Chapter 3 Vadim
VADIM
Danica walks away, and I watch the sway of her hips beneath that stained uniform.
The slip of paper sits on the table next to my coffee cup, and I stare at the messy handwriting for ten seconds before I pick it up and study it.
A smiley face next to the last digit looks up at me as I admire the way she uses tiny hearts to dot her I instead of a dot, and I wonder if she draws those for every customer or if I'm supposed to feel special.
I'm forty years old. I stopped thinking about women as anything other than a convenient release a long time ago.
Relationships require vulnerability, and vulnerability gets you killed.
But this girl is young and she was desperate enough to give her number to a stranger.
Doesn't she realize strangers can be dangerous?
The thought makes me smirk to myself as I suck in a breath and blow out some tension.
That desperation could be useful to me, almost like pennies from heaven.
I drain my coffee and catch Danica's eye from across the diner.
She flushes and turns away quickly, pretending to wipe down the counter while her coworker whispers something that makes both of them giggle.
They're so young, almost too young. If I were just a few years older, I could have a daughter that age, but telling myself that doesn't negate the fact that I'm just a man, and she is a gorgeous woman.
My dick twitches just thinking about why someone so young and beautiful would single me out.
My leg throbs, and I shift position to ease the pressure on the gash left from that fence the other night.
It's not infected, though it probably should've had stitches, and the pain keeps me focused.
I think of it as a good friend who realigns my thoughts to my real purpose as I pull out my phone and check the time.
Seven a.m. It's late enough in the morning to be decent, though I know the boss is up because he never rests.
Yuri doesn't sleep anymore since the day his son died. I don't think I'd rest well if my son were murdered in cold blood either, which is why he deserves an update. I tap his contact and hold the phone to my ear while I watch the sexy waitress refill sugar containers with trembling hands.
"You're alive," Yuri says when he picks up.
"More or less." I chuckle and take a sip of coffee already going cold. "Probably about as alive as you. You sound like shit…"
"Ah, you know… Weather's awful." He laughs, and it sounds almost genuine. "Rain for three days straight now. Makes me feel like brooding and punching something." That sounds like my cousin.
I lean back against the booth and watch a truck pull into the parking lot outside. The driver climbs out and stretches before heading toward the door. I don't recognize him as a regular, so I'm on alert, but he doesn't seem like a threat.
"You're getting old," I tell him and rub my thumb along the rim of my coffee cup. "You should retire from all this killing and shit.”
"To what?" He snorts. "Golf?" His heavy sigh is very telling.
"When Dominic's killer is brought to justice, I'll think about it.
My son will be born soon. He might need me around more…
" Yuri's voice fades off into the distance, and I think about how difficult it would be to lose a child, but then to have a child at his age—our age. I'm not far behind him.
I watch the trucker walk in and take a seat at the counter. "You and Inessa deserve some peace and quiet."
Yuri's quiet for a moment, and I hear a door close in the background. He's probably going into his study where he has more privacy to discuss things. I know he's probably eager to hear information about my progress, though I have so little to share.
"So," he finally says. "Tell me something good."
I drain the rest of my coffee and set the empty cup down.
Danica catches my eye from across the diner, and I nod toward the cup.
She walks over with the pot and refills it without saying anything, but the playful grin she gives me says enough.
I watch her eyes sweep down over my chest and linger on my tattoos a few seconds before she walks away.
"I don’t have a big update for you, I'm afraid." I stretch my injured leg under the table. "Though, people are friendly enough."
"Friendly enough to tell you where Lebedev is?" Now there's an edge creeping into his voice and I know I’m frustrating him.
"Not yet," I mumble as I watch a family with two kids walk in and take a booth near the window.
"But I'm working on it." He doesn't have to remind me how important this is for the whole organization.
A man who had enough intel to know exactly where Dominic and Semyon were going to be and when they were going to be there to hit them is a threat on his own, but he has accomplices here in Serbia. It makes him more dangerous.
Yuri's quiet, and I know he's trying to decide whether to be patient or push harder. Seven months is a long time to wait for justice when your son is dead while you sit around hoping the man who killed him will be caught.
"You've been there four months," he says. "That's a long time to wait for answers, Vadim."
"I know." I set my cup down and lean forward with my elbows on the table. "Trust me, I know."
"I'm not saying you're not trying." His chair creaks. "I'm just saying it's been a while."
"These things take time." I watch Danica carry menus to the family and wish I had better news for him.
Dominic deserves justice. He was in the prime of his life, set to marry a beautiful woman, and they stole his future.
It shocked us all. I know I have to get this right, which is why I'm taking my time to make sure everyone who was involved is found.
"I know that." He's quiet again. "Doesn't make the waiting any easier."
My heart goes out to him, but I won't rush it, which is why I'm going to stick around to finish the job properly. It will take some work to make sure I don't get chased out of the country prematurely by immigration officers, but I have a feeling everything will work out just fine.
"How long do you have left?" he asks as the conversation shifts away from my delays to the practical reasons I can't keep dragging my feet.
"Twenty-one days left on the visa… but I have a plan."
My hand slips into my pocket, and I pull out the scrap of paper Danica wrote her number on as I think about how to play this out correctly.
A desperate woman, a stranger in need… It wouldn’t be the first time a match was made that scratched an itch, though I don't know what I'd do to convince her to go along with it willingly. She may be completely against it.
"A plan?" he asks cautiously, as if he's a bit skeptical of the idea already and he hasn't heard the first word of it.
"Yeah…" I glance up at the waitresses chattering again as I continue.
"A wedding is in my future." The plan is forming so solidly now, I can’t see myself backing out unless my unsuspecting wife goes postal and makes a scene about it.
"I need more time than twenty-one more days in this city, Boss.
If I get married and apply for temporary residency, it buys me the time we need to do this job right. "
Yuri whistles through his teeth, and I can picture him pinching the bridge of his nose.
So it's not ideal. It means a divorce later on, or maybe disappearing a body if she's stubborn.
But it's not like I'd need a prenup or have to worry about losing a lot.
The family money isn't in my name. I have nothing to lose but a bit of time and stress to fix the "later problems" later on.
This would be the fastest way to get the time I need.
"This could blow back on the family catastrophically." He sounds annoyed by my idea, but I'm even more sold now. No one tells me what I can't do. It only makes me want it more.
"Nah, not even a little… Trust me. I'll just do what it takes to keep myself legal. I don’t want to risk deportation, you know.
If they ship me off, it will flag things in St. Petersburg.
They'll have a sharper look at me, and you know they're already nosing up my ass about shit.
I don't want to end up in prison in either place. "
Danica breezes past with a few plates of food for the truckers while I breathe in the sweet scent of her perfume.
I can almost taste victory now. I'm so close to finding Lebedev and putting an end to Yuri's misery.
If I have to sacrifice my bachelorhood temporarily to buy myself the time I need, so what. The job will get done.
"Look, I have to go. Inessa will be up soon." Yuri sounds displeased but not angry. "Keep your nose clean, do you hear me? I don't want to have to send a team down there to bust you out of prison."
I chuckle at him while watching Danica bend over to wipe up a table. God, she's got curves for days. I think she and I could get along just fine.
"Don't you worry about me. Take care of that pregnant wife of yours. I'll call again with another update soon." I hang up before he can even respond as I wink at the waitress friend Danica has. She keeps smiling at me and watching me.
Yes, I think if I play my cards right, this will go smoothly. Now, to convince her of that.