I listen as her breaths even out before I pull away from her and slide out of the bed. I grab my boxers from the floor and pull them on over my hips as I search for my cigarettes and lighter before wrapping my hand around my phone. I can’t sleep without a smoke. It’s not that I smoke all day long, but one before bed calms me.
Inessa doesn’t calm me tonight. She’s angry and concerned, feeling pigeonholed and totally trapped. The fuck of it is, I don’t blame her, not in the slightest. If we were different people in a different life, I would let her do as she wishes—whatever she wishes.
My Inessa deserves happiness, and I love to see her smile.
Right now, I don’t know that I’ll ever see her smile again. I doubt if she does that it will ever be aimed at me. I need more insight on Inesssa, and Pavlov is the only person who truly knows her. To everybody else, she is the beautiful, yet very professional real estate agent. To him, she’s like a daughter. When I told him that I would be marrying her, to say that he was angry is an understatement. When I explained the situation, that she was the one I wanted, that we’d been seeing each other for some time, and that I would protect her with my life, he relented and gave me his consent—not that I needed it.
I decide to call Pavlov.
“What’s happened?” he asks, his voice mildly panicked.
“Nothing. I need to talk to you,” I grunt as I close the door to her balcony.
“She’s not accepting this as easily as you thought?” he asks on a chuckle.
“I don’t want her to hate me. We’re going to be living together for a long fucking time,” I mutter.
“You won’t like my answer, so I’m not sure if I should even say it.”
“Speak,” I demand.
“Inessa has always been a free spirit. Her father was the same way, which is probably what got him killed in the end. But to keep her happy, if you wish her to be so, is to let her live her life. She’s loyal. She understands her duties and she’ll accept them eventually, though it may take a bit of time. However, if you keep her a prisoner, if you force her to give up a career she’s worked incredibly hard for, she’ll resent you, as any woman would; but for her, it would cut even deeper. She has nobody but me, Dominik. Now, she has you, but for twenty-years, it’s only been me. She’s had no long term relationships, and the man she was contracted to was murdered as a traitor.”
“This will not be easy, will it?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.
“Nyet, it will not. My Inessa will bring joys to your life that you can only imagine. Though, if you put in the work, it will all be worth it. If you want easy, you should just stay with Larisa. She is a bitch and she’ll fuck around, but she’ll only ask money of you, and she won’t expect anything else.”
“And Inessa?” I ask.
“She’ll expect everything. Love, a family, and freedom,” he mutters.
He doesn’t say anything more, but instead ends the call. I set my phone down on a little table Inessa has set up, and I rest my forearms on her balcony as I smoke.
Fuck.
Pavlov is right. Inessa is going to want it all. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to deliver everything to her. Out of his list, I can give her a family, but that’s all. She’ll probably be miserable with me. What she won’t know is that on her most miserable day, it will still be my best day. I’ll have her.
It’s so fucked up.
I’m so fucked up.
I snub out my cigarette and I go back to bed. Hopefully I can fall asleep now. Sleep evades me for another hour, but eventually I do fall asleep, wrapped around the most beautiful woman I have ever held.
I LEAVE INESSA ASLEEP in the bed and quickly shower and change before sliding into the driver’s seat of my Audi and heading toward Yakov. I shoot Konstantin and the two other Byki messages, telling them that I’ve left for the day and Inessa is at the apartment. I don’t give them any instructions on how to proceed for the day. I haven’t decided how I’m going to handle her quite yet.
I thought about the things that Pavlov said to me last night, and I know that he’s right, in the sense that Inessa needs her freedoms. She works extremely hard, and she’s good at her job. Her reputation proves as much.
I have a hard time allowing her to work, though. I’m selfish. I know this. I’m controlling, and I’ve never had to take a woman’s feelings into consideration before. Not like this.
“You look like shit,” Yakov states as soon as he folds into my car.
“Long night,” I grunt.
“Same here,” he agrees.
“You find anything out?” I ask as I turn the car around and head toward Oleg Ivanov’s house.
