Until the End (23 page)

It didn’t seem to faze him as she pounded at his back, or the fact that she caught him more than once with her foot in the stomach.

“Put me down!”

Lauren blinked again, recognizing Alex’s voice. More surprisingly, Luka seemed not to care that he was manhandling his boss’ sister.

As he was passing her, Luka saluted her with two fingers, smiling unabashed as he traveled down the hall. Alex looked up at the last minute, spotting Lauren still standing there watching them.

Lauren expected her to start yelling insults, flip her off, or something similar, but Alex just stared, her expression unreadable until the both disappeared around the corner.

Instead of addressing it, she silently closed her door back, going to take a shower before searching for breakfast. Some of the clothes she had left at Mishca’s were neatly hung in the closet, her undergarments in one of the top drawers of the dresser.

After her dresser, she dressed quickly, checking her phone for any messages from Mishca. Zero. Leaving it for the time being, she ventured out into the rest of the house, taking in her surroundings as she went.

It was not nearly as big as the manor, but it still had a homey fell that the manor had been lacking. It was decorated in cool shades of blues and grays, just like Mishca apartment in the city. She would have to ask him about that when he got back, how many residences he actually owned.

Finding the kitchen took no time at all, especially with the helpful guards standing around. Every time she rounded a corner, there was another one, staring down at her intensely as though if they dared look away, she would disappear.

All the appliances were state of the art, an island diving the kitchen in half. A bowl of fruit sat in the center of it, and on the stove top, multiple pots were bubbling away. It smelled good though she couldn’t identify what it was that was cooking.

“Hello, girl.”

A man had just entered the kitchen, the gun at his waist on display, a white T-shirt with sweat stains straining against his chest. He wasn’t particularly imposing, but it was the way he looked at her that made her feel underdressed, despite her wearing jeans and an over-sized shirt. He didn’t cower away from her like the others did, instead he made a point to move into her space.

But she had no reason to fear him, not when he worked for Mishca.

“You are girl, yes. Mishca’s?”

One thing she found weird, he didn’t call Mishca Cap, Captain, or Boss like some of the others did. Was he purposefully trying to be disrespectful, or did he have the same rank?

His shirt was nearly transparent, but she could see any sign of stars on his chest or arms. He did have a few tattoos, one of a rabbit in a hat, a web with a spider crawling, and a bloody dagger.

Lauren had no idea what those meant.

He blocked her way, smirking when  she tried to move around him again, not sure what else to do, already having lost her appetite. His teeth were yellowed and terribly crooked.

“Excuse me,” Lauren said politely though there was a hard note to her tone.

When she tried to walk past him again, he gripped her arm with bruising force, forcing her to stop, hurting her more when she tried to jerk free.

He spoke slowly, but in Russian so she had no idea what he was saying.

Lauren was ready to knee him in the balls when they were interrupted.

“
Ostavlyat’
—
Leave
.”

The girl had dark hair and even darker eyes that were made up with black eyeliner and smoky shadow. She stood eye to eye with Lauren, but had curves she could only dream of. More importantly, she didn’t cower in the face of this man, despite the warning he was sending her with his eyes.

Shoving Lauren away, muttering more words she couldn’t understand, he retreated from the kitchen. She watched him go, sighing when he was finally out of sight.

“Thanks,” Lauren said gratefully, rubbing her arm.

“I apologize for his behavior. Sometimes they forget their place. I’m Natasha, by the way.”

“Lauren,” she replied shaking her hand.

Natasha smiled kindly. “I know who you are. Mishca sent me to keep you company. I assume he didn’t like you alone with Mikhail’s goons.”

So that explained that one guy’s problem. “You said Mishca sent you?”

“Yes, I’m one of Luka’s girls.”

“
Girls
?” Lauren sputtered. While she might not have thought he was a relationship type of guy—from the ten minutes she was in his presence—she didn’t think he had multiple women.

Natasha laughed earnestly, noticing Lauren’s surprise. “I work at The Gilded Room.” When Lauren just stared blankly at her, she went on to explain, “It’s a brothel.”

“Oh, I—Mishca doesn’t make you work there, does he?” Would she even tell her if he did?

There were many things she was willing to look past, but this…this wasn’t one of them.

“There is no need for a guilty conscious. We are no longer forced to do anything we don’t want.”

So did that mean she enjoyed having sex for money? Lauren didn’t look down on the girl because of it, it just made her more curious.

If she had any doubts, Natasha
did
look well taken care of, better than she did at the moment.

“How about I fix you porridge, yes? Then we talk some more.”

By the time Lauren left the kitchen to go back to her bedroom—not wanting to chance another encounter with Lyov—she’d learned that Mishca was as mistrusting of the men here as she was.

He’d chosen to take Luka with him, leaving Vlad to watch over her, a fact she found surprising. Before, she had never seen the two separated, but now that she was here, he was sending his best enforcer to look after her. She couldn’t help but wonder whether or not Vlad resented the new position.

And he was worried about her and Alex being under the same roof.

Lauren didn’t know how Alex would react to her now that Mishca wasn’t here to be a buffer, and for that reason, she stayed scarce over the days she spent at Mishca’s house.

