Ember held up her hand. “I own the damn place.” A hand flutter that encompassed the room. “Just stay out here. I’ll fire anyone that tells you to leave.”
Grigori raised his eyebrows, letting go of Stash to lean against the wall. “Taking advantage of your position?”
Ember opened her mouth, but shut it slowly, then shrugged. “Maybe. But I want something that will require all of you in here.”
“What do you need? Name it and it’s yours. You saved us all tonight,” Daniil asked calmly. Pure fact that whatever she asked for in the world she could have.
Ember grinned. And it was a little drunken evil. “You’ll see.”
The nurse came in, and with one look from Ember, he kept his mouth shut, asking her what she needed. She motioned for him to come over, grabbing the front of his scrubs, making him bend down so she could whisper in his ear. Whatever she said to him, his eyes closed, but when he stood back up, he was all business, smiling.
She said, “Don’t forget. Seven of them. It shouldn’t take that long to find.”
Abruptly, the mayor and his wife were in the room, wearing pajamas. Extremely expensive, nice ones, but still pajamas all the same. I cocked my head. At least, they were pants and a button down shirt for both of them. Also, in black, so it wasn’t so noticeable.
The mayor rushed to Ember. “Dr. Benedict called. What happened?”
Ember smiled a little, putting a fist up in the air, her head listing to the side. “I killed a zillion mofos tonight that invaded my home.” She shook her fist at the mayor, his expression stunned. Her eyebrows came back together. “Well, it wasn’t a zillion. Closer to like forty-five.” She shook her fist again. “Come on!”
The mayor closed his mouth gently. And fist bumped her.
His wife started talking with Ember as the mayor came over in front of Zane, nodding to Grigori first, and staring oddly at Stash—guess he didn’t recognize him—asking in a whisper, “She’s obviously drugged. What really happened tonight?”
Zane stared him in the eye, and only said, “Yes. She’s on pain meds.”
The mayor stared back as the silence extended, Zane not giving any more details, offering the mayor the chance of deniability if ever questioned. The mayor blinked. Blinked again. And slowly, his eyes widened. Right before they shut down, frosting over, and he muttered, “Good Christ.” Running a hand through his hair, he turned and went back over to her, sitting on the edge of the bed. He leaned down to kiss her forehead and hold her hand, his gaze covertly on Daniil, who was watching him just the same even as he moved over to the side of the room to speak privately on his phone.
Mrs. Donovan pulled a large Ziploc bag from her purse that held what looked like chocolate chip cookies, which Ember scowled at. I wasn’t sure what the issue was because they appeared to be perfectly baked.
Daniil came to stand next to me again.
I leaned against him, into his warmth. He shifted behind me, holding me around my enlarged stomach. It was perfect—even if I did just want to go home now and rest.
The nurse walked back into the room, looking positively flustered, handing Ember sheets of paper, stating sternly—and a little rudely for being such a kiss ass, “They really can’t be in here that long, Ms. Lerrus.”
Grigori wove his way through the crowd, standing next to her bed. He stared the nurse down, saying something quietly that I couldn’t hear when Ember looked a little flummoxed in the face of the nurse's hostility. She wasn’t the type to disregard rules and use the fact that she was filthy rich to her advantage, so she wasn’t very good at doing what she wanted no matter the cost.
The nurse’s face paled at whatever Grigori said, and he turned to Ember. “Sorry, Ms. Lerrus. They can stay however long you need them to.” He paused, his eyes darting to Grigori before returning to her. He cleared his throat. “As long as you’re doing well.” He sniffed at Grigori before turning tale and dodging through people to exit as fast as possible.
Daniil’s shoulders started shaking behind mine, laughing at the nurse’s attempt at sticking up for himself. He asked Grigori, “What did you say to him?”
Grigori lips twitched, and he started to speak, but Ember cleared her throat, saying loudly—even over those talking to her, trying to thank her for her heroics, “Excuse me! Can I have everybody’s attention?” She waved her arms wildly, still very much doped up.
Grigori chuckled, watching her, most definitely amused.
