Chapter Eight
Nika opened her eyes, still feeling sleepy but knowing that ringtone was something she wanted to answer. It was Katrina calling, and Nika finally had something awesome to tell her lucky bitch of a sister.
The cool air inside the house chilled Nika’s skin as she made a dash back to her bedroom. She swiped her phone off the nightstand and dove into the middle of her bed. If she were lucky, Maksim would come find her and they could finish snuggling naked. For now she was going to rub her good fortune in her sister’s face. But only because she loved Katrina and knew her sister wanted her to be happy. Right?
“Hey!” Nika said brightly.
There was a brief pause. “Wow. You’re bubbly and weird sounding.”
“That’s a mean thing to say.” Nika snorted. “Does that mean I usually sound dull and boring?”
“It means you’re usually already bitching about something that’s pissed you off,” Katrina pointed out.
“Maybe I’ve had the best day ever.”
There was a long groan on the other end of the line. “You slept with Maksim, didn’t you?”
“Why do you say it like that?” Nika demanded. “It’s not like a bad thing. He’s amazing in bed. I’m telling you, the guy makes my toes curl when he kisses me!” Nika was practically vibrating with excitement. “We went to the gym. He drew me a bubble bath. And then? Oh. My. God! I’ve never met anyone like him before.”
“You’ve hated him for years,” Katrina reminded her. “How can all of that change now?”
“Maybe I just wasn’t understanding him and he didn’t understand me.” Nika thought about that statement. Perhaps it really was truer than she realized. “We talked a lot about the past and the shop and his job and how he feels about that. You wouldn’t think so, but Maksim is a really awesome communicator.”
“Nope. You certainly wouldn’t suspect him of that.” Katrina’s sarcasm was too much for Nika to handle.
“You know, it’s really shitty that you can’t be happy for me.”
“Why is that?”
Nika pursed her lips. “Well, tell me what you’ve been doing for the last few days.”
“Every night we eat dinner on the terrace and watch the sunset. I don’t have to cook because he brought down a crew that includes a gourmet cook that is the master of sauces. Really. I’m going to gain like a million pounds, except Ivan was sweet enough to bring a personal trainer too. So we work out together every single day. He runs on the beach and I swim in the pool. Then we sunbathe for a while and usually wind up making love on the beach or even in the water.” Katrina heaved a happy sigh. “It’s like a dream come true.”
Nika had intended to make the point that Katrina was living it up, so she should be equally happy for Nika that she was too. Now, Nika was getting just a little tired of hearing how her sister was getting spoiled with mafiya money.
“Nika?” Katrina sounded confused.
“I hate you,” Nika told her fervently. “Seriously. You’re so fucking spoiled and you don’t even realize it.” Nika affected a high pitched almost teenaged whine “Oh yippee! I’m Katrina and I found a super-rich boyfriend who owns a fucking island and takes me on vacation with a whole army of people to see to my needs. Maybe he even gets to hire someone to put his fingers in my pussy and make me come because I’m such a fucking tight assed bitch that I can’t be happy when my little sister finally gets laid after almost five years of celibacy.”
“Nika!” Katrina’s tone was total and complete shock.
“Save it, you spoiled brat.” Nika ended the call and flung her phone so hard that it bounced off the wall and left a mark.
“Wow.” Maksim rested his shoulder against the doorjamb. “Someone really pissed you off.”
Oh fantastic. Maksim was fully clothed. How great that her whole afternoon had gone wonderfully until her stupid sister called. Katrina was probably even responsible for Maksim being so obviously done with their sexy fun playtime. How come Nika always got the short end of the stick?
“What’s got your panties in a twist?” Maksim asked.
Nika rolled until she was facing the opposite direction. “I’m not wearing panties so they aren’t twisted. Not that you give a shit.”
“Hey now.” He sounded confused. “I just came to tell you that we’re breaking out of this joint.”
“What?” Oh great. It was like her sister really was trying to ruin everything. “Where are we going?”
“The beach house.”
Damn. Now Nika had to pretend to still be pissed because it was the principal of the thing that mattered, but really she was kind of excited to be headed to a luxurious house only a hundred yards from the water.
