by Bethany-Kris
“Ready?” Anton asked, holding out his hand to his wife. Viviana met his palm with a cold stare and allowed him to help her step out of their SUV. “Smile, baby, please.”
Viviana did, but she didn’t look all too happy about it.
Winter had melted into spring with its usual slowness and storms. Before they knew what happened, March turned into May. Viviana was still sour about the dinner with the Jersey boss Adrik. In fact, she was so aggravated about it, she barely spoke to Anton all damned day leading up to the event. He was dying.
The valet at the restaurant waited patiently to take the keys for the Mercedes while Anton spoke to his wife. “Vine, you know how much I appreciate you, right?” he asked, leaning down to kiss her cheek.
Viviana flicked a look in his direction, one that stung. “Did I dress appropriately for this?”
The grey dress, knee-length, V-neck, with sleeves reaching to her elbows, was perfectly fine for the dinner. The silver studded heels she wore gave that usual spice and hint of sexiness while keeping it appropriate. Silver bangles hung from her right wrist and a dainty chain with a small diamond rested below the hollow of her throat. Even the little bit of makeup she wore was flawless and not overdone.
“You look beautiful, Viviana. Like always.”
“Good. Let’s hope your toddler son can make it through this dinner without messing up his suit.”
Demyan, still sitting in his safety seat with his matchbox car in hand, was dressed similarly to his father in a black suit with a white shirt underneath, and a tiny black tie to match. He was terribly sharp looking for a nearly three-year-old boy. It helped that he didn’t fight too much to get dressed up, given his father pointed out he looked just like him.
Anton thought he was cute as hell.
“I don’t think anyone cares if he stays clean, Vine. He’s a kid.”
Viviana waved at the restaurant. “You do realize this place is not kid friendly, right? It’s four-hundred dollars a plate, Anton.”
“I know. I also know the upstairs, reserved for VIPs, is whatever the hell we want it to be tonight.”
That caught her attention. Anton barely held back his smirk at her surprise. “Really?”
“Really,” he confirmed. “Actually, Ivan let me know Adrik suggested it for the private conference dining space upstairs. He arrived about an hour ago. My guys are already downstairs.”
“They won’t be up there with us?” Viviana asked.
“No. I don’t think they need to be, given this is more an introduction and not a business meeting where opinions need to be involved. Smile, let Demyan run around, and enjoy the food, baby. That’s all you need to worry about.”
Viviana sighed. “I hope so.”
Anton stopped to speak with one of the bulls who met with Adrik and the man assured him that as promised, the Jersey boss arrived alone without his people. Well, Anton begged to differ, considering the small girl dressed in a pink chiffon dress with her hair in ringlet curls and a bow holding tight to the man’s hand as they entered the upstairs dining room. She looked to be at least Demyan’s age, if not a little younger. She was blue-eyed and blonde, much like Adrik.
Adrik Vasin, like Anton, was a commanding man without having to do or say much. It was the first thing Anton noticed about the man. He exuded confidence, and sported an easy smile, though his eyes constantly swept the room, looking for oncoming trouble. That was something Anton knew all too well, also.
“Anton Avdonin, it’s a pleasure to finally meet the man who paved the way for my position.”
Anton glanced down at the little girl, keeping his son balanced on his waist while holding his wife’s hand. “Who’s this?”
Adrik bent down to one knee, tipping the girl’s chin up under two fingers. “Sofia, say hello, baby.”
Bright blue eyes blinked up at Anton, shocking him at how clear and sweet she looked. In her features, Sofia was the feminine, child-like version of Adrik, telling Anton the man was obviously her father, or very closely related. Anton was positive he was told Adrik had no wife, and there wasn’t a woman in the room other than Viviana, so little Sofia’s mother clearly wasn’t invited to the dinner. Why hadn’t he been told about this child?
“Hello,” Sofia whispered.
Demyan grinned and wiggled at his father’s side. “Hi. My name is Demyan.”
