Chapter 19 - Artur
“The pilot will have the plane ready at four,” I say to Joseph and Benedikt.
Ben nods. “A vacation seems a bit strange in the middle of all this?” he asks.
“It’s a good time to get out of the city. We need to get away from any threats after that failed meeting. Although it went exactly as I expected it to go,” I huff.
“You knew he was angry about you and Maria growing closer?” Joseph asks, confused.
“No,” I sigh, “I had no idea about that. I just mean his arrogance,” I shrug. “But anyway, the point is that Misha might not have left Chicago. He might still be here, and that means the wise choice is for us not to be here until we can come up with a plan to deal with him,” I explain.
Ben and Joe look at me with amused expressions on their faces.
“What?” I snap, “You don’t agree?”
Ben chuckles, but it’s lighthearted. There is no mocking tone in his laughter. “No man, it’s just nice that you seem to have joined the team and are willing to discuss things with us,” he says, smiling.
I huff and roll my eyes.
“We’ll be at the airport at four. Tell Kazimir and Maria,” I say, then turn away from them to leave the room because it’s getting way too friendly in here for comfort.
It’s one thing to be speaking to them as members of my alliance, working as a team, so to speak, but it’s an entirely different thing if they start thinking we’re friends. I don’t do friendships…or trust. Not anymore. That lesson was learned the hard way.
***
At four, we arrive at the airport together in one darkly tinted SUV. I’m sitting in the back next to Maria, who is sitting between Kaz and me, while Ben takes the front seat, given his massive size.
Joe parks us on the runway right in front of the stairs to board the plane.
“Ready?” he asks, switching the car off.
I push the door open and climb out without answering him.
Head up the stairs, I walk into the lounge area and take a seat on one of the leather sofas. The air hostess immediately asks me if I want something to drink.
“Bring a bottle of champagne, and I’ll have a vodka on the rocks,” I tell her. I’m sure my guests will enjoy some bubbles as we take off.
My private jet is a state-of-the-art luxury. Everything I have, I worked damn hard for.
Misha was right about one thing—I did come from nothing.
I came from less than nothing, and I worked my ass off to get to where I am now.
And I didn’t do it once, I did it twice, because the first time I thought I was close to the life of my dreams, he snatched it all away from me in the most brutal way.
But I don’t share his sentiment on how coming from the ground, from the lowest point, makes me any less worthy of my status than he is.
In fact, being a good person makes me more worthy of it than he’ll ever be.
His bullshit about pure blood and tainting his family’s purity…
it’s a side of him I didn’t know existed.
Sure, I knew he was arrogant. I saw it even when we were friends.
But he wasn’t arrogant toward me. Not until the end.
Perhaps it was the point where he realized I might be better than him that changed him. Or just brought out his true colors.
I would have been better than him. He hardly had to work for anything he had.
He didn’t know the meaning of putting effort in.
I never judged him for it. Not until after it all went down, as it did.
Then I overanalyzed every aspect of his character while I tried to figure out what the hell went wrong.
“Art?” Ben shouts, calling for my attention. I snap out of my thoughts and narrow my eyes at him. He’s holding out a glass of champagne, waiting for me to take it.
“Earth to Artur, are you going to join us in a toast?” he asks.
“Sure,” I mutter, leaning forward to take the bubbling gold glass.
Maria is grinning from ear to ear, dancing in her seat.
“We’re about to take off,” the hostess tells us with a polite smile. “Please strap in.”
“Done,” Ben says, grinning at her.
She nods and leaves.
Ben lifts his glass again. “To working as a team. To taking a little break from the madness of the city…”
“And the heat!” Kaz adds.
“And the heat!” Ben laughs. “To an alliance that is going to grow stronger,” he says, nodding in my direction.
“To that,” I say, clinking the side of my glass against theirs.
We all take a long sip. The plane starts heading down the runway, and I turn my eyes out toward the window.
It was so strange seeing Misha again. The mix of emotions I felt was unexpected. I’ve told myself time and time again that he means nothing to me anymore. But it hurt. Hearing his voice and seeing his face genuinely hurt.
I get greed. There are many greedy men in this world.
I might even be one of them. Greed drives a man to chase what he wants.
It’s not a foreign concept to me. I also get Misha wanting to protect his sister.
Most older brothers are very protective of who their sisters get involved with. He could have spoken to me about that.
But the way it looks…the way he made it sound…it actually had nothing to do with protecting Maria and everything to do with protecting his pure bloodline.
All because of my background.
I sigh loudly and look at Maria.
She’s eagerly looking out of the window and chatting to Joseph about what is beneath us and how long it’ll take to get to Whale Cove in Canada.
“Will there be snow?” she asks, her eyes bright with excitement.
I wonder if she really knew what he was doing when he was screwing me over?
“There should be. It’s definitely going to be cold,” Joe explains.
“Will we see a polar bear?” she sounds like a kid on the night before Christmas.
I can’t help smiling. Her expression is infectious. “I’ll book us a helicopter tour, and we’ll go look for the polar bears,” I tell her.
“Really?!” she exclaims in utter happiness.