The room quieted, but Ember kept shouting, “I know you all think I’m a badass.” She shrugged, her face pinking. “I guess, I kind of am.” Grigori’s face dropped to the floor as his shoulders shook behind her field of vision. She stuck a tiny finger in the air. “But I don’t want you to say thank you for slaughtering those idiots. What I want from all of you is this.” She waved the papers in the air. “Here, pass these around. There’s not enough for everyone, so you guys will have to share, but this is the favor that I’m calling in everyone seems so willing to give me.” She grinned, handing the papers to the closest person to her—me.
I passed the rest on.
I watched Grigori’s face as he looked down at his sheet, his confusion obvious like everyone else’s that stared down at a paper they took. Until very slowly he and the others started grinning.
I didn’t glance down at my sheet yet. “What is it?”
She turned her head, her eyes extremely dilated. “A song.” She fluttered her hands. “To celebrate tonight’s event, instead of everyone worrying about what might come later.” She smiled evilly, stating loudly, so everyone heard. “Everybody’s going to sing it. Together.” There were groans around the room, and she turned her head to the masses. “This is my favor. It’ll be fun! And besides, I’ll sing the part by myself that’s in the parenthesis.” She cringed. “But no one laugh ‘cause I suck.”
“A song?” Grigori asked her, outright laughing now, bending over, so their faces were close. “You want my family to sing a song to you?”
“Yep.” She glanced around the room. “And the mayor and his wife.” She pumped a fist in the air. “Woot! Woot!”
I started chuckling, watching Grigori pull her ‘drug dispenser’ away from her covertly after she pressed the button again. His eyes turned toward Zane, his gaze filled with wide-eyed hilarity. He leaned over, whispering, “Do you have a phone on you? I want this recorded.”
Zane dug for his.
“What song did she pick?” Hell, I would sing anything to her if that was what she wanted after saving my ass.
Grigori blinked at his father, and his lips trembled.
Daniil kept his gaze down, over my shoulder, to the paper I held. “I don’t know this song. Hold the paper right. I need this to sing it properly.” He shook his head, his gaze landing on Ember. “I offer her anything she wants, and she picks this as her favor.” He chuckled. “Amazing.”
Grigori snapped his fingers where the papers were being hoarded. “Give me one. Now.” His tone held complete authority, his lineage peeking out after only being around his dad and granddad for a short time. He didn’t expect to be denied. And he wasn’t.
They were practically thrown at us as they were handed over so quickly.
Zane grunted. “You’ve got them fooled.”
Grigori chuckled evilly; his head turned away from his family. “They know the real deal. And I’m it.”
Zane laughed. “You’re such an arrogant ass.”
Grigori shrugged good-naturedly. “No more than you.” He handed over the extra sheet to his dad.
Daniil took it gladly but still kept his muscled arms around me.
I interrupted their male crap, asking again, “So what song is it?”
Daniil chuckled. “Quit procrastinating, my sweet, and look at your sheet. It’s not bad.”
Grigori glanced down.
Blinked.
Stared.
Blinked again.
And threw his head back, and laughed so damn loud, everyone in the room
stopped to stare at him. God, he looked…
Happy. Content. Beautiful.
In the stunned silence that filled the room, I stopped staring and glanced down at my sheet. Oh, my. This will be interesting.
Ember was still gazing at her lover. “I did good?”
He nodded, still laughing. “Yeah. You did good.”
She held up a tiny fist, and he fist-bumped her.
I stopped watching the play-by-play and lifted the paper.
Daniil bent down, his breath rushing across my cheek.
We both muttered at the same time, “Love Shack?”
Ember had chosen ‘Love Shack’ by B-52’s for us to sing together. I knew the beat to the song, but I couldn’t remember the words, so I quickly skimmed them, re-read them, just as Daniil must have been doing because, suddenly, it was as if we got the joke together. Ember was giving the middle finger to those dead men back at the house. Even after death, she was sticking it to them, making a joke of their attempt. And rightly so, because she had taken down all of them by her lonesome. She was pissed they had tried, even though she showed it in the oddest ways.
I turned my head toward Daniil, saying softly, “Seriously twisted mind.”
