by Blue Saffire
I have him just where I want him. I’ve been waiting for the opportunity. I mentally rub my hands together.
Misha’s face lights up. “Da, I like that idea. I beat your ass, you go home to LaSalle,” he says, grinning happily.
I throw my head back. “Really,” I lift a brow.
Misha nods. “There is no more light there for children. You come back, make home happy again. I’m only one that gets to be brooding bastard. Does not suit LaSalle,” Misha says thoughtfully.
I burst into more laughter. “Okay, well when I beat your ass, I have a favor to ask,” I say and smile.
“You know I will give you the world. You just have to ask,” Misha says with soft eyes.
“Yeah, I get it now, Misha,” I say and toss my sweaty towel at him. I bite my lip because he may regret those words after I make my request. “So, when I win, you have to let Kurtrina and Milanie meet.”
Misha’s smile falls and his face becomes a hard mask. I wrinkle my brows at his reaction. I still don’t understand why he has been keeping my sister away.
“You do not know what you are asking,” Misha bites out. “Pick something else.”
“Why? She just wants to meet her niece. I don’t understand why that is a problem,” I whisper.
“Did you not see how Milanie reacted to first time she saw you?” Misha spits. “There is slight different between you and Moi poterjannuju ljubov'. Have you seen your sister?” Misha snaps.
“Yes,” I reply.
Misha closes his eyes. Just to hear him call my sister his lost love shows how deep his hurt is. His voice is thick with emotions when he speaks again. “I’ve seen pictures. She is spitting image. No, do not ask this of us. Milanie is not ready.”
I tilt my head and study him closely. “Milanie isn’t ready, or is it you that’s not ready?”
“Tasha,” Misha snaps.
I press my lips. “Okay, but will you at least think about it. She’s her family too. She has no one, Misha.”
“She has Afanasy. My Aunt made sure of that,” I narrow my eyes at Misha. His words sound more than a little bitter. I can’t help but wonder why that is.
“You want crack at me, let’s go,” Misha says like a grump.
He is officially in a funky mood. I shrug my shoulders and follow him over to the ring. Nate and Bobby just finished sparring. They are standing outside the ring bent over a phone with expressionless looks on their faces.
They both turn to look at us, when Misha waves me into the ring and then steps in with me. Nate looks amused. Bobby looks pissed off. I shrug it off and start to jump around and loosen up.
Out the corners of my eyes, I can see we are drawing the attention of everyone in the gym. I sigh, knowing it has nothing to do with my cute hot pink and grey tank top and compression capris. It has way more to do with me, at five-six, stepping in the ring with this six-four, blonde Adonis.
We’re drawing a crowd. I see Val shake her head and cross her arms over her chest. Uri is here with her today. He walks over, wrapping his arms around her waist and whispers something in her ear. Val laughs out loud and Uri smirks.
Misha must have forgot. I have eyes in the back of my head. He throws a punch straight for my face, while I seem to be distracted. I move out of the way lightning fast, at the last second.
“Da, you are still Tasha. Fire not gone. Still fast, good. Show me what you remember,” Misha nods hopping back out of my reach.
“This is bullshit, get out of the ring, Mo,” Bobby growls.
“I’m fine,” I say not turning away from Misha.
“If Rita and Val can get in with you guys, why can’t she,” I hear Paige say.
She and Pam had been on the treadmills earlier. The Briggs state of the art gym is the regular family gathering spot today. I shut out all the bickering below and focus on Misha.
He is taller and bigger than me, but I’m fast and I remember his weak spots. As he does mine, only I’ve worked on mine over the years. When Misha kicks at my right side, I block it swiftly and moving in to throw a left elbow at his right side.
Misha eyes go wide. It has been his weak spot since I was sixteen. It never fails, but to Misha’s surprise, I was ready to block my right.
I take advantage of him being stunned and jump to throw a spinning kick to his head. Misha stumbles back and I move quickly into a safe zone on his left. I almost laugh out loud at the pissed off look on Misha’s face.
