Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
QUINN
We leave the suite after Aleksei and Santiago; each threw their pack declarations around like confetti at a wedding. The tension between the two Alphas is palpable, making my skin itch.
Kade hisses under his breath in warning at both as he pushes forward to open the door for me into the breakfast room. The clatter of cutlery and the chatter of Sergey, Bambi, and the others come to a stop as we enter.
Aleksei’s demeanor was already shifting the second we stepped out of our suite, and now it’s like he’s a different person. I follow his lead, dropping all the post-heat haze, becoming an icy version of myself.
“Good morning,” I offer Sergey, pointedly ignoring the side of the table where the girls are all sitting.
He gives me a sharp nod but doesn’t talk as I pass, and I drop my handbag and new jacket on a seat out of the way.
I wait to see which seat Aleksei takes, which inadvertently forces me in the vacant seat next to Bambi. But Roshka saves the day by inserting himself into the space between our chairs, forcing her and her friends to shuffle down the table.
Nalla stays close to Kade and Santiago, who are on the opposite side of the room from two of Sergey’s men. Their presence makes me feel better, but given the cold, hard stare from the Russians, I’m the only one happy with the situation.
As soon as Aleksei sits, he pulls his seat closer to Sergey, and they start speaking privately in Russian.
Around us, staff starts bringing our breakfast out.
A plate, like what I had on the first morning I arrived, is placed in front of me, but sadly no coffee, just the same bitter tea Sergey insisted I drink.
My stomach is way too fragile from the drugs I took to ward off my heat.
One of the staff passes, and I make it obvious I’m trying to catch their attention. She pretends not to see. I try to catch the eye of another few, but it’s like I’m invisible, and I know Sergey or the girls have something to do with it.
Aleksei’s bark makes me, and the girls, startle. He’s being unkind when he speaks to the staff, pointing at Sergey before flicking his hand in my direction. Without looking at me, he speaks in English.
“Tell them what you want, Mrs. Petrov. Marrying my brother gives you that privilege.”
His overemphasis is a reminder to everyone in the room.
Sergey watches his brother closely, with a glimmer of pride in his eyes.
Not for me; he’s barely acknowledged my presence.
This is all about his brother standing up for him and inadvertently blowing smoke up his ass.
The girls next to me are also less impressed with his sharp reminder. I really couldn’t care less about them.
The staff who got called out wait with their heads bowed, taking the reprimand. I feel uncomfortable for them, but I can’t back down now; it would reflect badly on Aleksei and fuel Bambi.
I don’t look up at them as I speak, mimicking how Sergey is acting, focusing on my food. “I’d like a pot of warm water, please.”
A server scurries away as quickly as possible. Sergey and Aleksei return to talking business in private.
The rest of breakfast passes similarly, which lets me focus on trying to deal with my throbbing headache. The day promises to be long, and feeling like shit will make it that much longer.
Sergey drops his knife and fork down as a sign he’s had enough, sitting back in his seat as he finishes his tea.
“We will go to work now. You come with Aleksei and me. Your guards will take a different car behind us.” He’s watching me closely, probably looking for an argument, but he won’t find one from me.
“Of course.”
If Aleksei wasn’t going to be with us in the car, I’d refuse point-blank to travel in his car without my guards.
The prenup he signed with my father provides me with a safety net to hide behind.
If Sergey kills me, he gets none of my father’s promised money or any of the benefits of business.
If I die over here, Victor has legal access to seize Sergey’s assets.
All of them. If I kill Sergey, I also get none of his wealth.
The huge difference is, I don’t give a fuck about money, so it’s not going to stop me from killing my husband.
Now that I know Aleksei is related to the piece of shit I am married to, I have a few new ideas I want in place first. To do that, I need a good lawyer. Someone I can trust, with experience in the underworld and the shady practice of false shelf companies as a means of laundering.
Almost everyone rushes out of the room, leaving me with Santiago and Kade, with Sergey’s guards watching us.
I put my back to them, moving close to Santiago and Kade, so I don’t have to talk loudly. “It sounds like I’m getting a tour of the Petrov empire today. Do you have a car?”
“Yes. We have everything we need.”
