20. Andrei
Andrei
A s Blair tugs on the hem of her short dress, I have half a mind to tell her to call Nadya and ask her to stay home. Her legs look fucking incredible, and her tight dress hugs every inch of her torso, caressing her curves like it was made just for her.
I want to tear it off her and enjoy everything underneath it.
I don’t want every other man in the club staring at her while I’m not there.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” She glances at the new front door warily, but she doesn’t have anything to worry about. There won’t be a repeat of last night.
“It’s a great idea,” I assure her. She deserves a night out, to let go and have fun with a friend. Especially after last night. She hasn’t had a chance to let loose in ages, and Nadya won’t judge her for it.
“And this isn’t too much?” she asks, biting her lip as she gestures to herself. “Or too little, I guess. ”
“Fuck no.” I twist a lock of her hair around my finger.
“You look divine. If I had any say in it, I’d toss work out the window, take you right back to bed, and you’d be hoarse from screaming my name.
” Her cheeks turn an enticing shade of pink, and when I’m done for the night, there’s a real chance I’m going to do exactly that.
“Well, if I’d known that was on the table,” she murmurs, looking at me through her lashes. My cock twitches in my slacks as I run my hand along the curve of her neck.
“ Zolotse , if I didn’t have to go to this meeting…” Her bottom lip sticks out in a pout, and I can feel my resolve wavering. “When I’m done, we’ll pick this up again.”
Next time , I tell myself. Next time I’ll throw all plans out the window to spend more time with her.
I hold her hand, lacing my fingers with hers as she goes back to adjusting her dress. “You’ll have fun with Nadya, and I’ll pick you up after I’m done.” She nods but doesn’t meet my gaze. Unease fills me, and I lift her chin, forcing her to look in my direction. Still, she refuses to meet my eyes.
“What’s up? I thought you liked Nadya.”
She nods, pulling away from my grasp and busying herself with looking at everything but me.
“Then what’s wrong?”
I assumed they’d been becoming friends.
They frequently text back and forth, and the few times I’ve seen them together they seemed to get along. So what the hell isn’t she telling me?
If the way she’s refusing to meet my eyes is any indication, Blair isn’t looking forward to tonight .
If she’s having issues with Nadya, then it’s enough to tell me that Nadya, contrary to what I thought, isn’t better than most of the women in our circle and I’m going to have to pivot on the fly.
Blair might hate it, but she could spend the evening with Mila. Things seemed less strained after dinner last week, so maybe it would be a good thing. Or she could spend an evening being ignored while Niko gets frustrated because he doesn’t know what to do.
Either way, it’s less painful option than her going out with someone she doesn’t want to spend time with. At least if she’s with Mila, she’ll be able to retreat to another room and have space to breathe.
It won’t be the relaxing night I want for her, but she’ll still be safe.
I’ll just have to be quick.
“You’re actually working, right?” she finally asks, tentative as she looks at me. “Not just trying to distract me?”
My heart drops.
Is that what she thinks? That I’m trying to fuck around on her?
“I promise you, zolotse , I’m actually working.” She nods, but still won’t look at me, and I want to dig up Daniil’s corpse so I can punch him in the face for planting this doubt in her.
“Blair, look at me.” I crouch down, forcing her to meet my eyes. “I have a work thing tonight, but I’d rather be hanging out here with you and Niko. You’re the only one I’m interested in going out with. You’re my wife, and I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize that. Tell me you understand. ”
She hesitates for a moment but eventually nods.
It’s not the answer I want, but it’s a start. I kiss her, willing her to trust me. She doesn’t have to believe me yet, but I’ll find a way to convince her.
She’s still quiet as we make our way to Alexei’s, and I stop her before she’s able to get out of the car. “Just so we’re on the same page, you do like Nadya, right? She isn’t being weird, or shitty, or anything like that?”
“What? No, she’s great. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with her. I’ve just…” She slumps in her seat.
“Been burned before and aren’t looking for a repeat?”
“Yeah. That.”
If I thought I could never hate Daniil more than when he asked me to be his best man, I was a fucking idiot. Every time I see how much insecurity his actions caused, I hate him even more.
I wind my fingers through the hair at the base of her skull and lean forward until my forehead rests against hers. “I’ll meet you at the club when I’m done. Okay?”
