Zain

by Monroe, Evie

  How could I have known Viktor was up to no good? Yet, maybe I should have known. There’d always been rumors going around town that he was part of the Russian mafia. His mother had been dead for many years before I met him, and when I was in the process of moving to America, his father died. He’d told me before that his father had trained him and left him the contacts for his family business, but he never said what they were.

  It was my own fault, for just accepting his word at face value. I’d been too hopeful that Viktor would be my dream come true. That had made me blind to all the signals. And as more of the façade of us as a happy family started to crumble, I ignored the signs, scared to realize the truth. He’d kept an entire room in our condo locked and secret from me, but if I’d really wanted to, I could’ve found the key.

  The thing was, I didn’t want to. I wanted to live in ignorant bliss and pretend. Because he was all I had.

  And now? Zain seemed hell-bent on confronting Viktor, and that could only be bad news. For all of us.

  This was all my fault.

  Alena usually got up with the sun. This morning, I dressed, pig-tailed, and gave her Eggos two hours before I had to report for work, so I decided to take her to the playground down the street before daycare. After slipping on a blue dress for work, I scuffed into my sneakers instead of my heels and took her hand. We sang Polly Put the Kettle On as we made our way out the door.

  Outside, the stale stench of old Chinese food hung heavy in the air. We walked along the busy main street, past ethnic food market and the taco place and the small hardware store that never had any customers—to a small, wooded park with an old jungle gym, seesaw, merry-go-round, and swing set.

  “Come on,” I said to her, squeezing her chubby little hand as I looked around the mostly-empty park, shivering a little in the morning chill. “Let me push you on the swings.”

  She ran for the red swing, oblivious to the homeless people sleeping on the benches. She jumped onto the swing and dangled her tiny little legs as she pushed off.

  As happy as she was, I was hyper-aware as I scanned the area, half-expecting Viktor to show up and grab me by the back of the neck, hissing, I know what you’ve been up to, solnyshka.

  His sunshine. What a joke. Sunshine exists regardless of human interference. He had to realize that his mere presence was dimming my light, and had been, ever since he issued his first demand.

  “Wee! This is fun!” Alena shrieked with glee, breaking me from my reverie. Alena had such a strong, powerful light. And maybe, if her father didn’t change, her light would dim, too.

  I shuddered at that thought.

  As I pushed her, she worked her little legs, trying to get up the right swinging rhythm. “Mommy. Is your friend coming over tonight?”

  I sighed. I’d thought about him the entire night, alone, in my bed, but this time, I wasn’t thinking about the sex. I was thinking about that wonderful feeling of having a man’s arms around my body. At one time, very long ago, I could remember nestling into the warmth of Viktor’s arms and feeling protected. He was so strong and powerful, I felt like nothing or no one could harm me.

  It’d been a long time since I felt protected, but oh, how I wanted to feel it again.

  I wanted to feel it with Zain.

  But once bitten, twice shy. How could I have known the very person protecting me would wind up being my biggest threat?

  That kind of safety I dreamed of seemed impossible. Zain had told me not to worry about Viktor, but I didn’t believe him. How could he possibly get Viktor to change? Jealousy and a bad temper were in his blood.

  “I don’t think so, sweetheart,” I said, pushing her harder.

  “Oh. Too bad. I liked him. He was funny.”

  She liked him. And here, she’d spent most of the evening giving him dirty looks. I laughed. Kids were funny.

  “He was, wasn’t he?” I replied, smiling fondly at the image of Zain kneeling down at her little toddler bed and trying his best to humor her. It was definitely the type of moment that would make a woman’s ovaries explode.

  A few minutes later, Alena tired of the swings and pointed excitedly to the merry-go-round. I tried to talk her out of it on other trips to the park. I’d seen kids get hurt when the centrifugal force threw them to the ground if they were too small to hold on tight.

  “Oh, please, Mommy,” she pleased, so I said, okay, figuring I could control the speed. She hopped on and I told her not to let go as I started to spin the old thing. It creaked loudly as it turned, and Alena shrieked with joy.

