Chapter 54 #2
Nina looks around the room again, and you can see when she puts the connection together. “Your girl?” she asks anyway, even though she knows the answer.
“Yeah. Our girl,” I answer when no one else does.
Nina smiles, looking proud. “I knew she was a smart girl.”
“Mama!” Dmitri says, looking at his mom in disbelief.
“Oh, honey,” she says, patting his hand, “It’s not uncommon in Italian families to take more than one lover.”
“I could have gone my whole life without hearing you say lover,” Alexey mutters.
“And we’re sending her to an Italian family,” I say, waggling my eyebrows just to get a rise out of them.
Alexey slams his fist down on the table. “She’s not fucking going now.”
“Language,” Nina says sternly, and I can’t help but laugh when Alexey shrinks back in his chair.
“My mom is with an Italian man,” Leo says, then grimaces. “Why the hell did you have to say that?”
“My dad’s nothing if not traditional,” Ryder says with a straight face. “He’s got a lot of brothers.”
Leo’s face goes pale, and he stands up. “I’m calling Mom.”
“He’s just messing with you, Baby!” I yell at his retreating back; he flips me off and keeps walking.
Dex chuckles. “He will have his mom on the first plane back home.”
“Baby?” Nina squeaks after hearing what I called Leo.
“Yeah. They’re together too,” Dmitri says with a laugh and motions between Ryder and Holden. “They are too.”
Holden blushes, and Ryder chuckles, “What’s the matter, Bello?”
Holden’s blush deepens, but he smiles. “Nothing.”
I shake my head with a laugh. “I’m going to go check on Les.”
I stand up and follow the path she took.
I find her on a swing that overlooks the property and flop beside her.
She’s having an animated conversation in full Italian, and I can only pick up on a few keywords.
Les tried to teach me Italian, but it was too damn complicated.
She says her goodbyes and turns to me. “If you’re here to argue, you can go right back in the house. ”
“I wasn’t arguing, Pretty girl. I get what you’re saying,” I soothe.
She snorts. “No, you don’t. You just don’t want me pissed at you.”
“That too.” I smile.
She rolls her eyes. “You and those damn dimples,” she mutters, pulling up Zane’s contact. She flips it to the speakerphone, and I feel my teeth gritting.
“Well, hello, Beautiful,” he answers, and I barely resist cussing his punk ass out.
“I need a favor,” Les says without preamble. “This goes above anything I’ve asked you to do before.”
“Does it involve a dead body?” Zane deadpans. I feel my lips twitch and fight the smile. I refuse to find him amusing.
“No,” Les huffs. “I can take care of those myself.”
“Beautiful. Do I need to remind you who you’re talking to?”
“Trust me; I remember you’re a traitor.”
“Hm,” Zane hums, ignoring that dig. “What do you need?”
“I have a friend on the run from an abusive husband. I need you to take her to the jet.”
Zane’s quiet for a minute. “You said this is bigger. What aren’t you telling me?”
I have to give it to him; he’s fucking smart. This isn’t a simple drop-off at the airstrip with a random abused woman.
Les looks at me. “It’s Viktor Orlov’s wife.”
“What the fuck, Les?” Zane growls. “You kidnapped the man’s fucking wife?”
“He beats the shit out of her, Zane,” Les says quietly. “I wasn’t lying about that.”
“Fucking hell,” he mutters, then takes a deep breath. “When do you need me?”
Just like that, he agrees. Les doesn’t know the power she still holds over that man.
He risked his life for her, and now he’s risking his job.
That’s one of the reasons I want her to stay the fuck away from him.
I see how she still looks at him, whether she wants to admit it or not.
Les still has deeply buried hurt feelings about Zane, and one of these days, they’re going to bubble over.
I just don’t know how it’ll end. My choice would be to fucking kill him and get him out of the picture.
But something tells me that will hurt Les no matter how much she threatens him to do it herself.
“Two hours,” Les says. “I can’t have you come to where we are. I need to throw him off this trail.”
“Are we talking police escort or what?”
“I can’t have you risk picking her up in the station's car,” Les says, laying her head back on the swing. “I shouldn’t be asking you to do this anyway.”
Zane chuckles. “I’m already in it, Beautiful. Now tell me the plan.”
“We’ll be in a burner car. I’ll text you what kind and where to meet us when we figure it out.”
“You need to send one of your guys. You don’t need to be involved anymore,” Zane says, and I feel myself agreeing with him. Mark it down because it will never fucking happen again.
“What is it with all you assholes thinking you can tell me what to do?” Les rages, getting pissed all over again.
“I’m not going to ask what other assholes,” Zane says. “But if they’re worried about your safety, they have my fucking respect. You’re getting in too deep, Les.”
“It’s my fucking job!”
“No,” he says evenly. “Your fucking job is to run that family and let the ones you trust protect you.”
“You’re telling me you think I should hide behind them?” she scoffs.
“I’m telling you, I want you to live to breathe another fucking day. Because a life without you in it isn’t one to live.”
I agree with him again and want to punch myself in the face. He just told my girl that he can’t live without her, and I’m nodding my head like a dumbass. What the hell is wrong with me?
He isn’t wrong, though. I can’t imagine living without Les in my life I will follow her into the afterlife, no questions asked.
“Please don’t do this right now, Zane,” Les pleads, and I can see the guilt creeping onto her face. The same look she gets every time something about Zane is brought up. That tells me all I need to know. Les still has feelings for Zane.
“One day, Beautiful, you will listen to me,” Zane threatens. “Text me the details,” he says, and then the line goes dead.
She drops the phone onto the swing and pulls her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.
“Talk to me, Pretty girl,” I say and silently promise I’ll listen to whatever she says.
She lays her head on her knees to look at me. “He tried to kiss me the other day.”
I swallow down the expletives. “And?”
“I was going to let him,” she whispers, her eyes filling with tears. “I have five of the best guys, and I was going to let him.”
I thumb a tear away before rubbing a hand up and down her back. “You aren’t over him,” I say simply, shaking my head when she goes to argue. “You need to stop denying it, Pretty girl.”
“It’s been six years,” she says miserably.
“And you guys never worked through any of that bullshit.”
“Are you telling me to talk to him?” she asks, surprised, and then shakes her head. “I don’t need to.”
“Yes, you do,” I say, harsher than I meant. I take a breath and try again. “Yes, you do. I don’t know why the fuck I’m telling you to, but you need to. For you.”
“I’d rather just hate him,” she sniffs, turning her head away.
“You don’t hate him. If you hated him, you wouldn’t find ways to keep him in your life,” I tell her honestly, causing her head to flip back to me. “Quit lying to yourself.”
“I can’t do that,” she says, tears flashing down her cheeks. “The moment I admit what I already know, I can’t ignore how I feel anymore.”
“As much as I don’t want to say this,” I sigh. “We would do anything for you, Pretty girl. That includes whatever happens with Zane.”
She laughs, but it’s watery. “I think Ryder may feel different.”
“You would be surprised what Ryder would handle for you.”
She looks over the property and doesn’t say anything for a long time. I rub her back and give her time to get her thoughts together.
Do I want her with Zane? No. But will I deny her if she wants him with her too?
Also no. I just want Les in my life, and the truth is, Zane isn’t a bad guy.
Yeah, he lied to her and made her feel like their whole relationship was a lie, but Zane would lay his life down for her just like the rest of us would.
“This is going to have to be a problem for another day,” she says, finally standing up from the swing. “We have too much going on.”
She walks away, and I watch her until she disappears into the house. That’s going to be her excuse until the end of time. We always have something going on; it’s the way of this life.
I might just have to push her a little.