Chapter 34 #3
“Dmitri.” And what Aleksei said stirs back memories of just a few days ago.
He reads my distress easily, his presence brushing against me like a lover's touch before he acts the part again. “He was in Sergey’s inner circle until they had a falling out. They are now enemies. In a lot of ways, Dmitri is similar to Sergey, so you need to be careful.”
“Similar?”
“Obnoxious, power-driven, dangerous. He will do anything to get a foothold in the Russian underworld. He is responsible for sending the men to our home and attacking you. Make sure you are familiar with what he looks like, Quinn, because earlier today he was on social media, taunting Sergey, suggesting he’s coming for round two. ”
“Oh, Jesus, this is exactly what I don’t need.” I take a long exhale through gritted teeth, frustrated it’s just one thing after the other since I arrived.
A small smile hits his lips but disappears as fast as it appeared. “You’re right, this is the last thing you need. And it’s definitely not what I need. Anyone messes with you, and I’ll be blowing my cover for the world to see you are mine.”
I nearly reach for his hand. “Like with your brother just now in the car?”
He growls, “Exactly like that.”
I feel Sergey’s attention on us, so I roll my eyes and look at Aleksei with indifference, but I fill my voice with sugar and spice. “Let’s not sweat the small stuff. Honestly, I can handle your brother. He’s just a pig, like most Alphas in the mafia.”
He looks almost offended at the generalization, making me amend what I said. “At least some of them? Although, I’m starting to see that not all Alphas are the same.”
I try to make him feel better, but by the increasingly loud rumble of discontent fast spilling from his chest, I’m not doing a great job.
I start walking towards Sergey. “What on earth, Aleksei? Don’t do that,” I whisper out of the corner of my mouth as we get nearer the office.
Sergey’s phone interrupts us, and he answers, inadvertently giving his brother and me a little more time.
“Don’t look at any other Alpha, including Sergey, for a while, and I’ll be fine. I wish I was joking right now. I sound psychotic. I sound like him.”
Inside my head, I’m giggling and preening like a lover would over his admittance. I turn and stop where I am, putting a hand on my hip and acting snooty, talking intimately, though. “I’m all for healthy obsession, Aleksei.”
I raise my chin, readying to leave. Before I make a few steps, the noise he’s making changes into something very different. Something I like hearing from my Alpha.
I lock down the giddy way Aleksei makes me feel as I walk through the door and into the office where my husband waits.
Sergey uses his finger to point where he wants me to sit while he talks loudly on his phone.
Given the crescendo of his voice, and the way his scent intensifies, it doesn’t seem like it’s a good phone call. Which amuses me to no end.
The seat he pointed out is on the opposite side of him, and at the far end. It suits me fine. Within moments of me and Aleksei sitting, one of the guards appears and whispers in Aleksei’s ear before going back out, returning moments later with the same women from last night—Olga and Catalina.
I have their faces burned into my memory. And they must feel the weight of my judgment because they both look at me as soon as they walk into the office. Sergey ends his call, points where he wants them sitting, then starts speaking at them.
I spend the entire time they’re having their meeting watching the women, I mean, it’s not like I understand a word they’re saying since they stick to Russian.
The younger woman, Catalina, is very pretty, and she doesn’t hold the same cold callousness as Olga.
Honestly, the first time I looked at Olga, I knew she and I would never be friends.
All my internal alarms sound whenever I even think of her name.
Seeing her again today, all I can think is she is a washed-out, female version of Sergey.
Don’t get me wrong—she might be weaker than him but is no less dangerous.
Her ambition to succeed is clear, and obviously given the company she’s keeping, she’s more than happy to do whatever it takes to be successful.
Catalina is different. Given she’s here, though, she’s not innocent. It’s obvious Olga runs the show and Catalina is the lackey.
Things get interesting when Catalina struggles with getting a document to open on her laptop.
Instead of helping, Olga interrupts Sergey before giving Catalina a mouthful.
It’s unnecessary and humiliating. As much as I want to jump in and defend Catalina, I refuse to support anyone involved in the heinous practice of child trafficking.
The meeting gets back on track after Olga snatches control of the mouse and opens the document herself.
She doesn’t give the task back to Catalina, which is, again, unnecessarily rude and only confirms what a bitch Olga is.
Not my circus, not my monkeys. I sit back, ignoring the heightened tension in the room and spend the entire time they’re all speaking watching the screen.
It’s a good thing numbers are universal.
The spreadsheets are self-explanatory, the descriptions not so much.
What is clear is that it's a very profitable hustle they’re running.
I’d like a copy of the spreadsheet; it would be irrefutable proof of what they are doing and who is involved, but that’s not about to happen.
I do the best I can and focus on trying to memorize as many as the numbers as possible.
Occasionally, I take a break from studying the screen by feigning boredom and start inspecting my nails.
But I’m actually using an old study hack I learned in medical school.
Thankfully, I don’t seem to have lost the knack.
Each time I double-check the numbers I saw, I confirm I’ve recalled them to match what is up on the screen.
The meeting wraps up. Sergey walks the women to the door before he raises his hand and interrupts them, looking at his brother. “What time did we say for dinner?”
“Eight o’clock.”
Sergey nods before walking off with the women. His men trail behind him, and after a few more minutes, there’s the unmistakable sound of cars driving off.
Aleksei leaves me sitting in the meeting room, so I grab my bag and start scribbling all the numbers down. I’m a little distracted by him with Nalla, though; they’re so commanding as they walk through the warehouse together. Luckily, I can multitask.
He checks everywhere again, following the same route he did when we first arrived. This time, it’s as if he’s seeing or checking things differently. My Omega side reads a lot into his action, and as a woman, I lean into his obvious need to check I am safe.
Once he is satisfied, he calls to Kade and Santiago, who were waiting outside. Dropping all pretexts of being busy with something in my bag, I sit back and enjoy the sight of them together, imagining we’re far away from here. When they join me in the office, they don’t sit and I don’t stand.
Aleksei’s eyes move purposely to a few spots in the office and outside of it. I watch Kade, then Santiago looking to see what Aleksei does, and then I see them noticing the cameras when I do.
There's a message in his action, and none of us talk. I grab my bag and set it on my lap again, pulling out a notebook, going back to writing out what I remember. Aleksei sits and works quietly on his laptop until his phone rings, and he leaves the office again.
When he returns, his mood has changed, his energy back to being jittery in his unspoken anger. “Come, Sergey asked me to show you around.”