking each other random questions and trying to trip each other up with trivia until we have our stories so memorized to the smallest detail that I can literally answer any question about our supposed meet cute and the dates we’ve been on, the history she’s told me about herself and her friend Lexie, and all the trivial details they made up about my fake rich life.
I now know about how her mother got pregnant with her without being married–a big deal for rich people, I guess?
Poor people do that shit all the time but whatever–and refused to fess up as to who her father was, and died giving birth to her due to medical complications.
I know that Kira was raised by her uncle because no one in her family–including her now-deceased grandfather–would be kind to her.
I know all about her Russian heritage and all the things the other rich fuckers at the summit might try to tease her about.
To make up for the scandals on her half of the relationship, she made my fake reputation squeaky clean, although I offer to be a bastard too, just to make it fair. She politely declines.
“So, Tommy,” Kira says hesitantly as the jet makes its descent toward the private airport near her uncle’s estate. “I kind of haven’t mentioned something a little important. Don’t be mad.”
Uh oh. “What is it?” I ask, tensing up. I should’ve known. Fifteen grand is too good to be true. Fifteen grand and new clothes, a new name, a new fucking life for a whole week where I can just be someone else, someone whole and happy and not hungry, not fucked in the head, not fucking broken and–
“Nothing that serious,” Lexie says flippantly.
“Her uncle is just the head of the Sokolov crime family. But as far as I can tell, all of their money these days is legitimate, and I have a theory that the criminal stuff has just been gossip and rumors for at least two generations because I’ve never seen–”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I say quickly, holding up a hand to step the flow of Lexie’s verbal river. “Say again, Kira darling?”
She bites her lip and ducks her head in her shoulders like a turtle trying to hide. “My uncle is sort of the head of the family, and the family, um…sometimes, in the past, and possibly the present, was in charge of a great deal of organized criminal endeavors.”
Shit, her uncle is in the mafia? The Russian mafia?? Wait…that’s called something else right? Bravo or something like that. “That’s so fucking cool,” I say breathlessly. “What’s the Russian mafia called? Do you think his house has secret torture rooms and stuff?”
Lexie gasps and sits up straight. “I never thought of that! We have to look for some!”
“There aren’t any secret rooms, and it’s called the bratva,” Kira says weakly. “You, um, you’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad?” I ask, then raise a brow. “Is he going to threaten me or something? Promise to break my knees if I break your heart, and other bratva family stuff like that?”
Both girls hesitate.
“Shit, really?” I ask, eyes wide. “For real?”
“He might,” Kira admits. “He’s done it in the past.”
“And Brian still cheated on you?” I ask incredulously. “Does he have a death wish?”
“Kira never told her uncle about Brian,” Lexie tattles immediately. “Even though I said she should.”
“You don’t even think Young-gi’s really in the bratva,” Kira snaps, getting some of her fire back.
“He’s still scary!” Lexie looks at me. “You’ll see when you meet him.”
“His name is Young-gi?” I ask, intrigued. “Wait, what do you mean when I meet him?!”
“Well, it is his house,” Kira says abashedly. “I mean, he has a bunch of houses but he knows I’m using this one for the summit and it would be just like him to be there to watch me. I swear he still thinks I’m ten years old.”
I can understand why. Kira is so innocent and well-meaning. She’s sweet and kind and soft-spoken. If her uncle has a decent bone in his body, he’ll want to protect her.
“You’ll call him Mr. Sokolov,” Kira says, bringing me back on track. “His Korean name is for family only. His mother was Korean, she was my granddad’s mistress, so Young-gi was a bastard, too, which is just another reason for people to ridicule me. A bastard running the family is taboo.”
“Noted,” I say. Then, hopefully, “…So I’m gonna meet a real bratva boss?”
“Alleged,” Lexie says meaningfully, sinking a great deal of doubt into her tone. “An alleged bratva boss.”
“Still cool,” I say with a grin. Then I lean over Kira to look out the window as we start to land. “Whoa, awesome!”
When the wheels touch the tarmac and the jet decelerates, I end up on the floor. Kira blinks down at me in surprise, then quickly covers her mouth.
“I see that smile,” I say with a laugh. “You can’t hide it from me, Kira darling. It’s alright, go on and laugh. It’s funny.”
She shyly uncovers her mouth. “You should’ve seen your face.”
“You’re disgustingly handsome even when you hit the ground,” Lexie says, sounding like she’s complaining as she scans me with narrow eyes. “I’m insanely jealous.”
“You’re both very beautiful girls,” I tell her. “But don’t expect any compliments from me at the summit, Lexie. I’ll be insanely in love with my Kira darling, and I only have eyes for her, sorry.”
The girls laugh, and I smile as I feel the plane rumble to a stop. We’ve arrived. Soon, we’ll be facing the pack of wolves that are the rich young adults of America.
This is going to be fun.
********
Young-gi
I’d hoped to greet my niece at the airport, but by the time my jet lands, it’s later than I’d planned, and I get word that she’s already arrived at the estate.
So instead, I sit quietly, deep in thought, in the back seat of one of my cars as Yosef drives me through the scenic countryside to the venue.
Kira beat me there by over an hour, so I’ll barely make it in time for dinner.
Although, according to the message from the staff on-site, Kira wasn’t alone. I expected her to have Lexie with her, of course. The two girls have been friends since childhood. But a man? I didn’t expect that.
I raise an eyebrow and study the photo on my screen again.
It’s decent quality, even if the angle’s strange–taken discreetly from one of the security cameras.
Kira is ascending the front steps of my lakeside mansion, arm-in-arm with a man who looks a few years older than she is. I pause, inspecting him.
He’s dressed well enough, although his piercings–glinting stark and gold against his dark skin–are a little surprising and make him look less like Kira’s usual wholesome type.
He’s taller than she is, and in good shape; the way his shoulders fill out that shirt suggests strength, not softness.
Another oddity, since Kira’s always gravitated towards… to put it bluntly, weaklings.
I can’t see his face straight on in the image, since he’s looking at Kira, but I can still see his large, intense eyes that are somehow even darker than mine. Almost obsidian.
Maybe it’s just the lighting in the photo, but it gives him an edge that makes me wonder if he’s more than he appears to be. Perhaps he has bad intentions. I’ve never been good at reading people, but something about his expression… It’s just a little off.
Kira isn’t looking at him, instead facing off-camera with her mouth parted like she’s about to speak to someone. But he’s staring down at her, those black eyes sharp and focused.
I’m not sure I like him.
I’m not sure how I feel about the way he’s watching her.
Then again, none of her previous boyfriends–all short flings, especially after I had ‘The Talk’ with them–ever looked at her with such singular intensity.
Maybe I should be happy for her. If he has an ounce of backbone, and a brain, and if he worships her the way she deserves, then it would be a good thing.
But a rational person would know that Kira’s wealth and power would make her a target for greedy fortune-seekers, so perhaps it would be best to remain skeptical.
Since I can’t decide how I feel, I go with the more logical option–skeptical and suspicious.
I’ll be able to get more of an understanding of his character when I meet him in person.
My eyes drift over his face again.
“Tommy, hm?” I wonder aloud. He’s probably nothing. Not worth her time or mine. He’s after her money or power, not her heart. I scoff and lock my phone screen before shoving it deep into my jacket pocket.