Daniil nodded, and jerked his head in Grigori’s direction, murmuring against my ear, “That’s why they are perfect for one another.” He paused, his eyes on them as a chuckling Grigori bent down, showing Ember that he was going to record it. “Perfect. Absolutely perfect.” Daniil rubbed his whiskers over the exposed flesh on my neck.
I couldn’t say anything, his touch electrifying, setting me on sizzle from that small touch. Though, it didn’t much matter because Ember placed the sheet Grigori was sharing with her in her lap, clapping her hands loudly. “Okay, people! Here’s how the tune goes if you’re unfamiliar. And remember, please don’t laugh, because I swear, I’m not just being polite when I say I suck. I really do.”
She inhaled a huge breath and started humming the tune, which sounded like shit, but gave everyone a decent idea of how it was supposed to go. She stopped and picked the paper up, holding it for her and Grigori since Grigori was too busy making sure he got in a good position to have the majority of the room in the camera, but foremost, making sure his father was dead center in the frame. He nodded, his lips twitching, whispering, “Finish it, my little bitch.”
She turned her head, her smile a little lopsided, and her eyes drooping. “Abso-fucking-lutely.” Then she turned to us, saying, “Three, two, one.”
We all started singing ‘Love Shack.’ Zane sang it at the top of his lungs. The mayor of New York City and his wife sang it with gusto. The Russian Mafia sang it with shouting passion. Grigori kept the camera trained on the group, but his mouth was at Ember’s ear, singing softly, probably, so his voice wasn’t the only one heard on the recording. And the little redhead who had instigated it all sat on the bed, pumping her fists in the air, shouting her portion of the song all by herself.
We sang it three damn times, and by the end, everyone had their fists in the air, all of us very much thrilled to be alive. Shouts and claps and hollers in English and Russian rounded off the entertainment. I whistled loudly, whooping along with everyone else. Daniil’s bellow about pierced my eardrum as he shouted a very ungentlemanly curse against the men who had come into his home, resulting in another round of hooting and hollering, until Dr. Benedict busted up our fun time, Ember’s nurse standing behind her with a definite pleased expression on his face.
My jaw almost dropped when Dr. Benedict stated, “I don’t give a shit if you two own this place.” She pointed at the mayor and Ember. “If one more patient wakes up complaining, you won’t be allowed back into this damn hospital.” She said it calmly as could be. As if she wasn’t standing inside a room full of trained killers. She was either too tired to give a shit—which I didn’t think she was—or she had some fucking brass balls to break up this revelry.
Ember laughed, dropping back onto the bed after she had pushed up on her arms to sing. “Dr. Benedict, I know exactly what you just said, but I got the gist that you’re pissed. And I would like to say I’m sorry.” She shrugged. “But, I’m not. I promise it won’t happen again, though.”
Dr. Benedict nodded. “Good.” She clapped her hands. “Now I’m going to leave, and only four people can stay in this room with Ms. Lerrus! Understood?”
The majority of the room nodded. And she left, the tattletale nurse on her coattails.
I wondered if anyone would actually listen to the doctor.
The next few weeks were a trial. Between talking with my parents—who couldn’t seem to leave me alone, my emotions finally going back to only slightly pregnant crazy, eating full meals again, and learning to readjust to living around so much open space and people…well, I was overwhelmed at times. I still was. But after getting my prescriptions filled and Daniil insisting we all take a visit to Dr. Wisser on our way home, things settled down into a routine, per Dr. Wisser and Dr. Walker’s instructions, to get me used to life outside of isolation.
The first week, Daniil slept with me out in the hallway. He really had no choice since I would sneak out there in the middle of the night, only to wake with him next to me. Luckily, for him, and my back, it only lasted for a week. After that, I was able to sleep in bed with him again—as long as the door was open and a light was left on in the bathroom. In the mornings, everyone would sit down for breakfast. No one was overly loud at breakfast since they had all been in the patient’s room while Dr. Wisser pulled up any information he had on individuals who had suffered long-term isolation. Loud noises were a no-no at the beginning of recovery, so everyone kept their voices subdued, which was a major achievement for these individuals.
