Time Stood Still

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Blank Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Copyright © 2014 London Miller

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, distributed, stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without express permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, or any events or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

Cover Image Copyright
© Valentin Valkov

Used under license from Shutterstock

Mom,

Thank you for the inspiration.

CHAPTER ONE

“Just a little to the left…no, back to the right. Okay, just—”

“Make up your damn mind!” Klaus snapped, the muscles of his arms straining since he was still holding the stuffed arm chair Lauren had bought for her new office.

It was still wrapped in a protective layer of plastic, but instead of him letting the delivery men bring it in as they were prepared to do, he’d carried it, seemingly unbothered by the weight of it, at least until he had brought it into the office and she was trying to direct him where to put it.

“You keep moving. You’re throwing me off.”

“I’m about to kill you.”

Smiling still, she waved for him to move the chair again. Despite his rather hostile demeanor, after getting to know him over the last few months, Lauren found that Klaus rarely meant half of the things he said…except to Mishca. While he might not have completely thawed, their relationship was significantly better.

“Have you considered his proposal?”

Klaus was silent for so long, she wondered if he would answer. It was a question that had been asked for a while now, mostly by Mishca, but once he had brought it up to her, she figured Klaus might be more willing to actually give her an answer.

Since Mishca had relocated many of Mikhail’s men in the
Bratva
, there were a number of positions open that he wanted filled. Namely, who his underbosses were going to be. Surprisingly, the first person he was considering was Klaus, though there were still details that had to be worked out with the other
Pakhans
as far as his involvement was concerned
.
It wouldn’t be as though he was starting at the bottom and working his way up the ranks, but was immediately being offered a top-tier job…it also didn’t help that he had rather publicly vowed to kill Mishca.

But Mishca didn’t care what they thought, and despite their recommendations, he had his own thoughts about what he wanted.

“I’m a mercenary. I don’t do politics, and I for damn sure don’t want the Russian breathing down my neck.”

Rolling her eyes, Lauren took a seat, running a hand through her hair as she pushed the strands back over her shoulder. “You would be a Captain, and besides, it’s not like you would let Mish boss you around.”

He shrugged, pulling one of his knives free to cut through the plastic. “Look, I’m still thinking about it. We can’t act like the last five years never happened. There are still some people that need to answer for that.”

“You two are exhausting. Why don’t the two of you just fight it out already, yell about how much you hate each other while you’re throwing punches. I feel like that would solve a lot of your problems.”

A surprised laugh escaped him as he dropped down into the freshly unwrapped chair, folding his hands behind his head. “I’d kick that Russian’s ass.”

“Not a chance. Mish could totally take you out.”

“Wanna wager?”

She nodded. “What do you want? But, I’ll only agree to this
if
you truly think about accepting his offer and stop stalling.”

Dropping his booted feet down, he grinned at her. “I’ll do you one better. Once my current contract is up, I’ll go freelance while I give the position a shot, but only if he plays by my rules and agrees to my demands. I win, he pays me triple my current salary, and I decide what role I play. He wins—”

“He wins and you have to start calling him by his actual name, and you give an effort in trying to mend your relationship with him. And even if you lose, you should do that anyway, let go of some of that anger you carry around.”

It was clearly the right thing to bet on. His entire face scrunched up in horror. “That’ll never happen.”

Glancing down at her watch, noting the time, Lauren grabbed her coat and purse. “Then don’t lose.”

“Yea, whatever. Going to see
the Russian
?”

The way he put emphasis on it made Lauren laugh. “Yep.”

“I’ll give you a ride.”

“I thought you had a job in the city.”

He grimaced, looking very much like Mishca as he rubbed the back of his neck. Since Jetmir, Klaus had been acting weird about whatever new assignment he’d been given. He hadn’t shared any information about the actual job, only said that he had one—one of the reasons he had given as to why he hadn’t planned on accepting Mishca’s offer.

“I forgot how fucking nosy you can be.”

Out on the sidewalk, Lauren pulled on her coat. Klaus was ever the imposing sight, leading the way to his car. Lauren had only ridden in it once before, but even she knew it was impressive.

Perhaps she should have bet on his car.

***

Mishca

It had taken two months for things to finally settle enough so that Mishca Volkov could take a step back from the dangerous world he lived in and take a breath. Since he had gotten married, he’d nearly been killed by a mercenary hired by his mother-in-law, targeted by the Albanian Organization that had once tortured and nearly killed his brother, Klaus. Not only that, but he had been brought up on RICO charges that had been dismissed nearly as quickly as they had come up. Though Special Agent Tabitha Green was no longer a problem, he knew that she wouldn’t be the only agent wanting to use him to make their career.

Then, there was the new position he had taken as the
Pakhan
over the Volkov
Bratva
now that his father, Mikhail, had been ex-communicated. It had been a calculated decision on his part, but one that needed to be done if only because he needed to make a statement to those that opposed him. It was rare that a
Pakhan
was forced from his seat—truthfully, it was unheard of—but with his track record, and the approval of the other
Pakhans
from the different organizations across the eastern seaboard, Mishca had it done. The ink of the cross—a symbol of his new position—had barely dried on his back before he’d had another placed on his chest, its rightful spot. Some of the others liked to remind him that he was far too young for the role, but with time, he was sure they would get over that assumption. Even still, he knew every move he made was being watched carefully.

