Chapter 25
“So, out with it. What did Alexander offer Artem?” I pour wine into Megan’s glass and settle on the couch in the hotel suite we’ve been locked away in.
Four Rapunzels waiting for their heroes to come climb the tower to save us. Except it was them that locked us in the tower in the first place.
I think maybe we’ve gotten our fairytales wrong.
“Why do you think I know?” Megan laughs, popping a piece of white cheddar into her mouth.
“Seriously?” I lift my brows. “Because you are just as nosy as me.”
“I’m a little concerned that you don’t already know.” Vee pipes in, grabbing a fry from the basket on the coffee table.
The guys have been gone forever, so we ordered half the room service menu for a little buffet.
“I know they offered to bring him in on whatever they’re planning. To be partners. He just didn’t have time to tell me how.”
“Why not?” Vee asks.
“Because his dad went and died,” I deadpan, feeling slightly guilty taking such a light tone over Seamus’ death. I didn’t know him well at all, but I get the sense that he’d probably be fine with it.
“You know the casino Kaz has been dealing with all the zoning issues over?” Vee starts to explain. “I heard Ivan saying they should give it to Artem.” Her gaze shifts away, then back. “And you.”
“Me?” I laugh.
“Kaz thinks you’d be good at running it. You know, after Alexander makes you finish your business degree,” Megan fills in.
“I’m not finishing my degree. I hate school.”
“I tried to tell him that, but you know your brother.” Megan bites into another piece of cheese.
“What do you want to do, then?” Vee asks, pulling up her feet onto the couch.
“I don’t know.” My shoulders drop.
“Yes, you do.” Sienna snaps her mouth closed. “Sorry. I know I’ve only met you recently, but I think you do know; you just think everyone else is going to be against it.”
“Elana has never cared what anyone else thought about her decisions,” Megan defends with a gentle tone, but then she looks at me, and her mouth drops open. “But I guess there’s a first time for everything.”
“What’s happening here?” Vee looks around us with confusion.
“Elana?”
I down the rest of my wine, place the glass on the table and get up from the couch. All while three sets of eyes are glued to my every move.
“What is it?” Megan gets up with me, grabbing my arm. “Come on, it’s us. No judgment here.”
“Right.” I swallow. “Every one of you has fought my brothers to have your own life, your income, your independence.”
“So?” Vee gets to her feet. “And I wouldn’t say I have a career.”
“No, but you have work. You go out and earn your own money.”
“What are you saying? You don’t want to work?” Megan prods.
“No, it’s not that. I just…”
“You want to be a wife, a mother,” Sienna fills in from the couch. “You want to get married, have a family, and raise them.”
My cheeks heat.
“I’m single-handedly pushing back women a hundred years.” My shoulders drop, and I sigh.
Megan laughs. “Honey, you’re not doing anything like that. Have a career, don’t have a career, it’s up to you. You do what you want to do and not what anyone tells you to do.”
“Exactly!” Vee seconds. “What does Artem say about it?”
“I haven’t said anything to him. We haven’t had time to really talk about anything. But it’s not that I don’t want to contribute, I do.”
“You’ll work it out between the two of you.” Vee fills my glass again and brings it to me. “It’s no one’s business, anyway. He makes you happy, and he’s had a thing for you for years if Ivan’s right.”
I groan. “Ivan knew?”
“Are you kidding me? Who do you think suggested Artem be put in charge of your security? Your brothers see way more than you think they do.”
“They’re just too afraid of me running away to tell me about it.” I gulp down half the wine in my glass.
“Well, there’s been a small history of silence on your end…” Megan lets her voice trail off. “At least from the way Alexander explained it.”
“He’s right. I do run off. First sign of trouble, I’m gone. Better to leave before they kick me out.”
“Who was going to kick you out?” Sienna asks, a protectiveness underlining her question.
“No one.” Megan assures her.
Vee squeezes my hand. “Not the guys. They’d never, but you grew up always worried that your father would cut you out. He’d stop letting you come over.”
Tears burn my eyes. “I was just a pawn to him. A way to piss off his wife. And what better way than to bring over the bastard daughter he had with a mistress?”
Sienna frowns. “Your father and my uncle would have gotten along wonderfully, if they hadn’t constantly been trying to kill each other.”