  “Oh, mommy, I’m getting dizzy!” she said, her big blue eyes going wild.

  I laughed at her, then looked up and noticed something in the distance that alarmed me. Rather, someone, at the edge of the park, just beyond the trees and the garbage cans.

  It was a man on a motorcycle, wearing a helmet, with his face turned toward me.

  At first, I thought it was Zain because of the tattoos and bike. He also wore a denim vest with patches on it, and he looked tough, just like Zain. But he was a smaller man, and his bike was different from Zain’s.

  I stared at him, until I realized Alena was whining that I was going too fast. “Mommy, I can’t hold on.”

  I grabbed the metal bar and skidded along with it to slow it down, reminding myself to pay attention to my daughter. “Oh, sweetheart! Sorry. Are you okay?”

  Alena gave me a big smile, then peeled herself off the platform once the merry-go-round had come to a stop. She wobbled around dizzily, reaching for me to steady her.

  “Whoa,” I said, gathering her in my arms.

  “Are you okay? Breathe. Relax.”

  And then like the little adventurer she was, her face lit up and she said, “That was fun. More.”

  Checking my phone, I shook my head when I saw the time. “Sorry, mishka. I think we should go.”

  “Oh, please, mommy! Five more minutes.”

  I sighed. The girl had a way of making me the biggest pushover. And we did have the time. Besides, getting into work early hadn’t done me any favors lately. “Okay. We can stay a few more minutes.”

  She rushed over to the seesaw and sat on the low end that was buried in a patch of yellow grass. “Come on, Mommy! Get on with me.”

  Seesaws don’t work when one person is heavy and one person is a lightweight little girl, but I hiked my skirt up to mid-thigh and slipped on.

  I did my best to bounce her up and down, until she got bored, and I sensed she was about to get off. Anticipating her flight, I quickly dug my sneakers into the ground to avoid falling on my ass and swung my leg over so we both got off without mishaps.

  When I looked back at the spot where I’d seen the motorcycle, the man had disappeared. I checked around to see if he’d gone somewhere else, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

  What did that mean? Was that someone else from Zain’s club? And if so, why was he following me? I had to admit, I really didn’t know what a motorcycle club was all about, but I knew that Zain wasn’t involved in the most legal of things. As if I didn’t have enough to worry about. I didn’t want Alena getting wrapped up in anything dangerous. I’d told that to Viktor a million times. And for me to lead her into the same danger, with Zain?

  No, it wasn’t good. I told him I didn’t want to see him again.

  I needed to stick to that.

  No matter what my body was telling me.

  “Come on, Alena,” I said. I took her hand and led her out of the park. “We’ve got to get you to daycare.”

  We walked back the way we’d come, toward the apartment. As we reached an intersection, a motorcycle suddenly streaked by, out of nowhere. Shocked, we both took a few steps back. Alena let out a piercing cry. I watched it zoom away, too stunned to yell at the jerk. His back to me, I noticed the vest he was wearing had flames on it, not cobras like Zain’s. So that meant he had to be from a different club.

  I wished I knew. And what the hell was he doing here, this early in the morning? Had he been
following me?

  Whatever it was, by the time I got back to the apartment, I’d convinced myself it was a very good thing that I’d told Zain we couldn’t continue seeing each other. The problem with me was that I was looking for safety and security in all the wrong places. Viktor? Mistake. Zain? Also a mistake. I needed to find someone I trusted. Someone who would love us both and insure neither of us got hurt in the process.

  We climbed up the stairs past the Chinese restaurant, and I quickly changed into my heels, gathered up my purse, car keys, and Alena’s princess backpack and lunch. I locked up the apartment and hurried us to my car.

  As I strapped Alena in and settled her with her Princess Belle book to occupy her on the ride. I loved watching her try to sound out the letters she’d recently learned and knit her little brow as her eyes went over the words. As cute as she was, I couldn’t avoid noticing she had the shape of Viktor’s eyebrows with that same high arch.

  I kissed her forehead, then closed the door and got in the driver’s seat.

