Sinner Chapter 20
Our guests had all arrived. After the tension of Wednesday, seated in the courtroom, wondering if Sam would win his bogus lawsuit, we all deserved to relax and have fun.
Everyone had made it to the cookout, and despite their insistence that they’d do all the cooking, Anastasia and her mom hadn’t been the only ones to get their hands in a kitchen.
Each individual or couple had brought a dish or contribution to the cookout. There was a ton of food.
When Kathlyn saw Matea and Mason, she went into grandma mode. She admitted she was missing her grandchildren. Because of her refusal to go home to her husband or to put up with the males’ sexist ideas anymore, she hadn’t been allowed to see them.
She admitted that Savar was using the kids against her. He knew how much she loved them, and it was his way of forcing her to come home. However, she hadn’t given in. And after her declaration that she was divorcing him, he’d been silent.
According to Iker and his people, the only person seen outside any of our homes or offices was Sam. He never approached. He would just sit in his car or stand on the sidewalk, watching. I had no idea why, but we kept the guards.
We spent time hanging out in the apartment. For those who hadn’t been here before, we walked them through it and explained our expansion plans. Mr. O’Brien had given me the blueprint for the neighboring apartment so we could begin figuring out what we might want to do with it.
The paperwork and the payment will be finished next week. Side conversations and debates were happening among our friends as they examined the blueprints, but it was all in good fun. Later, we took everyone up to the roof. Again, those who hadn’t been here before were in awe.
And there was no need to worry about the little ones’ safety up there. To prevent anyone from falling off the building, the roofing edge was enclosed in six-foot sections of reinforced glass. You still have the view without the danger. It was up there that we cooked out and ate when the time came.
I kept an eye out for any discomfort from Anastasia’s mom. I hadn’t felt any from her toward me since my woman told her mom all about Lustz, but it could come out toward others. Zero.
In fact, I caught her questioning the other guests about their memberships and asking them what they get out of their various kinks. There was a lot of education, but both Kathlyn and Anastasia were eating it up.
Mikhail explained what being a primal meant, and Tajah shared what being prey meant to her. When Kathlyn found out Tajah wrote steamy romances and had a series that explored kink, she jotted down where to get the books.
Hoss and Cady detailed what it was like for them as a brat handler and brat.
For Carver and his Lexi, he was a submissive switch who could be the Dom.
Lexi tended to like to be the Domme, a female Dom, but would become a submissive, or a bottom, for Carver.
Their power exchanges flowed between the two.
Reuben was a pleasure Dom, and Cristiana his pleasure sub.
Kathlyn had already talked to me about rope mastery and what having a willing bottom or model did for me.
But she didn’t stop there. She asked Sawyer, Iker, and Sharlena what they liked best about the lifestyle.
Her openness was refreshing and unexpected.
Usually, those of us in the kink life tend to keep it private.
It wasn’t out of shame. It was due to how others might react and, in some cases, retaliate.
Kathlyn was absorbing everything and seemed to enjoy learning.
I wondered what she’d suppressed all these years with Savar.
What seemed to stun her was her asking Matvey and Victoria whether they were part of Lustz.
Everyone grinned. Anastasia had told me she didn’t know what to tell her mom about the mobster and his wife, so she said nothing.
Matvey denied membership to Lustz, but I noticed he didn’t deny having dabbled in kink. Instead, he smirked.
“What do you think I do? For work? That is far more interesting.”
“Matvey, behave,” Victoria admonished him playfully.
“Dorogoy, Sweetheart, I want her to guess unless Reign or Stasia told her.”
“We didn’t say a word. Mom, you’ll never guess,” Anastasia told her.
Kathlyn studied Matvey, then Victoria.
“Well, Matvey, you’re clearly a businessman and a very successful one at that.
I can tell that by the way you dress, speak, and carry yourself.
Victoria has the bearing of a lady. Are you in banking?
Import-export? Or maybe precious metals.
I don’t think you’re an oilman, but maybe something in the business line that has their fingers in the trade. ”
“You could say I’m all those things and many more.”
There were a few more teasing remarks until he finally confessed what he was.
“Kathlyn, I admit, I am not like the others in this room. I have wealth and power, but it is not completely earned in the same manner as the others here.” He paused.
“What does that mean?” Kathlyn asked.
“It means that while I have legitimate money-making ventures, not everything I do is. However, that part of my life has nothing to do with my friends and family. I do not involve them in it. I hope that you will become a friend and not hold that against me. I was raised to assume a position. In Mikhail’s and my family, you do as you are told.
Someone was expected to rise to assume the mantle of leadership.
“In Mikhail’s case, he’s my second cousin, and his father, Maxim, was blessed that his father allowed him to break with family tradition. I do not resent that. I was thrilled Max had that opportunity.” He paused again.
“Matvey, just tell her,” Victoria said softly.
He sighed, then confessed. “I am a Pakhan, which means boss in Russian. In my case, I am the boss of a Russian Bratva family. You may have heard of the Bratva, the Brotherhood. We’re the Russian equivalent of the Mafia.”