“That’s my girl,” Val yells.
“Yes,” Paige and Pam call in unison.
“Well, shit,” I hear Nate chuckle. “I didn’t see that coming.”
I smile proudly. I’m not that big, but I hold my own. I had to be, running around behind Czar. My brother is no joke.
Misha turns his head and spits out blood. He flexes his jaw. Cracking his head from side to side, he narrows his eyes at me.
“You have been training, good. I won’t hold back.”
With that Misha comes at me hard. I duck him once, twice, I think I’m going to a third time, but he has only boxed me in to attack my right again. I block it, but he takes advantage of my over compensation on my left.
“Shit,” I growl, as pain explodes on my left flank.
“Enough,” a voice bellows through the gym.
It echoes through the large structure so loudly, it commands everyone’s attention. Misha and I back away from each other and turn towards the voice. LaSalle is walking in with Thomas Briggs and Camille, and he looks beyond pissed.
LaSalle pulls the black t-shirt he’s wearing, over his head and toes off his sneakers. His socks follow. Never pausing in step, he walks to the ring and steps in. I try not to be mesmerized by the roll and flex of his tanned muscles.
All of his suits should be burned. That body should never be covered up. I volunteer to be the one that burns them.
I look up at his face and see him looking at my side that just took Misha’s blow. I look down and a bruise is already starting to bloom on my dark skin. I curse mentally. It looks worse than it is. I’ve taken worse in the ring, under Misha tutelage.
LaSalle turns his enraged glare back to Misha. “You ever touch her again, I won’t be warning you that I plan to kill you. Your problem is with me. You want her, too fucking bad. She’s mine,” LaSalle snarls.
“Is that so,” Misha tilts his head. “It has not looked so in last week.”
“After I finish fucking you up, it will,” LaSalle snaps. He turns to me. “Go pack your shit. We’re going home as soon as I’m done.”
I open my mouth to protest, but I yelp instead when I see Misha drive forward and throw a right hook. My mouth pops open as LaSalle ducks the punch much like I had at the beginning of the fight.
I go to lunge at Misha in a rage of my own, but an arm bands around my waist plucking me from the ground. I look up to see Bobby scowling. He shakes his head at me.
“My little brother has this. They both need this,” Bobby murmurs as he carries me to the ropes and hands me off to Nate like I’m just some baby doll to toss around.
“Put her down, Hulk. Put her down,” Pam snaps.
I don’t laugh at the joke. I spin to face the ring where the grunts and groans are coming from. Misha has blood over his left brow as well as, dripping down his chin from the right side of his mouth.
LaSalle has an angry looking bruise on the right side of his chest and one just below his left rib. It all happened just that fast. I gasp and wince when LaSalle rocks Misha with a right jab and left hook.
That Russian has a jaw of steel, he shakes it off and throws his own combinations, but LaSalle dips out the way like a smooth street fighter and comes up swinging. There is a collective gasp as LaSalle’s last three blows connect.
One to Misha right side, another to his left, followed by an uppercut that would have put a lesser man to sleep. Misha is knocked on his ass and you can tell he is dazed for a minute.
The entire gym is surrounding the ring now and the place is complet
ely silent. LaSalle stands and waits for Misha to move. When Misha doesn’t get back to his feet, LaSalle saunter closer and squats down to eye level with Misha. I can’t hear what they are saying, even as I lean in.
Ugh!
~B~
Sam
“You will respect my relationship with her. You ever touch her again, I won’t be responsible for what I do,” I hiss low, as I lean into a stunned Misha.
Misha blinks at me, a moment passes and he gives me a bloody smile. “There’s my friend,” he says before the grin falls away. “Show me you love her. Show me you can love her more than I do and I walk away.
“LaSalle, my friend, I have loved you for years. If not, you would be dead. I respect you both. So, show me,” Misha says with a steely look in his eyes.
