Chapter 20 - Rurik
For the next two weeks, everything went as well as could be expected, at least where my wife was concerned. Clem and I found our feet around one another, and while she still sometimes infuriatingly acted like a guest in her own home, we had some amazing times together.
From meeting in the library after dinner each evening and quietly reading side by side on the big couch to exploding into passionate conversations about everything from our books to business, she made it clear more and more every day that I had made the right decision.
The only decision.
Even when we disagreed about something, and we often did now that she was growing more bold with her opinions and not treating me like her boss, I always learned something new from her point of view.
She was so different from me, growing up as an only child who was raised mostly by an elderly aunt, but I enjoyed her stories about exploring her small town in Vermont with her small circle of friends.
She didn’t speak much about her most recent years in college, and I still didn’t know why she dropped out so close to graduating, but I assumed it was due to money problems and didn’t push her about it.
I loved showing off with crazy tales of my upbringing with my two rowdy older brothers to contend with, as well as the countless cousins, aunts, and uncles, both here and back in Russia.
“How do you keep all the relationships straight?” she asked one evening. “Not just cousins, but second cousins, twice removed cousins, uncles by marriage…”
I shook my head. “None of that really matters to us. Family is family, we’re all the same.”
She got that wistful look she often did, but there were no words I could say that would make her believe she was one of us. Only time would make her see she belonged with me. That she had an army of a family behind her now.
Everything was damn near close to perfect—when I was in the office or at home.
The only thing that was a dark blot was the new war brewing against my family.
We all thought that when we officially united with the Collective, no one would dare mess with us, but there would always be power-hungry people in the world who had more greed than sense.
There were starting to be one too many unexplainable late nights, and Clem wasn’t buying my excuses of spending time at my cousin’s boxing gym to account for the bruises I was getting in our most recent fights.
It was sheer luck that it was only bruises, as my cousin Ivan had been grazed with a bullet the night before.
It was getting harder to remain as loyal as possible to my family and keep those late-night fights a secret.
It wasn’t just to keep Clem out of danger, but ever since I met her, I was enjoying the novel feeling of being somewhat normal.
Talking about everyday occurrences in my almost completely legitimate business with my definitely completely straight arrow wife was refreshing.
I loved seeing the respect in her eyes. It was only tinged with the worry of what she’d think when the truth about the Fokins had to come out.
She’d already proven she wasn’t a huge fan of secrecy, and hiding the fact I was Bratva was as big as it got.
Clem had taken the last few days off from office work to make sure the house was exactly as it should be for the Koboyashi’s upcoming visit.
I hadn’t owned the place very long, and it had been hurriedly decorated by a professional.
She assured me it looked as good as any four-star hotel, but that was part of the problem.
“It needs personal touches,” she had told me, blushing furiously as she nodded toward two garment bags. “And personal photos.”
The bags contained a simple white wedding gown and a tuxedo. With the timer set on her phone, we proceeded to take some pictures in the garden that looked remarkably believable. So much so that I caught her staring at them once she had them printed, framed, and scattered around the house.
Was that really the dress she would have chosen, or was she in assistant mode, just going for simplicity and cost efficiency? Before I could ask her, she was hurrying off to make sure the guest towels were just right, and stressing over the menus with my cook.
Hating being at the office without her, I was rushing home a day before our guests were due to arrive when I got a phone call from Shin. Apologizing profusely, he explained something had come up at one of their factories, and they were going to have to cancel the visit. My stomach plummeted.
This deal was just a few extra zeros in my bank account, which were always welcome, but more importantly, it was going to be Clem’s first real achievement in the business world. A crowning achievement, too, and I would have moved the earth itself to make it happen for her.
“Erina and I would love it if you visited us here in Tokyo,” he said. “You must come and let us show you the same hospitality you showed us in LA.”
He assured me the invitation was sincere, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to leave the country when so much was going on with my family.
I kept that part to myself when I told Clem we weren’t having our first house guests after all.
Expecting her to be relieved, I was surprised when she slumped with disappointment.
“All your hard work wasn’t wasted,” I assured her. “The place looks much better with your new touches.”
“I was looking forward to seeing them again,” she said. “But, thanks.”
I gathered her into my arms, the invitation on the tip of my tongue.
Imagining exploring the streets of a new city with my curious wife almost had me forgetting all about my family.
Clem was that important to me. All I needed.
But they needed me right now. Fun wasn’t an option when some group of thugs was constantly setting buildings on fire or shooting out windows.
“Perhaps one day we can go to Tokyo,” I said, feeling her out on the subject. One day, when my family wasn’t under siege, which could mean never.
Her eyes shone when she leaned back to look up at me. “That would be great,” she sighed. “I’ve always meant to read more Japanese history. I’m going to start tonight.”
Then she seemed to remember herself and shook her head. “What about the deal? We need to get it all on paper, figure out a plan.”
“We’ll just have to be patient,” I said. “It’ll come together.”
There was a spark of wanting to see Tokyo that had nothing to do with Gavrik Imports, and I wanted nothing more than to feed that spark. I had been all over the world, but it would be my first time in Japan, too, and I would have loved to share it with her.
Instead of holing up in the library with thick history tomes, we decided to watch some travel shows instead, and found ourselves making plans for that trip in the elusive future.
This was something Clem clearly wanted, and I wanted to give it to her.
