Chapter 11 - Damien
In all honesty, I didn’t anticipate things moving as they had.
I was surprised by my night with Sky, especially given how it started with us going at each other, mutually irritated. But it seemed we just needed that release in the end, and I wasn’t going to deny how it did us both some good.
Things were developing better than I expected, and that rare hope guided me through the weekend, left me wondering how things may be for us that following week.
Even if I didn’t know much about her or how I’d eventually feel about her when I first met Sky at those family events, I had been interested since the moment I laid eyes on her. A part of me hoped to have that opportunity to be close to her, but I never wanted to seem like I was on some kind of chase.
Of course, I never suspected how intensely I would come to want her, and I ended up throwing the idea out the window. I certainly was on a chase, and against all odds, she wanted me in the same way.
I wanted her for myself, and even after having her, I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
Regardless, the thought didn’t leave me, and even after having my fill, I couldn’t get her out of my head. I originally hoped that I’d get some of it out of my system and be able to move forward on a more level-headed note. Maybe even show her that I didn’t need to be quite so intense with her.
But if anything, having sex with Sky only made that fixation stronger. Worse.
On one hand, it felt so good. I couldn’t understand why, but pining for her, needing her, kept this persistent warmth alive inside me, and it just made me want her more. But at the same time, it was agonizing to need her and to feel like I was being the greediest man on earth.
Sky just had a way of making me feel like enough was never enough, and it was both frustrating and enticing at once.
With the taste and feeling of Sky’s skin fresh on my mind that following Monday, I faced little resistance getting out of bed and heading in to see my brothers.
Ever since I was posted in the office, I had seen less of them than usual, and I even ended up looking forward to reaching the family’s newest business venture—a high-end restaurant under the freshly instated Novikov management.
It seemed that spending more time around the Levovs inspired Alex, and he decided to take on the restaurant as a side project. While I was surprised to hear it at first, it eventually made sense, given how my brother wasn’t shy when it came to making his way around a kitchen. Of course, he wasn’t the one doing any of said cooking, but he liked to be a snob about it anyway.
Pulling up to the place, I made my way inside as casually as anything.
I couldn’t say why Alex decided the meeting was best had there, but I didn’t argue. Instead, I moved across the dining area, through the kitchen, and into the upstairs portion reserved for the family only. All the while, the smell of sautéed onions and garlic surrounded me, and I contemplated grabbing something on the way out.
Before long, I found my brothers already waiting, surrounding the table with a few plates of various foods in front of them.
“Who the hell came up with this one?” Daniil asked, nose turned as he dropped the spoon he was holding back into the small platter of various broths and creamed soups.
“What, not a fan of mushrooms?” Alex chided as he and the others stood around the samples. “I think it’s pretty good.”
“You’re out of your mind if you think I want to consume any kind of fungus.”
“Your palette just isn’t very refined,” he returned with that specific air of authority when it came to his apparent culinary expertise.
“Refined my ass…give me one that doesn’t taste like something Val brought in on his boots.”
Val cocked a brow at him. “What’s wrong with my boots?”
“Are we having a picnic or a meeting?” I asked with a chuckle as I approached, amused by the scene in front of me while one of the chefs stood off to the side, expression neutral while they waited.
“Ah, finally, someone without the tastebuds of a child,” Alex said, gesturing for me to join them. “How about some French onion?”
I waved him off as I took a seat. “I’m good, thanks.”
“None of us want to smell like that for the rest of the day,” Yuri said simply while he texted aimlessly. “Nor do we want to smell it on you.”
Alex’s expression fell to one of slight disappointment as he scoffed, then waved the chef over. “You guys don’t know how to have fun apparently…anyway, let’s get this cleared out.”
With a dutiful nod, the chef grabbed the platters and hurried out of the room.
Shaking his head absently, still grumbling about us not participating in his taste testing like he wanted, Alex leaned back in his chair. “Since you’re so eager to get to the meat and potatoes…let’s dive in.”
At Alex’s faint grin, far too satisfied with himself, Daniil huffed air from his nose and said flatly, “Good one.”
The rest of us chuckled at that, seemingly getting it out of our system before our restauranteur leader cleared his throat and grabbed a small stack of papers, giving it a few punctuated taps against the table.
“It’s been a while since we had a general meeting, so here we are…” he began, glancing over the paper on top. “We have a few things to touch on before we get to the good stuff, then Damien has to get back to the office…bear with me.”
As if on cue, both Yuri and Val sighed. Even if they were as dedicated as the rest of us, the two of them tended to be more restless, and they didn’t handle the ‘boring’ things as well as the rest of us.
