5. Yana
Fyodor”s Rules #40 - The more complicated the plan, the more likely it is to fail.
Being covered in blood when I walked into the office of a vampire was not my smartest move. I saw the way Nikolai”s eyes snapped from Alexei to me as I stepped into his office. His vision became laser-focused on my throat. If I was honest, I had not considered the blood. The thought he could have news for us—something to do other than sit around—had distracted me enough that cleaning up hadn”t occurred to me.
Alexei looked so amused, and I wondered for a moment if he had planned this encounter. He couldn”t have known Nikolai was going to call us into his office, could he? He had seemed annoyed at the phone call—like it had interrupted him—but maybe it had been an act. Not wanting to be drawn into whatever game he was playing, I chose a seat, taking the time to cross my legs, and smooth out my skirt once I’d sat. Sitting prim and proper, and not at all like I had blood smeared over my face and neck. I didn”t say anything, waiting for Nikolai to break the tension. Just as he opened his mouth, the door opened, and Lukas slipped inside.
“I finally got Pasha to sleep. I thought it was going to be harder, but thankfully, he didn”t put up too much of a fight. Whatever this is about, you”ll have to fill him in tomor—” Lukas”s words trailed off as his eyes went from Nikolai to me, and he almost stumbled. His eyes turned golden as they took in every splash of blood on my skin. There was a growl, but he didn”t say anything more. He carried on to the couch, where he sat rigidly.
Nikolai cleared his throat, which did nothing to decrease the tension which saturated the air. “Fyodor has sent through a list of names for us to check out. He is still looking into some leads himself. I will have Pasha set up surveillance once he”s had some sleep. I know he has been working himself hard, and we need to monitor him.”
He pushed pieces of paper across the table, which Lukas picked up and handed out, refusing to look at me as he handed me mine.
Nikolai kept speaking. “Some of these women come to the regular ladies’ nights at the bar. It is why I wanted to talk to all of you. I know the two of you don”t normally join me for those nights. But I want one of you to be there at the next one. With Yana.”
My eyebrow rose at the suggestion. “I thought I was supposed to be hiding out, because no one would think to look for me here. Yet now you want to put me in the same room as the people who might be behind all this?” I knew I sounded incredulous, and probably a little rude, but this idea sounded ridiculous. I didn”t want to put myself in needless danger.
“You look different from the teenager you were back then. I am sure with the right makeup, you can alter your looks even further. Fyodor spoke highly of your social and deception skills and that you might notice something we don”t. I want to put this person off balance. If they recognize you, they will see you with us and might panic, and hopefully it will make them sloppy. If they don”t recognize you, hearing you are engaged to either Lukas or Alexei will do the same thing. After all, whoever did this is trying to isolate us.”
The word engaged was something he slipped into the conversation casually, but the reaction in the room was anything but. “Engaged?” The three voices chimed like a harmony of annoyance as Lukas, Alexei, and I all questioned his use of the word.
“It’s an easy way to introduce you and justify your inclusion in the room. Fyodor tells me you speak French and Italian, so we are going to pitch it as an alliance with a family from outside the city. That will get the rumor mill going. People have been trying to get their hooks into us via marriage for some time now, so this won”t be completely out of the blue.”
The scoff Alexei gave was an echo of my own disbelieving tone. “You”re the one letting them get their hooks into us with your engagement to the Italian girl.” He pointed out.
I had almost forgotten about that. It still surprised me that Nikolai was going to marry someone who clearly didn”t want to marry him. Maybe it was a deliberate choice, so he wouldn”t have to feed from her. Or maybe he was just lonely and wanted regular sex on tap. Either way, his bad choices didn”t mean I had to make similar ones.
“I think this is a terrible plan, regardless of whether it came from Fyodor. If the people working against us know I am here, they are going to attack. Or they will come prepared to deal with someone like me. Giving up the element of surprise is foolish.”
I watched as Nikolai raised his eyebrow at me. The look he gave me made my hackles rise. As if he didn”t believe what I said, but I didn”t want to argue with him. Were there other reasons I didn”t want to pretend to be engaged to one of my brothers? Of course, but I shouldn”t have to explain myself. My refusal should have been enough.
“If you want to discuss another course of action with Fyodor, be my guest. But I agree with him. People are expecting us to be seen with a woman on our arm, and it will give you an excuse to socialize. You know as well as I, the only ones who gossip more than mob women are the enforcers, and Pasha and Lukas can talk to them. If whoever is involved responds poorly or obviously to your presence, then you will be there in the moment to help us contain them and we will deal with the problem.”
I huffed; he made sense, which made this worse. I hated being engaged in logical arguments when I was emotional. It made me feel unreasonable. And I’d had enough of men trying to make me feel like I was irrational just because I was a woman. I didn”t need it from my brothers as well.
“Say I went along with this plan. You want me to pretend to be engaged to Lukas or Alexei? Why not Pasha?”
Pasha and I would be the logical choice. We were both used to the delicate social dance of manipulation. I couldn”t ignore the slight look of hurt on both Alexei and Lukas”s faces as I asked, but I refused to let it get to me. There were more important things at stake than their egos right now.
“Well, it can”t be me. I have agreed to see how things fare with the young Italian girl.” The fact he refused to use her name didn”t get past me. It must have been his way of keeping her at a distance, or maybe he didn”t know it. The Nikolai I grew up with knew the name of everyone we encountered. “And I wanted Pasha free to deal with other things. Having both of you in meetings would be a waste. I want him out talking to people, and not only because he”s spent too much time at his computer lately. We need to know what people are talking about, and I trust him with that job more than the others.”
