Mina
The spring in my step was a sure sign that although I’d had an average and somewhat alarming night, I’d had a good morning. A very good morning.
As I made my way to Nastasia’s around ten, I was 90 percent sure she would be awake. If not, I’d just have to get my knock on. When I arrived on her doorstep, I lifted my hand to pound it on the door, but thought better of it. Instead, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and sent her a text.
Me: Are you awake? I have brownies.
The door was thrown open a minute later. Nas blinked down at me, awake, dressed, and wide-eyed. She smiled, but when she glanced down at my empty hands, she scowled. “There are no brownies, are there?”
I pushed my way inside and snorted a laugh. “No. That was all part of my dastardly scheme to get you to let me in.”
She sounded insulted. “Not cool, shorty. Not cool.” She watched me climb the stairs. “Hey. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to say good morning to my hubby.” I smiled to myself. “Do you mind?”
I opened the door to Nastasia’s room and let myself in. The curtains had been drawn and clothes were flung around the room. Vik was sitting up in bed, a sheet pulled up to his waist, arms folded behind his head, watching the morning news on the TV Nas had on the wall. The moment he saw me, he beamed. “Damn, wifey. You lookin’ good today. You’re all glowin’ and shit.” He grinned cheekily. “You got lucky, didn’t ya?”
I loved Vik. I actually had a hard time believing that he and Anika were made from the same sperm and egg, that they shared DNA. Sometimes I wanted to give him my condolences on the fact that his sister was a giant asshole.
Today, I smiled at him. “I’d come over there and hug you if I wasn’t so sure you were buck-naked under that sheet.”
He gave his hips a light thrust to show me he was indeed bare under there, and I held a hand over my eyes, groaning.
He was such a pig. A lovable pig.
Nas walked into her room with a tray of coffees and I took one from her, giving her waist a light squeeze. She knew me too well. She winked at me, and I took a seat on the farthest edge of the bed, while Nas sat cross-legged next to Vik. She handed him a coffee, and he leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. And, God, it made me smile.
I loved how much he loved her.
“So,” Vik began. “How are you feeling about what you saw last night?”
Nas’ brow bunched as she trained an eye on me. “What did you see last night?”
Vik shrugged. “Business. Dealing with the Moretti prick.” Vik threw me a sympathetic look. “Mina saw Lev doing his thing.”
Nas’ shoulder slumped and she sighed. “Oh, Mina. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
They acted like it was a simple misunderstanding. It was the kind of reaction I’d have expected if they’d made an appointment with me they had to break, like it was so easy to understand and forgive, and yet I was still so confused. I held both hands around my coffee mug, warming them. “I don’t know how I feel about it. Lev didn’t exactly tell me much when we got home last night. I’m just really confused. Which is why I’m here.”
Nas reached across the bed to place a hand on my knee. “I wish I could have warned you.” She looked disappointed with herself. “I’ve been wanting to for weeks, but held back. Then when you started dating Lev, I thought he’d tell you about it.” She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, as if he would, right?”
I didn’t get it. “Why wouldn’t he tell me?”
Nas looked to Vik and he answered for her. “You know, Lev’s no stranger to female company, Mina.” Why do I need to hear this? I scowled at him. He grinned and carried on quickly, “But those women were there for one reason, and he made sure he spelled it out for them. Something about you has him treating you differently. He’s never let a woman sleep in his room before. Not ever.”
Nas smiled at me. “Not until you.”
My heart beamed and my belly fluttered, but I kept my game face on.
Vik added, “You’re the only person he’s locked into a room with him since he was ten years old. I don’t know why, but he’s included you into his small circle of protection. You’re part of his sanctuary.”
“Okay,” I muttered, elated by the information, but still confused. “What does that mean?”
Nas spoke gently, spelling it out. “He didn’t tell you because he’s scared to lose you, doll.”
I sipped my coffee, barely tasting it. “Right, okay. That still doesn’t explain what I saw last night.” I looked from Nas to Vik. “Either one of you want to enlighten me?”
Nas lifted Vik’s left arm and pointed to a tattoo there. A large, bold tattoo that read XAOC. “It all starts here, with Chaos.”
“What is that? Like a gang or something?” I asked carefully.
Vik chuckled. “Whoa there, small stuff. You call it a gang and you’ll get yourself shot.” He explained, “They call themselves a firm. We were a firm.”
Nas sat up straight. “Let’s rewind twenty-one years back.” She cleared her throat. “Bratva were the Russian mafia, the brotherhood. They’re still around, but they’re not advertising, you know. They’re a remote, private group. The only way to get in is to be the son of a member or have two of their members vouch for you. It doesn’t happen often. They don’t want people, cops namely, up in their business, so they started firms all around the world to throw off the scent of their business dealings. As far as the cops knew, the firms weren’t involved with Bratva.” She paused. “In come my father, Anton, and his brother, Ilia. Both men were members of Bratva, as their father and grandfather before them, but when they moved to the US from Russia, they were asked to start a firm, recruit some of the finest Russian-American crims known to man and do what firms did.”
I almost didn’t want to ask. “What did firms do?”
Vik pursed his lips. “The usual. Drug running, racketeering, extortion, arms dealing, fraud, smuggling.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. “You know.”
Nas went on. “So dad becomes president of the firm. Uncle Ilia became vice-president. Vik’s dad, Yuri, was account keeper. The firm was tight. The warehouse where they ran things was almost impenetrable. Then it comes time for the sons to be initiated.”
Okay, I was getting answers, but I had so many more questions. “What does that mean? Why did they need to be initiated?”