The silence afterward was heavy. Kathlyn sat frozen, staring. Anastasia and I moved toward her, but we were beaten to her by Iker. No one broke the silence. We allowed her to process it. It took her a couple of minutes to speak.
“So you’re a mobster, the head one. That means you run illegal guns, gambling, drugs, and do murders-for-hire and God knows what else.” There was disbelief and horror in her tone.
“Mom, I know this seems terrible, but it’s not as bad as it sounds,” Anastasia told her.
“I understand your disgust. I was raised never to question what my family did.
It was only after I got older that it changed.
I saw how Maxim lived his life. However, I am too high up to walk away from this life, Kathlyn.
If I tried, it would be seen as a weakness and a threat to the others in the Brotherhood.
Victoria, Mikhail, and anyone else considered close to me would be hunted and killed alongside me to ensure no one turned on them or posed a threat.
“Since I could not walk away, I made sure I was feared while changing what my people are involved in. I substituted higher-yield legitimate businesses for the most heinous businesses. I do not deal in trafficking in any form. Forced prostitution is a no. We do not hire ourselves out as assassins. Illegal gambling, selling weapons, and other things are done within strict parameters. I am not saying I am an angel, but I am not the worst devil out there.”
Kathlyn remained quiet for several more moments, then sighed.
“I don’t believe in judging anyone. I know what it's like when it happens. And while I’m wary of what you just shared, I’ve also been having a lovely day with you and Victoria without a single thing to make me question you.
As long as my daughter, Reign, and these other wonderful people remain unharmed, then I don’t need to know more.
I’ll wait and see personally how things go. ”
Matvey bowed his head, “Thank you.”
Victoria was teary-eyed. She stood and went to Kathlyn. They grasped hands and kissed each other’s cheeks. The tension bled away, allowing us to slowly resume the relaxed, fun atmosphere.
Everyone stayed until after dark. We didn’t want the night to end, but eventually it had to.
The couples were the first to go, followed by Sharlena and Sawyer.
Then it was time for Iker, Matvey, Victoria, and Kathlyn to leave.
Iker was escorting Anastasia’s mom home since he’d told the guards he’d let them know when they were needed back at the townhouse.
In the lobby, Matvey and Victoria’s bodyguards met us.
They'd stayed outside the apartment, but I knew they’d been around.
They took their boss and his wife’s security seriously.
No one wanted to be the one who fucked up and let the Pakhan and his wife get hurt or killed.
It would spell a death sentence, I had no doubt.
The six of us, along with Konstantin and Rurik, Bratva bodyguard and soldier to Matvey, stepped outside together.
The car with Emil in it waited at the curb.
Rurik stepped over to open the car door for the Ivanovas.
We were still saying goodbye when, out of the darkness, a figure in a hoodie stepped out, wearing a mask.
An arm was raised. I had no time to move.
The gun in the figure’s hand was aimed at me. Vaguely, I heard yelling.
“Cover them,” Matvey shouted as he and Victoria were taken to the ground and their bodies covered by Konstantin.
“Die, motherfucker,” the dark figure growled in a voice I recognized.
I knew I was dead. Except I wasn’t. I was saved by the last person I ever imagined saving me.
“No!” Anastasia screamed as she threw herself in front of me.
The shot rang out loud just as she made herself my shield. Her scream of shock and pain curdled my blood. Another shot was fired on the heels of the first. I waited to feel the burn, but it never came. Instead, the figure, which was Sameer, was tackled to the ground.
Chaos broke out around us. Kathlyn was crying and yelling. I was kneeling now, holding Anastasia in my arms. Blood was coming from the wound in her upper shoulder area. I pressed my hand against it. I didn’t know what else to do.
“Take him,” I heard Matvey bark.
He took control. I noticed a second car had pulled up behind the one Emil drove, and more of Matvey’s men got out.
Sam was dragged inside, and then it took off.
The Pakhan remained, though he knew that the police would be called.
There were people still out on the streets.
Kathlyn dropped to her knees next to me.
She sobbed as she touched her daughter’s face.
She was talking to her, but I zoned it out. I looked up.
Iker and Matvey’s furious faces looked back at me. Victoria was in the car with her alarmed face pressed to the window. Emil was with her. Rurik and Konstantin were facing away, guarding us.
“The police will come. An ambulance is on its way. Go to the hospital with her. Take Kathlyn. When the police come to question you, tell them you have no idea who did it. The suspect ran. Leave the rest to us,” Matvey rattled out swiftly.
“I can’t. There are witnesses and cameras,” I said.
“You leave the cameras to me, and eyewitness testimony is debunked all the time. You take care of her and let us deal with him. We won’t end his miserable existence without you,” Iker promised in a low voice.
Shock was giving way to fury. The desire to hurt, to kill, was rising.
“Make sure he survives until I get there,” I snarled.
Iker and Matvey nodded. The sound of sirens came nearer. Matvey got into the car with his people and drove off. It would cause more trouble if he stayed.
By the time the cops and paramedics arrived, it was down to the four of us. I held pressure on the wound and kept begging Anastasia not to leave me. She remained conscious, though in extreme pain. I don’t know how she did it. Prayers ran through my mind, one after the other.