They stopped at the call box first, allowing the men to check the perimeter of the car before allowing them entry. Lauren peered behind her, watching the gate close behind them. It didn’t feel much like a home, but more like a prison.
The house itself was a smaller version of the manor with what looked like a small army manning it. The car had barely rolled to a stop when Luka was opening the door, scrambling out, reaching back to offer her a hand.
As she passed, a few of the guards nodded in her direction, the rest just stared. She didn’t have time to take in her surroundings as she was rushed inside and down a flight of stairs to a basement that was just as big as Lauren’s apartment with Amber.
Mishca’s back was to her as she entered, barking instructions in Russian to the men standing in front of him. Judging from the fury she heard in his voice, he wasn’t happy.
“Mish...”
He cut off abruptly, turning to face her, the relief in his eyes making her think that whatever was going on with those Albanians was far more serious than she thought. She hurried over to him, enjoying the feel of his arms as they closed around her, his lips to her temple.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he drew back. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just tell me what’s going on.”
“Later. I can’t explain it all now. Until I get this straightened out, you’re going to stay here. If you need anything, Vlad will be here.”
“Wait, Mish, I can’t stay here. I have school...and work.”
He waved that way. “I’ll handle it.”
“No, you can’t just tell me what to do. This isn’t--”
“Lauren!”
She jumped, her eyes grown wide as she faced his anger.
“This isn’t negotiable. You do as I say without argument, ponyal? I’ll be back later. Luka will show you to your room.”
Snapping his fingers, he brushed by her, followed quickly by the others in the room, leaving Lauren standing dumbfounded with Luka. Looking uncomfortable, Luka bounced on the heels of his feet, whistling a jaunty tune.
Mishca was in trouble.
He’d known that before leaving Lauren hours earlier, but he knew for sure when he entered the bedroom. She didn’t look away from the book she was reading when he entered, but he saw her fingers tighten slightly around the cover. He could blame it on the stress, between the constant back and forth with the Albanians and trying to get straight answers out of Naomi, but there was no excuse for the way he treated Lauren earlier.
After issuing a not so subtle threat to Jetmir after his little display with Lauren, Mishca had thought of an apology that would help smooth things over with her, but looking at her now, when she refused to even acknowledge his presence, he knew that it wouldn’t be sufficient enough.
He didn’t think he had ever seen her this angry with him, not like this, and he almost wished she would yell at him, hit him, anything but ignore him.
Sighing, he flipped the lock on the door, dropping his bag in front of it as he crossed the room, climbing onto the bed beside her. Still, she wouldn’t look at him.
He made an attempt to reach for her, but she pulled away, turning onto her side as she brought the book closer to her face.
“Lauren, I’m sorry.”
She smirked, the only acknowledgement she gave to his words.
“I overreacted earlier. I—well, I can’t say it won’t happen again, then I would be lying to you.”
“And we all know the great Bratva Captain never lies,” she muttered dryly.
“Never intentionally.”
“You know, I didn’t even know there was an Albanian Mob.”
Now he was the one sighing, reclining back against the mountain of pillows on the bed. “Who told you?”
She closed her book, tossing it to the foot of the bed. “No one told me. I guessed. Luka said they were Albanian businessmen, seemed reasonable enough.”
He laid back against the pillows, watching her out the corner of his eye. “Yes, the men you met were Albanian Mob.”
“And that penis measuring thing…that was aimed at you.”
He chuckled, coughing when she glared at him.
“I don’t think I’ve heard you say coc—” She punched him in the arm, making him laugh harder.
“I’m being serious, Mish.”
“And I’m taking this seriously.”
Rolling her eyes, she threw her pen at his head, missing him by several inches. “And what the hell was that earlier?”
That sobered him up as he reached for his hand. She noticed that when he was trying to express something to her, he often touched her hands, bringing them to his lips.
“I apologize, sometimes I speak before thinking. Can you forgive me?”
When he looked at her with big blue eyes, she instantly forgave him, but he didn’t have to know that. Sighing dramatically she picked back up her book.
“You never make it easy for me, do you?”
She yelped as he rolled over, tugging at her leg as he rolled back into his original position, with her now on top of him. He kept his hands on her thighs as she used his chest to push up, his thumbs caressing the skin there.
It was hard to stay mad at him, especially when he was groveling, but that didn’t mean she would accept half-truths from him.
“You can’t just expect me to do what you say without any kind of explanation.”
“I can’t keep you safe if you’re not with me.”
“You’re not listening, Mish. What do you need to keep me safe from? I was pretty sure you weren’t the only mob in town, but that didn’t seem to make a difference. What is it about them that has you worried?”
His gaze had drifted downward, his mind already sidetracked by the fact that she wasn’t wearing any pants.
“Mish?” She said using her finger to lift his head. Laughing softly when he resisted. “Are you going to tell me?”
He sighed in defeat laying back, staring at her for several heartbeats before nodding. “There’s a diamond that they want, runs in their family, I believe. They think Naomi stole it.”
“And did she?”