“She just turned three last week,” Adrik informed. “So these two should get along just fine.”
Anton allowed his son to climb down his side to the floor. Once the two children acquainted themselves, they disappeared under one of the many tables, childish giggles following their wake.
“She’s beautiful,” Viviana said with a smile.
“Thank you. Sofia is the one thing that keeps me sane most days.”
“She’s your daughter,” Anton assumed.
“Yes,” Adrik replied.
Anton crossed his arms, taking on a more defensive stance. “Funny, I was told you weren’t married and you’d be coming alone. Somehow, I feel duped or lied to.”
Viviana used her hand, tucked inside Anton’s elbow, to pinch him through the jacket of his suit. “That’s enough.”
Adrik waved it all off. “My apologies. My daughter’s safety is my first concern. After I started making the move to take over Sergei’s spot once he was gone, my life was in constant danger, as was hers. Let’s be honest, it still is. She was only a baby. I keep as much about her to myself as I possibly can.”
“And her mother?” Anton asked.
“She didn’t want Sofia. I did. We had an arrangement of sorts, now we don’t.”
The answer was so frank, it took Anton by surprise. He struggled for an appropriate response. “That’s …”
“Unfortunate, and her loss,” Viviana finished for him. “Sofia seems like a sweet child.”
Anton could hear the sadness in his wife’s voice for the motherless girl.
“She is,” Adrik agreed. “Can we allow the servers up and order?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
A little under a half an hour later, Anton was pouring a round of vodka into a shot glass. Quickly, he slammed the liquor back, dropped the glass to the table, and slid it towards Adrik who grinned as he plucked it up to take his own. Usually Anton wouldn’t drink while out with his family, but this was more of a traditional thing than to get drunk.
To the start of a friendship, and that sort of thing.
He had to admit, in just the small amount of time he knew Adrik, he liked the man. Frank and honest, Adrik said it how he witnessed it. It was clear he also had a magnetic personality, so it was no wonder why the men in Jersey took to him like they did for a boss.
After Adrik dropped the shot glass to the counter, he said, “You have a beautiful wife, Anton.”
Anton coughed away his shock at the blunt comment. “I’m aware.”
Adrik chuckled. “Don’t be offended or worried. I’m not interested, simply stating a fact. She’s …” Trailing off, he turned to nod at Viviana as if in explanation. Currently, she was chasing both Demyan and Sofia around and around the tables, smiling brightly. As if she didn’t care about her eight-hundred dollar dress or the shoes she’d kicked off earlier. “Fascinating,” Adrik finished quieter. “I never intended to have a wife. I wasn’t in the business for one.”
“And yet you have a child.”
“Ah, well, I didn’t plan her, either.”
Anton smirked. “That’s how they usually come along. I was a bit more careful about my … activities … before my wife, however.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why was that?” Adrik asked.
“It would have disappointed my family,” Anton answered honestly. “I wasn’t in agreement about the arrangement they made for me and Vine, but I also knew there was only so much rebellion they would accept from me, too. At eighteen, I had pretty well decided on Viviana all on my own. The rest is history.”
“Seems as though an arranged marriage worked for you two,�
�� Adrik said, not hiding his surprise in the least.
“If you want to call it that. The agreeing parties were long dead, so I could have just as easily let it go and continued with the way I was. Viviana and I chose this after, not them. We did so because we wanted each other. She’s mine, that’s all there is to it.”
Anton realized how easily Adrik seemed to get the most personal information from him without even trying. It was unsettling and interesting at the same time.
“People must find it’s easy to allow you close, Adrik. I can’t help but wonder how they felt when you killed them for it.”
Adrik cleared his throat and rested back to the bar’s top. “I’m not interested in killing you, Anton. Unlike the old boss, I don’t want Brighton Beach. I wasn’t raised there, it’s not my home like it is yours. I’m a Jersey boy through and through.”
“I should hope your interest in being here isn’t to scope me out. I can assure you if you tried to come after me, at any point, my Bratva would not be an easy target.”