Alexei didn”t look hurt anymore. He grinned widely, all teeth, like a shark. Lukas looked as though the very thought of socializing with people made his stomach turn.
Again, I found myself unable to argue with Nikolai. It was becoming very frustrating how well he and Fyodor had planned all of this out.
“Lukas needs to be focused on security now more than ever.” I didn”t look at him—couldn”t look at him—instead I focused my attention on Alexei. “I guess that means I am asking for your hand in fake marriage.” My tone was as neutral as I could get. But I couldn”t have kept myself from laughing as Alexei brought his hands up to cup his cheeks in mock surprise.
“So romantic, pchelka. Perhaps I should have brought a fake hand.” He sounded more amused than upset. But then everything seemed to amuse him now. Lukas was glaring at both of us, and Nikolai clapped his hands together.
“Wonderful. The best way to introduce you would be at the drinks we are having with the Italian women this week. I am sure the Bratva will hear about it through the gossip vine and want to meet you as soon as possible. We have a lot of planning to do.”
I was surprised when Nikolai rose from his chair and stretched before leaving the room. He didn”t say the meeting was over, or that he was going anywhere, he just left. I turned, confused to the others, but Alexei just winked.
“I will talk to you later, my pretty fiancée.” He even blew me a kiss before he sauntered out of the room like he didn”t have a care in the world.
It left me alone with Lukas, who stared at his hands, rather than at me. I hadn”t realized this decision would bother him so much. We had been dancing around each other, leaving so many things unsaid. I hadn”t wanted to add to it. I didn”t want this unresolved drama between us to interfere in discovering who had done this to our family.
The thought of pretending I was engaged to the person I had always imagined I would marry made my stomach turn. I didn”t want to put myself through that. Hadn”t I been through enough?
“Would it have been so bad? I know you”ve been stuck with me the last few days, but really, Alexei, over me?” He wasn”t only looking hurt now, he was sounding hurt. I didn”t know what to do. So many thoughts and desires conflicted in my mind. Did I comfort him? Did I tell him to just suck it up? Should I lash out with cruelty, to get him to pull back from me? I didn”t know what I wanted from him, which made it hard to decide what to give him in return. It felt like there was no winner in this situation.
“I need to be able to focus on the job, Luka. And you have a job you need to focus on too. You and I both know you”ve been putting things off to be here with me. You don”t need to, I’m a big girl, I’ve had an entire decade taking care of myself. Besides, I could take care of myself when we were younger, too. But I really need you to realize I”m not that girl anymore. I”ve been through a lot and I”ve had to fight for everything I have.”
Hearing his scoff at my words had my blood boiling. I hadn”t known how frustrating it was to hear someone make that sound.
“If you think I am too busy mooning over you to do my job, you have another thing coming, Yana. But if you”d rather play happy families with the psychopath, be my fucking guest.” He was hurting, that much was obvious by the way he glared at me. I couldn”t argue with what he said. Alexei was a psychopath, more so than any of the rest of us. Though it didn”t stop what Lukas said from wearing on my last nerve.
“What do you want from me, Luka? I”m not a teenage girl anymore. I”ve spent the last ten years thinking you wanted me dead. That you thought you had killed me, and you were all off living your best lives. And now what? I’m expected to fall back into bed with you, with all of you? Because it was never just you and me. And if you can”t even watch me pretend to be engaged to Alexei, then you really don”t remember things well. I loved all of you. All of you. Not just you. And you can”t expect me now to swoon at your side because you saved me from Alexei”s knife. It wasn”t even that fucking bad.”
He wasn”t the only one breathing heavy now, we both were. We both glared at each other. And then in the next moment, I was pressed back against the couch, a firm hand around my throat, and his lips crushed to mine before he bit my lower lip hard enough to draw blood.
“You”re so fucking frustrating, Yana.” The words growled out between passes of his tongue over the split in my lip. “You don”t listen. You”re so angry. But you”re not the only one who is angry. You”re not the only one who has changed. Though you still think the whole fucking universe revolves around you. Around how you feel.” His fingers flexed around my throat, digging in hard, and I felt my heartbeat in my ears. But it wasn”t loud enough to keep his words from slicing in deeper.
“You think wanting you on my arm means I can”t share? Maybe I should drag you down to Alexei”s little dungeon right now. Let him finish his artwork while you sit on my cock. I bet the feel of you screaming would be like heaven while I fuck this pretty mouth of yours. Don”t fucking push me, cariad. You do not know what I want to do to you.”
It wasn”t only his hand around my throat, which had my breath catching. Every word painted a vivid visual. I felt my thighs clench at the very thought of what he said. Imagining myself pressed between him and Alexei; the delicate balance of pain and pleasure. I knew they”d both be able to keep me balanced on the fine edge until I couldn”t remember my own name.
And I wanted it. Right now, there was nothing I wanted more.
All the stress of everything that had happened. Of being captured, being sure I was going to die; feeling my entire world crumble around me, then attempting to rebuild it, large enough to hold the people I never thought I’d trust again. The thought of letting it go—even if just for a few minutes—of getting lost in the pleasure and pain was so fucking tempting. Of giving over my tightly held control for just a moment. I couldn”t stop the words from passing my lips in a whisper.
“Do it then. I dare you, Luka.”
His echoing growl was going to be my undoing.