After weaving through traffic, they finally pulled up the rolling drive of the Sokolov estate. Roman parked, keeping a careful eye on Elena. They entered the mansion to find Viktor and Alexandra waiting for them.
“Elena! I missed you so much!” Alexandra exclaimed as she and Elena rushed toward each other for a long hug. Roman watched their interactions with scrutiny, but ensured that he remained nonchalant, at least in appearance. It would be in poor taste and mean potential trouble for him to question Viktor’s orders. Viktor was Roman’s long-time friend and boss, and he could not bring himself to argue that Elena was not truly a defector. He had no evidence, after all—only a gut feeling.
While Alexandra and Elena chatted a mile a minute, Viktor clapped Roman on the back.
“I heard it was a hell of a flight. If anyone could have done it, it was you,” Viktor said with a smile.
Roman didn’t care to mention Elena’s help; it would only solidify her position as a friend and might work against him if he needed to prove she was, in fact, a foe. He forced a polite smile in response to Viktor’s. “Thank you,” he replied simply.
“I know you just had a ten hour flight and a two hour drive, but I need to ask you for something,” Viktor said solemnly, pulling him off to the side, out of the women’s hearing range. “There is an important shipment that just came in from Kuwait. It’s sitting at a private address, and I need you to pick it up for me.”
Roman’s mouth ran dry. If he was away picking up this package, he wouldn’t be able to supervise Elena. His eyes flickered to her and Alexandra as they continued talking. With any luck, Elena would be as worn out as he was and want to go to bed soon.
But if she didn’t? Who knew what she could get up to? Roman’s mouth tightened and he looked back to Viktor with uncertainty. It seemed he had no choice.
“Absolutely,” Roman finally responded. Viktor seemed relieved, and clapped Roman on the back once again.
“Great! I’ll send the address to your phone. You might want to grab a dolly and take a van, though—some of those boxes might be pretty heavy,” Viktor said.
A lightbulb went off in Roman’s head. He turned toward Elena and Alexandra, clearing his throat.
“Elena. Would you mind helping me?” Roman asked. Elena looked at him with a slight squint.
“Uh. What?” she asked.
Roman felt Viktor’s surprise, but moved forward anyway, stepping toward Elena and waylaying any objection from his boss. “I have some packages to pick up and I’ll need some help keeping the hand truck steady.”
“Wait, you want me to leave with you again?” she asked, her eyes widening.
“Don’t worry, you won’t be doing any heavy lifting. And, consider it your way to repay me for saving our lives up there.” Roman pointed toward the ceiling with a forced smirk.
“As if—I was totally the one who saved the day!” Elena huffed. Her agitation slowly turned to amusement, and Roman could see the gears turning in her head even as Alexandra and Viktor exchanged confused looks. “But, yeah. I guess if you need my help, I can go.”
“Thank you,” Roman said with a deep nod.
This was perfect, he thought. Not only would he be able to keep an eye on Elena, but he’d also have the opportunity to ask her some more questions, more casually with any luck, and gauge her loyalties.
Alexandra and Elena quickly finished their conversation—Roman overheard plans for going back to the café they’d last met at—and Elena followed him out to the garage. Roman loaded a hand truck and some bungee cables into the back of a plain white van, helped Elena into the passenger seat, and then got in and turned the key in the ignition.
“Hopefully, we won’t have any more engine problems,” he said with a smirk.
“Don’t even go there, Roman! Ugh, not after the time we just had,” Elena replied playfully. Roman punched the address Viktor had sent into the GPS on his phone and they pulled back out onto the road. As they drove, Roman listened to Elena talk a mile a minute and found himself enjoying her company. Perhaps he wouldn’t even need to question her further—she would tell him everything, and he’d have the comfort of knowing she couldn’t be pulling any tricks outside of his sight.
The drive was short, and soon they’d arrived at an industrial complex with tall brick buildings, where Roman pulled into the loading area in the back.
