AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She doesn’t see me. I don’t think she’s looking at anyone. She can’t be.
Because when it seems like our eyes lock, one side of her lips lift into a smirk. She must be in her head.
Sergey pulls up, and with the book tucked in my waistband, I climb inside the car.
Olive seems to watch as we pull away.
Drunken chatter floods the bar,mixing with music sung in my father’s native tongue. A few of my brothers, basked in a red, demonic hue by the string of bulbs that run over the counter, turn our way as Sergey and I enter.
I take off my sunglasses as soon as the door closes, my eyes grateful for the dim lighting.
Sergey slaps me on my back as Pavel, a tall brother with cropped hair and three of his side teeth missing, raises his beer.
“Look what Sergey mopped up.” The gap in his teeth shows as he smiles wide. “Alik, join us.”
The two brothers he sits with toss a hesitant look my way before glaring at Pavel. Sergey joins them and beckons me that way, but I grab a stool at the other end of the bar and crack my neck, ignoring them when they protest.
My eyes find the hall to the office. If Nikita were here, he’d already have had me sent back. He must be on his way.
“What are you drinking?” the bartender asks. I don’t remember his name. It isn’t often that I come here.
I hold up my hand and shake my head. Just as he’s walking away, Sergey slides onto the stool next to me and leans in close, grasping my shoulder like he needs the leverage. Pavel appears at my other side.
“So is it true?” Sergey asks.
I point my eyes at his hand until he removes it from my shoulder. “Is what true?”
“Has Vitaly been released from prison?”
I tense at the name. Until last night, I hadn’t spoken of anything having to do with my old friend for years. Eight years, to be exact. Mentioning his name may as well be a crime within the Bratva, which is just as well for me because I have no desire to ever speak it again.
I shrug. “I wouldn’t know.”
Nor would I care.
Good for him if he got out. If he didn’t, well, good for everyone else.
“You sure?” Pavel asks. “We figured you’d be the one Nikita would send to kill him.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“And you don’t have plans toleave?”
There’s so much interest in Sergey’s tone, he’s practically drooling for the gossip.
“If Nikita has plans to assassinate Vitaly, he hasn’t brought them to me, and I doubt he will. Nor would he need to.” My mouth dries, and I eye the bottles on the back shelf, regretting not getting a drink. “His nephew may have Petrov blood, but he’s a coward. He won’t be back.”
Of that, I am certain.
My lip curls as I see the image of my old friend in my mind. My eye burns from the memory of the contraption the men used on me due to a job that Vitaly talked me into, despite my repeated attempts at backing out. So much pain was felt that day, but it was nothing compared to the destruction the ripple effect caused.
I try to blink away the burn without looking strange, but I don’t know if I manage. I don’t know if either man could understand the phantom pain or how much I dislike talking about this man.
Yet I brought him up on my own last night, with Olive. When her image floats into my mind, it cools the burn and brings myattention to the notebook pressed against my abdomen. I don’t want to be here, talking about Vitaly when I could be reading Olive’s secrets. That’s far more appealing.
“Between you and me, some people may be disappointed to hear that,” Sergey says, his voice low.
His eyes lift, then he jerks away from me, quickly sliding off his stool and walking over to sit with the others. By the time I turn to face Nikita entering the bar, Pavel has scrambled away as well.