Since Kirill and Chloe and my parents had not been there for this announcement, they had all been filled in with what was acceptable behavior. Even Nikki and Beth were on their best behavior anytime they were around me, which filled my heart with so much love for them it actually hurt a little seeing two people so young and precious trying hard to make me feel better.
I would have asked everyone to stop and just be normal…but…I couldn’t. It did help. And I needed to get better. These people were my family, for better or worse, since I wasn’t ever leaving Daniil, so I knew to take the love and affection they were showing in their own ways to help be back to recovery.
After breakfast, Mom and I would go about our normal activities of decorating the babies’ room once we had done some shopping online for maternity clothes. At first, I ran around in Daniil’s huge shirts and sweatpants that I pulled down below my belly, but within two days’ time, I had bright and colorful maternity clothes to wear, which only seemed to entice Daniil even more, but Dr. Wisser had cut us off. Sex wise. So we were both going cold turkey in that department for the duration of my pregnancy.
Daniil wasn’t around much during the day—worse than he had been before my kidnapping—because he had so much work to catch up on. I found out he had been a part of the search for me for the past two months, flying everywhere he had a lead, normally with one or two of his kids going with him. His businesses had been left in the dust while he searched for me. It was only luck—and a layover—that had him in New York at all when Dr. Walker had called Grigori.
In the afternoons, Ember and I worked from her little books and tapes, trying to teach one another Russian. And…hmm…that was interesting. She was one of those people that saw things differently at times—a lot of out of the box stuff—so when it came to strict rules of the language, it took her some time to grasp the concept. But, after the first week of me just saying, “That’s just how it is, so there’s no other way to do it but the right way,” she finally caught on I wasn’t hiding an easier way of doing it, or I wasn’t just being mean, and she started learning with me.
Slowly. But, still learning.
Ember, honestly and surprisingly, was a huge outlet for me. She and Grigori almost weren’t here when Dr. Walker made that phone call because
she and Grigori had been touring some of the ‘women’s shelters’ around the US for a couple of weeks—I was sure that was code for whatever agency they worked for on the side. They had only just gotten back the day before. It appeared that someone had been looking down on me when I escaped that day.
After our lessons together, Ember and I would walk outside in the backyard, pointing at things and saying them in Russian. Ruslan would walk with us, telling us if we said them correctly or not. I had been assigned—ahem—ten new bodyguards, who all milled around, but I didn’t want to see or meet them. Not after what had happened with my last ones. Not yet, anyway.
Ember and Ruslan seemed to understand this and kept to our discussions of what a tree or plant was called in Russian. Ember also seemed to understand—her uncanny ability to read people—that it freaked me out to be outside for too long…but the sneaky woman always made our walks just a little bit longer each day. She also did it to build up her own endurance again, though. She was healing very well—and too quickly in Grigori’s stubborn opinion.
Daniil would always be waiting for me when I came inside, an hour before dinnertime, and he would take me into the music room—per my request—and play me music from any instrument he felt like playing. That was the calmest part of my day. Sitting there. Watching him. Seeing his fingers work their magic. Loving how his eyes lit up while he played. And feeling a relaxed sort of comfort when Roman would come home earlier and find us in there, and play along with his dad, both of them giving each other happy, contented looks—a musician in his relaxed element, dad and son furthering their bond.
Yeah, it was my favorite part of the day.
Dinner was much the same as breakfast. Everyone was subdued, but cheerful. Although Daniil did test the waters almost two weeks into my recovery inviting my cousins and the occupants of the house across the way over for a much larger dinner. It wasn’t…bad. It just took a little getting used to. Although it was entertaining to watch Brent and Cole, who had deigned to re-enter this house for the first time when not in an emergency situation. Time had…changed them some. It was as if they had adjusted to the life they had without Ember. Just as she seemed to have adjusted without them. Even if I did catch a few covert looks Brent and Ember gave one another, but they weren’t exactly sexual. I mean the looks they gave each other simmered with “I want to talk with you again, but I don’t know how.” Like…well, like they were old friends wanting to reconnect, a bond there that would never be broken.
Obsidian Music (Lion Security Book 3) Page 10