“All I need you to do is hold the dolly steady while I stack boxes,” he instructed her as he helped her down from the van, thinking that he should have told her to change her heels. To his pleasant surprise, Elena nodded without complaint or interruption. She followed him with the hand truck and rested her foot against the back to keep it from sliding while he carefully stacked heavy crates onto it.
“Who needs CrossFit?” Elena joked. Roman couldn’t help but smile. He paused for a moment to lean against the wall and catch his breath while he wiped the sweat from his brow. Ever since the engine incident on the plane, Elena hadn’t been grating on his nerves quite so much. In fact, she was downright likeable.
“I thought you were just a driver… bodyguard… kind of guy. But then I saw you fly a plane, and now here we are loading boxes onto a van. Viktor works you hard, huh?” Elena asked.
“Only with jobs which require a high level of competency. And trust,” Roman responded. “He has been my employer for many years now. Saved me from the streets and hired me when I was at the lowest point in my life. For that, my loyalty to him is eternal.”
Elena cocked her head at him with a thoughtful expression. Their eyes met.
“Loyalty should be eternal,” Elena said quietly, holding his gaze. “It is either given entirely and freely when owed, or not at all. There’s no in-between, only loyalty or disloyalty,” Elena said with slow deliberateness. “I’ve also read that loyalty to a cause is the foundation of personal identity. If you are so loyal to Viktor, and so trusted by him, you must have strong character.”
Roman sensed no sarcasm or hostility in Elena’s tone; he kept his eyes on her, seeking any hint of an ulterior motive, but it seemed to him she was speaking from the heart.
“And what causes are you loyal to?” he asked. “What has shaped your personal identity?”
“Hmm…” Elena smiled, looked up in thought, and tapped her chin. “I’m loyal to myself, first and foremost. So many people just say what others want to hear, do what they’re told, but I try to listen to my heart and do what I feel is right instead of just… going with the flow, or whatever.” She paused to consider her next words, and Roman found himself listening with intrigue instead of just waiting to test her. Rather than focusing on his task at hand, he leaned back against the wall at his back and watched her.
“And I’m loyal to those who have earned it,” she continued. “I don’t think you can be loyal to anyone and everyone. Someone has to be worth it.” Elena tried to rest her weight against the dolly and almost fell in doing so. Roman moved to help her, but she caught her footing.
“Alexandra, for instance,” Elena said quickly, playing off her clumsiness and continuing to talk. “Like, she’s been my best friend for forever. We were both the weird Russian kids in school and we stuck up for each other. She’s always been there for me, and I’ve always been there for her. She’s earned my loyalty, and so I work to keep it.”
Roman nodded—this, he had not trouble believing. “I can see that. And I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said, really.” He looked toward the rest of the boxes. “C’mon, let’s get the rest of these packed up so we can go home.”
“Yes, please!” Elena chirped. “I’m dying for a hot shower, a good meal, and a soft bed.”
“Me, too.” Roman answered, offering her a smile as he pulled the first load of boxes off toward the van.
Load by load, they loaded the rest of the boxes into the van. On the way home, Roman decided he would keep testing Elena, but that this didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the time spent with her, as well.
6
; Elena
Elena was exhausted when she and Roman returned from picking up the shipment. Initially, she had wanted to tell Roman off when he’d asked her to join him, but at the last minute she’d realized that time spent with him would be time spent winning his trust. That couldn’t hurt. And, in the end, it had seemed to pay off, especially when he’d asked her about loyalty and she’d given him all the right answers.
What she hadn’t told him was that her ultimate loyalty was to her family—more specifically, her father—and that she would do anything for Anatoly Popov. She had been at a young age when she’d learned that, if you weren’t blood, you were an enemy. Alexandra had been the long-running exception to that rule for Elena, but if it came down to Alexandra’s wishes or her father’s, Elena would side with her dad without question. And, in truth, she still saw this mission as being for both of them—nice as the Sokolov mansion was, her friend didn’t deserve to be under the control of Viktor, living in his shadow. She deserved her own life, and happiness. While it was true that Elena had seen a kinder side to Viktor since she’d come to stay at the mansion, she knew that men in power wore masks to their advantage. No matter how happy Alexandra appeared, or how kind it was of Viktor to offer her asylum from her father until he was brought to justice, Elena knew the truth: Viktor was giving her busy work so he could observe her in everything she did. He wanted to see where her ties lay.
