ABRAM STARES AT ME through the dressing room mirror, his expression more like a scowl than anything else. I tilt my head to the side and look at the jeans I’m trying on. I need clothes, and not just sexy honeymoon clothes, I need—everything.
“I would invite a friend, but Timofei has forbade me from seeing any of my friends,” I announce.
I let out a sigh and walk back to the dressing room to switch these jeans out for a different cut and style.
I used to only wear one cut, one style, and one brand, but I’m trying to change my look up a little. I may be eighteen, but I’m married now, and apparently some kind of queen, according to Fei. I want to look a little classier, a little less… well… young.
I’m trying on a third pair of jeans when there’s a knock on the dressing room door. I open it and peak my head out to find Ashley and Inessa standing on the other side, both smiling at me.
I blink at the pair; Ashley’s blonde hair is thrown into a high ponytail, and she’s wearing jeans and a comfortable looking, loose t-shirt. Inessa’s dark hair is in a chignon, and she’s wearing a tight skirt that hugs her curves, with an equally tight shirt that does the same.
“Abram called. He said you needed some friends to help,” Ashley states. “Why didn’t you call?” she frowns.
I open my mouth and then close it, unsure of what to say. “She didn’t call because she probably thought you were just being nice when you originally offered. Plus, she’s obviously gone through a lot here lately and probably didn’t even think about it,” Inessa says, giving me a wink.
“Well, come out of there, let’s see what you’re looking at,” Ashley says, motioning for me to walk out of the room.
I don’t want to. I hate the jeans I’m wearing. Regardless, Inessa doesn’t let me stay behind the door. She reaches in and grabs my arm, pulling me out of the room. Ashley gasps and Inessa’s eyes widen. I have on mom-jeans, and they’re really, really ugly.
“What are you trying to accomplish with those? Is it to turn your husband off? I’m telling you that Timofei will still want sex, even with those hideous jeans,” Inessa announces.
“I wanted to look older,” I murmur.
“You succeeded,” Ashley states, wrinkling her nose.
Inessa grins as she puts her finger to her lips. “You want to look a little more mature, like a Pakhan’s wife, then?” I nod and she looks over to Ashley. “We’re helping you. By the time we’re finished, you’ll be yourself and feel better about it all at the same time.”
“Ummm, okay?” I mutter.
Inessa and Ashley both smile and they tell me to put my clothes back on. Together, along with Abram and the guards that each of them brought, we head out of the store and off to shop for a new wardrobe for me. A wardrobe befitting of a Pakhan’s wife, according to Inessa. I’m just happy not to be alone, and to have two women who Timofei knows and likes helping me.
“Be good to your ma, Misha. Do not give her any trouble, yeah?” I ask the baby boy in my arms. He smiles up at me and gurgles. I take that as his agreement to be a good boy for my sister.
“Weird that he won’t be stepping out of that door to glare at me ever again,” Oksana says as she lifts her chin to the house behind me, our father’s house.
Knitting my eyebrows together, I ask her if she’s upset with me, if she misses him, and she only smiles and shakes her head. “I miss the man I thought he was, Timofei. Nothing else.” I kiss my nephew’s soft hair and hand him back to my sister. She leans over and gives me a gentle hug. “Take care of your bride. I have a feeling she needs taking care of. Don’t be a stranger.”
Without another word, she walks over to the car and begins to strap the baby in. “You need me, I’m just a phone call and a plane ride away,” Mika states, walking up to me.
“Thanks,” I sigh.
“Sell the house; the memories will do nothing but haunt you,” he mutters before he turns and walks away from me.
I turn toward the house after their car has left, taking them to their waiting airplane that is set to deliver them safely to their home in Denver. Part of me wishes I were going with them, away from all of this—from the pressures I’ve just added to my already weighted shoulders.
“What do you know about this missing shipment?” I ask Konstantin as soon as I walk into my father’s old office.
“The crew in Canada claims to have sent it via rail. It was supposed to arrive around three in the morning. The crew receiving waited over an hour for their contact from the railroad to let them into the shipping container. When nobody showed, they went to the train car that was supposed to contain the merchandise, and they found it completely empty,” he explains.
