I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m doing no such thing.”
“You are. The second I brought up taking you to meet my family, you changed the subject.”
“I . . . it’s just so quick. Shouldn’t we wait a while before that happens?” I’m getting nervous, and my God, it’s adorable.
“No, I think we’ve waited for far too long. Would you rather we wait until he is born and have her come to the hospital then?” My eyes go wide and he chuckles lowly. “See, I knew that was a bad idea.”
“It is, and you do not know if it is a boy. I haven’t had my ultrasound.”
“Call it father’s intuition, I just know.”
I scoff, “Okay. When are we leaving to go meet your family?”
“As soon as possible.” He responds quickly and I see the way he watches me as my expression is growing somber.
“What’s the matter?”
I take a couple steps towards him and hold my stomach, staring up at him. “I will go if you want me to, but I will not miss their funeral. They were my friends and I will pay my respects to them. I will honor them in life and death. We will go, but we will not miss it.” He wraps his arms around my shoulders and pull her into a hug. I bury my face into his chest and I know there is no way he isn’t feeling the tears that soak through his shirt.
I find that I keep feeling like this is some sort of messed up dream. I have to remind myself that my friends are dead, that these women who endured so much alongside me are now gone. These girls were here for me when I didn’t think I had anybody left. “I’ll make sure I contact Reed and find out when their funeral arrangements are.”
“Alright.” I mutter, pulling away from him. Enzo pulls out his cell phone and I watch as he puts the phone on speaker. I listen as the conversation plays out.
“Hi, brother. How is everything at the club?”
“As good as it can be, given the circumstances. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. Bastards keep trying to kill me, but somehow my ass is cheating death.” Enzo chuckles. I’m sure he’s hoping to lighten the mood. Reed doesn’t reply, so he continues. “I wanted to call and give you a heads up that I’m flying out to Seattle with Ksenia to see my family. I was gonna work on getting Max. I just wanted to check and see when the funeral arrangements for the Russian Dolls would be.”
“Why are you taking Ksenia with you?” Reed asks. I want to giggle, but I keep my mouth shut.
“It’s a long story, brother, but Ksenia is having my kid and I’m killing two birds with one stone. Handling business, and having her meet the family.”
Reed laughs, “I knew it was you. It wasn’t hard to put together. Then again, I wasn’t going to say shit to Dmitri. He would’ve tried to kill you.”
“Believe me, I thought he was going to.” Enzo chuckles, causing me to smirk. Dmitri is a tad bit over protective.
“You’re sure that they won’t ask anything of us? I don’t want to owe a debt to your stepfather.”
“You won’t. He is family and will understand why it is needed. Plus, if I get any push back, I can pull the grand baby card. My mom won’t let anything happen to this kid.” From the looks of it, Reed is so concerned about the favor.
“You know that the Arcane always collect their debts. I understand why you’re cautious. My family has a relentless reputation. I’m just asking you to trust me, and I need you to. Without their help, I don’t know if we’re going to get Max.” Enzo states, and I hear Reed grumble something, but can’t make it out.
“Yeah. The funeral will be sometime late next week. When are you going to be back?” Reed asks Enzo.
“We’ll leave tomorrow and be back in a couple days.”
“Alright. Keep me updated on what happens.” Just like that, I hear the call disconnect.
“Looks like we’re flying out tomorrow, sweetheart. Better get packing.”
9
For what it’s worth, I saw your flaws and loved you more.
-Wilder
Enzo
The last day went by quickly. Ksenia and I stayed in her bedroom and left early for our flight to Seattle. It’s been a few years since I’ve been home, and I won’t admit this to her, but I’m still a bit anxious about being around everyone. I grew up here, watched my mother get remarried and was being primed to go into the family business and work for the Arcane. But I knew that it wasn’t where my heart wanted to be.
I needed to be on the open road, to see all that this world had to offer. One thing led to another and I ended up with the Skulls. I didn’t know it back then, but it is where I was always meant to be.