Alex threw them a look that lacked any kind of bite. “Yeah, yeah, sigh all you like. The faster we get through this, the sooner you can get out of here. So shut up and listen.”
The twins both snickered and allowed him to continue without any more interruptions.
At last, he got down to business, going over more pressing matters that had come up in the last few days, most of which didn’t have much to do with me. Since I was already busy with rat hunting, I luckily got to sit back and take everything in, rather than being scrutinized.
It was like a lucky break since my brothers weren’t quite as adamant about me getting to the bottom of things as the Levovs, seeing as other things required our attention. Still, it wasn’t enough to pull my mind away from the issue.
As much as I wanted to pretend like the heat wasn’t on my ass, it most certainly was. Even if there was no definitive timeline for me to get a grip on the matter, it still felt like I had a countdown following me—reminding me that it was only a matter of time.
Whether it was something against the Levovs or my family, there was no telling when those people might strike.
“Our numbers have been up on this side, but we need to keep pushing over in the eastern sector. The Levovs recently took down a family here, freeing up—”
Before Alex could finish the thought while he circled an area on the map of the city spread out over the table, his phone buzzed on the table in front of him, and he sighed.
“Jesus Christ…what now?” he asked, grumbling to himself as he reached for the phone lit up with Ari’s name across the screen. “Speak of the devil…”
The rest of us sat back in our chairs, curious all the while Alex answered the call and put the phone to his ear. “What do you—”
“Listen, one of our trades was just intercepted…at least, they tried, anyway,” Ari said from the other side, voice loud enough for us to hear. “Is Damien there?”
At the mention of my name, I leaned forward to better focus on the situation.
“Yeah, he’s here,” Alex replied, pressing the screen to put him on speaker before placing the phone down on the table. “Is everything alright over there?”
Ari’s voice flooded the room clearer then, sounding vaguely irritated. “Good…and we’re fine other than a few casualties. But there’s more to it than just that, which is why I want Damien to hear this.”
“I’m listening…” I said, letting him know I was both present and curious about what else he was about to divulge with us.
“The trade was a bluff.”
I cocked a brow, noticing the mutual confusion on my brothers’ faces. “Come again?”
Despite the odd situation, he kept his voice steady and serious. “Luk came up with the idea to test whoever might be spying in the office…so Benedikt shared some details with Gemma not too long ago, giving up the fake time and location it would take place. Since it was all made up, nobody would’ve had access to that information outside of us. We made it look real, and sure enough, they took the bait.”
Taking it all in, I nodded to myself, understanding the strategy behind it. “Now we know for sure there is a rat…I haven’t just been looking for no reason.”
“That’s right,” Ari said, letting go of a breath. “I didn’t love sacrificing a few men for the test, but now we know.”
“Were you able to find out anything about whose men they were?” Alex asked, arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at the phone with interest.
“No. We tried to capture one of the bastards, but they were too slippery. They got away, but at least they didn’t succeed at taking any real product with them.”
It was good that they didn’t manage to get any kind of upper hand over the Levovs, but at the same time, it wasn’t so great that they lost out on the chance to take a hostage and interrogate them. That could’ve been the piece we needed to crack the case without causing any real damage.
“That being said, things could’ve ended a lot worse if it hadn’t been a test,” Ari added, tone more serious and vaguely demanding. “That’s why we need you to get a move on and find the rat before something serious happens to either one of our families. We know there’s a spy, but now it’s up to you to flush them out, Damien.”
As annoying as it was to feel more of that pressure stacked onto my shoulders, I knew without a doubt that he was right. I couldn’t brush it off or keep stalling.
While I had my main suspects, and it was taking time to figure out who it was, I needed to start making real progress. I couldn’t keep giving them more time to act.
“I will,” I told him, not allowing for a moment of doubt. “I gave you my word and I meant it. I’ll have my evidence soon and get to the bottom of it.”
There was a beat of silence, and then Ari let go of a breath. “I hope so…we’re counting on you.”
To make matters worse, I felt my brothers’ eyes on me all at once, aware of what was at stake, only reaffirming Ari’s statement.
In a way, they were completely counting on me. There was a threat against them all, and they were looking to me to squash it sooner rather than later.
I had no doubt in my mind that I needed to get everything sorted as quickly as possible. The sooner they did, the sooner I could shed those layers of expectation and demand.
Even if being around Sky tempered my ability to focus as I needed to, I couldn’t let her distract me. I needed to be serious, for the sake of everyone around me.