Now that he had this mark of power, Mishca was still in the process of changing the very structure of the organization he was head of. Unlike his father, he needed people he trusted to stand beside him, not just those that were eager to spill blood in the name of climbing the ranks—excluding Luka who killed just to do it and not to receive any recognition for it. And more importantly, he only wanted people whose loyalty was to him alone. Some of Mikhail’s men had already walked away once they learned of his current predicament—that had taken care of at least a third of them—but that brought problems of its own as well, mainly because he had less bodies to put onto his territories.

This was why, even though he was unsure of why he’d come forth, Mishca had decided to take a meeting with Roman Pavlov, Viktor’s bastard son—a description that he, himself, chose to go by. Mishca had never particularly had a problem with him, but did make assumptions about his character based on his knowledge of Viktor and Roman’s mother, a woman that made Anya look tame. One thing he did know, however, Roman would be a good ally to have, if only until he betrayed him.

Roman was a part of the Pavlov
Bratva
, one that he headed himself though he had less notoriety than what he probably preferred. This was why he had suggested a partnership, an alliance of sorts that would send a message to their perspective enemies. It would only help their businesses in the long run so Mishca had agreed.

Now, they were moving on to the next stage.

“What are you suggesting?” Roman asked, voice even now that he knew Mishca was going along with what he wanted.

Mishca tapped his pen against the desk, meeting the eyes of the man that was family though he knew hardly anything about him. A little over half an hour ago, Roman had presented him with the business plan that he’d prepared. He could have done so without Mishca’s approval, so the fact that he was coming to him at all, told Mishca that Roman was planning to respect his role…at least for the moment.

Opening a gambling parlor was tricky enough since it wasn’t legal by any means, but Roman’s concept was solid, and could very well be profitable for the both of them.

“Green Hill won’t be easy,” Mishca responded. “The city is overrun with Colombians and Italians, but to my understanding, you already have a good working relationship with the Colombians, no?”

Roman looked very much like his father, same cold, gray eyes, square jaw, and slightly tan skin, and now he wore the expression of a man that was not used to defeat.

“I do, but even if I hadn’t, they wouldn’t be a problem.”

“See it done. I’ll pay you a visit in a few weeks.”

Nodding once, Roman stood, buttoning the front of his jacket, reaching to shake Mishca’s hand as he stood after him. “Give my regards to the missus.”

“Will do.”

As Roman was leaving, Mishca could hear voices out in the hallway, and already could feel the headache that those two were going to bring him before they even cleared his doorway.

Sure enough—as they always were it seemed—Alex and Luka came bursting through the door, whatever argument they’d been having tapering off to meaningful glares.

“What is it?” Mishca asked, aimed more towards Luka than to Alex.

Before Luka respond to his inquiry, Alex asked, “Why was Roman here?”

Mishca knew that their parentage was still a sore subject for her, and seeing Roman was probably a reminder of that.

“Business.”

He didn’t elaborate and wouldn’t even if he wanted to. She was fine, Mishca knew, though he did wonder how the trials of what she had been through still fared on her.

Alex met his eyes for a lengthy moment, shrugged, then walked over to the couch on the other side of his office. “Anyway, I came here to tell you what a shitty husband you are.”

Smirking, Luka went and took the seat Roman had just vacated, propping his muddy boots up on the table. Some days—on days very much like this one—Mishca still didn’t know why he kept Luka around.

Not too long ago, when Luka had made a call that Mishca hadn’t readily agreed with, he had reacted badly and as a result, Luka broke Mishca’ finger. It had initially pissed him off to the point that he had seriously considered demoting the enforcer, but he’d eventually gotten over it. And despite his rather eclectic personality—and a past he knew nothing about—he trusted Luka implicitly.

Contemplating pushing Luka’s feet off the table, Mishca knew there was no point since Luka would just put them back. Since he wasn’t going to like wherever this conversation was heading, Mishca tossed his pen down, counting backwards from ten in his head.
 

“What are you going on about, Aleksandra?”

“I’m just saying. If I were married to you, your ass would have been divorced two weeks in.”

Luka, the idiot, cleared his throat, raising his hand in the air as though they were in school and he needed permission to speak. Exasperated, Mishca pointed to him.

“She has a point.”

That was it. That was all he said.

His hand twitching with the urge to do violence, Mishca looked over at Alex, hoping she would add something meaningful to this conversation before he ended it entirely.

“Let’s review the facts. Viktor killed her father, tried to kill her and
then
Ross years later—oh and that cunt you used to stick your dick in—”

Mishca cut her off to ask, “When did you become so crude?”

She pointed to Luka, who of course, pointed to himself.

“Perhaps I need to reassign him.”

Mishca had initially believed, partly because Lauren suggested it, that Luka and Alex would be good together because she was more willing to open up to the enforcer than she was to Mishca, but he also didn’t miss the fact that his sister had had a crush on Luka since he had begun working for him. He hadn’t read too much into this only because Luka hadn’t seemed receptive—and his still frequent visits to the Gilded Room—but that didn’t mean he knew the enforcer’s true feelings.