Chapter 5 #2
He had his chance two years ago and let it slip away, yet the desire in his gaze tells me he still feels the pull.
I can sense the tension simmering whenever I’m in the same room.
There’s obvious regret in his decision. Jeremiah picks up on it too and takes every opportunity to remind Adam of my loyalties.
It’s the only thing he has over his brother.
Me.
I lean forward, allowing Adam a better view as I gently take his glass and fill it with the tequila.
Tonight, I chose a sleek black dress that’s low-cut, its fabric hugging my curves, and dipping just low enough to reveal a subtle hint of my stomach.
I notice him tense slightly, his breath catching, as our eyes lock.
Jeremiah’s gaze bores into me. I dart my eyes over to him in time to see a smile tugging the corners of his lips.
He likes that his brother wants me. The barmaid is still sitting on his lap with her back to me, giggling, when he whispers something in her ear.
Stepping away from Adam, I place myself firmly between Jeremiah’s feet, the club lights dancing around us with the soft pulse of the music. The barmaid remains focused on her task of seducing my man, unaware of my presence.
“Can I get you a drink?” I purr seductively, a mischievous grin spreading across my face as I reach for her ponytail.
I twist the strands around my fist with a swift motion, and she lets out a startled squeal.
Seizing the opportunity, I tug her head back, lifting the tequila bottle to her parted lips.
The golden liquid rushes forth, overflowing and streaming down her body like a cascading waterfall.
She coughs and sputters in surprise, her eyes wide with shock, but I don’t stop.
Jeremiah, ever the protector of his attire, shoves her off his lap, ensuring that none of the liquor splatters on him. At last, I release her, allowing her to gasp for breath.
“Why would you do that?” she has the audacity to ask.
I curl my lip up and snap, “You were in my seat, bitch.”
Jeremiah’s hands grip my hips and he pulls my ass into his lap, his lips going straight to my neck. “Such a feisty, jealous woman.” His cock grows thick beneath me.
“Only when it’s you.” I rub a hand down his thigh and make eye contact with Adam, a quick surge of heat pulsing through me.
I thrive on the excitement of playing with fire, even when I know the risks involved.
In moments like these, I can’t help but surrender to the allure.
After all, there’s something irresistibly captivating about brothers that draws me in.
Management only takes five minutes to learn what happened with the barmaid before complimentary bottles are sent to our section. A new barmaid delivers the apology, and when she places a familiar bottle on the table, my heart almost leaps from my chest and flops on the table like a dying fish.
“Management sends their regards and apologizes for the upset. Please be the first to try our new signature drink. Rainbow Vodka.”
The twisting in my gut has bile creeping up my throat.
“What did you say?” I find myself asking. Knowing I must have misheard her.
“Rainbow Vodka. It comes from Russia.” She beams and my heart stills.
No, it can’t be…can it?
Not just any vodka. The twins’ vodka.
My skin burns with the memory of a short time when I was truly happy. It was fleeting but I hold onto the nights we spent together and lose myself to the memory whenever living here becomes unbearable.
That girl no longer exists. She’s a ghost. She ran.
I’m Ally now.
My throat tightens, and tears well up in my eyes. It’s an irrational reaction, but I can’t seem to calm my mind or body.
“You’re shaking, Ally,” Jeremiah observes, arms tightening around me as if he can stop the way my body trembles.
I grab a glass from the table and gulp down its contents, not caring who it belongs to or what’s in it. Anything to wash down the acid in my throat. The burning sensation momentarily distracts me, but the conversation sours my stomach even more.
Vika’s fiancé, Maddox, picks up the Rainbow Vodka bottle and admires the sleek design. “The new club owners are brothers from Moscow. At least that's what I was told,” Maddox says to Adam. “Have you heard of them?”
Not a strange question. Adam knows everyone with any sort of power or influence. And, I guess, that means worldwide, not just our neck of the woods.
These brothers from Moscow have to be someone else. There are a million clubs in Russia and just as many rich families in the alcohol industry. It’s only a coincidence.
Then why is their signature vodka here?
I know the answer.
A tidal wave of realization washes over me, the water rushing in my ears and drowning my soul.
“Yes, I’m well aware of the Madmen of Moscow,” Adam says, words cutting through my haze and smacking me in the chest.
My glass falls from my palm and smashes to the gloss floor, sending sharp shards shooting in all directions.
