Chapter 20
Checking her phone one more time to make sure she has the address right, Ulayna pulls Alexi’s G-Wagon into the underground garage space of a large building.
Based on what Cara said, apparently, the entire building is owned by the Irish Mafia.
Some of it contains legitimate businesses, but the top few levels are housing for all of Liam’s men and their families.
Strategically, Ulayna marks the exits and entrances, and clocks the number of men guarding the space and the security cameras dotted around the perimeter.
Her eyebrows rise. Cara wasn’t kidding. This place looks like it has more security than Fort Knox, and she hasn’t even seen inside yet.
Before she can open her car door, a man in a suit approaches. She reaches for the gun holstered at her back. When she recognizes him as one of Cara’s guards from brunch the other day, she relaxes.
She unlocks the door, and the man opens it for her.
“Ma’am,” he says, extending his hand. “Right this way, please. Cara is expecting you.”
He leads her to the elevator but doesn’t encroach on her space or crowd her.
He makes sure he’s always in her eyesight, never directly behind her.
Her eyebrows rise again. It would seem that Liam’s men are well trained—not just in standard security protocols, but also in methods for appearing less threatening to women.
But is it out of respect, or is it for the sake of manipulation?
As they walk across the parking garage, Ulayna watches the man carefully. And when the elevator doors slide open, and Cara steps out, she watches as his expression turns warm.
Respect, Ulayna decides. The guard’s behavior is based on respect, not manipulation. She relaxes just a little more, her previously tense shoulders dropping.
“Hi!” Cara waves, a huge smile on her face. “I’m so excited you came!” she says to Ulayna. Turning toward the guard, she says, “Antonie, I made you and the other men dinner. It’ll be ready in a little bit, and I’ll buzz you so you can come get it.”
The guard’s expression warms even further. “Thank you, lass. But you didn’t have to do that.”
She waves him off. “Of course I did. You’d waste away without me feeding you.”
Ulayna eyes the guard speculatively. It’s hard to imagine the mountain of a man wasting away. He’s almost as large as Bill.
Cara blows Antonie a kiss, then loops her arm through Ulayna’s and tugs her along to the elevator.
“I’m so glad you’re here. We’re going to make a whole night of it.
Caterina will join us as soon as she’s finished stitching up one of the men in the infirmary, but Hadley is already here, and so are Leslie and Mary Beth.
Mikey will probably show up too. Have you met him yet? ”
Ulayna shakes her head, feeling somewhat off-center with Cara’s bubbly chatter.
Cara waves her concerns away, the same way she waved away Antonie’s. “That’s okay. You’ll love him; he’s a doll. He helped Hadley start the boutique. They’ve known each other since college, and he’s practically one of the girls now.”
Despite herself, Ulayna relaxes even further. It’s impossible to be on edge around Cara. She’s just so open and sincere in her goodwill. It’s refreshing.
They ride the elevators up to the top level, and as the doors open to a spectacular space, Ulayna’s jaw drops.
“I know,” Cara says, noting Ulayna’s expression.
“Liam’s—well, our—penthouse takes up the entire top floor of the building.
It’s way too much for just two people, but now I’m spoiled, and I don’t think I can ever give it up.
There’s a pool and hot tub, a library, and a game room.
There’s even an indoor shooting range. It’s absurd.
Thank god I don’t have to clean it all myself! ”
Cara tugs her farther into the space to where the other ladies are relaxing on the couch, wineglasses in hand.
Awestruck, Ulayna points at the wall of windows that spans the entire side of the open living space. “Oh my god, that view,” she breathes, unable to look away.
Hadley stands up from the couch and embraces Ulayna in a warm hug. “Ask her to tell you about the last time we were here and noticed the boob-shaped smudges on the glass.”
“Hey!” Cara’s mouth drops open in chagrin. But then she smirks and shrugs. “Like you’ve never let a man press you up against a wall.”
Hadley and the other women titter.
Before she knows it, Ulayna is cozied up on the couch, sandwiched between Hadley and Mary Beth, a glass of wine in her hand and a smile on her face.
As the evening progresses and more wine is passed around, they snack on charcuterie trays—something Hadley refers to as “girl dinner.” She doesn’t know how, but the women, especially Cara, get her to open up and drop her guard.
They’re just so easy to be around. Even though she’s younger than all of them, they don’t make her feel childish. They know the basics of her background, and they embrace her for who she is with open arms.