“You seem a bit nervous.” Ksenia tells me, taking a sip of her hot tea. We landed about thirty minutes ago and took a taxi to a local coffee shop. When I tell her what I did, or rather didn’t do, I know she’s going to be a little bit upset with me.
“Yeah, I guess I am in a sense. It’s Sunday, so we’re definitely going to have Sunday night dinner.”
She furrows her brows and gives me a confused look. “Does dinner on Sunday scare you?”
I chuckle at the way she asked me her question, knowing that she doesn’t get it. “No, it’s an Italian thing sweetheart. I just haven’t texted my mother or step-father that we’re in town. My half-sister is coming to pick us up in a bit.”
“What do you mean you didn’t tell your mother we were in town? You are trying to surprise her?!” Ksenia raises her voice, and I can tell she’s upset. I didn’t really think this all the way through. In all honesty, I’m not much of a planner. I’m a doer.
“No, we’re not surprising her. We were just in town and decided to swing by.” I say nonchalantly, drinking my typical black coffee.
She grumbles, “What on earth is wrong with you? You have just made this trip so much more awkward.”
“I didn’t.”
“Yes, you most certainly did.” She fires back. From the expression on her face, I can tell she’s clenching her teeth. I look down to her fist on the table and can’t help but wonder if she’s clenching both of them that strongly.
“Well, big brother. It has been quite a while.” I hear my demon sister’s voice from behind me and rise out of the booth I’m seated in. As I turn, I see she hasn’t changed one bit. Honestly, she looks like she’s grown more into her bitch self. Her black hair is full and voluminous, while her stature has changed. She stands a little taller, and a bit straighter than she did when I left. It just goes to show me that the years have changed her too. I just can’t help but wonder what transformed her.
“I leave my bratty, twenty something wild-child of a sister behind . . . and here you are, turned into some badass mafiosa bitch.” I chuckle, wrapping my arms around her. My sister holds me tight, and even though we might not verbalize that we’ve missed one another, our family always shows our affection.
I pull away from my sister and turn to Ksenia. “Ksenia, this is Carlotta, my little sister.”
I’m whacked in the middle of my stomach and shoot a glare over to my dear sis. “Okay, please don’t listen to him. If you call me Carlotta, I might have to kill you. I’m Carla, and hot damn are you the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.” Carla grabs me by the chin and turns my face towards her. “How on the earth did you get a woman this beautiful? She looks like one of those Russian dolls!”
At that Ksenia and I both burst into laughter, but all of a sudden she makes an awkward face. “Are you alright?” I ask Ksenia, wondering what’s wrong.
“Yes, I am fine. I . . . uh, just need to handle something.”
“What do you mean?” I press her, wanting to know what’s wrong.
She rolls her eyes, “I’ll be right back.” And begins to walk away, but I grab her hand. “Jesus, I think you made me laugh so hard I peed myself. Okay? Give me a minute.” I release her hand and let her do whatever it is that she needs to do.
“You didn’t tell me she was pregnant.” Carla comments, eyes watching Ksenia walk away. She slides in on Ksenia
’s side of the booth and I return back to my seat. “Mom is going to have a field day when she finds out the secret you’ve kept from her. Salvatore, Gianni and I will be sitting down across from you at dinner, holding our snickers back as you suffer alone.”
“Sal’s wife, Aria won’t be too?” I inquire. I never made it out to their wedding because we were dealing with shit at the club.
She shakes her head back and forth, “Nope, Aria isn’t like that. She’ll be too busy watching over Sorina anyway.” Sorina is my niece, she was born prematurely in some of the worst circumstances. Let’s just say, my family knows how to handle the dramatics. There is always danger looming wherever we go.
“It will be nice to finally get to meet her.”
“I bet, considering you two have a bun in the oven of your own. When’s the wedding?” Carla asks, winking at me. She loves to fuck with everyone, a characteristic that hasn’t changed over the years as I see.
