His Hidden Heirs (The Orlov Dynasty #4)

Chapter 1

ROMAN

The waiter came to stand next to my table and smiled. “Anything else I can get for you, Mr. Orlov?”

Done with the delicious gourmet lunch, I wiped my mouth with my linen napkin then set it down. Shaking my head and smiling, I told him, “No. Thanks. I’m good. Excellent service. Pass my compliments to the chef.”

He left after dipping his chin at me, and I doubt he’d be back until I left the table.

As one of the highest-ranking leaders of the Orlov Family, reporting directly to the boss, I wouldn’t be getting a check to pay.

It was on the house. Because this was our “house”.

While the majority of our wealth and power came from illegal means of commerce, this hotel and the famed restaurant that resided in it were ours.

Uncle Mikhail seemed more and more open to diversifying into cleaner and more legitimate branches of business.

Between me and my older brother, Sergei, that shift away from illicit ways to make millions was due to Claire.

Ever since Mikhail married Claire, things had changed in the family.

No longer a boys’ club. Women infiltrated.

Actually, it all started when my estranged cousin Anya showed up.

That marked the start of Mikhail being not only a ruthless Mafia boss but also more of a family man.

It hadn’t stopped there. My cousin Andre just married Sofia a month ago, and she was pregnant. Sergei and Natalie’s five-month-old daughter continued to be a source of jealousy for Maisie, Natalie’s seven-year-old from her first marriage. Of course, there was Owen, too, Mikhail and Claire’s son.

“That was good,” Lorne, my longtime assistant, said as he finished his dish, seated next to me. “And peaceful.”

I shot him a wry look of agreement.

Lorne grinned before picking up his drink. “No bribing Maisie to eat a vegetable.”

“No getting flung with food from Owen resisting whatever healthy gunk Claire wanted him to try,” I added.

“I wonder if Anya’s game to help at lunch again,” he mused. “After the sweet pea incident.”

I chuckled, shaking my head at the memory of my nineteen-year-old cousin freezing in place as Owen smacked a spoonful of food last week.

It landed in a splat in Anya’s eye while she was trying to give Rose her bottle.

Even though we were connected as a business, all of us belonging to the Orlov organization under Mikhail’s leadership, we were a family first. All these babies meant that we’d come together and help.

It took a village. Family meals were messy and loud, but it was nice to have a break from all the chaos for once.

No one would ever be able to accuse me of not liking kids.

I loved being the fun “uncle” to all of them.

But business still had to be dealt with.

Life was never dull. Not with all three of them growing their families so quickly.

That was why I’d come to this hotel for lunch, though.

To get away. A change of pace… and also to handle the shit that Mikhail expected me to oversee.

He’d delegated me to be in charge of all the legit businesses, and so far, with our successful venture into the hospitality industry, things were going well.

We’d always had the clubs and restaurants, but this hotel I was checking out was one of the first that we’d purchased.

Things were going well because I knew not to micromanage.

I hired the best of the best to ensure our new hotel chain was thriving.

I’d already met with the manager on site before lunch.

Then I handled some calls, negotiating new contracts for the resorts we wanted to build, one in Hawaii and the other near Miami.

Again—life was never dull as a member of the Orlov Family.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Balancing family life with business was a tried and tested challenge we all faced, but now that it was just me and Lorne sitting here, I realized that I missed the chaos and noise.

I’d intended to eat alone, to go over more emails, but it was too quiet.

Too boring. I’d asked Lorne to eat with me so I’d have company.

His company wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, anyway.

The old wisecrack seemed more like a grandpa some days than an assistant.

“Well, now what, Kid? Want me to call Lou to bring the car around so you can head back home now?” Lorne asked, sitting back and sighing, his belly full.

I shrugged. “Maybe in a little bit.”

He laughed. “It’s peaceful here. Not so overwhelming with all those babies around.”

I knew he said it with love. “It is overwhelming with how fast the family’s growing. In the span of what, two years and how many of them now?”

“I really never thought I’d see the day. Mikhail, Sergei, and Andre settling down as fathers and husbands.” He arched one bushy brow at me.

I shook my head. “No. Not happening.”

“You adore those little ones.”

I did. “As the fun uncle or cousin. I doubt I’ll ever be open to the whole concept of a permanent commitment with a woman.”