Though he shook his head no, Lauren could see he wasn’t too convinced of that fact.
“They were the ones that shot up your club.”
It wasn’t a question.
It explained why he had been acting so weird afterward, refusing to talk about it.
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Either hand over Naomi or threaten to kill her if she doesn’t give me the diamond.”
“Bit morbid, but I’ll let you handle that.”
“So will you stay here for me? Please?”
“Fine. One week, Mish. I’ll stay for one week.”
He drew her down for a kiss, a silent thank you for complying to his wishes. She needed to tell him that it wouldn’t always be that easy getting her cooperation, but at the moment, she didn’t care.
He smiled against her lips. “No one is on this floor,” He whispered, kissing the curve of her throat.
Laughing, Lauren leaned her head back, giving him better access. “Like no one was on the floor at the manor?”
He laughed with her, but their laughter soon stopped when they lost themselves in each other.
Mishca was gone the next morning, but the lack of his presence beside her wasn’t what woke her.
It was the sound of a girl’s furious screaming.
Slipping out of bed, Lauren hurried over to the door, cracking it open so she could see out into the hallway. What she saw there had her swinging the door open, her mouth agape in shock.
Luka was marching down the hall, a girl tossed over his shoulder, his arm banded around her thighs to keep her from falling as she flailed.
It didn’t seem to faze him as she pounded at his back, or the fact that she caught him more than once with her foot in the stomach.
“Put me down!”
Lauren blinked again, recognizing Ale
x’s voice. More surprisingly, Luka seemed not to care that he was manhandling his boss’ sister.
As he was passing her, Luka saluted her with two fingers, smiling unabashed as he traveled down the hall. Alex looked up at the last minute, spotting Lauren still standing there watching them.
Lauren expected her to start yelling insults, flip her off, or something similar, but Alex just stared, her expression unreadable until the both disappeared around the corner.
Instead of addressing it, she silently closed her door back, going to take a shower before searching for breakfast. Some of the clothes she had left at Mishca’s were neatly hung in the closet, her undergarments in one of the top drawers of the dresser.
After her dresser, she dressed quickly, checking her phone for any messages from Mishca. Zero. Leaving it for the time being, she ventured out into the rest of the house, taking in her surroundings as she went.
It was not nearly as big as the manor, but it still had a homey fell that the manor had been lacking. It was decorated in cool shades of blues and grays, just like Mishca apartment in the city. She would have to ask him about that when he got back, how many residences he actually owned.
Finding the kitchen took no time at all, especially with the helpful guards standing around. Every time she rounded a corner, there was another one, staring down at her intensely as though if they dared look away, she would disappear.
All the appliances were state of the art, an island diving the kitchen in half. A bowl of fruit sat in the center of it, and on the stove top, multiple pots were bubbling away. It smelled good though she couldn’t identify what it was that was cooking.
“Hello, girl.”
A man had just entered the kitchen, the gun at his waist on display, a white T-shirt with sweat stains straining against his chest. He wasn’t particularly imposing, but it was the way he looked at her that made her feel underdressed, despite her wearing jeans and an over-sized shirt. He didn’t cower away from her like the others did, instead he made a point to move into her space.
But she had no reason to fear him, not when he worked for Mishca.
“You are girl, yes. Mishca’s?”
One thing she found weird, he didn’t call Mishca Cap, Captain, or Boss like some of the others did. Was he purposefully trying to be disrespectful, or did he have the same rank?
His shirt was nearly transparent, but she could see any sign of stars on his chest or arms. He did have a few tattoos, one of a rabbit in a hat, a web with a spider crawling, and a bloody dagger.
Lauren had no idea what those meant.
He blocked her way, smirking when she tried to move around him again, not sure what else to do, already having lost her appetite. His teeth were yellowed and terribly crooked.
“Excuse me,” Lauren said politely though there was a hard note to her tone.
When she tried to walk past him again, he gripped her arm with bruising force, forcing her to stop, hurting her more when she tried to jerk free.
He spoke slowly, but in Russian so she had no idea what he was saying.
Lauren was ready to knee him in the balls when they were interrupted.
“Ostavlyat’—Leave.”
The girl had dark hair and even darker eyes that were made up with black eyeliner and smoky shadow. She stood eye to eye with Lauren, but had curves she could only dream of. More importantly, she didn’t cower in the face of this man, despite the warning he was sending her with his eyes.
Shoving Lauren away, muttering more words she couldn’t understand, he retreated from the kitchen. She watched him go, sighing when he was finally out of sight.
“Thanks,” Lauren said gratefully, rubbing her arm.
“I apologize for his behavior. Sometimes they forget their place. I’m Natasha, by the way.”
“Lauren,” she replied shaking her hand.
Natasha smiled kindly. “I know who you are. Mishca sent me to keep you company. I assume he didn’t like you alone with Mikhail’s goons.”
So that explained that one guy’s problem. “You said Mishca sent you?”
“Yes, I’m one of Luka’s girls.”
“Girls?” Lauren sputtered. While she might not have thought he was a relationship type of guy—from the ten minutes she was in his presence—she didn’t think he had multiple women.