  Yes, Zain had been good with Alena. But that was only one time. And yes, I had a feeling he was a man of his word. But he was involved in bad things and getting involved with a guy so inherently dangerous could lead to trouble. What if giving my heart to him was as big a mistake as I’d made with Viktor?

  As I looked into the rearview mirror at my darling daughter, it occurred to me that some of the best things in my life had come from my biggest mistakes.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Zain

  The following afternoon, I went to the clubhouse to find Viktor there, lounging in a chair, his legs spread wide and his nose buried in his cell phone. He had his jacket off, and was wearing a shoulder holster, a gun strapped to his side. Fucking big man, really thought he was something special.

  Just the thought of him in bed with Sasha made me sick to my stomach. I had to wonder if he’d made her come. If she ever loved him. What the fuck had he done, what kind of wool had he pulled over her eyes to make her think he was worthy of her?

  The fact that he would control her like that? Pissed me off even more.

  But I’d promised her I wouldn’t tell Viktor about us, and I intended to stick to my word.

  Still, I didn’t think I could stick to Cullen’s play-nice credo. Hell, no. I didn’t care if this guy was going to save all of our asses from the Hell’s Fury. We didn’t need him, a low-life asshole who thought he could treat women like shit in order to feed his own ego. We’d deal with the Fury on our own, if need be.

  If my stance on that ended up getting me ousted from the Cobras, so be it.

  But I had a feeling, once my brothers knew what this asshole had been up to, they’d back me up.

  I grabbed a couple beers from the fridge. “So,” I said, sidling up to him. I slid one of the beers over to him. “What’s new, Viktor?”

  I couldn’t keep the menace out of my voice. He looked up at me, his blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What do you want?” he growled.

  “I asked you what was new.” I pulled out a chair and sat next to him, as if I was his best friend, getting ready for a chat. “What? You not interested in some friendly conversation?”

  “I’m doing business,” he muttered, his words clipped as he motioned to his phone.

  “Well,” I said, trying to keep it light. “I got the feeling you and I got off on the wrong foot. And I thought maybe we could clear the air.”

  He swiped the beer from the table and took a swig. “I’m here to do a job. I don’t need to be friends. With anyone.”

  I nodded. Asshole. “All right. We don’t have to be friends. But we can still talk. Shoot the shit. Let each other in on our lives,” I said, giving him a smirk. “Me? I’ve lived in Aveline Bay all my life. What about you? How long you been in this country?”

  He peered at me, his face a mask of stone. At first, I thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he said, “I came over from Russia when I was sixteen. That is when I became an American citizen.”

  All right. This was good. “You like America?”

  He nodded. “I had nothing in Russia. Here, I am someone.”

  “Yeah? So . . . you handle many situations like ours? You kill a lot of assholes?”

  He raised an eyebrow, and his eyes glinted with pride. “Yes. I go where I’m needed. And I’m good at what I do.”

  Now I was getting someplace. Time to go in for the kill. “Gotcha. You have a wife? Kids?”

  I saw a glimmer of something in his eyes. His face hardened, and he let out a grunt. “No.”

  I gave him an incredulous look. “Yeah?”

  He stared at me, unblinking.

  “You sure?” My smirk widened. “Because I met someone who says she knows you. Her name is Sasha. Sasha Kotov. Ever hear of her? Same last name as yours, right?”

  That single word broke through the stone on his face, and I finally saw some emotion. Rage. His entire face contorted with it, his pale skin growing red from the tight collar of his shirt. A big purple vein bulged on the side of his face. “What?”

  Around the clubhouse I could feel my brothers tensing. Cullen was eyeing me like he knew I was about to create some havoc. I loved every second of it, loved giving the asshole his due. “You heard me.”

  I opened my mouth to say more, but I didn’t need to. He pushed away from the table, the chair skittering backwards and falling over, and advanced on me. Faster and nimbler than him, I easily skirted away as he growled, “You know Sasha?”

  I laughed and scratched my temple nonchalantly. “Pretty well, actually. She’s a sweet girl. Hot, too. Really hot.”

