NIKOLAI (Her Russian Protector #4) (20 page)

I picked out the big, comfy reading chair by
the window for my phone call. My tummy a ball of nerves, I waited
for Lena to answer. She took her sweet time as usual and finally
picked up on the fifth ring.

"Hello?" She panted into the phone.

"Um…did I catch you at a bad time?"

She laughed. "I wish it was something that
salacious making me huff and puff like this! No, I was in the other
room of the hotel suite, and I tripped over one of my damn shoes on
the way over here."

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, how many times
have I told you to just put them in the dang closet when you take
them off?"

"Man, you and Yuri both!" Yuri's deep voice was
barely audible in the background. "Oh, hush," Lena playfully chided
her boyfriend. "I'm trying to talk to my bestie. Now go
away."

I smiled at the way they teasingly griped at
each other. "I can call back later."

"No, I want to talk to you." A door clicked
shut. "Okay—it's just the two of us now. Seriously, Vivian, are you
okay? I mean, you looked fine last night but I know it can take a
while for trauma like that to set in. After what happened at my old
house with Katya and Jake…" Her voice died off. "You remember what
a mess I was when it finally hit me. It's been almost two months
and there are still days when I feel that panic setting in and I'm,
like, one step away from freaking the fuck out. So—really. How are
you?"

"I'm okay. I'm not great but I'm getting there.
I just keep thinking about those other girls, the ones that didn't
get rescued. I'm so lucky, Lena. So lucky," I said
softly.

"Do you think they'll find them?"

"I hope so. I pray about it every chance I get.
The police said all the details I provided were helpful. Nikolai
promised me he'd do whatever he can to find them and to stop the
trafficking."

"I imagine he sympathizes with those
women in ways the two of us can't," she whispered. "Does
he
know that
you
know
about…
you know
?"

"I assumed that Yuri mentioned it when all that
awful stuff went down. Even if Yuri didn't say anything about me
translating that letter, I'm sure he assumed you would have sent me
a copy of it." I traced my finger over the bumpy stitching on the
leather cushion. "I don't know how to bring it up but I'll have to
eventually."

"Good luck," she said uneasily. "That's going
to go down as the most awkward conversation ever."

"Probably," I agreed.

"So—how is it staying there in his
house?"

"Um…it's different. I'm surrounded by his guys
all day long so I don't really have a feel for what it would be
like if it were only the two of us."

"Well, hopefully this shit with your dad and
whoever tried to kidnap you will be cleared up soon and you can get
a new apartment and shed the bodyguards."

Realizing the moment had arrived, I gulped.
"Well…the thing is…"

"Vivian." Lena said my name in that warning
tone. "What's going on?"

"Don't be mad at me." We'd been friends so long
I didn't know what I'd do if she truly disapproved of my decision
or tried to stop me.

"Vivi!"

"Nikolai asked me to marry him—and I said yes."
The words rushed out on one breath. I didn't even know if she'd
been able to decipher them because a long, tense silence stretched
between us. Dread filled me. "Lena?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to be honest."

"Do you?"

"Of course."

"Then, honestly, I think you'll
never be happy with anyone else but him. For whatever reason, you
two are tangled up in each other. Hell, maybe you're soul mates. I
don't know. But," she emphasized, "I will say this. If you're
thinking that you can save him or change him or whatever, you need
to stop it right now. You can't, Vivian. Nikolai is who he is. He
is
what
he is. You
have to be okay with that from the moment his ring goes on your
finger and not expect anything else from him."

She wasn't saying anything I hadn't already
considered. "I don’t want to change him, but I have to try to help
him get out."

Lena muttered a string of curse words. "Vivian,
that's dangerous. It's probably not even possible. Look, Yuri told
me what they did to Ivan when he wanted to get out. They nearly
beat him to death—and that was after they took every penny from him
that he hadn't squirreled away with Yuri. Ivan wasn't even close to
Nikolai's level in that organization. What do you think they'll do
to him if he tries to walk away?"

My gut twisted. "They'll try to kill
him."

"Exactly, baby girl." With a resigned sigh, she
counseled, "You have to be okay with him staying in that life,
Vivian. If you're intent on having him, you have to accept that
you're taking on a package deal—and all that crazy mob shit comes
with him."

Laid out in black and white it was a daunting
thing to consider, but I wouldn't be swayed. "I've made my
decision."

"And I support you."

"Thank you."

"So—when are we doing this? Do I need a dress?
Are we going to the courthouse?"

"Actually, we're going to get married in the
church."

Lena sputtered and choked. Coughing to clear
her throat, she cried, "The next time you're going to drop a bomb
like that warn me not to take a drink of the water bottle sitting
next to me, okay? You nearly killed me!"

"Sorry."

"Jesus." She sounded stunned. "Nikolai actually
went into a church with you—and it didn't spontaneously
combust?"

I glared at my phone. "Oh, haha. Very
funny."

She snickered. "Come on, Vivi! You have to
admit it's kind of wild, right? I mean, Nikolai in a
church."

"I'm hanging up now…"

"Quit being such a baby! I'm just teasing.
But—hey! If you're getting married in the church, does that mean I
don't get to be your maid of honor?"

I could hear her pouting. "You can be my maid
of honor but you can't be the sponsor of our marriage." I used
terms she'd understand. "Unless you want to convert?"

"Uh—no thanks. I really just want to stand by
you and look pretty."

I snorted with amusement. "I'm
shocked."

"So what's the date?"

"We're doing it in 3 weeks. I'll send you all
of the information later in an email."