It’s way too early for this shit—for Larisa and what will surely be a gigantic fucking tantrum—but it needs to be done. I want to be done with her.
“Manya was bribed by the Irish.”
“What?” I shout as the car swerves slightly.
“That money came from the Irish, and Manya willingly handed over her girls, girls that pissed her off at one time or another. She knew they would be beat to shit, raped, and left for dead. All for a little cash. The cunt,” Yakov mutters.
“What’d you do with her?”
“Gave her a dose of her own medicine before I had her killed. Slowly,” he shrugs.
“Good.”
“You got the call girls under control?” he asks as we pull onto Oleg’s street.
“Today, yes. I can’t do it all alone, though. I’m going to need help. There are just too many for me to manage them with all of my other duties.”
“You do the best job. I know with you I don’t have to worry about their safety and about the money. I’d like to have you take over fulltime. I’ll shuffle around the rest of your duties, but I want you in charge of Byki and whores only,” he announces. I blink.
“Boss?”
“You’re the best, Dominik, always have been. You’re good at guns, you’re great with dope, and you handle the men with ease. You’re a born leader, which is why you’ve made it from nothing to a Brigadier the way you have. But nobody handled the whores the way you do—their schedules and their security. I don’t need another Manya on my hands. That Mick fuck hasn’t been found yet. They’re going to continue to target the whores, the women, and the children. He’s a coward and he’s unpredictable. I need you to keep our investments safe,” he says.
“Yeah, boss,” I agree as I turn the engine off in Oleg’s driveway.
“You do this for me, Dominik, and you do it well, you’ll be rewarded.”
I don’t ask him what my reward will be. I don’t get the opportunity as he opens the car door and steps outside. The morning air is cool and brisk. The weather changes faster every morning as winter is quickly approaching.
I find myself wondering what a cold winter evening will be like with Inessa. Will she curl her sweet body against mine and drink warm coffee while watching the snow fall?
“Ready?” Yakov asks as we approach the front door, shaking me from my day dream. I nod as my response, and then I press my finger against the doorbell.
A shrill, barking, yappy assed dog immediately starts delivering news of our arrival, and I groan.
“Dodged a goddamn bullet, Dom,” Yakov chuckles under his breath. My lips twitch, but I try not to laugh.
The door swings open, and a very visibly pissed off Oleg stands before us. He glowers at me; that is, until his eyes swing over to Yakov.
“I apologize for keeping Dominik away from your meeting yesterday. He was taking care of some business for me,” Yakov announces as he walks inside of Oleg’s home. I follow behind him, trying to keep a serious, yet straight face.
“We have much to discuss, me and Dominik,” Oleg states, making it clear that it has nothing to do with Yakov.
“Yes, please, call Larisa down to meet with us as well,” Yakov says, ignoring Oleg’s clear implications, that he is not invited to our meeting.
“This is for men to discuss. It
does not involve women,” Oleg spits out.
“It involves Larisa. She should be in attendance,” Yakov says.
“I’ll just go collect her from her room,” I say, noticing his uncomfortableness in talking about Larisa’s attendance. Then I observe how he pales at my suggestion.
“No, no, no,” he says.
It’s too late, and I hurry up the stairs.
I’ve only been in the home a handful of times, but I know where Larisa’s bedroom is. Until the past few days, I’d had her watched. I knew of her men, and I also knew where she had some of her dalliances, right here in her father’s home. Obviously, he knows about them, something that is a bit of a shock to me.
I hear Yakov’s, and assume Oleg’s, shoes against the marble flooring, following me up the stairs. When I turn the knob and push Larisa’s door open, I see exactly what I thought I would.
Larisa is naked, her head tipped back as she rides a man, his chocolate skinned hands wrapped around her back as she fucks him. Interesting. He’s not any Bratva man I’ve seen, though he could be a Shestyorka and I wouldn’t know him.