“Point taken. I’ll remember that. However, I did what I had to. I refused to work under men who were no different than Sergei. No one suspected me, Anton. That’s why it was so easy to do it. I was the young brigadier, just a captain. Not at all important and they certainly didn’t fear me to make a move to take the boss position.”
“I was told you were ruthless about it,” Anton murmured.
“I was,” Adrik confirmed, nodding. “I needed to make a point. They were either with me, or they weren’t. If they weren’t …” He made the sign of a gun with his forefinger and thumb, pulling the trigger. “There was no reason or need to talk about it. Simply finishing it.”
Anton said nothing for a short while, instead turning to stare at the young girl who had climbed up on his wife’s lap, chatting animatedly with Demyan still on the floor. “If you can ask me personal questions, surely I can ask you one? We’re becoming friends, after all.”
“Go on.”
“Your daughter … the same question goes for you that you asked me. Why? You said it yourself, you didn’t want to be married, and her mother didn’t want her. It would have been easy to let her mother get rid of her and move on.”
Adrik sucked in a harsh breath, sending Anton a look he couldn’t decipher. “You have a son, so surely you must understand what it's like to have a child.”
“I always wanted children eventually, just not when I was younger. I think it’s a different situation we’re talking about here, Adrik.”
“Fine, that’s true enough,” Adrik said a little begrudgingly. “I always knew I was going to make the move someday to take what I wanted. Being boss, I mean. I also knew in doing that, I didn’t want to have someone I loved in danger because of my position. That was why the idea of marriage and children turned me off. But, when I found out about her, it was different. I knew that child might very well be my only one. That was why I wanted her so fiercely, why I did everything I could to force her mother to keep her and give her to me.”
“And she did, just like that?” Anton asked.
“Nothing is ever simple,” Adrik replied. “But yes, just like that, in a way.”
“The arrangement you said you had with her mother—what was it?”
Adrik smirked, cocking a brow. “I don’t imagine it’s any different from the one you have with your wife in bed, except for the fact that I didn’t need to share any part of me with her. That’s not what she was looking for, either. We fucked, that was all. There were times we weren’t as careful as we should have been, but I can’t find it in me to regret Sofia.”
“Someone should have told me about your daughter, Adrik. I’m extremely offended they didn’t. I would have appreciated you bringing her as another show of your trust for me.”
“Don’t be too angry with them, Anton. Most of them don’t know.”
Anton barely held back his scoff. “She’s three!”
Viviana’s head popped up to look in their direction at her husband’s raised voice. A simple glance asked a million questions, but Anton dismissed her concerns with a shake of his head. With a frown, she went back to conversing with the kids.
“Fascinating,” Adrik said again, watching Viviana. “Most women would get up and insert themselves into a conversation they’re aware isn’t for them to be included in. She looks to you first.”
“Of course she does,” Anton snapped. “She’s my wife. She trusts me, and besides that, she was raised with Cosa Nostra values by a Don for a father. Viviana takes her concerns about my business to me, and me alone. She doesn’t feel a need to voice them publicly.”
Once more, Anton realized he’d blurted out personal information about his family to a man he barely knew.
“About my daughter—”
“She’s three-years-old,” Anton repeated lower, turning to face Adrik. “Please don’t insult my fucking intelligence by saying people don’t know about her. That’s ridiculous and you know it.”
Adrik shrugged, waving at Viviana. “What’re your biggest weaknesses, Anton? The first people someone would go after to hurt you, to get to you? I think we both know the answer to that question. You don’t hide your affections well, not that I blame you. In fact, you’ve kept your eyes on your family all night. It might seem like I’m slighting you, but really, I respect you for it. You’re confident in your position and in the trust you have for your men. I am not.