“You’re hysterical. There isn’t going to be a wedding just because we’re having a baby.” I firmly state. I’m just waiting for her to tell me how our mother is going to feel about that.
“Ma is going to kill you. God will want that child to be christened, in a loving unison between man and wife.” Half way through she changes her voice to almost mimic our mothers and I want to cringe. Carla can imitate her too well. It’s a creepy gift she’s always had.
“Car’, it’s not like that. My relationship with Ksenia is different, it’s not like Sal and Aria’s . . . it’s much different.”
She raises her eyebrows at me and crosses her arms. “Well, you’d better not tell Ma that, or even make it remotely sound like it’s complicated.”
I take in a deep breath and sigh. “I’m not going to lie to her.”
“How complicated can it really be, brother?”
“You have no idea.” I respond with a grumble. Carla is the type that pokes the bear over and over again until she gets her answer. I’m just waiting for her to do it.
“Okay, so give me an idea.” And there it is, her poking the bear.
“Ksenia and I have secretly been seeing one another on and off for the last seven months. Her brother hates my guts more than anything, so we kept it a secret and have only seen one another a handful of times.”
“Alright, so why does her brother hate you?”
“Because I tried to fuck his now wife years ago.” I don’t bother referring to Jenna as an ol ‘ lady ‘cause Carla won’t get it.
“Ooo! Well, now this is getting interesting. Please, continue.”
As if Ksenia has the perfect timing, she shows back up and speaks. “Are we going to leave soon? I’m a bit exhausted from the flight.”
Carla transforms her shit stirring, drama digging expression into someone who looks as sweet as pie. “Of course! Let’s get you back to the family estate and we’ll get you settled. You and the little mozzarella can rest up while my siblings and I catch up with our dear brother.”
Jesus, and here I thought our mother was going to be the problem. It turns out it’s gonna be Carla.
10
Chemistry between two people is the strangest science of all.
-Bridgett Devoue
Ksenia
I have been through a lot of awkward experiences in my life, but never has it been as bad as our car ride. Carla drove us to their family estate, and that’s exactly what it is – an estate. It almost puts Russian Manor to shame. The buildings surrounding their property are massive. I believe I counted six buildings that look like homes, a tad bit smaller than the house we’re in right now.
They live in a gated community, and much like our home, I see men and women around the property. Enzo explained to me what the Arcane is, but now that I’m here, I can see the power that his family holds in front of my own eyes. We were able to slip upstairs and go to a spare bedroom. Most of his family was out, which was interesting. Carla said they were at church.
I still am amazed by how beautiful their estate is. It almost makes me want to laugh. If my father wasn’t killed when I was just a baby, Enzo would be the type of man I was paired with.
Sometimes, I think of my father. What would he think of us? Would he be proud of the way we survived? If . . . he would judge us in any way. Dmitri had a rough life, and I only know because I have seen the scars that mark his back when he walks through the house late at night. He might think that I don’t see them, but I have. Katya and I had it rough, but we both adapted and did whatever we needed to, even if she thinks I didn’t do much.
When I was back at the clubhouse, one night I gained the courage to ask Elena what happened to him. Dmitri was sold by our mother to bad men, much like Katya and I, but because he was a boy he was treated much differently. Elena’s father had him, and she told me that she thinks her father wanted Dmitri to take over his MC and pair Elena with him. She told me the story of how her father tried to push Dmitri on her when she was a teenager, telling him to take what he wanted. In more or less terms, he was granting my brother the permission to rape her. Instead of doing what that awful man wanted, he helped Elena, and has the scars to show for it.
Elena and Dmitri have an interesting relationship. He was more of an adoptive brother to her than anything, and I believe that in a sense, they are best friends. Reed sees the way that they interact with one another, but doesn’t say a word. A lot of men would, but he doesn’t. I see that he respects it.