I nod my head and pat his cheek, before I stand to my full height and offer him a hand. I pull him to his feet and Misha pulls me into a hug. The dust has settled.
chapter twenty-Six
Make it Right
Monique
I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding when Misha embraces LaSalle. LaSalle still looks pissed, but he accepts the hug. I rub my temples, wincing when my side burns.
LaSalle makes eye contact with me and his eyes turn darker with the rage swirling around him. He pulls away from Misha, heading in my direction. I stumble back from the ring and crane my neck as he moves fluidly from the ropes.
LaSalle stops in front of me and reaches for my waist, tugging my sweaty body to him. I look up into his eyes, trying to determine what he’s thinking. The energy coming off him is so potent. I feel like I can’t breathe.
“I told you to get your things, why are you here?” He says huskily. His right hand is absently, gently stroking my left side.
He smells so good. His cologne, mixed with the sweat from the exertion of kicking Misha’s ass, are intoxicating. My lashes flutter as I try to call on my good sense.
That flies out the window when LaSalle tips my head back. “You didn’t run far enough, Cara mia,” LaSalle says with a heavy Italian accent I’ve only heard him use twice before. He had an accent the first time I saw him the night he saved my life. The other time I have buried and locked away. “I don’t think I want to let you go now. Il mio amore per la vita. Do you understand?”
I lick my dry lips and nod. “Yes,” I whisper in a husky voice I don’t know for my own. “My love for life.”
I started learning Italian in college after learning more about LaSalle and his family. It was my secret thing. I happen to be quite fluent. Something tells me LaSalle already knew this.
I’ve learned that he knows a lot about me, that I’ve never told him. He has surprised me a number of times when Misha tried to test his knowledge of me. Then again, LaSalle is thorough.
“Si, Bella. I need you to think about what I’m saying to you. There is no Sam. He has not come for you. He will not come for you,” he pauses for a second and something dark flashes in his eyes. “I leave for Italy in three days. I will announce our engagement with my official promotion while I’m there. It’s time to decide if this is what you want.”
With that, he crushes my lips with his. My arms mindlessly go around his neck. I have never been so thoroughly devoured. While there is still some reluctance in his embrace, I can feel him giving into his desires.
He breaks the kiss and places his forehead to mine. “Let’s go. I need to get ice on your side,” he says, not waiting for my reply.
LaSalle lifts me in his arms, startling me. I wrap my arms around his neck and hold on. I look around to see everyone trying to look like they’re minding their own business.
I catch Val’s eye and she winks at me. I never thought I’d see the day she would give me a smile for taking on Misha. It just shows how much we are all growing in our relationships.
****
I wake to a dark room and remember LaSalle bringing me back to his home. He gave me two aspirin and sat with me until I fell asleep. We didn’t say a word to each other, though clearly there is much that needs to be said.
I think it’s time I be honest with myself. It’s obvious that others are well aware of the truth I’m hiding. I’ve yet to be in a room with Michael Donati and not feel like at any moment, he will spill my secrets and call me on the fake I am.
Misha saw right through me from the time he first met me. He may have trained me to shoot and fight, but the killer was already in me. I’ve always been capable of taking a life.
Czar has called me on my crap over and over. It’s why he stays away. He knows I want to live the lie rather than face my truth.
Ellen hit it on the head with her letter. I am Tasha. Monique is the girl my family sent to the best schools for the best education. Monique is the prim and proper girl that I forced myself to be when I met Carlton.
I had convinced myself that Monique was who I wanted to be. She was safe, she had it all planned out. She knew how to stay out of trouble and out of Czar’s business.
Monique knows how to stay away from LaSalle Locatelli. Moment of truth, Monique started dating Carlton to keep from visiting Czar in New York, in the first place. I had planned to go there and causally run into LaSalle that same summer I met Carlton.
That is until I called Czar one weekend. He answered and rushed into the phone that he would call me back. Only, Czar didn’t cut the line. I could hear roaring in the background. As Czar moved closer and closer, the voice became louder. The voice was muffled, but my heart knew who it was. It was him.