Kindness would only take him so far. While he bent over backwards to appear friendly, she would do what she did best—convince him that she was one type of person when she was really another. Her mission was simple: assassinate Viktor to sow discord in the Sokolov household, and then return to Russia until her father had finished solidifying his power. The first part in completing her ultimate goal was to nail down Viktor’s schedule and determine when he would be most vulnerable.
The only problem was Alexandra. Elena had anticipated Alexandra would be suffering here, held captive because of the blame placed on her family after Boris Sokolov’s death. When Elena had first heard that Alexandra was happily wed, and even loved Viktor enough to have renewed their vows, she’d been nothing less than skeptical, assuming it was all for appearances. Now, she was becoming less sure, much as she told herself that what she was doing would also, in the end, be good for her friend.
Yet, sitting down to dinner that night, Elena was able to see just how much Alexandra and Viktor appeared to love each other.
Alexandra and Viktor sat side by side in the dining room, joking and laughing, and even, on occasion, finishing each other’s sentences. Elena put on a good show and made herself pleasant company, but dread slowly began building in the bottom of her stomach as dinner wound on. She didn’t want to face it, but this love she was seeing might be real.
Still… loyalty was loyalty, and even if it hurt her friend, Elena resolved to complete her mission because of her father’s wishes.
By the end of the evening, when Elena laid down to sleep for the night in a lavish guest bedroom, her head was spinning. Poor Alexa really did adore Viktor. They were so cute together—perfect, even. Making things worse, no matter how careful she was, Elena was certain that, after she killed Viktor, Alexandra would know it had been her. There would be no salvaging the friendship that had blossomed over so many years. In order to fulfil her mission for her father, Elena would have to destroy the life of her closest friend.
Roman’s questions about loyalty continued to circle in her mind until sleep claimed her.
The next morning, she woke up groggy and headed downstairs to see if the kitchen offered soy mochas. To her surprise and delight, it did. Elena sipped on her drink and wandered around the mansion to see if she could find Viktor to subtly determine his daily schedule.
After a few rounds of strolling the house, however, she’d seen no sign of Viktor. Instead, she found Alexandra swimming laps in an enormous private pool.
When Alexandra noticed Elena approaching, she swam to the edge of the pool and smiled up at her.
“Hey, Elena! What are you up to? Would you like a swim?”
“Not now,” Elena laughed, holding up her second latte of the morning. “I’m perfectly happy drinking this soy mocha—I can’t believe your kitchen staff has a full coffee bar. Why would you ever want to meet me in that café when this stuff is sooooo good?” Elena ended the question with a grin and a sip of her almost-gone drink.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it—Viktor drinks plain black coffee, and it’s nice to have someone else to appreciate a good mocha.” Alexandra pulled herself out of the pool and approached a rack of a warming towels near several plastic lounge chairs. She wrapped herself in white fluffy cotton and sighed contentedly as she turned back to her friend.
Elena took a seat nearby and sat with one ankle crossed over her knee. She took another long sip before speaking.
“Where is Viktor, anyway?” she asked lightly.
“I don’t really know, to be honest. He goes out a lot—lots of meetings, businesses to run, that kind of stuff. Unless we schedule a day together, I usually just get to see him right before bed. Why? Did you need something?”
“Oh, no, I was just wondering.” Now Elena had some ideas about when and how to strike. “I do wish you would have told me about the pool, though—I have this totally adorable gold bikini, and I didn’t even think to bring it!”
“That’s okay, El, you can always borrow one of mine. Want me to finish towelling off and we can go through my closet together?”
