2. Alek #2
When I’m a safe distance away, the crowd parts for me. Everyone smiles and nods, touching me, patting me on the shoulder as if this is my wedding.
It should be.
“Excuse me. Thank you. Thank you. We’re all very excited to have Mia in our lives. The Bykovs are very lucky. We are about to open gifts. Please, everyone, sit, enjoy the food.” The crowd disperses, leaving me alone at last.
I catch Nikolai talking to Viktor, one of the security members, and I give him a gesture ordering him to come here, bending my fingers towards myself repeatedly.
“Everything okay, Boss?”
I sneer. “Does it look okay? Where the fuck is my son? Do you know how embarrassing it is for Mia? This is unacceptable. Find him.”
“I’ve been calling him, Sir. No answer, but I did locate him.”
This is why Nikolai is in charge. He always knows when I’ll need something.
“And where is this sorry excuse of a son at?”
“The apartment he keeps downtown, and according to my sources, he isn’t alone.”
I crush the glass in my hand, soaking my shoes with strawberry lemonade. Pieces of glass dig into my palm and Nikolia curses in Russian.
He snags a napkin and wraps my hand with it. “What are you thinking?” He scolds in our native tongue. “You have to be more careful.”
“You bring my son to me. I don’t care what the fuck it takes. Do you understand?”
“Alek, are you okay?” Mia’s sweet voice if filled with concern and I turn around, hiding my hand behind my back.
“I’m fine. I accidentally dropped a glass. A small cut. Nothing serious,” my Russian accent becomes thicker the longer I speak to her. She has me forget that I need to remain in control at all times.
“Let me see. I have some experience with wounds.” She grabs my arm and I let her have it without a fight.
I stare at her, wondering if her experience is because she’s had to take care of herself somehow. She carefully unwraps the napkin and frowns when she is face to face with the small cut.
“See? It’s nothing, Lyubimaya.”
Nikolai coughs when he hears the term of endearment. It means, my love or my beloved. I didn’t mean for it to slip but I can’t help it. She’s the first thing I think about in the morning, the last thing I think about at night, and who I dream of when I close my eyes.
And yet, my son gets to have her.
“Oh, that’s beautiful. What does it mean? You’d think I’d be better about understanding Russian since I’ve been around you most of my life, but Ivan is so busy so it’s hard for him to take the time.” She turns to Nikolai. “Can you find me some alcohol? Vodka or something?”
“Vodka?” Nikolai grins. “We have the best vodka, Da?” He snags a bottle from the table and twists the top off.
“Can you pour it on his cut?”
“Here?” Nikolai looks left and right.
“We have to kill the germs, and I don’t know where a first aid kit is.”
“Listen to her,” I order in Russian.
Mia keeps my hand still while Nikolai pours the vodka over my wound. I don’t move. I don’t flinch. This cut doesn’t hurt, not in comparison to seeing the cut on Mia’s lip.
She moves her lips to the side, puckering them in deep thought. My gaze zeroes in on her mouth, the way her tongue pokes out every so slightly, wetting her bottom lip while she tries to take care of me.
The perfect shade of pink.
A day wouldn’t go by without me tasting her lips if she were mine.
Mia tightens a fresh napkin around the cut. “You might need a few stitches, but I know you won’t get them,” she smirks, patting my hand with hers.
“Thank you for—”
Pop. Pop. Pop.
I tackle Mia to the floor when gunshots ring out. The glass shatters. More loud cracks of bullets pierce the air. Everyone screams. Chaos erupts.
Nikolia and Viktor jump out of the broken windows to try and get any information from the vehicle that just drove by. Guns drawn, they fire in return.
Mia trembles underneath me and I lie over her, protecting her every second until I get the word from Nikolai that we’re safe.
“It’s okay, Lyubimaya. You’re going to be okay,” I whisper, kissing the back of her head. “I have you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Unlike my son.
“We’re all clear,” Nikolai announces. “Are you okay, Alek?”
I roll Mia to her back and check her over for any gunshot wounds. “Mia, are you hit? Are you okay? Talk to me.” I don’t give a fuck about myself. I only care about Mia.
“I’m okay,” her voice shakes. “I’m okay.”
I look up at Nikolai and hold Mia to my chest. “You find out who did this, now!” I roar.
“Right away,” Nikolai scrambles for his phone and meets with Viktor who is helping guests who are injured.
Sirens ring in the distance. Help is on the way.
I pull out my phone and dial my son, his fiancé against my chest and crying onto my shoulder. “Shh, shh, I have you. You’re safe now.” I stroke my fingers through her hair, hoping she calms enough.
“Ya?” Ivan answers, a feminine giggle in the background.
I grind my teeth. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are not being here for your wife. Where are you?”
“Does it matter? Listen, the contract will be fulfilled but it didn’t say anything about remaining faithful.”
I debate on telling him about the gunshots. Then, I think better of it.
He wouldn’t care.
I snarl, hanging up the phone on him, wondering why I damned this sweet woman to him. He’s changed. From the moment they were engaged, it’s as if he peeled back the layers he was hiding himself in to be the monster he’d been hiding from us all.
Tucking my phone in my pocket, I lean back and cup Mia’s face. She’s crying and those big brown eyes seem so damn sad, it breaks my heart.
I wipe her tears away. “Can you stand?”
She nods without saying a word.
I lift her to her feet and sweep her into my arms. “I’m having a medic check you and then I’ll take you home.”
“I’m okay. No medic necessary.”
I bend down and pick up her bag, a small book falling out of it. She doesn’t notice. I pick that up too and tuck it in my waistband. It’s difficult but I manage.
“You’re seeing a doctor. End of story.”
And then, I’m figuring out a way to end this contract so Mia can live a better life.