“So it was possibly intercepted on the way, or was never even loaded?” I ask, more thinking aloud than actually wanting an answer. “Fuck, what a goddamn mess,” I shout.
Staring at my father’s computer, I wonder what in the actual fuck is happening, and how I figure it out. I look up at the bookshelves across from me and see pictures in their frames, pictures of our family, ones my mother framed and set on those shelves. That’s when I know that Mika is right. I need to get rid of this place. The memories will surely haunt the fuck out of me if I stay here.
“We need security footage. Is there any of them loading the merch, or of the train’s route along the way? If the train stopped, then someone could have gotten our shit off,” I murmur.
Konstantin’s phone rings and he holds up his finger as a look of confusion crosses his face. “What the fuck?” he whispers. “Okay, we’ll be there as soon as we can,” he grunts before ending the call. “It was located. In New Jersey,” he announces, “Cape May.”
“Cape May?” I ask, frowning.
“Yeah,” he nods.
Tapping my fingers on the desk, I look at the computer and then Konstantin. “That’s over two hours away by car. Do we have men there?” I ask.
“They’re already waiting. They won’t do anything without our go ahead.”
I stand with a nod. “Then let’s get the fuck out there.”
Konstantin drives while I call in for backup. I decide to put in a call to Yakov and Dominik, hoping that they aren’t too busy today and will be able to join me. My first day on the job, and it’s already a fucking disaster.
“We’ll meet you there, not a problem,” Yakov murmurs. “I’m just leaving the hospital. Sergei is doing well. Should be released tomorrow.”
I grunt, making a mental note to go and see him before he’s released, as he’ll probably catch the first flight back to Russia to get back to his Raisa. She’s probably beside herself with worry for her master.
I spend the ride toward Cape May checking in with my new Brigadiers, who all seem eager to work with me, and none showing any hostility, which is nice.
Then I decide to check in with Abram, who replies that he is sticking close to Devyn while she shops with Ashley and Inessa. The thought of the three women being together, becoming friends, it makes me smile.
“How is your Devyn?” Konstantin asks with a smirk.
“Shopping. And who is your intended?” I ask with my own smirk. He frowns and shrugs.
“I’m not going to pick a wife. I don’t want to have an arranged marriage.”
I grin and notice his jaw clenches. “If you want a pretty Bratva girl from a good family, you better fucking pick one, Konny. Otherwise, it’s slim pickings out there. Unless you want to marry for love and it doesn’t matter if she’s Russian or part of the organization?” I ask.
“Truth be told?” he says, waiting a beat before he finishes. “I don’t care if she’s Russian. It would be nice, but it doesn’t matter. I just want a girl who wants me for me. Not because her papa is forcing it, not for power or position, and not just because it’s time.”
“We’re different, you and me,” I announce.
“Yeah?”
“I never wanted to marry at all. Devyn was thrust upon me by my father. My ma wanted me to marry for love, and Oksana, too. She wanted different for us. We were never meant to have contracts, but we waited too long and didn’t date enough,” I murmur. “Honest to fuck, though? I wouldn’t change it a bit. Devyn was always meant to be mine. And Mika was always meant to be Sana’s.”
Konstantin and I don’t say anything else as he drives us toward Cape May. I don’t mind the scenic drive, my mind too consumed with Devyn, with the Bratva, with my father’s body—which is in the bottom of the river—and with whoever fucked with our shipment.
Once we arrive at the train, there are rail workers lurking around and a few Bratva as well. My eyebrows knit together as I step out of the car and slam the door behind me. Konstantin sidles up to my side, and we make our way toward the men.
“Hey, boss,” one of them calls out. “The workers are just as confused as we are,” he states as I walk closer. I lift my chin and urge him to continue. “Apparently, their routes are all computer generated and there was a glitch. This train switched with the one that was supposed to stop in Brighton Beach.”
My eyes widen. “Just some kind of glitch, huh?” I mutter.
“Apparently,” he grunts. “I don’t buy it, not for a second.”
“Same here. These guys paid off?” I ask, looking over at the railroad workers.
“Yeah. They know there’s a sensitive shipment and its ours. We’re offering it to them to split. They’re pleased as can fucking be about it, too; but we only have an hour to get the shit unloaded before they have to reroute the train.”