Alexandra was the biggest sweetheart, Elena thought. Her eyes wandered around the pool room as she considered what she would do next when she saw the large clock on the far wall. She almost choked on her coffee.
“Hot. Still hot,” Elena explained, trying to downplay her reaction. Had she really gotten up so late and spent that much time walking around the mansion? She had a meeting with her father’s contact in less than half an hour.
“I, uh… I’m kind of bummed out today, gold bikini aside,” she commented. “All the stress of yesterday, you know? I just wanted to say hello, but I’ll take a rain check on the pool. I think I’m going to go for a walk. Get the blood pumping, sort out some thoughts.” Elena rose and stretched, still doing her best to remain casual.
“Do you need to talk, El? I’m here for you if you need anything,” Alexandra offered with a soft, sweet smile. It almost broke Elena’s heart how considerate her friend was.
The friend she was going to betray.
“Nah, that’s okay,” she said quietly. “I just read some pretty deep stuff from Nietzsche and need to think it over. He gets pretty depressing sometimes with the nihilism, and I just have to walk it off.” Elena cocked her head at Alexandra. “That’s sweet, though, really. You’re sweet. If I need anything, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay. If you’re sure, I’m just going to keep swimming then.” Alexandra flashed her a smile.
“I’m sure. Thank you, though, Alexa, you’re too sweet, really.”
Leaving her friend behind, Elena rushed off down the hall. Mikhail, her father’s contact here in Boston, would be waiting down the street, away from the prying eyes of Sokolov security cameras. He was supposed to pick her up for briefing and debriefing—a way for her father to keep her both safe and informed, Elena assumed.
She ducked by the kitchen to return her coffee cup. When she turned to make her way to the front door, however, she ran directly into Roman. They collided, and Elena was grateful she no longer held a drink or else it would have been decorating the front of Roman’s immaculate suit.
His hands wrapped around her upper arms to steady her, and she suddenly realized that it seemed he was having to do that a lot. Funny, she was usually sturdier on her feet. She looked up at him then, and it took her a second to register what had just happened, she was so quickly sucked into his eyes all over again.
“Oh, geez, you scared me,” Elena muttered. Roman gave her a weak smirk, but said nothing. His hands lingered on her arms, his touch
gentle but firm.
Their eyes met again. Elena was breathless when she gazed at him and he gazed back. Rather than his typical steadfast expression, she saw today that there was something akin to longing behind his gorgeous grey eyes.
Roman leaned down as Elena leaned up. Both had the same intention, it seemed; their mouths met for a kiss. Elena’s eyes fluttered shut and she relished the sensation of his lips. Just as before, it was over quickly, though this time heat rose to her skin.
“I have another errand to run,” Roman said in a low, smooth voice. “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in joining me again?”
Elena decided Mikhail could wait.
7
Roman
Elena had been helpful again on their second errand, and Roman had enjoyed their conversation on the trip out. Plus, their two kisses had continued to replay in his head throughout the rest of the day since they’d returned, and then long into the night. After everyone had gone to bed, Roman sat up in his room with his laptop, skimming the mafia databases for information on Elena. Partly out of duty, but partly out of curiosity.
His distrust of her continued to battle with his newfound enjoyment of her company. Maybe if he dug around in her files, he would find something to put his mind at ease. His gut continued to nag at him, suggesting that she was not truly a defector and that she was up to no good. But as his mind revisited their kisses over and over again, his heart couldn’t help being hopeful that perhaps she truly was innocent and trustworthy.
Roman had seen what uncertainty had done to Viktor when Alexandra’s father had still been suspected of Boris Sokolov’s murder. He’d listened to his friend drunkenly spill his guts late one night, talking about how he loved Alexandra and couldn’t bear to think of her as the enemy, but at the same time needed to uphold his father’s legacy and bring Alexandra’s family to justice. In the end, Viktor had gotten lucky; both Alexandra and her family had been framed, allowing Viktor his own happily ever after.
The Sokolov Brothers: The Complete Series Page 14