He hadn’t come by once, though she did finally talk to him. He asked the routine questions, but when he asked how she was being treated, she hesitated. Her mind immediately went to Lyov and his unnecessarily grabby behavior.

Despite Natasha’s warnings, and the few Vlad issued when he caught him at it, Lyov continued to harass her, forcing her to stay locked in her room the entirety of her stay. It also didn’t help that she had figured out what he had been calling her and Natasha—casually inquiring one of the guards.

Shlyukha—Whore.

As far as she was concerned, his opinion of her and Natasha didn’t matter, so she put it out of her mind.

It wasn’t so bad, being alone, since she was able to watch her fill of movies on Netflix—Natasha occasionally dropping by—but she didn’t tell Mishca any of this.

With what he had told her, he had so much to deal with and she didn’t want to add to it. Maybe after this was all over would she tell him about it.

Despite their relative proximity to one another, Lauren hadn’t seen Alex since Luka had carried her in, not that she’d had much of a chance. She was also unsure of what she would say on the day they finally saw each other.

Part of her wanted to say, ‘look what your family did to me,’ but the bigger part of her understood that as young as Alex was, she wouldn’t understand why Lauren did what she did, not when it had caused her to break up
their
family.

It was on this day that instead of waiting for a chance meeting, Lauren went in search of her. Alex wasn’t in the room Luka had dragged her to, nor was she anywhere Lauren could see, at least until she ventured outside, and by chance, looked up at the roof.

How in the hell did she get up there
?

She was laying on her back, a cigarette dangling in one hand. She looked relaxed despite the incline, swinging her foot back and forth to a beat only she could hear.

“Alex!” Lauren shouted.

She sat up, looking down at her, shielding her eyes from the sun. Alex could have responded, said anything, but she didn’t. Lauren waited there, trying to see what she would do next, but when Alex didn’t bother to even acknowledge her presence, she ventured back into the house.

She couldn’t force Alex to talk to her, just like Mishca hadn’t forced her. It was what she wanted and until she was ready, Lauren couldn’t force Alex.

Hopefully Mishca would be back soon and she wouldn’t have to stay here much longer, already missing her friends. Now, she liked to think she preferred her limited exposure to the
Bratva
.

“What did you want?”

Alex was waiting for her in front of her room door, arms folded across her chest as she kept cold green eyes trained on her. It reminded her of the way Mishca could stare people down when he was angry.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry, for everything. It’s no excuse, but I didn’t think about how it would affect you. I
was
trying to hurt Viktor and Mikhail, but not you.”

Lauren didn’t expect a response, and the one she got was definitely not what she was expecting.

“You seemed okay at first—made my brother happy.” Alex said, looking at the wall. “Then you pulled the rug out from under Mikhail.”

“I—”

“Nope, not done yet. I have every right to be fucking pissed because I can no longer see my mother—not that she gives a shit anyway—but despite all of this, how shitty I’ve been to you, and what Viktor did to your family,
you’re
apologizing to
me
. What’s
wrong
with you?”

Alex actually paused like she really wanted an answer, but as soon as Lauren opened her mouth to respond, she continued on.

“And God, Mishca has been moping around like a lost puppy for months, then you show up and bam, the slow descent into alcoholism is prevented. Do you have like a magic…” She gestured to Lauren’s lower half with a wave of her hand.

Unbidden, Lauren laughed. “Doubt it.”

“Look, we have one thing in common. Our love for Mish. You’re what makes him happy and I accept that. I
want
that for him. Can’t say I won’t call you a bitch if I’m drunk, but I’m not going to give you a hard time. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Alex frowned, pushing off the wall. “You’re not one of those huggy people, are you? ‘Cause I don’t think I’m ready for all your feels.”

Mishca was already on edge when he arrived back at the manor. Though he had originally assumed it would take a week to handle his escalating problem with the Albanians, he was back early, not that it had been his choice.

Despite Mikhail agreeing that he should handle the issue, the Albanians were now encroaching on his territory as well which didn’t settle well with the
Pakhan
. Not only had they shot up Mishca’s club—bringing new heat from the Feds—but they had now stolen a shipment of guns and ammo from one of Mikhail’s contacts, an infraction that would be dealt with soon enough.

Mishca was exhausted, had barely slept in the three days he’d been apart from Lauren, but he had also had a nagging feeling in his gut, one that made him to make a spontaneous trip to the house to check on her.

It wasn’t that she had complained to him, in fact her texts to him were all relatively normal, but it was what wasn’t there that worried him. Vlad’s updates to him had been contradictory to what she had told him.

Walking into the house, with Luka close behind him, Mishca surveyed the guards that were station near the front door. They were set here by his father, and while they did usually drop their gaze from his in a sign of respect, this time he thought he saw something else there before they looked away.

Without questioning it—knowing they would lie to protect one of their own—he moved past them towards the voices he heard in the dining room.

Lyov was sitting at the table, a plate of food set in front of him. Since he thought himself in charge of the men here, they all flanked him like dogs to a bone as he spoke in a hushed tone, his words not loud enough for Mishca to make out, yet even the sound of their laughter grated on his nerves.