“You alright? You’re kind of quiet.” Enzo whispers lowly to me, running his hand over my back.
“Yes, I’m sorry. I’m just taking all of this in. Got lost in my head.” There’s no point in hiding the truth from him.
“What’s on your mind, love?”
I think about biting my tongue now, but I won’t, even though I know Dmitri is a sensitive subject for Enzo. “I was thinking about Dmitri and what he went through. Katya and I had it rough, but he experienced a lot of pain. Mariana is the only one that . . . well, I can’t really say that. Mariana was kidnapped, raped and had a daughter fathered by her rapist. I wonder if my family is cursed.”
Enzo grabs me by the hand, “No, none of you are. You’re the strongest people I have ever met, given the worst hand dealt in life. You have all been through the most traumatic, despicable scenarios and yet you grow from it. You refuse to let it dictate your future.”
I offer him a half smile, brushing my hand along his face. I feel the stubble of his few day’s old beard growing. “You always say the sweetest things to me. It’s refreshing.”
“I’m not sweet, Ksenia. Just honest.”
I glance down at the floor for a moment and meet my eyes back with his own. The darkness of his chocolate eyes makes me feel like he’s looking deep inside of my heart. “I wasn’t just thinking of Dmitri, but my father as well. I know I haven’t ever spoken of him much with you, and that is because I don’t remember him. He was killed. I don’t know if I was born yet or not. I have heard different things. I just sometimes wonder what he would think of us all now. And, when I think of him . . . it makes me really sad. I hate that I was never able to know the man who helped create me. I know the pregnancy is making me a bit more emotional about it and all, but . . . I hate that I didn’t know him. I hate what was done to us.”
“What do you mean, what was done to you?” He asks, and I elaborate more than I ever have before.
“Do you remember that night, when you snuck into the Manor after Mariana showed up at the clubhouse and Slasher left the MC in a sense?” I want to jog his memory. He nods, so I continue. “Remember how I told you that my family was important, even more important than I ever thought?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s because we are a threat to the Russian Bratva. Our Uncle, Valentin was trying to kill us because we hold a claim to the Bratva.” Enzo look like he’s catching on, but I feel like I must elaborate on it. “Dmitri, Katya, Mariana and I could take over the Russian Mafia, Lorenzo. Our mother was a bastard child, and even so, we have t
he blood running through our veins.” I run my hands over my stomach, holding our child between my arms. “Our child has a claim to the Russian Bratva. He or she is royalty.”
“Jesus. I had no idea. Is he still trying?”
“No, he is in the wind right now. Our cousin, Aleksandr told us that he is keeping his father at bay. He views us as allies, not as enemies. Aleks plans on taking over the Bratva and knows that we have no intentions to take it from him.”
“What about Mariana?” Enzo asks the million dollar question.
“She has said she doesn’t want it . . . but, it would make her the most powerful woman on the planet. She doesn’t just have Romanian blood running through her veins, she is Russian royalty as well. She scares my uncle, as she should.”
Enzo tilts his head to the side, bringing his hand down to my neck. “You are a silly woman sometimes. You know that?”
“Why do you think that?”
The way he looks at me with his eyes almost looks like he’s smiling with them. “Because, Ksenia. You don’t see that you scare him, as you should. You are far more powerful than you ever thought.”
“I do not want power, Enzo.”
“Everyone says that at first, but it doesn’t matter. You were born into power, and when you need it, you will use it. Just as I am doing now. The Arcane is my power, and I am using it to help the club.”
I shake my head. “This is different.”
“Oh, Ksenia, no it isn’t. It’s not different at all. We will use it when we need to. We will always keep it as a weapon, a tool to be used whenever we need it. It’s smart for us to do. You may not know your power yet, but one day you will. I hope that you never have to use it, but it’s inevitable when it comes to families like ours.”
“Having power scares me.” I allow my feelings to come out.
Retribution: Skulls Renegade MC Book #10 Page 4