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, what the hell is wrong with you? Here I thought you got sick of whoring around and fucking anything with a vagina.”

It had been a while since I wanted to party.

Or go out much. Much less, get laid. I never minded when my brother, cousin, and uncle labeled me the player, the partier.

I was. Or that was who I used to be. “That lifestyle doesn’t appeal to me anymore.

” I pointed at him as he opened his mouth to reply.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m in a rush to settle down with anyone. ”

“Why?” he asked. “Dammit. I knew that pesto was gonna give me reflux.” He reached in his jacket pocket for some antacids, still looking at me. “Because of Olga?”

I wouldn’t bother denying it. Uncle Mikhail had been arranged to marry Olga, Andre and Anya’s mother, and she never spent time being an aunt.

Estranged and wanting nothing to do with us, she was the initial impression for me to understand what role women had in my world.

Like that, I assumed they didn’t. That women didn’t matter except for orgasms. My mother had been killed when I was too young to remember, and as I grew up, I saw women for pleasure. Nothing more.

“My uncle is still jaded from how Olga rejected him.”

Lorne put a couple of antacids in his mouth and smirked at me.

“Okay. Fine. He’s happy now. Claire’s good for him,” I admitted.

But how the hell is anyone supposed to pull that off?

To find the right one?

As if on cue, my phone buzzed with a text. Lorne’s did, too. He furrowed his brow and called someone.

Mikhail: Do yourself a favor and don’t come home.

I blinked in surprise.

Mikhail: There’s something in the fucking air.

Before I could ask him to solve that riddle for me, a text from my brother came in while Mikhail was typing another, three dots blinking.

Sergei sent a photo without a caption.

Maisie stood for the picture, scowling with a deadpanned expression that made her look like she was going on eighteen, not eight. She wore a T-shirt that said I can’t wait to meet my baby sister. Next to her, Rose sat in her swing and had on a onesie that said the same thing.

Wait. What?

Sergei: Nat’s expecting again!

I laughed lightly. “Holy shit…”

Mikhail’s text came through before I could type a reply to my brother or call him.

Mikhail: Claire just took a test. She’s pregnant. Already. Again.

I cracked up as Lorne excused himself, holding up a finger and walking a few feet away from our table in the five-star restaurant.

Mikhail: Sergei and Natalie too.

“Damn.”

Andre and Sofia were still waiting for their firstborn to come.

Mikhail: I’m telling you. There’s something in the fucking air.

Mikhail: Unless you want to take the risk of adding on to the family right now too, don’t bring anyone home. It must be a full moon or something.

I smiled, amused. Maybe it was one of those things where women’s cycles all sync up? Anya was talking about it with Natalie once, how women in the same workplace or in close proximity end up on the same cycles or something like that.

He could joke and tease. And he was clearly astonished—so was I. But I knew my uncle. And he’d be thrilled to welcome more of the next generation to the family.

I went to the group thread to congratulate both Mikhail and Sergei at the same time, but Lorne reappeared, looking serious.

I lifted my face. “What’s wrong?”

He tilted his head to the side, a tell for when he was confused. “You gotta come see this, Kid.”

If it was something bad, he’d be more direct. Regardless, I shelved my congratulations text for later and followed him out of the restaurant.

“That was Dino,” he said, referencing one of the managers here. The head of security, maybe. “He said that every day for the last two weeks, this woman’s been coming in and asking if the head manager is here.”

I glanced at him, continuing toward the front lobby.

“And I guess they tell her to make an appointment to see Vinny.”

I nodded. “Okay…”

“But each time Vinny comes in, he says no one’s calling him. The woman just left Ms. Smith as her name.”

Clearly fake.

“Then they started to think that it’s not Vinny she wanted to talk to. It’s you. Cuz each time Vinny would come to handle it, she’d say that he wasn’t the one she needed to talk to.”

I shrugged. We didn’t hide the fact that we owned this hotel. My name was the one anyone could track to the top.

“But no one told her that. Seemed too sketchy. Especially what she brings with her.”

“Brings?” I asked. “To the hotel lobby?”

Lorne tossed me a bewildered look. “Yeah. You’ll see. And since you are here today, and she just came through the lobby again…” He shrugged.

We cut through the last wide-open space of the first floor. Polished marble gleamed underfoot and all the columns and art deco architectural details of this reception atrium sparkled. Elegance was the theme here.