“Are you and Sloane ever going to chat about shit, or is it going to keep being this nonsense?” Leti asks as I’m on my way out into the back sunroom.
Immediately I stop, not sure what to say. Sloane and I haven’t ever been the type to not communicate, but being here in this situation, knowing we’re going to be headed to Ireland soon is only making things worse. She’s furious about what the circumstances were when we got her here and I can’t blame her for that. If I were her, I’d be pissed too. But, we did what we had to do and I’m sure she understands. And if she doesn’t, I hope one day she will.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Leti.” I tell her honestly. No one can possibly understand the way this has haunted me. “Things have been shit and I know it. Sloane’s been hiding up in her room, not coming down unless I’m in mine. I don’t know where we go from here.”
Leti cocks a brow and glares like she’s going to strangle me. “She’s been trying to avoid you so much that she started sleeping during the day so she can be up at night with Aleksei.”
Okay, I know my sister is pissed at me and I should be more focused on that, but . . . I totally can’t. “Say that again for me, but just the last bit.”
Leti rolls her eyes, “You’re missing the point. You need to go and take initiative to talk to her. Stop fucking around and ignoring or avoiding each other. I cannot keep being both your therapists, okay? It’s exhausting as fuck. When am I supposed to sleep if I’m up with you during the day and Sloane keeps finding the need to wake me up at three in the morning almost every night to talk?”
“Is she dating Aleksei?” I ask.
“I don’t fucking know! Why don’t you go ask her? Dios Mio!” Leti huffs, throwing her hands in the air and ends up leaving the sunroom before I can say anything else.
I run my hand over my face and know she’s right. I need to talk to my sister and we’re both too stubborn and bullheaded to be the first one to make a move. If it wasn’t for Leti, I don’t think we’d have even made it this long in life. She’s always been the peacemaker between the two of us.
Screw this. Leti is right. We need to put this issue between us to rest and get over it. Fuck working out this afternoon. I head out of the sunroom, walk down the corridor and head for the grand stairwell. Sloane’s the third door on the left once I reach the top of the stairs, so I head directly to my destination.
I don’t bother knocking because it’s not like she’d welcome me in with open arms anyway, so I turn the knob and push it open. Only, when I do, I see she isn’t alone.
Oh boy.
Maybe she is dating Aleksei.
Christ, we’re dating two brothers at the same time . . . some men would’ve killed for a situation like this.
Slowly I make my way over to the bed and push on Aleksei’s massive shoulders. He stirs awake and draws his brows together when his eyes land on me. “Get out, I need to talk to my sister.” I whisper lowly, trying not to wake her until the last possible moment.
“Fuck, alright.” Aleksei stands straight up, naked as the day he was born and exits Sloane’s room.
I blink my eyes in disbelief that it even happened. But Sloane’s screaming jolts me back into reality. “Get the hell out of my room right now!”
“We need to talk, Sloane. We can’t keep avoiding each other.” I tell her, knowing there isn’t going to be a good moment for this.
She runs her fingers through her hair, holding the sheet in front of her to shield what I’m sure is her naked body. “Greer, I am so tired of this fucked up life we’re living now. We went from never meeting the man to our godparents being killed. Now we’ve been locked away in the middle of fucking nowhere, waiting for what exactly? For him to tell us it’s safe to come home, to Ireland? Screw that. If we were really that important to him, he would’ve made it a priority to raise us, not send us off like unwanted kids.”
The last bit of what she’s saying finally clicks in my mind. Sloane has such a problem with all this because of our father, because she feels like he didn’t want us. I might have never spoken to him, but I highly doubt that’s the case. “When we go to Ireland, talk to him. Tell him how you feel. Tell him all of it, Sloane. It’s your right.”
“Greer, I don’t want to go to Ireland. Don’t you see? I have no interest in meeting the man who never even sent us a birthday or Christmas card. A man who couldn’t even be bothered to call us once a week, to make sure we knew he loved us. In my eyes, my father’s body was back in Idaho and nothing will change that.”
“Why can’t you give him a chance?” My words come out as a whisper, knowing all too well she isn’t going to change her mind. Once Sloane has made her decision, she’s almost always firm in it.
“Because I don’t want to fucking be hurt, again! How is it not simple to understand? My entire childhood I waited around for him to come waltzing down the street like one of those guys in the movies, but he never did. Our father never showed up when we needed him the most, and I’ll never fucking forgive that. Please don’t try and force me to, Greer . . . because if it comes down to it, I’ll have no problem walking out of your life too, even if you are my sister. Now get the fuck out of my room.”
I’ve never been hurt so badly by my sister before. There’s no sort of reply that can help the situation, so I find myself rushing out of her room and shut the door behind me. A chill runs over my body and tears slowly begin to cascade over my cheeks.
