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Whatever you need, my boy. August laughs. I’ve said it a thousand times. No one gave a shit about our struggles until you appeared. My men are yours. What do you need?
A smile pulls faintly at my lips. All the trouble at the Docks and reduced shipping had the greatest impact on the Mafia families here in Russia. Money is at an all-time low, with no safe way to ship weapons, drugs, or more. And with Aleksander looking elsewhere for weapons rather than helping his own people, the Nikolaevs were mine the second I set foot here.
“Pakhan is getting suspicious. I need to move our plan up, and I’m not sure we have the backing of the Irish anymore. Whatever firepower you can spare, I’ll take it.”
Send me what you need, August says.
“Thank you. Is there any way you can get a squad into the US? Undercover?”
Consider it done, my boy.
We discuss a few more details, and by the time the call ends, the world outside is dark and the weight on my shoulders is suffocating. I sigh deeply and run one hand through my hair.
“Moving the dates up means we won’t be in a strong position to overthrow Aleksander,” Andrev says cautiously.
“Well, what the fuck do you want me to do? Without the Irish, we’re sitting ducks, anyway.” I groan and toss my phone on the desk, done with calls.
“I’ll call my contacts,” Andrev says. “See if we can get eyes on the meeting.”
“Please,” I agree.
Long-laid plans are beginning to slip, and my easy path to Pakhan is fading away by the second.
But I still have one weapon no one expects.
I have Alena.
Her loyalty is all I need.
33
ALENA
This place is as close to paradise as a girl is gonna get.
I’ve been here just over a week, and I’ve been wanting for nothing. Within the first few days, Kristof handed me the key to the gigantic library that takes up most of the West Wing. The dust sheets prove how often this room was used—although, in Alyona’s words, it’s simply because she has better things to do than read. A quick dust, rearranging a few pieces of furniture, and the place is a haven.
Kristof explained that his mother had been a big reader and his father an extravagant collector, so when they came together, the library was a culmination of both their passions. Several books are so rare and expensive that they’re locked behind glass cases, and each time I pass them, they whisper to me about what could be inside.
I spend hours in that library, making my way through hundreds of Russian folktales and adventure stories and learning about pieces of my birth culture I otherwise would have been blind to. Time doesn’t exist there, and if it weren’t for my personal bodyguard, Chek, reminding me to eat, the library would surely swallow me up with its mysteries.
When I’m not reading, Nastja spends her time taking me shopping.
Despite the Manor seemingly being in the middle of nowhere, there are several towns within driving distance that we spend hours in, browsing through boutiques and draping ourselves in fashion I could only dream about back home. Everything purchased is because I like it, not because it’s an expensive gift to compensate for an absence or neglect. Anything I desire that can’t be found in those towns is ordered in. In a blink, I’m utterly spoiled with anything and everything I could ever want, from clothes and shoes to designer jewelry and even a dress made by a designer who creates exclusively for the British Royal Family.
In a short time, Nastja becomes the sister I never had, and her companionship grows on me. She’s full of life and sass, taking no shit from anyone on top of always looking fabulous. I find myself wanting to be like her, strong and beautiful, with the world at my feet. She softens the pain I feel from missing Katja and even helps me pick out a few slinky pieces of lingerie to surprise Kristof with.
They go down very well.
Ivan is more withdrawn than Nastja, but he still spends time with me. He set up a cinema room next to the library with every film and show I could ever possibly want to watch. I don’t ask how he gets his hands on movies that aren’t even out yet. The one time I commented on it, he simply winked at me and walked away.
This place is paradise.
The most heartwarming aspect is getting to see Kristof with his family. Despite being stressed, he seems more relaxed here than I ever saw him back in America. Maybe it’s the Russian air or being back around his home that keeps a certain lightness in his step, but it warms my heart each day I see it and warms my soul each night he comes to bed and bundles me in his arms.
I’m falling in love with him. That much is clear now.
The obsessive infatuation I felt for him is slowly fading, being replaced with something much deeper and stronger than I could ever imagine.