“Hello, my adoring fiancée,” I say. Her body freezes, as does the man beneath her. “Oh, don’t stop on my account.”
Larisa’s eyes turn to me and narrow as she continues to fuck him. The man’s eyes are wide, expressing shock, but, obviously, he’s still hard. Probably easy to do with his age and the fact that she’s really giving him a run for his money, bouncing on his cock like she’s desperate for it. I watch, not at all interested; quite bored, actually. She’s not very exciting to see, her too skinny body flailing around on top of him.
“Oleg, your daughter is such a treasure,” I mutter. He growls before walking over to her, grabbing her by her hair, and dragging her screaming off of the man’s cock.
“You should leave, son,” Yakov mutters. I look at the man, only to realize he’s not much older than a boy—twenty at most.
He scurries around, grabbing his things and running out of the room naked. Oleg drags Larisa around and commands her to put on a robe. Yakov and I look on, but it’s not that interesting.
This whole scene does, however, mean that I don’t have to marry the cunt, and I don’t have to lie about Inessa being pregnant already. Though, it’s more of a white lie, since we’re trying—or at least I am.
“In my office,” Oleg grunts, his hand still firmly tangled in Larisa’s hair.
She looks up to me with watery, pleading eyes, but I have no sympathy for her. She knew what she was doing, and she didn’t give a fuck to stop when I walked into the room. Sucks to be a bitch.
Yakov and I slowly make our way to Oleg’s office, Larisa whimpering behind us. I hear a gasp and turn to the right. Standing there, with her hand over her mouth, is Mrs. Ivanova, Oleg’s wife and Larisa’s mother.
“Ma,” she cries out. Her mother only narrows her eyes slightly and then turns and walks away.
Larisa is shameful, not becoming of the status her family holds. Though her father is only a Boyevik, her fiancé is a Brigadier, and she is acting like street trash—has been for a decade.
Once we’re inside of Oleg’s office, he throws her to the side of the room and walks behind his desk to sit down. Here, he thinks he has some control. Here, he thinks he’s in some kind of power, but he doesn’t. Yakov is the only one with true power in this room. Even I cannot question his authority.
“This changes everything, Oleg, you must know this,” Yakov says, his voice even and calm.
“He pushes my daughter to the side for years, what does he expect?” Oleg snorts.
“Let’s ask. Dominik, what do you expect from the woman you’re to marry?” Yakov asks. I almost laugh.
“Do I expect her to be a virgin bride? No, not after this many years. Although, she probably would have been my wife a lot sooner had she been,” I shrug. “I do, however, expect her to be discreet. She has not been. I expect her to be becoming of a Brigadier’s fiancé, she has not been. So, it is at this time that I wish to void our contract,” I announce.
“No, I won’t accept,” Oleg shouts, slamming his hand down on the desk.
“No, you’re marrying me in six-months. You’ve had your fun, I’ve had mine, now I want to be your wife,” Larisa screeches.
“Enough,” Yakov booms. “Larisa, you get no say in this. You shamed him. You’re lucky he hasn’t killed you already. You were caught fucking someone, with a Pakhan in attendance. It’s despicable. And Oleg, all this happened in your home. Deplorable. The contract is void,” Yakov announces.
“This is all because you found someone else. It has nothing to do with your being shamed,” Larisa states, standing up from the floor and crossing her arms over her chest.
“I have found someone else, but you’re wrong if you think you haven’t shamed me. You know the rules, Larisa. You know our culture, and you being a whore doesn’t sit well with me, which is why I refused to marry you for so long,” I say.
“Oh, because you fucking actual whores is better?” she sneers.
“What I do or don’t do isn’t your concern and doesn’t matter. That’s the thing, Larisa—you are under the microscope; you are the one judged. I am judged on how well I control you, not on where my cock roams.”
“So Inessa Kozlova, she’s going to be the one then?” she asks, arching a brow.
“It’s none of your concern. Not now,” I state as I take the contract from the inside of my jacket. I rip it in half before throwing it on Oleg’s desk.