Vik smiled. “You say it like it was a bad thing, but to us, to the sons, it was an honor. We were enforcers. Me, Sasha, their cousins, Nik and Max, and their adopted brother, Asher. We all joined at the same time.” He grinned wickedly. “We were out of control. It was fuckin’ manic, baby. We had guns. We had women. We had money. Best years of my life.”
What about Lev?
I had to ask. “What about Lev? You didn’t mention him.”
Nas looked sad. “The men in the firm decided against Lev. They voted no. Said he was too unpredictable. Said they couldn’t trust him.” She added quickly, “Which was a total load of shit. They didn’t even give him a chance.”
It sounded screwed up to feel bad for Lev for him not being allowed into a group of thugs, but my heart squeezed painfully. He was always the odd one out. I hated that.
Nas continued, “So the boys are off getting their Chaos tattoos, leaving this one guy, Maxim, to enforce on his own for the night. None of the boys knew shit was about to hit the fan. No one but Lev.” She sipped her coffee. “The tattoo parlor that belonged to Chaos had its door busted in. A rival firm of Italians had been on our backs for getting in on their turf. One of their men decided to send a message. Comes in, guns raised, ready to shoot whoever got in his way.”
My heart started to beat faster. “What happened?”
Vik answered, “Lev happened. He came from behind, out of the shadows, threw the fucker down and let his fists do the talking.” Vik smirked. “We’re talking a grown-ass man with not one but two fucking guns, being overpowered by an unarmed fifteen-year-old boy, and being beaten so badly that he needed surgery to fix his ugly mug.”
Whoa.
Nas cocked her head to the side. “The Italian was disgraced. They were a laughingstock after that. Chaos was pleased. Well, you can imagine what happened after that.”
Let me guess. “They wanted Lev in the firm.”
“Yep,” she confirmed then smiled. “But he wouldn’t join. Said that he would protect his brothers, but he would never be Chaos. My father was disappointed. He wanted Lev to be a brother in every way, but he agreed that Lev should have a choice. He respected that.”
“What happened then, if he didn’t join?”
Vik clarified, “We were the enforcers, but Lev had our backs. He was our muscle. We did the collecting. He did all the fighting.” He hesitated before telling me, “It’s like he was born to battle, Mina. It comes so naturally to him. He can get lost in here.” He tapped on his temple. “You’re helping him find his way out of that prison.”
I uttered, “But he’s enforcing now, right? How did that happen?”
Nas spoke. “My dad was getting older, as was my uncle. Both had families. They wanted to settle down, but you just don’t leave a firm. It’s for life. When my Uncle Ilia died suddenly of a heart attack, my father took it hard. They were close. Dad’s health declined and he withdrew his responsibilities from Chaos. Bratva agreed that he was in no shape to lead.” She shook her head lightly. “Long story short, Bratva weren’t happy with the way things were being run down here without my father on board. The men were fighting amongst each other, fighting for power. People took sides. Loyalty fled. Eventually, Bratva forced the firm to disband. Everyone went their separate ways.”
Vik drawled, “You can take the boy out of the hood, but you can’t take the hood out of the boy. You get me?” I didn’t. He must’ve seen this, because he explained, “Most of the disbanded members formed their own illicit firms. We didn’t do that. We opted to stay neutral, start a business, go clean on the straight and narrow.”
My brow rose. “Doesn’t look like it to me.”
Nas raised a hand. “Listen, the boys, they’re not doing anything too crazy here. Sasha is a broker. He loans large sums of money to people at high interest. When they don’t deliver on the set terms…” She tried to smile, but it came out a wince.
I spoke for her. “They get the shit beat out of them. By Lev.”
Vik scoffed. “Well, of course it sounds bad when you say it like that.”
Ah, Vik. I couldn’t help but smile at him.
I spoke softly, “Well, that explains things. I still don’t know how I feel about it, but now I know.”
Nas eyed me. “Let me ask you something, Mina. Does Lev doing this affect how he treats you?”
No. It didn’t.
I shook my head.
She had another question. “Do you really want to know every time he thrashes someone? ‘Cause I don’t. Vik and I, we don’t talk about it. Or are you just sore that you found out by accident?”
I was sore about how I found out. It was all Anika’s fault.
Nas added, “Yes, he roughs those losers up, but those idiots know exactly what they’re getting into when they make a deal with Sasha. They’re not so innocent, you know. There’s a reason they can’t go through legal channels to get the money.”
I understood this. It didn’t make it any better though.
I shrugged.
Her hand came down on mine and squeezed. “Do yourself a favor. Put it out of your head. It’ll cause problems where there are none.” She stressed, “It’s a job, Mina. Just a job. Think about it as debt collecting.”
Vik nodded in agreement then uttered, “You can judge, Mina, but remember,” his eyes softened, “Lev didn’t judge you when he busted you stealing his brother’s wallet. He gave you a job, a place to live, and fed and clothed you when you had nothing.”
That statement hurt so much, because it was true. Lev didn’t judge me. Sure, he didn’t trust me at first, but he didn’t judge me. He was there for me when I was alone, without a friend in the world. And here I was questioning him.
My heart sank. I was a terrible person.
Vik went on gently, “This is the life we were dealt. It’s all we know. We might not be churchgoing, god-fearing men, but we’re not bad people, babe.”
He was right. Who was I to judge what was normal?
I was angry with myself. Lev was a sweet man. He was kind to me in a time when I did not deserve it. My mind made up, I went against what I had been taught about all that was good in the world. As far as I was concerned, I never saw what Anika planned for me to see.
It was not important.
It was long forgotten.