I was glued to the phone, I couldn’t pull my ear away. He yelled in half English, half Italian. It was the one other time I’d ever heard him have an accent. The power and command I heard in his voice was such a turn on.
Then his words started to sink in. I was listening to him beat someone that had stolen from his family. I sat entranced by him and his words. I knew I should’ve hung up, but I couldn’t.
Then it happened. The moment I knew something was wrong with me. I heard his voice growl out. “Fuck this, you’re better off dead.” His snarl was followed by a loud gunshot.
A normal person would have screamed. A normal person would have hung up and thought about calling the cops. Not me, I sat and listened for his voice.
“Clean this shit up,” he growled. “Czar, we’re done here. Let’s go. I’m starving.”
I smiled, I fucking smiled. My first thought was, he’s safe and the guy that took from him got what he deserved. My second thought was, what the hell, Mo. I was so sick with myself.
When Czar did call me back, I cancelled my plans to visit him in New York. I avoided Czar’s calls after that for a full two weeks, until he came home to check on me.
“What’s going on, Mo?” Czar asked.
“Do you ever feel wrong about some of the things we’ve done?” I asked him, unable to look him in the eyes.
Czar chuckled. “I feel wrong for having you with me when I did some of that shit,” he shakes his head.
“What about now, Czar? Are you living with who you are?”
Czar puts his fingers under my chin to lift my head. “Where is this coming from? You haven’t been running with the wrong crowd have you,” he narrowed his eyes at me.
“No, I stay out of trouble when you’re not around,” I teased and gave a little smirk.
“Then what’s up? Talk to me,” he said with concern in his eyes.
I shrugged, trying to think my way out of the conversation. “I don’t know. We see daddy for who he is. We see his real associates that the world doesn’t know about. I don’t think I want that.
“I want a normal life. Not to have to look over my shoulder like daddy always does,” I tried.
Czar gave me side eye at first. Then his eyes softened. He bumps me with his shoulder.
“Good luck with that one. You’re more comfortable with a gun in your hand than a book. You’re a bad girl if I’ve ever knew one. There’s only one chick that scares me as much as you,” Czar’s eyes went di
stant for a minute.
He shrugged away whatever he was thinking of. “There’s a reason you attracted Misha. It’s in your essence to be a bad girl. If you want to try to run from it, try, but I can tell you now…when she’s ready to come out, she’s going to come out like a volcano. You won’t be able to stop her. God help anyone in her way,” Czar shrugged.
“That’s not true, Cee.”
“Yeah, baby girl, it is,” my brother said and kissed my forehead.
So, you see. When Carlton’s fine, confident, supposed to be safe, ass walked up to me, I let Monique take over. I was never supposed to see LaSalle in that club two years later. I wouldn’t have let it happen, because deep down inside I know Tasha is living and breathing and waiting. She is like a moth to a flame where LaSalle is concerned.
I lied to Misha, I didn’t break Tasha, she is breaking me. From the inside out. She is clawing at me to get to him, LaSalle. I’m tired. I’m tired of fighting her.
~B~
Sam
I’m pacing like a bear in my office. Monique has been sleeping since I iced her side and gave her some aspirin. We haven’t talked yet.
The ride here was quiet. Neither of us saying a word. Thankfully, my parents are keeping the kids and Misha hasn’t shown up yet. I know what I said to Mo earlier. I know what I want, but I need to know what she wants.
I still have yet to understand why she never took the normal life I handed to her. If my gut is right, then I will move forward with my plan. Seeing her in the ring fighting Misha did something to me.
I was stunned at first. She’s so tiny compared to Misha and yet she stood in that ring like she belonged. I was proud of the ass whipping she was giving him at first, but when I watched him hit her, and connecting with her ribs I saw nothing but red.
I was angry with myself for not stopping it sooner. I started to when we walked in, but Thomas had held me back, which only means one thing. Thomas sees something in Mo, something he felt I too needed to see.
I saw alright and I don’t like it. So, I need answers. I need to know if what I’m about to do is right. I don’t want another wife that’s not herself with me.