“Okay.”
She uses both hands to keep mine in hers while we ride the elevator up to Alexei’s apartment. I let myself smile until his door closes behind the girls, and at that same instant he turns his scowl onto me.
“I remember when you were reliable,” he bites out, disgust lacing every syllable. My spine straightens, but I don’t let him affect my resolve.
“Yeah, well.” I shrug. “I take it you’ve given your security a heads up? ”
He scoffs, making a show of buttoning up his suit jacket, projecting an air of authority despite his simmering rage. “Of course. Don’t forget, your girl’s going with my sister. If anything happens to Nadya because of Blair, I’ll have your head.”
“I’d expect nothing less.” Though we both know that he won’t do anything to me. It wouldn’t take much for me to make his cushy life disappear, and the stiff line of his jaw tells me he knows it.
Alexei enjoys living his life under the radar.
Running Maksim’s main fronts isn’t glamorous, but it keeps eyes off him and, more importantly, off Nadya.
It prevents him from having to take on more dangerous jobs that would potentially put her in someone’s crosshairs.
As much as he doesn’t want to go to a meeting with a dangerous man on his own, making an enemy of me is too dangerous for him to fight me.
He won’t do anything that could put Nadya in jeopardy. Even if he hates me for it.
“Do me a favor. Don’t get shot,” I call over my shoulder as I turn on my heel.
Lavrov is clever, but he isn’t known for controlling his temper.
For that matter, neither is Alexei. If things were different, I’d love to watch them try to navigate a business meeting, but it’ll have to wait for another day.
If tonight goes the way I expect, then I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities for those two to square off against each other.
“Don’t worry, I’m only planning on getting stabbed. It’s easier to clean up, you know?”
I almost laugh as I close the door behind me. “You do that.”
** *
Being able to break into secure locations is a necessary skill for my line of work. The key lies in being prepared for various levels of difficulty and making an estimated guess of what you’re up against.
If you’re breaking into an average Joe’s place, for example, there’s no point in bringing much beyond the standard lock-pick as long as you can get the alarm disabled, but if you’re breaking into the condo owned by the son of the head of the Chicago Bratva?
You should probably expect some more serious security.
I approach Pavel’s door and try the knob on instinct, letting out a deep sigh when it turns freely.
Some people have reputations fearsome enough that they don’t need security; to access their space without explicit permission will ensure you beg for a swift death.
Pavel is not one of those people.
Apparently, his delusions of grandeur go much deeper than I anticipated.
Tucking my tools back into my pocket, I step inside and set about searching the condo before Pavel gets home.
When he was messing with the warehouses, that was one thing. He was throwing around weight that he didn’t have, but it was inconsequential. I only own them as something I can claim on my taxes.
But Pavel got sloppy when he destroyed the last one. It took more digging than I was expecting, but between me and Lev, we were able to find a camera that caught him down the street before he torched it, a ski mask in hand.
It probably wouldn’t have been enough to convince Maksim, but it was enough for me. It gave me something I could hold over his head and force him to back off.
He pissed me off, but I wasn’t about to go out of my way to ruin his life for some property damage.
I would’ve let him live his life in peace if he hadn’t fucked with Blair’s peace of mind. Now he’s left me with no choice but to end this pissing match for good.
Fuck, I should’ve ended it years ago.
I pull back the cushion of the couch, pulling another knife out, and add it to the stash of weapons I’ve managed to find.
There aren’t nearly as many as I’d imagined there would be.
I should be weighed down by so many guns and knives that I’m struggling to find somewhere to hide them before Pavel gets home, but I only have a handful.
There was a single handgun in the bedside table, a handful of knives in the main living area, and brass knuckles in the bathroom. Too few weapons scattered too far apart to be of any real use in a fight.
I dump them behind one of the heavy curtains and slip away from the main room to wait for him. I already know he’s out partying, and the only thing I’m leaving to chance is whether he comes home alone or not. If he does, great. If he doesn’t, it’s a minor inconvenience, but I’ll handle it.
The arrogance in his lack of security is ridiculous for a multitude of reasons, the main one being that he holds his routines so closely. Which means I can check my watch and have a decent estimate of how long it’ll be before he stumbles home, half blind and sloppy drunk.