“Really,” I smile. “I have no idea if we’ll find one, but there’s no harm in trying,” I shrug.
“It’ll be a great view either way,” Ben nods.
***
The plane lands, and I grab a jacket from the closet and wrap it around Maria’s shoulders before we disembark and climb into the waiting car. She smiles at me, but it’s wary and cautious.
The driver takes us straight to Whale Cove beach resort. The air has a sharp bite of cold to it.
“Shit, it’s a lot cooler out here.” Joseph shudders as we head up to the private villa I’ve booked us for a week.
It’s away from the other properties on the beach resort, so we have space to ourselves. Besides, this villa is far more luxurious than the beach villas, and I wanted everyone to be comfortable.
“There’s not much out here,” Ben remarks, standing at the tall living room window and looking toward the ocean. Light snow glows over the ground and in the distance on the mountains.
“That’s the point, though, isn’t it?” I ask, throwing a log onto the massive fire they prepared for us. Heat spills from it into the living room and creates a cozy glow.
“I guess it is the point. Can we snowboard out here?” he asks.
“We can do anything we want. There’s a little village nearby to explore. We can take the helicopter anywhere. Ski, snowboard, explore…”
“Sounds good to me. Sometimes the less there is to do, the better the relaxation is anyway,” he grins.
“Oh, and there’s an excellent spa at the resort,” I tell him. “If you want a massage or something like that.”
“This place is incredible!” Maria calls out, running down the stairs from the bedrooms to stand near the oversized fireplace. She crouches in front of it and holds her hands toward the flames. “I can’t believe how beautiful it is!”
Her cheeks are red from the cold.
“Do you want to throw on an extra few layers and go for a walk?” I ask.
“Oh yes, are you coming with me?” she asks.
“I’ll come with you while the others unpack,” I agree.
She runs away again to find the warm clothes I arranged for her before we left Chicago.
I wait in the living room wearing a dark gray snow jacket and matching snow boots over my jeans and hoodie. Maria comes down in a pink jacket, white boots, and white fluffy mittens. Her fluffy white hat is decorated with cat ears, and I shake my head, chuckling at her.
“You warm enough?” I muse.
“I am perfectly snuggly, thank you for asking,” she replies as I pull the door open for her and gesture for her to go ahead of me.
Why the hell does she have to look so damn cute?
We walk along the pathway toward the beach in silence.
When we get too close to the shore, Maria says, “It’s so strange to compare this place to the beach in Chicago. Snow versus the sweltering sun. It’s freezing here,” she remarks, wiggling her hips and shoving her gloved hands into her jacket pocket.
“Do you want hot chocolate? There’s a guy at the resort who makes the best hot chocolate.”
“That sounds like the perfect idea,” she nods eagerly.
We turn toward the resort, and she puffs out a wisp of smoke as she lets out a heavy breath. “How often do you come here?” she asks, watching the wisp fade.
“Not that often.”
“Why did you choose this place?”
“Because it’s far away from everything and everyone,” I shrug.
“Isolated?” she asks.
“Exactly. Sometimes I need that. I just need to escape everything,” I murmur.
When I glance at her, she’s got her head tilted to the side, watching me carefully.
“And because it’s beautiful,” she smiles after a while, and moves to walk a little closer to me.
I put my arm around her shoulders. “You get used to the cold,” I tell her.
“I don’t want to. It’s lovely.”
At the resort, we walk into the entertainment area, and I find Kiko poking at the fire in the living room.
“Kiko,” I grin, hurrying toward him. “How are you, my friend?” I ask.
He stands up and pulls me into a hug. “Art, my man, it’s been months. Where you been?”
“Here and there,” I smile.
“Is this Mrs. Art?” he teases, smiling at Maria.
For a moment, I trip over my words. “Uh, yes, it actually is,” I reply.
“Oh wow. A lot has changed since I last saw you,” he grins, pulling Maria into a hug, too. “Welcome to Whale Cove. If you need anything, just ask,” he says.
“Thank you,” Maria giggles, stepping out of his friendly embrace.
“Actually, my friend, we came here for your famous….”
“The hot chocolate! I knew it! Come on, I’ve got a whole jar of marshmallows with your name on it.” He shoots an amused look at Maria. “This man and his marshmallows. I’m telling you, he doesn’t even leave room for the hot chocolate in his mug.”
Maria giggles and scrunches her nose at me. “Is that so? Oh my goodness! Actually, I remember that!”
“You do?” I ask, confused.
“Yes, the one Easter you ate so many you were complaining about a stomachache for an hour afterwards.”
My heart clenches and beats a little harder. “Yeah, I remember,” I mutter.
I remember that Easter very well.
Clearing my throat, I push the memory from my mind.
I need to remember who this girl is related to and not let my guard slip.
Just because she’s sweet and smiling doesn’t mean I can let go of everything that happened in the past.
But as I watch her talking to Kiko, her vibrant, innocent energy makes me question things.
Did she even know what her brother was doing?
Did she know…but she was brainwashed by him?
I want to trust her.
I wish I knew how.