Natasha laughed earnestly, noticing Lauren’s surprise. “I work at The Gilded Room.” When Lauren just stared blankly at her, she went on to explain, “It’s a brothel.”
“Oh, I—Mishca doesn’t make you work there, does he?” Would she even tell her if he did?
There were many things she was willing to look past, but this…this wasn’t one of them.
“There is no need for a guilty conscious. We are no longer forced to do anything we don’t want.”
So did that mean she enjoyed having sex for money? Lauren didn’t look down on the girl because of it, it just made her more curious.
If she had any doubts, Natasha did look well taken care of, better than she did at the moment.
“How about I fix you porridge, yes? Then we talk some more.”
By the time Lauren left the kitchen to go back to her bedroom—not wanting to chance another encounter with Lyov—she’d learned that Mishca was as mistrusting of the men here as she was.
He’d chosen to take Luka with him, leaving Vlad to watch over her, a fact she found surprising. Before, she had never seen the two separated, but now that she was here, he was sending his best enforcer to look after her. She couldn’t help but wonder whether or not Vlad resented the new position.
And he was worried about her and Alex being under the same roof.
Lauren didn’t know how Alex would react to her now that Mishca wasn’t here to be a buffer, and for that reason, she stayed scarce over the days she spent at Mishca’s house.
He hadn’t come by once, though she did finally talk to him. He asked the routine questions, but when he asked how she was being treated, she hesitated. Her mind immediately went to Lyov and his unnecessarily grabby behavior.
Despite Natasha’s warnings, and the few Vlad issued when he caught him at it, Lyov continued to harass her, forcing her to stay locked in her room the entirety of her stay. It also didn’t help that she had figured out what he had been calling her and Natasha—casually inquiring one of the guards.
Shlyukha—Whore.
As far as she was concerned, his opinion of her and Natasha didn’t matter, so she put it out of her mind.
It wasn’t so bad, being alone, since she was able to watch her fill of movies on Netflix—Natasha occasionally dropping by—but she didn’t tell Mishca any of this.
With what he had told her, he had so much to deal with and she didn’t want to add to it. Maybe after this was all over would she tell him about it.
Despite their relative proximity to one another, Lauren hadn’t seen Alex since Luka had carried her in, not that she’d had much of a chance. She was also unsure of what she would say on the day they finally saw each other.
Part of her wanted to say, ‘look what your family did to me,’ but the bigger part of her understood that as young as Alex was, she wouldn’t understand why Lauren did what she did, not when it had caused her to break up their family.
It was on this day that instead of waiting for a chance meeting, Lauren went in search of her. Alex wasn’t in the room Luka had dragged her to, nor was she anywhere Lauren could see, at least until she ventured outside, and by chance, looked up at the roof.
How in the hell did she get up there?
She was laying on her back, a cigarette dangling in one hand. She looked relaxed despite the incline, swinging her foot back and forth to a beat only she could hear.
“Alex!” Lauren shouted.
She sat up, looking down at her, shielding her eyes from the sun. Alex could have responded, said anything, but she didn’t. Lauren waited there, trying to see what she would do next, but when Alex didn’t bother to even acknowledge her presence, she ve
ntured back into the house.
She couldn’t force Alex to talk to her, just like Mishca hadn’t forced her. It was what she wanted and until she was ready, Lauren couldn’t force Alex.
Hopefully Mishca would be back soon and she wouldn’t have to stay here much longer, already missing her friends. Now, she liked to think she preferred her limited exposure to the Bratva.
“What did you want?”
Alex was waiting for her in front of her room door, arms folded across her chest as she kept cold green eyes trained on her. It reminded her of the way Mishca could stare people down when he was angry.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry, for everything. It’s no excuse, but I didn’t think about how it would affect you. I was trying to hurt Viktor and Mikhail, but not you.”
Lauren didn’t expect a response, and the one she got was definitely not what she was expecting.
“You seemed okay at first—made my brother happy.” Alex said, looking at the wall. “Then you pulled the rug out from under Mikhail.”
“I—”
“Nope, not done yet. I have every right to be fucking pissed because I can no longer see my mother—not that she gives a shit anyway—but despite all of this, how shitty I’ve been to you, and what Viktor did to your family, you’re apologizing to me. What’s wrong with you?”
Alex actually paused like she really wanted an answer, but as soon as Lauren opened her mouth to respond, she continued on.
“And God, Mishca has been moping around like a lost puppy for months, then you show up and bam, the slow descent into alcoholism is prevented. Do you have like a magic…” She gestured to Lauren’s lower half with a wave of her hand.
Unbidden, Lauren laughed. “Doubt it.”
“Look, we have one thing in common. Our love for Mish. You’re what makes him happy and I accept that. I want that for him. Can’t say I won’t call you a bitch if I’m drunk, but I’m not going to give you a hard time. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Alex frowned, pushing off the wall. “You’re not one of those huggy people, are you? ‘Cause I don’t think I’m ready for all your feels.”
Until the End Page 15