Marek: ‘Good morning.’
Ten minutes later.
Marek: ‘Ria?’
Another ten.
Marek: ‘I’m going to tape the phone to your hand when I get back.’
Marek: ‘Ria seriously.’
I pursed my lips and opted to call him back rather than text.
“I swear, Ria, I gave you a simple instruction. To keep your phone on you at all times.”
Sighing, I laid my head down on the table. “I know. I’m sorry. I was downstairs and…”
“You went downstairs. With no way to track
The next day was pretty much all just painting. I took a break when Vlad let a woman in. She seemed shocked to see me but quickly went about her business I decided to take some tea to the balcony. It really was nice. Taking breakfast out here seemed like a good idea.My phone rang and I picked it up. “Marek.”“I’m sorry. I should have warned you Victoria was coming today. She comes every week.”“Keenan warned me last night. It’s okay.”He sighed. “Still, I apologize.”“Apology accepted then.”Marek snorted. “Do you need anything?”I sipped my tea. Always straight to the point. Never how are you, just what do I need. “I’m fine. I have your information if I do.”“Right.” There was a long pause. “I should be back Saturday.”I hummed. “That’s fine. Is there something you would like me to p
*** Marek’s POV ***I looked at my watch again. It was already eight in the morning over there. I’d texted Rosaria at six and still nothing. I knew she was up late but that didn’t mean she didn’t get up. She was going to make me lose my mind.Pacing in the office, Aleksei was sitting on the couch reading the local paper. He tapped the paper.“Page five. Only page five. Your sister should have made a bigger stink.”I pinched the bridge of my nose. “We weren’t supposed to make the paper at all. It’s Casmir’s stupid zhena. Had she not realized she wasn’t going to get more by just making a ruckus…”This whole thing ended in a messy situation. Apparently, my sister was in love with Niklaus, the eldest Petrov brother, who was married already. She agreed to marry Vladimir to help hide his secret that he was gay. Turns out the love of his life was one of m
“Kam…”“I’m on my way, brat. Have your men let me in.”I nodded to Aleksei who started to type. He looked at me again. “There will be someone to escort her. The premises has been cleared. There were only seven of the them. They used an apartment on the 26th floor to then climb up the side of the building to the top. We don’t have camera that high up.”“The speakers?”“Bluetooth. One of their phones was connected. Zann confirmed one of the phones they stripped from the ones in the living room had music playing.”“The cameras?”“Looped.”I hadn’t told Rosaria or given her access to the camera’s set up in the house. My hope that she wouldn’t be freaked out about it. Though, I will admit tuning in a few too many times to watch her paint for hours at a time.“Mrs. Baranov!” Despite his worry a
I took a few gulps of the liquid. “The Italians managed to get an entire team into one of our building that’s dead center in our territory. They managed to go unnoticed, unmarked, and then attacked our own family. Trying to take Rosaria back and if she wasn’t such a damn fighter, they would have succeeded. She took down seven guys. With a bunch of fucking knives and probably a stolen gun. The fuck we doing, Aleksei?”He sighed and took a drink of his own poured glass. “YA ne znayu. Vozmozhno, my stali myagkimi.” [“I don't know. Perhaps we have become soft.”]His admittance didn’t help any. If anything, it made me angrier. I downed the rest of the whiskey and slammed it on the desk.“Plane?”“Fueling now.”I nodded. “Poydem.” [“Let’s go.”]“Yes, pakkun.”I glared at him. “Not today, Al
I wondered if Rosaria would like the mess that was Bronya’s life. It was soap opera-y and seemed something to entertain her. At least the other stories I told seemed to capture her attention. She also hadn’t fought me when I pulled her out to watch the my sisters interrogate Bronya.My jaw set. How many times had I talked to her now? Five? Six? Christ. I was the worst. I shouldn’t have left for Moscow. Hindsight but still. Bronya didn’t need help. Well, she did but I didn’t deal in psychiatry. When I called Kam I should have warned her that Bronya probably was going to dump on her later.“We’re here.”I patted Lec on the shoulder. “Stay put. This should be too long.”“Yes, sir.”Getting out, I grabbed the cigarette Aleksei was holding out for me and lit it. After a single puff, I walked into the warehouse that we owned just outside of the dump. It smelled awful but the
We got there pretty fast considering the traffic but the closer we got, the more anxious I became. I started to scroll through emails but not opening them. Just giving my fingers something to do. It was the same feeling I had when was taping up her wound on her arm. This never should have happened and I should have been there to protect her.Pulling into the driveway, Aleksei, Lec and I got out. We probably would have turned heads but we’d been here so many times together even I knew the neighbors names. Before I could knock, the door opened and my sister was standing in the doorway, a hand on her hip. I looked behind her and Damir was crossing his arms in an X shape and the dragged his thumb over his neck. Great. Kamilia was really mad.We stepped in without so much of a word but the door slammed so hard behind us I’m pretty sure the wreath on the front door fell.“You have some serious fucking explaining to do. On multiple fronts,
“The music.” She raised her eyebrow so I elaborated. “You hadn’t answered so I called Keenan to get your schedule for the day. He was still there. You could hear the music from outside the door and he said it had been playing for a while.”Her eyes widened. “You remembered our conversation in the car.”I nodded. “Of course.”Her surprise and slight tint to her cheeks made me wonder if that was really something special. I looked at Kamilia for confirmation and she just gave me a sloppy smile.We finished our dessert talking about nothing in particular and mostly work. It got to be around nine and Kamilia kicked us out. I had to call for one of the guys to come pick us up. Taking a cigarette outside, Rosaria stood next to me as we waited.“You killed him, didn’t you?”I nodded, knowing who she was talking about.“The family?”“I’m taking care of them. Though, they have the five mil
Getting out, I definitely needed a coffee. It was Sunday so I’d hoped we could finally relax after getting the new keycards downstairs. I realized I needed to talk with her about what she knew about our world. What weapons she specialized in. What she knew about her brother and how deep his pockets were. Not to mention I needed to dig deep into my own guys. The fact that Vlad was paid off had been disturbing but it could have been anyone. At this rate, if I didn’t get some kind of caffeine in me, I was going to be completely useless.I got dressed and I headed back down the stairs. Rosaria held out a mug for me and I took it. Sniffing it, I was surprised it was coffee. She had already turned back to the food she was making.“Thanks.”“You seem like you needed it.”I chuckled softly. “I do.”Rosaria didn’t turn except to plate what looked like blini. She pulled some smoked salmon, sour cream, hon