I only want to bring my family together, so why does it seem like we’re being ripped further apart?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Even Satan himself disguised himself as an angel of light
~ Unknown
Aleksandr
March 8th
Even though it’s growing increasingly warmer throughout the days, it still feels damn cold. While it’s nothing like the winters in Russia, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ready for it to warm up. It’s about six in the evening and I’ll be helping Greer make dinner shortly. She expressed interest in learning how to make some traditional Russian foods, so I asked our personal grocery shopper to pick up a few specific ingredients when she went to the market today. Greer and I will be making Pirozhki and Solyanka.
“Cooking tonight, huh?” My brother asks from behind me. I turn to see he’s leaning against the built in glass cabinets in the kitchen, merely a few feet away while biting into one of the apples I had the girl grab at the store.
“Don’t scarf down any more of those. I’m showing Greer how to make Pirozhki and Solyanka.”
Aleksei brings his brows together, obviously not understanding. “Then what do you need apples for? Both are meat and vegetables, no?”
“Some of the Pirozhki is going to be filled with apples, Americanizing it a bit like their apple pies.”
“Eh, I’ve never heard of apple Pirozhki.” He shrugs. Aleksei isn’t the type who gets excited about anything, but I figured he’d be a negative Nancy about this anyway. He isn’t a fan of change, especially when it comes to our traditional food.
“Well, we’ll see if it’s good or not tonight.” I tell him with a smile.
He nods, “Mhm. How are things going? Considering I haven’t seen much of you lately I’m going to assume they’re going well.”
“They’re going better than I expected. She’s . . . hard to explain. A sweet face on the outside while she’s dripping with sin, ready to let her inner devious goddess out.”
Aleksei shakes his head with a smirk, “Good to hear things are progressing the way you wanted them to.”
“Yeah, same here. What have you been doing lately? I’ve barely been seeing you.”
Aleksei cocks his head to one side, “Sloane and Greer are still on the outs from what I can tell, right?”
I nod in confirmation.
“I took the liberty to switch my schedule the way she did with hers, staying up at night while sleeping during the day. She’s a heated woman to say the least. Figuring what I know about their fi
ght, if I can even call it that, I decided to move shit around so I could watch her. If she runs off it’ll only cause more issues for us.”
“Smart thinking,”
My brother rolls his eyes, “You know I’m not as dumb as you think.”
“I don’t think you’re dumb.” I say while turning my attention to the ingredients in front of me, honestly meaning it. Clearing my throat, I change the subject. “How is Leti working into all this?”
“Eh, I barely know she’s here unless I see her in the halls. Seems to me like she’s viewing this as time to decompress from the world of social media.”
I nod in agreement. “Yeah, I’d say she’s looking at this like vacation.”
My phone vibrates on the counter so I look over to it, figuring it’s about time my father checks in. He’s been texting me notoriously over the last few days, asking for updates and whatnot. For a man who’s supposed to be giving me two years with this woman, he’s getting a bit too finicky for my liking.
From: Father
Haven’t seen photos of you two in a while. How are things progressing?
Sucking in a breath, I decide to bite the bullet and reply. Picking my phone up, I start typing back.
To: Father
We haven’t been leaving the house here. It isn’t time for us to head to Ireland yet. Calm down, father, I’m getting as close as I can.
I’ve done my best to make it look like I’m trying to get close to the family and report things back like their trading routes, warehouses and more. I wasn’t going to put any extra effort in at first when it came to tricking my father, but his nervousness has pretty much solidified the fact I need to be more communicative with him. If I’m not he might sense I have something else up my sleeve, and I can’t allow that to happen.
From: Father
You’re still in Vermont? Jesus. Can’t you make things move quicker? We need to be making progress, my boy.
To: Father
If I act out they’ll know we’re up to something. Trust me. I will make you proud. We should be leaving within a couple weeks.
I don’t get a response back from my father, so I put the phone back down on the counter and look over to my brother. Aleksei speaks up, “Let me guess, your father?”
“Yes, checking in.” I cut my words short the moment I see a flash of reddish-orange hair.
“I had no idea you spoke to your family. That’s so sweet. You’ve never really talked about your father. What does he do?” Greer asks on her way into the kitchen. She looks over to me and then to Aleksei.
Aleksei clears his throat and wipes a hand over his bald head. “I’ll take the awkwardness away before it starts. Aleksandr and I don’t have the same father, we shared the same mother. But she passed away from an illness when we were young.”
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I had no idea. That’s horrible.” Greer speaks up, putting her hand over her mouth as the saddest expression I’ve seen from her covers her face.
“It’s quite alright. I’m going to get going. I have some stuff I need to do,” Aleksei says as he starts to exit the kitchen, but Greer grabs onto his forearm and stops him from leaving.
“Look, Aleksei. I know Sloane and I aren’t talking much right now, but she’s my sister and if you break her heart I have no choice but to break your legs.”
Aleksei stifles out a chuckle while my cock grows hard at hearing my woman threaten him. Damn.
“My relationship with your sister is none of your concern, Greer, but since you’re being so nosey I’ll tell you this once and one time only. Sloane and I don’t have our hearts involved in what we’re doing. We’re simply two people who need release every now and again. That’s all it is, and it’s all it’ll ever be.” My brother pulls his arm out of Greer’s grip and he leaves the kitchen.