“Some men, many more than I am comfortable with, would hurt my daughter if they were aware of how much I love her,” Adrik continued, meeting Anton’s gaze head-on. “If they thought it would ruin me—and it would—they would do it. Sofia has lived apart from me, and while I visited with her every day, I did so in secret. I needed to keep her safe. I couldn’t risk someone getting idiotic ideas when she’s just an innocent child. So yes, the people I trust have access to my daughter, and only them. And even those people do not get to see my affection for her, they only know of her existence and relation to me.”
Adrik had given Anton access to his daughter and he’d been very open about his feelings towards the little girl. He wasn’t entirely sure what Adrik expected to gain from doing it, but Anton understood the point of what he was saying. “You trust me.”
“I’m trying to,” Adrik said, offering a smile. “But I can understand why I made you uncomfortable, keeping her presence quiet like I did. Your men, don’t be angry with them. They likely assumed a tiny girl wouldn’t be of much danger to you or your family.”
“Be honest, Adrik, what did you come here for?”
“To meet you. I have a lot of respect for you, Anton. I owe you a great deal, if we consider all that you’ve done.”
“There has to be more than that,” Anton muttered.
“You’re right.” Adrik took the time to pour another shot, offering it to the Pakhan across from him. Anton tossed back the shot and waited. “For the last two years, I have been cleaning house. Fixing problems. Getting rid of the issues. Smoking out the rats. Money, or making it, has been the last thing on my mind.”
Now, Anton’s interest was piqued. “Outside of the normal dealings, Sergei was dabbling in importing substance and diamonds. He tried to get me in on it the latter. I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. I don’t do diamonds. I don’t see the point. I also won’t touch human trafficking.”
Adrik agreed with a nod. “My issue isn’t what to import. I’m fine with drugs, and we have more than a big enough territory and market to get it on the streets and sold. That’s not the problem.”
“Then what is?”
“Getting the product,” Adrik explained simply.
Ah, Anton thought. There it was. “You don’t have the contacts.”
“Or the reputation,” Adrik added. “Coming out of the woodwork like I did, so unexpectedly, had its downfalls. No one knows my name. Shippers aren’t willing to work with someone who hasn’t built up any work relationships to reflect on. Runners don’t trust a man they don’t know. I
’m in a difficult spot.”
“I can see that,” Anton said. “Did you think I would hand over my contacts?”
Adrik laughed loudly, shaking his head. “Of course not. I expected you to tell me to go fuck myself if I asked like that.”
“I’m pretty close to it,” Anton admitted. “We’ve worked with our shippers and runners for years. My grandfather and his men built up those relationships. It wasn’t easy. They trust me for a reason. I can’t simply hand their names over to you, Adrik. Besides that, it’d be a competition. Who is paying more … things of that nature. Money makes people greedy and messy. It just wouldn’t work.”
“But you can vouch for me. And the fact of the matter is simple, Anton, you need a little less spotlight right now. Everyone is looking at you. The officials are chasing your people like dogs. Whether you like it or not, your contacts are going to start seeing you as a risk—their liability. Even if you can get off on these charges—”
“I will,” Anton interrupted sharply.
“Even if you do, you’ll still be the face of organized crime in New York. The one boss the officials look to every time something happens. Your contacts will start turning your men away, refusing your jobs. You know it, and so do I. You need a backup, and you need it now.”
Anton tossed his clenched fists in his pockets, attempting to hide his frustrations. Adrik was right in all he said, and that pissed Anton off something fierce. He’d been so caught up in the drama of his upcoming trial and the difficulties he and Viviana had faced over the last few months that his Bratva business had been pushed to the side.
No wonder Ivan wanted him to do this dinner.
Fuck.
“Are you offering to work with me?” Anton asked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in his tone. “Because again, I don’t think that’d work out too well on the competition side of things, Adrik.”
“No,” the Jersey boss replied instantly. “I’m offering to work for you.”
Anton’s thought process cut off. Bosses didn’t work for other bosses. That wasn’t how it worked in their world. That would, essentially, make him Adrik’s boss.
“Forgive me, but that makes even less sense. If you’re wanting to make your own way, make your mark and reputation, working for me surely won’t do it.”