"You better go see Bianca! If anyone can get
you a dress in that amount of time, it's her."

"I planned to call her later, after I talked to
Erin and Benny."

"Ooh," Lena drew out the word. "You think Erin
is going to get upset about you stealing her wedding
thunder?"

"Are you kidding? She's going to want to plan
everything."

"Let her. You saw what a fabulous job she did
with Benny and Dimitri's shindig. It'll be good practice for her
wedding in the summer."

"As if I'll have a choice!" I giggled. "Ten
bucks says she's ringing the doorbell tomorrow morning with an
armload of magazines."

Lena laughed. "That’s so Erin."

"Kitten?" Yuri called softly to Lena. His sweet
pet name for her always made me smile. "The car will be ready in
ten minutes."

"Okay. Hey, Vivi? I have to cut this short.
We're headed out for dinner."

"It's fine. Go have fun."

"Oh, we will." The way she said it had be
convinced they would be ringing in the new year with a very big,
ahem, bang. "Congratulations, Vivi. I really mean that. I hope
you'll be very happy."

"Thank you."

"All right. Send me the info and I'll call you
sometime tomorrow."

"I will. Happy New Year, Lena."

"Happy New Year, Vivi."

After saying our goodbyes, I ended the call.
Instead of dialing Erin, I sat back and stared out the bay window
overlooking the front corner of the yard. I envied Lena's white
Christmas and New Year's Eve in Russia and Amsterdam. I imagined
how beautiful it must be, everything pristine and white.

Winter in Houston rarely included snow. This
year it had been bitterly cold—to us, at least—but precipitation
had consisted of little more than drizzle and sleet. Today a fine
icy mist made it nearly impossible to see beyond the wraparound
porch.

There wasn’t much traffic on Nikolai's quiet
street so the blue truck coming down the road garnered my attention
as it emerged from the misty fog. Nothing about it aroused my
suspicion until it slowed to a crawl. When the window began to roll
down, I panicked and nearly dove out of my chair. Was it a
drive-by?

My heart jumped to my throat when a hand
appeared in the open window. The cold fog was too dense for me to
make out the man sitting in the passenger seat but there was
something so dreadfully familiar about that dark-skinned
four-fingered hand.

I started to scream for Sergei but something
told me to be quiet. The truck window closed and the vehicle
disappeared from my view. I got up and moved to the window, craning
my neck for a better look, but it was too late. The truck was too
far away now.

Was that…? No. It couldn't be. He wouldn't come
here. He wouldn't dare. He was being held by the
Marshals.

Unless…

"Sergei?"

The door opened a moment later, confirming my
suspicion that the behemoth had been keeping very close. He stepped
inside the library. His huge shoulders and uncommon height made the
spacious room seem suddenly small. "What's wrong?"

"When will Nikolai be home?"

"It will be late. He's on business."

I understood what he was saying without
actually saying it. "Okay."

"I can get you whatever you need. Anything," he
added. "You ask, and I'll bring it to you."

While I appreciated his offer, the one thing I
wanted right now was Nikolai. Not wanting Sergei to worry, I pasted
on a smile. "It's fine. It can wait. I'm going to call Erin and
Benny." I gestured to my phone. "After that, we should do something
about dinner. It's New Year's Eve, after all."

"Nikolai made arrangements for us. There's a
delivery coming in a couple of hours."

"Oh."

"He wanted you to rest this afternoon. I'm
supposed to make sure you relax."

Putting Sergei at ease, I promised, "After I'm
finished with my phone calls, I'll be a good girl and watch TV and
sketch."

But I wasn't sure how I was going to relax with
the specter of my father's return haunting me.

Chapter
Thirteen

"That went better than I'd expected," Nikolai
remarked as he reached for his seatbelt.

"I'm sure you had the bar set rather low," Liam
replied dryly. He stretched out his legs as the SUV driven by
Kostya pulled away from the carwash. It was one of the legitimate
businesses Nikolai's crew owned and a place where he occasionally
conducted sensitive meetings like the one they'd just had with
Lorenzo Guzman.

"His hardware needs seemed fairly easy to
meet."

"Most of them," Liam agreed. With a smile, he
added, "It will be a fair little earner for you."

Nikolai made a humming sound in
acknowledgement. For brokering the deal, Liam would kick twenty
percent his way for every successful shipment. Nikolai would split
ten percent between his captains and pocket the remainder. For
doing little more than matchmaking, it was a nice
income.

"But what are we going to do about the
shipments?" Liam reached into his jacket and retrieved a package of
gum. As he peeled away the paper wrapper, he continued, "I don't
have a supply route established here. When I run a quick shipment
to you every now and then, it's one thing. This calls for something
different. I need to be assured a certain level of
protection."

"Let me handle it. I've got something in the
works. It'll be large shipment containers aboard ships. It
shouldn't be a problem." He didn't add that the man he had in mind
was used to bringing in much riskier cargo.

"I trust you to get it under control, but you'd
better move fast. He wants that first shipment in two weeks and I
intend to get it to him."

"Relax. It will get done."

Liam tucked the empty gum wrapper into his
pocket. "So—is it true?"

Not fond of guessing games, Nikolai asked, "Is
what true?"

"The word on the street is that you were seen
going into church earlier today and that you're marrying that sweet
little ward of yours."

Nikolai's cheek twitched. He hated being the
subject of wagging tongues but this tale was salacious enough to
keep the gossips busy for weeks. "I am marrying Vivian."

Liam whistled. "That's a hell of a mess to
marry into, Nikolai. As fathers-in-law go, Romero Valero must rank
among the very worst."