“Ally! What the fuck is going on with you?” Jeremiah barks. “Did you get wasted over there or some shit?”
Nope. That’s just my soul being ripped from my body.
“Ally,” Vika snaps, snatching my wrist and pulling me to my feet. “Come to the bathroom with me. If you’re going to puke, do it there. We wouldn’t want Jeremiah’s pants to get ruined.”
I move in a dazed cloud as she tugs me along through the club.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
This can’t be real.
Vika shoos away some girls from the sink. She snatches paper towels from the dispenser and wets them before smacking them to my forehead. Her golden eyes bore into me. “What the hell was that about?”
Gone is her southern belle routine and the vicious Russian viper is glowering at me.
“I, uh. Sorry. It was a shock. Did you know they were buying this club?” I ask in disbelief.
Her plump lips purse and she tears her gaze from mine. “I’d heard rumors of it but didn’t know it had gone through.” She sighs heavily. “You don’t have to worry about them, though. The twins won’t care about us, Alyona. They helped get me out.”
How fucking wrong she is. Or, maybe she isn’t. Will they care? I left them with a note and a fuck you. Well, that’s not exactly how it went, but that’s surely how they saw it.
My heart hammers to the point of pain. It’s as if it’s trying to escape my ribcage so it can go to them. Oh God, I can’t fucking cope with seeing them.
“Do you know what their plan is?” I ask, voice hoarse with emotion. “Are they staying here to run the club or just overseeing management and then returning home?”
I need to know.
I need to know how this affects my life and theirs.
Too much is at stake.
She rolls her eyes in exasperation and pulls out a tube of lipstick from her purse.
“I don’t know,” she says with a huff, applying a thick layer of cherry red on her lips.
“You’ll have to talk to my brother. If they’re buying clubs here, he’ll know about it.
” Pausing her actions, she glares at me. “Is there something I don’t know?”
Despite my inner teasing of her being an annoying cockroach, Vika and I became friends over the past couple of years.
Due to our forced proximity, and the shared trauma of being discarded by our families as if we were trash put out on bin day, we sort of bonded.
It’s nice to have a piece of home nearby.
That being said, there is no way I can trust her with my secrets. There’s too much at stake. She turned on the Vetrovs, so it’s not like she wouldn’t do it to a Voskobynokov.
“Didn’t you stay with them for a few months when Vas abandoned me to rot and fell in love with my sister—who I didn’t even know existed?” There’s the old Vika, her true self struggling to break free when Darya is part of the conversation. “What happened with them?”
I can’t answer that.
So much. Everything.
And then I threw it all away to protect them.
“I wouldn’t exactly call enduring brutal beatings to prepare me for your father’s sadistic games a bonding retreat,” I bite out, stiffening my spine. “And it’s Vas who is the sole reason you’re standing here today. It cost him everything he had to secure your freedom.”
Pain engulfs her amber eyes, which are so much like her brothers’. I don’t tell her the twins wrote off the debt when Vas agreed to fight for them. The less she knows about that, the better.
“Freedom?” she huffs, eyes widening. “Vas sent me here to my estranged brother knowing I once tried to have him killed. I’m lucky Viktor let me live.”
And, in return for him letting you live, you stole his boyfriend.
“You’re right,” I agree, feigning indifference.
“They won’t care if I’m here, and we probably won’t see them anyway.
It’s a non-issue. I bet they forgot I even exist.” My heart begins shedding the hard shell I encased it in when I left them.
Just thinking about them is shattering my carefully constructed facade.
If I see them, though, my heart might implode and kill me on the spot.
“I’m not feeling great. Will you let Jeremiah know I’ve gone home? I’ll see him there later.”
Vika’s gaze narrows and she presses her cherry-red lips together. “He won’t like that.”
“Just tell him,” I say with an exasperated huff. “Please.”
She doesn’t agree, but I know she will. Her fabricated life will always be in jeopardy just as much as mine. My cockroach friend will cover for me. I’d do the same for her and we both know it.
Once outside, I order an uber, but have no intention of going home.
“Where to?” the driver asks, scratching at his crotch, when I slide into the back seat.
“The Vault club across town. There’s a big tip for you if you hurry.”
I have to talk to Viktor and find out any information I can, and if he knows when the twins will arrive.
Oh God. They really are coming.