“Better get busy then,” I state. He nods before turning to the rest of the men.
Yakov and Dominik pull up just as the men begin to unload the rail car. I fill them in on what happened and they both look as skeptical as I feel about the whole situation. Yakov rubs his chin before he turns to me. “That story is bullshit, you know that, right? No way does a train glitch like that,” he states.
“No fucking way, especially one that goes back and forth all day every day. Something isn’t right,” I agree.
“Your men are looking up footage and everything, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I nod.
“Good. Once it’s gathered, we’ll look at it together. If this happened to you, no telling what could happen on my end of the organization,” he states.
Yakov and Dominik stay with Konstantin and me while the men continue to unload the train car. We talk about what the game plan is for a smooth takeover. Yakov liked my show of faith for my new men, giving them a break from paying tribute while I get my shit together. He also agrees that my father’s shit and his house needs to fucking go.
“I have to go see Sergei before he’s released,” I murmur.
“Tell the old fuck to get his ass better,” Yakov chuckles.
“We’ll meet at my father’s home, his office, tomorrow morning, yeah?”
Yakov lifts his chin. “Yeah,” he murmurs before he and Dominik leave.
Konstantin and I wait until the shipment is finished being loaded and then we follow it back to Brighton Beach, to the warehouse where it’s locked up tight.
Once we’re sure that it won’t be disturbed until it can be distributed in the morning, we decide to call it a night. It’s late, well after nine in the evening, though it feels like midnight.
I chance calling Sergei’s cell phone on my way home. I want to make sure he’s up for a visit from me. He surprises me by answering, and even more when he says he’s at a hotel, and not still in the hospital. I turn around, heading the opposite way from my home to visit with my Uncle.
My already long night seems endless, but I need to see Sergei. I need to know that he is indeed all right. Even if he’s already been released from the hospital, I have to see him with my own eyes.
“You look like shit,” I announce as I walk through Sergei’s hotel room door.
“You look like a pencil dicked spoiled prince,” he states with a glare.
I grin widely at his words and give him a hug, gently clapping his back. “I’m glad you’re alive and looking much better.”
“Much better is a little ambitious. I feel better,” he grunts.
“You leave tomorrow to head back to Raisa?” I ask with a smirk.
He frowns and I see just how concerned he truly is over his slave woman. “I’ve had updates on her. She’s not doing well. Plane is set to leave at six in the morning,” he says.
Letting out an exhale, I speak gently. “But uncle, can you leave?”
He shakes his head before his eyes lift to mine. “I checked myself out of the hospital against the doctor’s orders. I’m not supposed to be here, let alone fly. I also don’t give a fuck what these doctors say. If your Devyn was in another country and needed you, truly needed you, would you stay away from her? Would you give a fuck about doctor’s orders?” he spits as his worried gaze meets mine.
“Go home to your Raisa, uncle. Call me when you land, yeah? Peace of mind and shit,” I grin, rubbing the back of my neck.
This stubborn old fuck. There is no way that I can talk him out of leaving for Russia. “Maybe you take a doctor with you on the flight?” I ask hopefully.
“Maybe,” he lies. “You’re a good boy, you know?”
I shake my head, not believing a word of what he says. I killed my own father, killed him. I am not good, not a single part of me is good. Yet, I’m a Pakhan, and I have a woman whom I adore. A sweet woman who is at my side and will always be there.
“You did the right thing. If he would have lived, Misha, Oksana, and Mika would continue to be in danger, and no telling what he would have done with his men and their families. I have a feeling there is so much more to the whole story. Slowly, it will all unravel, and you’ll know for certain that you did the right thing.”
“Be safe on your flight, yeah?” I say, ignoring his sentiments. He places his hand on mine and gives it a gentle squeeze before he grins.
“Tell your Devyn we’ll meet someday soon. Maybe in Russia, when you bring her for a visit?”
“Will do,” I grin.
Turning around, I leave my uncle alone. I think about his Raisa that he’s so anxious to get back to. I have a feeling that she is much more than just a slave. He’ll never tell, but I think that she’s his in every way. She owns his cold heart. Something I never thought was possible when it came to Sergei.
Now, I’m ready to go home, ready to see my wife. More than ready to fuck my wife.