“Can you do me a favor and grab some water and food? I’m not taking anything he offers.”
Santiago looks pissed off. “Is he expecting you to travel with him?”
“I said yes already.” I have to press my hands together to stop from reaching out to soothe his irritation. “There’s no point sweating the small stuff. Anyway, it gives you the chance to talk about what I need.”
“What do you need?” Kade drops into carer mode instantly, while Santiago is still miffed I’m not traveling with him.
“Aleksei is in the same car.” Santiago’s lips lift, and a rumble from his chest starts up. I have to talk a little louder. “I guess one of the dogs will come with us, too, so there’s no need for that Alpha growl.”
As much as he is my scent-matched Alpha, and I can speak to him without being worried he’s going to snap, I still need to maintain the facade we’re just working together.
I turn my face slightly so the men behind me can see my hoity expression, backing up the direct way I’m speaking, as a client would.
And knowing we’re being watched, I flick my hand impatiently like a snobby bitch would, cutting him off when he goes to say something.
I turn back to them and talk even quieter. “Santiago, I need a lawyer experienced in prenups and complex deeds. They have to know the intricacies of this world. Only people you would trust your life with.”
It’s a huge gamble asking him because what I said can be interpreted a few ways, and none of them would reflect well on me.
It puts me in a dangerous situation. I wish I could say with absolute certainty, finding your scent matches trumps every other motive, but I’ve seen scent matches deceive and double-cross their fated mates with horrific results.
In my heart, I know I can trust them—they just tended to me during my most vulnerable time—but I need to think with my head on this matter. It would be the cruelest joke in the world if I married Sergey, died as a result, and then left the people I’m trying to protect unprotected and worse off.
I walk off without another word, appearing to rummage thoughtlessly through the Birkin I found in my closet. Whoever replenished my wardrobe knows me better than I know myself. And right now, it’s giving me the chance to find my sunglasses to hide my gathering tears.
I need a few moments alone and opt to wait outside.
The front door is open, so I take it as a good sign the roaming dogs are still locked up, and it’s as threat-free as you can be in the mafia world.
Roshka and Nalla stay close, but they trot down the stairs, leaving me staring at the fleet of waiting cars.
It’s the first time in a while I’ve been alone, and it’s nice, but it’s nicer again when I feel both Santiago and Kade approaching.
We don’t get a chance to say a word before we’re rejoined by Aleksei and a couple of Sergey’s guards. They’re having a conversation that looks and sounds serious, though it’s not really much of a conversation, since Aleksei is the only one speaking.
With a small turn of my head, I can watch him shamelessly from behind my sunglasses.
He’s such an attractive-looking Alpha, it’s not an arduous task perving on him.
Since breakfast, he’s changed too. The suit he’s wearing now hugs him in all the right places, and while that should keep me entertained, my claws come out knowing the bimbos are going to see him looking incredible when I’d like to keep him all to myself.
I enjoy the view a bit longer, dazed by my snarly mood and the accompanying tightness in my chest any time I think of another woman looking at him.
No matter how hard I try not to, my gaze keeps going back to him, my eyes settling on his shirt over and over again, like my brain is trying to tell me something. It takes a while for what I am seeing to sink in, and when it registers, I nearly fucking die on the spot.
Aleksei is wearing the shirt I wore during my heat. God knows how. It would be peppered by my scent, but he must have done something because there’s no denying it’s the one I wore. Right under the small monogram of his initials is the stain I made when I dropped a blueberry.
His voice is getting louder, his aggression and frustration impossible to ignore, but at one point, he glances my way and a smile dances across his mouth, so fast I wonder if I saw it.
Santiago muttering, “kill the idiot” under his breath confirms what I initially thought I imagined.
Before any of us can do or say anything else, Sergey and the girls appear.
All of them have changed, and they look freaking amazing together.
It’s like they’ve collaborated; each of them wears something different, but they’re all matching in style and color.
If they were people I like, I’d definitely comment on it, but given Sergey’s raging mood, I stay exactly where I am and let the scene play out.
Sergey and Aleksei have a heated exchange of words, and behind them, their guards pull out their phones and start sending off messages.
Something has happened.