Nikolai 2 (Her Russian Protector #6) (20 page)

"He didn't know about his nephew's side deal. I've given him until Sunday to turn the girl over to the judge. If he doesn't…"

"I'll handle it."

Nikolai put on his sunglasses. "Did you know he has cancer?"

Kostya nodded. "I found out last week. I didn't think it mattered. Cancer or old age, that guy is headed out the door soon enough."

"It matters. Don't keep shit like that from me again."

A few seconds of silence stretched between them. "Yeah. Okay."

"What do you know about An?"

Kostya glanced at him in surprise. "You think she'll inherit the old man's kingdom?"

"Who else is there? Bobby might make a play for it, but he's weak and stupid."

"I'll dig up what I can on her."

"What about Mando?"

Kostya shook his head. "Nothing yet. I'm digging, boss. I'll find him."

"I don't care who you have to pay or turn. We need to get to him. Handing him over to Julio and letting the cartel mete out their own brand of justice is the only way we hold off a war."

"And when the MC finds out we gave their sergeant-at-arms to the cartel?"

"They'll understand that actions have consequences. They'll learn that my connection to Romero doesn't give them a free pass to kill kids in my city." Nikolai put his hand on the door of the SUV but didn't open it yet. "Did you know Vivian was gambling?"

Kostya betrayed himself by flashing his tell. "Look, it was only a little bit of money here and there. If she had gotten into trouble, I would have taken care of it."

The idea of another man, even one he trusted and loved as much as Kostya, coming to her rescue burned him up with jealousy. It wasn't a reaction that he was proud of but there it was.

"When I found out, she was just a kid, boss. She was working for the restaurant part-time, and I could tell she needed the extra money. They were small bets, and she was careful about it. She wasn't yours yet so I didn't see the point of bringing it to your attention." He rubbed his thumb over his key ring. "I thought she had earned the right to a little fun. It wasn't hurting anyone."

Nikolai started to tell Kostya that he should have come clean after he had married Vivian, but that wasn't on Kostya, was it? It was on her.

"The last bet, the one she put on the fights? I figured that was her way of making sure that Sergei and Bianca could be together. You know how she is about her friends. I didn't realize you were going to sell him to Bianca until after that deal was made."

The harshness of the way Kostya described that particular transaction almost made him flinch. For all his righteous indignation about staying out of the skin trade, Nikolai hadn't hesitated at the chance to buy Sergei's contract from Maksim. He might not have been forcing Sergei to live in a ramshackle whorehouse or service dozens of men a night, but he had forced the man to break bones and spirits. He had forced Sergei into a cage to fight other violent men with the unspoken threat that if he didn't do as he was told Maksim would find a way to extract payment from Sergei's mother and brother. How was he any different than the madams and pimps he sneered at?

"Boss?"

Shoving aside thoughts of Sergei, he looked at Kostya. "If you need me tonight, I'll be at the house."

"How is Ten working out?"

"He's fine."
He will be, once I've had a chance to straighten him out.

"Good." Kostya took a step back and reached into his pocket for his lighter. "I'll let you know if I have any luck smoking out Mando."

Nodding, Nikolai slid back into the SUV and buckled his belt. He gestured for Artyom to drive. His mind raced in a thousand different directions. There were so many variables to plug in to the various equations. Very few of the outcomes pleased him.

When they arrived at the house, he sent Artyom home for the night and hoped the captain would use the time off wisely. Come Sunday evening, Kostya and Artyom would be holding down the city for him. If anyone was going to be stupid enough to make a move, it would be done the moment he was out of town. To outsiders, the family would be in a weakened position. That assumption couldn't be more wrong. His men would bloody the streets before they lost even an inch of territory while their boss was away.

"Boss." Ilya greeted him from the back porch. "Your wife and her friend are inside with Ten. I sent Boychenko home. He has to be at the gym early in the morning."

"That's fine." Remembering what Arytom had said, he asked, "So…tension?"

Ilya shrugged. "It's the first day. It will get easier for both of them."

Hoping that was the case, he entered the house and hid the gift bag for Vivian in the mud room closet where their heavy winter coats were stored. Certain the two women would be in the library, he made his way across the house. His lips drew tight when he spotted Ten leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "What's wrong?"

Not moving off the wall, Ten jerked his head toward the door. "She locked me out."

"What do you mean?" He tested the door handle and found it locked. Irritated by the discovery of a locked door, he rapped his knuckles on the door. "Vee!"

She took her sweet time unlocking it. The fact that she opened the door only far enough to peek out riled him up even more. Addressing him in Russian, probably to spare Bianca the inevitable uncomfortable urge to eavesdrop, she asked, "Yes?"

"You know how I feel about locked doors." He hated the panic that gripped him when he heard a door lock. It was a holdover from his early years in that horror house of an orphanage. The irrational reaction was one he couldn’t control and one that embarrassed him to even admit. Vivian knew that. He had told her that in their first weeks together living in this house as man and wife. She had promised not to put locked doors between them.

Her frustrated expression softened. "I wasn't locking you out." She opened the door wide enough to peek out and glare at Ten. "I locked him out."

"Why?"

"Because he's a jerk."

"So?" Nikolai wasn't going to argue that point. "He's not here to be your friend, Vivian. He's here to be your bodyguard. He can't do that if he's out here in the hallway."

"He doesn't need to be attached to me like a parasite when we're here in the house."

"That's his call to make. He's the one with his ass on the line if something happens to you."

"Like what? A paper cut? That's the worst thing that might have happened to me in the library." Her eyes narrowed, and she studied him with a suspicious stare. "What are you hiding from me? Why are you so worried about my safety all of a sudden?"