To us. A true honeymoon. This had to happen.
I reached for my phone to book the tickets when my cousin Aleks called.
Clem slid away, knowing the drill by now.
I’d leave in a hurry with no explanation, and hopefully make it home alive sometime before dawn.
For now, she accepted that my family ran all sorts of businesses all over the world, so there might always be an emergency at one of them at any time of the day or night.
“Sorry,” I told her. “That strike at the warehouse might be getting out of hand again.”
That was how I explained the last bruise on my jaw, taking a random hit from an angry picketer.
She bought it, but didn’t like it, just like she sighed and shrugged now.
She still didn’t fully believe she had the rights of a real wife to demand my full attention, or plead with me to stay home where I belonged.
If she knew the truth, what would she say? Would she stick around long enough to say anything?
That night, I ended up going with Aleks and Max to track down someone who’d torched a bar that Dan had just purchased. Dan himself was on his babymoon at a spa hotel in wine country, and we refused to let him drive through the night to get back to help us.
After we rounded up the culprits, who seemed to be nothing more than low-level street gang members, we had a long meeting.
Things were escalating, and while the men acting against us didn’t seem to have much overhead organization, we began to suspect they were a cover for something bigger.
Something was brewing, and we needed to find out who was ordering the seemingly random attacks before it happened.
It was the worst possible time to take a vacation.
When I crawled into bed at four in the morning, Clem pretended to be asleep, but I could tell by her breathing that she had laid awake worrying.
As much as I wanted her to ask where I’d been or what I had been doing, I didn’t want to come up with another lie or half-truth.
If something huge actually went down, I might not be able to keep my Bratva background secret much longer.
What then? I pulled her close and rested my chin against the top of her head, silently apologizing for ruining her sleep.
She nestled back against me for the few remaining hours of the night, and the gentle sound of her breathing helped me shut off my brain and sleep.
At lunch the next day, Lilia showed up out of the blue, looking as tired and worn out as I felt. Gavril had been on the front lines as well during the last few weeks of escalation, in charge of gathering information from some of the men we captured.
Clem had already run off to have lunch with her friend Diana from accounting, and Lilia said it was probably for the best. Which meant she needed to talk about the family.
As soon as we slid into opposite sides of a booth in a nearby restaurant, tears began sliding down her pale cheeks.
She was like a younger sister to me, and my first urge was to find whoever made her cry and smash them into oblivion, but we were both adults now.
Her problems were similar to mine. We were both concerned about the war that seemed inevitable.
Going through it countless times never really prepared us; it only taught us how we could lose one another in the blink of an eye.
“Gavril’s been speaking with his Italian contacts,” she said. “It’s not coming from anyone there, at least as far as they know.”
“There’s always the possibility that it may be just the LA gangs coming together to try to take us out. We do put a big dent in their ability to do business.”
She sighed, shaking her head, dismissing the idea, the same as her husband and everyone else did. The gangs would never be able to put aside their grievances and get along, but we’d once thought the same about the Collective ever working with us.
“I’m so sick of talking about it and thinking about it,” she said. “Tell me what you’ve been reading.”
Lilia and I were the bookworms of the family, devouring anything we could get our hands on.
It was a huge bond between us and a source of refuge when things got rough in the world outside of printed pages.
I informed her that Clem and I were determined to start reading about Japan, letting her know the Koboyashis had invited us.
“It’s such a shame they couldn’t make it,” she said. “You really ought to take them up on it and go.”
“I wish. Clem is dying to, even though she won’t outright admit it.”
“Why won’t she?” my astute cousin asked.
I waited for the server to leave our salads, spearing a thick cucumber slice before answering. “She doesn’t believe it’s real,” I said.
Her eyes flew wide. “Wait. Is it? Since when?”
“Since the day I met her,” I admitted. If anyone would understand, it was Lilia, who believed in love at first sight and fate. “It was always real.”
Lilia ate a few bites in silence before giving me a piercing look. “Then you have to go to Tokyo,” she said.
I huffed. “How can I? Every day there’s something new. We’re under siege. Again.”
“Exactly,” she said. “Again. If it’s not now, it’ll be next month or next year. There’s always going to be something or someone trying to take us down. Put us on the back burner.”
“I can’t do that.”
My shy and sweet cousin, who had grown fierce since she’d been with Gavril, slapped her hand against the table.
“We’re not going to win this latest thing solely because of you, and we’re not going to lose it without you,” she said.
“Sorry to dent your ego, but it’s true. What’s also true is that if you want to keep Clem, you need to put her first.”
She stared at me, daring me to disagree.
I thought of Dan, who had stayed with Paisley in Santa Barbara.
Of Lev, who’d dipped out of a fight last week because his little son Artem had a fever.
Of Aleks himself, who had canceled a meeting two days ago because his daughter Alina had a dance recital.
The rest of us filled in without complaint, understanding completely.
“Family comes first,” Lilia said, echoing my thoughts.
“And Clem is my family now,” I said.
She smiled triumphantly. “I knew you’d get it eventually.”
She was right, and while it did dent my ego the tiniest bit, we had enough manpower that I could step out of the fight for a while. There was no reason to risk this marriage. I wanted so badly to work for a fight that wasn’t going anywhere.
And damn it, I did want this marriage to work. It was real, so real. Even if Clem still didn’t realize it yet.