AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The Kovak Syndicate sent out a large cleaning crew tonight. Our people saw them heading south. Whoever needs the cleanup must be important because they brought Viggo out of retirement to lead the crew.”
Indigo frowns darkly, always assuming the worst. “What’s the word from the Kovak family?”
“Oh, they’re being really cagey,” Noble says and roughly scratches at his beard. “I just gave Roman a call, but his assistant claimed he was on the floor at Verge and couldn’t be bothered. Aunt Fred rang up Katja, who offered some nonsense about her grandson being sick, so she couldn’t talk. Something’s happening, and we’re not in the loop.”
“A cleaning crew could be anything,” Tack offers before glancing at me.
I can’t help feeling we’re being set up to assume the worst. I even wonder if this cleaning-crew thing could be another ruse like Stitt’s sudden need to fuck with the club. Is Alec Brennan pulling stunts to pry the club away from the Syndicate?
Noble glances at his phone, likely wanting to talk with Zoot. “Deal with the body and get the fuck out of here. Watch out for each other out on the roads. The cops are making moves. Now, the Kovak Syndicate is playing coy about who got the white-glove treatment. Assume the worst and stay alive.”
An unease hangs over me hours later as I head home. Mostly, I find myself longing for the woman I lost.
I don’t know why I care. Natasha and I were never anything real. We hooked up twice at the clubhouse. Our marriage was a business deal. I never proposed to her. She never told me yes. We hadn’t even gone on a date.
Natasha was still the only woman to ever wind me up. I don’t remember how it started. Natasha wasn’t an easy woman to know.
But once those piña coladas hit her system at our clubhouse, she set her sights on me. Natasha was looking fine that night years ago, showing off her tanned legs, bare belly, and lovely tits. I didn’t even know she was so sexy under her usually dowdy, midwestern-gal clothes.
After arriving at my Douglas fir timber–frame home, I let my Ruger Super Redhawk idle on the wide driveway. Deep down, I know I bought this house for Natasha. Even after she ran off, I figured she was bound to come back and do her family’s bidding by marrying me.
Once she was mine, we’d move to this six-thousand-square-foot house. That’s why I spent nearly every cent I had to buy it.
Now, I park in my four-car garage and walk inside the huge, mostly empty house. I was broke when I moved into this place. Aunt Fred threw me a housewarming party to ensure I was comfortable. She never asked why I bought such a big house. I think she understood what I was doing. The woman’s always had my number.
When Natasha didn’t return, I never got around to selling the house.
More than once, I’ve considered asking my pseudo girlfriend, Aneta, to move here. Hell, we could get married. Neither of us will ever fall for anyone else. That’s why we’re together. Aneta lost her man to a twenty-year stint in prison. He might be a piece of shit, but she can’t love another man.
And I know I’ll never truly get over Natasha. When she looked at me in the mornings after our two nights together, I saw someone who needed me to protect her. She seemed fragile, and I liked how I could be her hero.
Instead of getting my second chance with Natasha, I live in this huge house with the two cats I adopted a year ago. The male kittens were meant to fix a bad feeling I couldn’t shake. My plan didn’t work, but I kept them anyway.
Lobster Mac and King Crab are perfect pets for a guy like me. When I go away for entire days, they rule the house. The cats have automated food, water, and litter stations. I went overboard with the cat furniture, even installing a ridiculously elaborate cat wall in the family room.
Whenever I return home, King Crab and Lobster Mac will follow me around. I enjoy how they sleep on my bed at night. The world isn’t as lonely when I hear them purring or roughhousing nearby.
Tonight, they curl up around my feet as I remain awake and replay old memories about the day my life went wrong.
NATASHA
My family’s flagship casino looms large over this part of Banta City. The flashing gold sign fills me with dread. I look at my sleeping babies and order my heart to stop racing. I need to be strong for them.
The SUV pulls into a side underground garage and parks near a secure entrance. Once the vehicle door opens, Leon leans inside to look me over.
The youngest and only blond son of Viktor and Katja Kovak stares at me in the darkened SUV. I can imagine his sharp blue eyes dripping of disappointment. He looks so much like our mother, even more than my sister and me.
“What is this?” he asks, gesturing at the sleeping children.
“They’re mine.”
“We’ll see,” Leon replies dismissively and backs up so I can climb around Jacinda’s seat and out of the SUV.
“I’m not leaving them.”
I try to sound strong. Leon isn’t a stranger. He was a tiny boy when I was born. We grew up together. He’s my brother, not a monster.
Yet, his expression is Kovak-cold. Like our father, he reveals nothing of himself unless a price is paid.