"You know why I'm worried about you." He cast a pointed look at her stomach.

"No," she argued. "That's not it. Not all of it, at least. What aren't you telling me?"

His patience thin, he hissed harshly, "Are you sure you want to open that door, Vivian? Do I need to remind you about the bag of money that was dropped in our kitchen this morning? You're the one who wants truth and honesty—but only from me. What happened to no secrets, Vee? Huh? So much for us being partners."

She blinked a few times. He realized a moment too late that he had never snapped at her like this. Never. Not once. The fact that he had chosen to do it in front of two other people made him feel worse.

"Vee, I—"

"It's all right." She smiled weakly. "You're right." Glancing over her shoulder, she seemed to remember that Bianca was waiting. As if nothing had happened, she opened the door and gestured for him to come inside. For a moment, he lingered there in the doorway and simply studied her face. Artyom was right. Vivian was changing. She was learning to use masks.

And it killed him. It fucking slayed him.

All the things he loved about her were the things that made it so difficult for her to play the role of perfect little mob wife. If he wasn't careful, he was going to lose her. He was going to push her and squeeze her and mold her into someone he didn't even recognize.

He slid his arms around her waist, kissed the top of her head and prayed she would let him make this right later. She had made a mistake keeping the gambling from him, but Kostya and Besian were right. In the great scheme of things, it was a tiny indiscretion. She hadn't hurt anyone. She hadn't gotten into trouble. She had placed a handful of bets over the span of four years.

Deep down inside, he knew exactly why this bothered him so much. She wasn't supposed to be the one with secrets. He was supposed to know everything about her. She was supposed to be the one constant source of light and goodness in his life. There were no dark corners or closed doors in her life.

He wanted to have zero reasons to mistrust her. All while he kept secrets and told white lies and did terrible, horrible things right under her nose. The hypocrisy of it turned his stomach.

He turned his attention to Vivian's friend. Bianca sat at the small table in the library where Vivian sometimes sketched while he read in one of the comfortable chairs. She had her back to the door and seemed to be putting an awful lot of thought into copying the Russian phrases on her notepad. "Bianca, it's good to see you."

She twisted in her seat and smiled. "It's nice to see you too." She gathered up her notepad and her oversized purse. The buttery yellow leather seemed impossibly bright against her rich, dark skin. As usual, she was dressed to sheer perfection. The girl had style and a smile that made a man think of sinful things. It was easy enough to see why Sergei loved and adored her.

Making a show of glancing at her watch, she said, "I need to run. Sergei will be home soon. I promised to handle dinner tonight."

Still holding Vivian close, he asked, "What time are you two heading to the airport on Sunday?"

"I think Sergei said eight?" She tucked her notepad into her purse along with the capped pen. "What about you two?"

"Eight. You're staying at the same hotel as Erin and Ivan?"

"Yes."

"And Sergei's mother and brother are joining us on Tuesday evening?"

She nodded. "They'll be with us until Sunday morning when they fly back to Russia."

"I haven't had a chance to talk with Sergei about the immigration situation. It's going well?" He had recommended a better, more expensive lawyer earlier in the month. The attorney had useful connections and could speed up the process.

"He had a meeting with his new lawyer earlier this week. It seems promising so far."

"I'm glad to hear that. It will be good for the entire family to be here together."

"Yes, it will."

Moving his arms to Vivian's shoulders, he guided her to one side of the doorway. "Ten?" The man stepped forward but said nothing. "Walk Bianca out to her car.

"
Da
."

"Oh, I don't need an escort," Bianca hurriedly replied with a slightly nervous laugh. "I'm a big girl."

"It's no trouble." Just to ensure that she understood this wasn't up for debate, he added, "I insist."

Vivian stepped away from him and walked Bianca out of the house with Ten a few steps behind them. He moved to the window overlooking the front yard and watched Ten escort Bianca to her car. When Ten boxed her in with his larger body, Nikolai curled his hands at his sides. Ten had never been violent or inappropriate with a woman, but prison had a way of changing a man and never for the better.

Ready to intervene, he closely watched the pair and relaxed when Ten behaved himself. He was trying to flirt with her, that much was clear even from this distance, but he didn't cross any lines. Bianca was a strong woman and more than capable of putting even a man as intimidating and huge as Ten in his place.

He watched Ten take Bianca's hand and hold it up to the light from the antique-style street lamps. It was easy enough to deduce the topic of their conversation.

"If Sergei catches Ten leering at Bianca like that, he'll shatter Ten's jaw." Vivian had returned to the library but didn't come closer to him. She hovered near the doorway. He didn't want to dwell on the reasons why she was distancing herself from him.

Not taking his eyes off Bianca and Ten, Nikolai nodded in agreement with Vivian's statement. "A shattered jaw will be the least of Ten's worries if he tries to seduce Bianca."

"Even if he tries, he won't succeed. Bianca is committed to Sergei, and he to her. They're unbreakable."

"No couple is truly unbreakable," he murmured without thinking. A moment too late, he realized what he had said. He spun to face Vivian, but she was already gone. Her habit of traipsing barefoot around the house allowed her to move so quietly. Kostya would be so proud of her stealth.

Searching her out, he left the library and came face-to-face with Ten in the entryway. He put a hand on the larger man's chest. Ten's eyebrows raised at the rough touch, but he didn't pull away. "Yes?"

"Leave Bianca Bradshaw alone. She belongs to Sergei, and I will let him break you if you put another hand on her."

Ten's jaw clenched and unclenched. "I didn't hurt her. I was warning her."

"About?"

"You know."

Nikolai replayed the scene he had watched play out in front of his house. "You warned her about Sergei's mother."