“That girl is trash, just like her parents. Did you ever ask why her parents were murdered?” she asks.
“Doesn’t matter. Inessa has more class in her pinky finger than you do in your entire body,” I say as I stand from my chair.
“Her father fucked a Pakhan’s wife. You may know him—Pasha Vetrov. Rumor has it, Pasha’s the one who killed him, then he raped her mother before he killed her, too. Tragic, really. So sad.” Larisa sticks out her bottom lip in a feigned sad expression.
“Have fun, Larisa. Good luck finding someone to marry. Yakov has a list of men for you to sift through if you’re feeling desperate,” I chuckle as I start to leave.
I don’t give Oleg or Larisa a chance to say another word. I quickly leave their home and fold myself into my Audi, waiting for Yakov to join me. He isn’t far behind me and he lets out a breath as soon as he closes the door.
“Is it true?” I ask, putting the car in reverse.
“I don’t know,” he admits.
“Let’s find out,” I suggest. Yakov shakes his head.
“It’s been twenty years, Dominik. Some demons don’t need to be resurrected. Sonia is gone, the Kozlov’s are gone. What’s the point?”
I think about his words. I don’t know if there is a point to know, except to have the knowledge. It won’t fix anything, and it doesn’t affect how I feel about Inessa. It was something that possibly happened between Pasha, Sonia, and her parents. What would I gain from knowing? More importantly, what would she gain from knowing?
“I don’t know,” I admit on a whisper.
“Nothing. It would do nothing but hurt her. She’s yours now, Dominik. It’s up to you to protect her,” he murmurs.
“You’ve protected Ashley from things?” I ask.
“I have. I tell her a lot. We discuss quite a bit, but there are some things, even about her own past, that she does not need to know. The knowledge would serve no purpose,” he admits.
“Yeah,” I nod.
I drop Yakov back at his house so that he can get his car and do his own thing. I, apparently, have nothing else to do in his office, as he’s ordered me to the brothels. I drive in that direction, thankful that it’s still early. Knowing those girls, they’ll still be passed out asleep from the evening before. I don’t necessarily want to work there, knowing that Inessa probably wouldn’t be too fond of it. I also know that the temptation to stray is going to be shoved in my face all of the time.
I’m only a man. I’m
only human. I know how these girls perform. Honest to fuck, I don’t know that I can turn them down time and time again.
Once I arrive at the main house, where my office is located, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I never promised Inessa faithfulness, but something doesn’t feel right about fucking another woman right now, not when she’s right there, waiting for me. Not when she could be carrying my child.
Fuck.
I shake off the foreboding feeling as I get out of my car and walk inside. There are a couple Byki hanging out, and they give me chin lifts as I go into the office. The first order of the day will be to answer emails and check new clients’ background packages—including submitting more background checks for next week. I also have to contact the hotel and make sure Manya was still offering them their stipend for allowing us to stay under the radar in their establishment.
Paperwork. So much damned paperwork.
By the time evening rolls around, I’m almost caught up, but nowhere near as organized as I would like. Manya left the computer system, and her files on each client and girl, a fucking disaster. It’s up to me to comb through it all and fix it.
There’s a knock on my office door, and I glance at the clock to see that its after ten in the evening.
“Come in,” I call out.
Alla walks inside and my cock twitches. Alla is sexy—black hair, big brown eyes—and she knows exactly how to work every part of her body to satisfy a man. I know because I’ve come to her on several occasions. She’s also the most expensive and the most sought after girl we have here in the house.
“Dom,” she purrs as she walks up to me. She’s wearing nothing but a see-through bra and panty set, a see-through, short robe draped over her shoulders, and a pair of fuck-me heels on her feet.
“Can I help you, Alla?” I ask, trying to stay professional, clinching my fists together to keep from dragging her over to me and fucking her as hard as I can.
“You’re here now, full-time?” she asks, her voice husky and throaty. So goddamn sexy.
Tempting the Badman (Russian Bratva #5) Page 11