  He charged me so fast that this time I couldn’t get away. He grabbed my t-shirt, twisting the fabric in his fist. I let him, because hell, I was having enough fun as it was, just watching him squirm. His voice was low. “Tell me how you know her.”

  “Zain!” Cullen called behind the wall of a man in front of me. “Cut it out.”

  Hilarious, considering the guy had me by the shirt. I could’ve leveled this guy with one punch if I wanted, but in the interest in not fucking up the plans Cullen was working out to remove the Hell’s Fury, I resisted. I shoved him off me. “I guess you could say we’re friends. Yeah, good friends.”

  “I don’t fucking believe that’s all you are,” he gritted out, trying to push me back against the wall.

  I blocked him and shouldered him hard, making him stagger back. “I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it,” I said, winking at him. “But I’ll tell you one thing. That daughter of yours . . . what’s her name? Alena? She sure is cute as a button. So that’s why it’s sad to hear that you seem to have forgotten all about that family of yours. They wouldn’t like to hear that.”

  The rage in his eyes reignited.

  I turned to leave and the next thing I knew, he’d grabbed me by the collar of my kutte, yanking me backwards.

  When I turned, I anticipated the swing and ducked. I got off a side punch of my own in his ribs, and then a straight shot, on the side of his square jaw.

  It didn’t move him at all, but he did reach over and massage his chin, checking his fingertips for blood. There was none, but his tongue worked inside his cheek, probably tasting it. Maybe I’d rearranged a couple of his teeth. “You’re a fucking dead man!” he screamed.

  “Jesus fucking Christ!” Cullen muttered as Viktor charged me, his shoulders and all his three hundred pounds of solid muscle hitting me in the abdomen. He backed me all the way up to the wall. I blocked his shot, but I was cornered. As close to dead meat as I’d ever been.

  But I wasn’t worried. When it came to fighting, I had ego, because it was deserved. I didn’t lose. Didn’t matter how big the asshole was. And yeah, Viktor was a lot bigger than me, but all I had to do was imagine his massive body on top of Sasha’s. It would’ve filled my fists with enough white-hot power to pummel him into nothing more than a splotch on the ground.

  Hart and Drake ran to the fight, trying to pull him off me, but
I didn’t need them. I held my own, blocking his punches and delivering some of my own . . . smiling the whole time. It brought me nothing but joy to get this asshole riled.

  “Holy shit just stop it, assholes,” Nix said. I could see frustration replacing the blind rage in Viktor’s eyes. He kept going for the kill punch, and I kept blocking him and getting in shots of my own. I’d gotten in a good one, right in his nose, and now he was bleeding from both nostrils. Me? This was just a walk in the park for me. A little sweat, and a little heavy breathing, but this was just a nice workout.

  Nix and Jet got into it, finally getting between us. When Nix threw his body in the middle of things and Cullen finally said, “Hey. Now. Stop it,” Viktor’s eyes finally fell on him.

  He shoved me and backed away, adjusting his tie. “I don’t need this bullshit. You hear me?”

  Then he turned on his heel, grabbed his phone and briefcase from the place where he’d set them, and stalked toward the door.

  Good.

  My brothers didn’t look very happy, though. Cullen wasn’t one to get worried about things, but even I had to say, he looked as close to concerned as I’d ever seen him.

  “Wait, where are you going?” he called after Viktor as the asshole reached the door and yanked it open with force.

  “I’m leaving. The deal’s off,” he growled bluntly.

  “Hold on,” Cullen said, giving me the stink-eye and heading off after him. He ran out the door, but a second later, returned, raking his hands through his hair. “He’s fucking driven off. Great. Great! Do you even want to be in this fucking club, Zain?”

  It wasn’t often I saw Cullen so riled. I gloated over my win for about three more seconds, but then Cullen’s eyes fell on me, hard and accusing, and I started feeling like he wanted me to feel. Like shit.

  “Jesus Christ, Zain. You want to destroy the Cobras? Is that what you want?”

  I didn’t answer. I was still holding on to that little sliver of smugness for getting the best of that wife-abusing motherfucker. But the more Cullen waited, urging me to answer, the more of it trickled away.