Greer on the other hand looks over to me with raised eyebrows and wide eyes. “I never knew he could be so sassy.”
“Trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet. Come over here, I want to show you what we’ll be making tonight.”
She walks across the kitchen and comes up beside me, and looks at the counter with the ingredients on it. I’ve left the meats in the refrigerator, but we’ll grab them when it’s time to start. “Oh, what’s all this?”
“You said you wanted to learn how to make traditional Russian food, yes?”
She nods, “I did.”
“That’s what we’re doing. We’ll be making a soup called Solyanka and we’ll be making two types of Piroshki. One will be meat filled and the other will be more as a dessert. I plan on putting apples with cinnamon and a caramel glaze inside.”
“You have no idea how much my mouth is watering. I’m starved.” She tells me, but I notice she seems a bit tired too.
“What’s going on? You look exhausted.”
She waves her hand in a dismissive manner, “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
I take my hands and put them on her shoulders in a caring way. “You don’t have to hold the weight of your burdens alone anymore, you know. I am here, so you can talk to me. No matter what it is, I’m here.”
“It’s just work, Aleksandr. Things have been so difficult not being in Los Angeles, my business partners, who pulled together my private investor team are urging me to get back to the city so we can start really ramming down on looking at fabrics, materials, launching a new line. And while it’s something I’ve been looking forward to doing forever, I can’t do it right now. My first priority is getting to Ireland.”
I can’t imagine what the pressure is like, but I nod. One thing not many people know is that I’m a practicing lawyer in the State of California, and I happen to be employed by Mauricio and Katarina Silva. Mauricio is a world renowned fashion designer, and his wife Katarina is a supermodel. I work for them privately and overlook all their business contracts. I lied to my father when he asked if I caught any leads on finding Greer when this first started. I had her fucking address on the contracts Mauricio sent me. I knew her alias and her legal name, so of course I looked into her background when the contract came through almost a year ago.
I’m no fool, but a foolish thing I could’ve done was tell my father what I found.
Fuck, I even kept it from Aleksei. We don’t keep much from the other, but this wasn’t something I needed to advertise that I’d known.
Even now, I’ll act like I don’t know much. “You own your clothing line, right? Just tell them you’ll be back when you can.”
“I own part of it.” Greer murmurs, closing her eyes. The stress she’s holding in is evident.
“What do you mean by that?”
“They own fifty-one percent of my line, while I own the other forty-nine percent.”
“So, you’re stuck, pretty much.”
She nods, “Yeah, but if I can get some video conferences set up and stuff like that, or a courier to bring me swatches to look at, I should be able to get more work done. The only problem is I don’t want them to know where we are, you know, for obvious reasons.”
I nod in understanding, “Of course.”
Greer puts her phone down on the counter, “I’m going to ignore them for now. We have a date making these dishes anyway, so they can wait a bit longer. Now, lets make some yummy food!”
I let go of her shoulders and go over why we’re making the dough for the Piroshki first, because we need to let it sit for two hours and rise. We’re starting to cut up the apples when Greer asks me a question I’ve been fearing for weeks.
With a laugh, no less.
“I can’t believe you’re teaching me to make Russian food and I don’t know something as simple as your last name, when you obviously know mine.” Sure, she’s trying to be playful about it, but she has no idea how my reply can completely alter the relationship we’re forming.
I stop slicing apples with the knife and put it down on the counter, turning to look at her. “Are you sure you want to know?”
She scrunches up her face in confusion
, “Yeah. What kind of question is that?”
“My name is Aleksandr Volkolv, Greer.”
She blinks her eyes for a moment and I can tell she doesn’t recognize the name at first, because she scoffs and starts to speak. “Volkolv. Okay, so wha—” and the moment she stops speaking I know it’s hit her.
Who I am.
Who my fucking father is.
Greer drops the knife in her hand and while it clinks against the tile floor, she’s running through the entryway to the living room.
Fuck me. This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell her, why I wanted her to know me for me. But I guess this was going to need to happen at some point. I just hope she’ll give me a chance, given the amazing interactions we’ve had since we’ve met.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I became darkness, shadow, and the wind
~ Unknown
Greer
March 11th
Now I’m following Sloane’s technique, sleeping during the day and staying up at night. She’s been avoiding most of us by doing it, so I figured what the hell. I might as well to. It’s been a few days since I’ve communicated with Aleksandr, the last time being in the kitchen when the reality of who he is sunk in.
My godparents didn’t keep anything from us when we were teenagers with tons of questions. There came a time where I wanted to know every fucking detail about my mother’s death, almost to the extreme. They of course didn’t go into detail because it would’ve been horribly morbid, but they did tell me the circumstances around the event. How a man named Valentin Volkolv never forgave my mother for leaving him and marrying my father, and his rage ruled his life thereafter, inspiring him to hurt her like he did.
Corrupted Love: A Dark Mafia Romance (Mackenzies Book 2) Page 11