At a break in the conversation, Cara gives her a knowing look and asks, “So, Ulayna… Would you like a tour?”
“Sure.” Ulayna sets her wineglass down on the coffee table.
She and the other ladies all stand. Ulayna notices that she’s not the only one a little unsteady on her feet. In fact, Cara is the only one who seems to be sober, but that’s because she’s pregnant and hasn’t been drinking.
“I’m cut off,” Ulayna mumbles to no one in particular.
“Pscht!” Caterina waves her off. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll have Antoine drive you home. Then he can get a ride back with one of the other men who are currently at your place.”
“Which we still haven’t gotten an invite to!” Mary Beth drawls, her speech a little slurred. She hiccups adorably and slaps a hand over her mouth, her eyes going wide.
Ulayna laughs, glad she’s not the only one feeling the effects of too much wine. “You want to come over to my place?”
All the other ladies nod excitedly.
Ulayna stares around the gorgeous penthouse again. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Why not?” Caterina whines and gives her puppy dog eyes.
“It’s ugly. Horrible. Atrocious.”
“What?” Cara asks. “It can’t be that bad.”
Ulayna shakes her head. “No, seriously. It’s horrid. Alexi’s father decorated it, and I’ve never seen so much maroon velvet in my life.” She shudders for effect.
The women around her all frown. “Then why don’t you redecorate it?” one of them asks.
Ulayna shrugs. “I don’t know. I want to. I really, really want to. But it feels like something the wife of the Pakhan would do.”
“And that’s not you?” Cara asks gently.
Ulayna thinks back to the conversation she and Alexi had earlier.
She realizes a second too late that she might be drunk when confessions pour out of her.
“He said he loves me, but that I have to propose to him because it will always be my choice, and that I can redecorate if I want to because he wants me to be by his side, but I feel like I still have to prove myself to his men because the Bratva doesn’t allow women, no matter how strong they are, and I don’t want people to think I’m overstepping, but I really, really want to. ”
Her gush of words hangs heavy in the air for a split second before Hadley and Caterina both bust up laughing.
Ulayna stares at them in silence, shocked by her own case of word vomit and not sure if she should be offended by their reaction. They’re both bent double, holding their sides, and laughing uproariously.
Finally, Caterina stands up and wipes the tears from under her eyes. “You should see the look on your face!” she says, pointing at Ulayna. “You look like you just confessed to murder while explaining in a giant, run-on sentence that your man loves you and wants to marry you.”
Taking pity on her, Cara pushes her cackling friends to the side.
“Oh, my god. They’re the worst,” she says, pointing her thumb over her shoulder.
“Don’t listen to them. We’ve all been there.
Falling in love is weird, and trying to figure out how to mesh your life with a mobster’s is even weirder.
But you’ll figure it out eventually. And, if you ever want interior decorating input, we’ll be there for you. ”
“That easy, huh?” Ulayna asks.
“Nope,” Caterina pipes in, finally able to control her laughter. “It’s definitely not easy loving a made-man. But it’s totally worth it.” A mischievous look crosses her face. “And as far as his men, go… Would winning the second challenge help?”
Ulayna sobers immediately, remembering the real reason she’s here. Suddenly, her smile matches Caterina’s. “Absolutely.”
“Alrighty then!” Caterina bows dramatically. “Cara, would you please proceed with the tour?”
Cara giggles at her friend’s antics but leads the way down the hall.
—
“I fold,” Liam says, tossing his cards into the middle of the table. “You fuckers are taking me for everything I’m worth.”
Smug, Alexi pulls the small pile of chips from the center of the poker table and adds them to the growing pile in front of him. “What can I say? Your face is like an open book.”
Liam shakes his head and takes another sip from his whiskey. Once again, he looks around him in disgust and confusion.
As the other men continue to play out the hand, he stands and wanders around the space.
They’re in a den of sorts. Bookshelves in dark wood line the room, but that’s the only thing that isn’t hideous.
The couches and chairs are all overstuffed and uncomfortable, and the fireplace is a black marble behemoth with gold accents.
There are four–four!–gold chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
And the wallpaper would be dark and depressing, even without the hideous depictions of demons, devils, monsters, and women being tortured.
It’s like something out of Dante’s Inferno.
Curiosity finally gets the better of him. “What’s with the decorations, man? When are you finally going to get around to redoing all… this?” He sneers at the nearest painting on the wall—a hideous beast covered in blood and holding the severed head of a woman.