“Your brothers will never cut you out of their lives, no matter what crazy thing you do. And Artem isn’t going anywhere, either,” Megan says firmly.
They’re right. I know they are, but scars from a lifetime of wounds are thick. I might need a little more time before my soul fully believes the truth.
“Talk to Artem. He’s going to love you no matter what you decide to do. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. If you asked him for the moon, he’d find a way to pluck it from the sky for you.” Megan wraps me in a hug. A second later, she pulls back and says, “Why am I wet?”
“Because you spilled my wine all over us.” I laugh looking down at the red wine seeping into her light pink sweatshirt, then realize my chest is wet, too. I’m covered in it.
“Shit!” She runs off toward the bedroom.
“I better go change, too.” I put the now empty glass on the table.
“She might have something for you here?” Vee suggests.
“No, that’s okay. We’re just down the hall. I’ll be right back.”
I leave the suite, letting the guard standing outside know I’m just going to my room. He can see the door from where he is, but he still moves with me toward it.
“Now, if you’re here with me, who’s there with them?” I try to be a smartass and jerk my thumb in the direction of my sisters-in-law, but when I look, there’s another man already in his place. “How do you guys move so quietly when you’re so damn big?”
He flashes a quick smile but says nothing before taking his position to the side of my door.
Once inside, I strip off the wet shirt and toss it into the trash can. My bra has also soaked up a fair bit of the wine, but it’s my favorite, so I grab a fresh one from the suitcase then go to the bathroom to soak the bra in the sink. Hopefully, it’s salvageable.
With it soaking in the sink, I get dressed in a new bra and a sweatshirt, black just in case we have any more incidents with the wine.
I think to text Artem but realize I’ve left my phone in Megan’s suite. The guys have been at their meeting a long time. I’m sure they have everything handled, but there’s a heavy sensation in my stomach. Like something isn’t right.
They’d already settled the whole problem of my conversation with Janis while I was here in Boston last time, so I don’t think there’s any more issues there.
Alexander doesn’t want any part of Boston.
Leaving the city to the Irish gives him more freedom in Chicago and New York, but that doesn’t mean the Irish don’t want a piece of what our family has.
My brothers and Artem will be able to handle whatever the issue with them is, but I can’t shake this heaviness in my stomach.
Something is definitely not right. I need to get back to the girls and get my phone so I can call him. Maybe once I hear his voice, I’ll feel better.
I hurry through the bedroom, out into the living room area of our suite and freeze.
Sitting on the couch with one foot propped up on the coffee table and a gun resting on his knee sits Janis.
“Hello, Elana Volkov.” He puts a hand on the gun when he notices me shift my gaze to the door. “Screaming for help will only get you killed faster.”
I couldn’t if I wanted to. My throat has clamped shut.
“What…what are you doing here? How did you get in?” If he’s threatening the guard, then he must still be out there.
A breeze from open balcony door blows the curtains, signaling his entrance.
We’re on the fifteenth floor, and he doesn’t look like Spiderman, so the question remains, but he doesn’t answer.
“Did you honestly think I was going to let some fucking little girl ruin my whole business? You go bitching to Cole, and then he tries to tell me how to conduct my own business. I don’t think so.” Grabbing the gun, he drops his foot to the floor and gets up from the couch.
“And you think killing me is going to get your business back?”
“No.” He shakes his head with a grin. “I think your brothers will give me whatever the fuck I want to get their little sister back.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I might be able to get to the door before he has a chance to grab me.
“I have men on the balcony of your brother’s room. If you give me any trouble, they’ll be going inside to kill them all.”
He slides the slide back on his Glock, loading a bullet into the chamber.
“All three of them in one room, it will be like shooting fish in a barrel.”
“We can’t just walk out of here. The guard won’t let you take me, so I don’t see how your plan is going to work.”
I stay planted as he steps toward me. I will not give him the satisfaction of chasing me.
Besides, there’s nowhere to go. If he really does have men on the balcony, they’ll get inside the suite before the guards can get the door open.
But if I can somehow signal to him there’s trouble, maybe he can at least get to the girls.
Janis doesn’t give me any time to come up with a plan. He strikes me hard across the head. Twinkling stars dance in my vision. My shoulder hits the ground when I fall.
“Fucking bitch.” He sounds far away.
A sharp prick to my neck is all I feel, and then there’s nothing.