“When?” Nika did her best to maintain the bitchy demeanor. Sometimes keeping up the appearance of a bad attitude was damned exhausting.
He raised a brow. “I have to go meet with some people. When I get back you need to be ready to head out.”
“So, I just sit here like a dog and wait for you to come back? That is so rude.” Nika stood up and reached for her clothes. “Don’t worry. It’s not like I have much to pack anyway.”
“Whatever.” He started to walk away, but paused at the last second. Glancing over his shoulder, Maksim gave her a meaningful stare. “Sometimes it’s okay to be nice, Nika. It doesn’t make you weak. But this bullshit attitude problem you have going on is going to come back and bite you in the ass. I guarantee it.”
“Oh you think so?” She was fumbling, searching for a retort, but he had already left. The saddest part was that she had a feeling Maksim was right. Nika just didn’t know how to retract her claws and relax.
***
Maksim stared at Mikhail, wondering if his men could see how annoyed he was. “You’re telling me that after more than a week, the police have just stopped bothering Denis Sokolov and you guys don’t find this at all unusual?”
Mikhail shrugged and scratched the back of his neck. “We figure the police know they won’t get any information from Denis. Why bother him anymore?”
There was a smattering of Russian around the assembled group. Maksim lounged back in his chair and tried not to be pissed off. They were using the back office at Yuri’s gym as a place to gather. Maksim hadn’t wanted to leave Nika alone any longer than necessary so he had requested Ivan order the men to meet there.
As Maksim had promised Yuri, a man had come out to fix the fryer. Even now Maksim and his men could smell the snacks cooking, and already several teenagers were loitering at the tables while they watched the practice matches going on in the ring. Yuri seemed overjoyed by the developments, and Maksim felt like he was finally starting to make a positive change in the way the Petrovs did business.
“Okay, enough of that.” Maksim waved his hand. “Give me reports from the districts.”
“Main Street was up six percent,” Dolohov reported. “They haven’t seen much police activity, but there has been an increase in Tretiak presence in the area.”
Maksim was beginning to think that was pretty much the way things were across the board at the moment. The Tretiak family was everywhere.
Mikhail cleared his throat. “The Outskirts was up four and a half percent.”
“Okay.” It was less than Main Street, but not unexpected. Maksim gave Mikhail a curt nod.
Kirill and Josef glanced at each other before Josef began to speak. “Both the Waterfront and Charlie Street are holding steady. There’s been a one percent increase this quarter in Charlie Street, but our take on the waterfront is barely staying the same.”
“So this is where the Tretiaks are hitting us?” Maksim wanted to know. “Is that what you’re suggesting?”
“We have three shops there.” Kirill reminded him. “There has been a higher number of thefts in the last few weeks, and they’ve had a decrease in customers. At least one of the owners believes Tretiak men are chasing away his clientele.”
“I want the four of you to go down there and check it out,” Maksim ordered. “Tonight.”
“And you?” Mikhail wanted to know. “Are you coming with us?”
“No.”
They all looked surprised. He couldn’t blame them. Maksim could count on one hand the number of times he had sat at home and twiddled his thumbs during a mission like this. He generally wanted to be in the thick of things. It might even be argued that he was a bit of a control freak when it came to operations like this. At the moment he had other things on his mind. Like Nika Sokolov.
“Has Denis Sokolov said anything else about the police bothering him?” Maksim asked the group.
Josef pursed his lips. “The man has strangely become our staunchest supporter, but no. He has no other information than the names of the four policemen he gave to Ivan.”
Maksim didn’t need to go over the details of that rather delicate operation with the men. Ivan was carefully digging through the back door at the Hollywood PD in order to tip off Internal Affairs that they had members of the Russian mafia in their ranks.
“How’s it going with Nika Sokolov?” Mikhail’s smirk suggested he didn’t think it was likely to be going well.
Maksim wasn’t about to spread tales about Nika through the Petrov ranks. “It’s going just fine. She’s a delightful woman.”
“Now we know you are lying,” Josef said with a chuckle. “Katrina’s sister is a shrew.”
“Perhaps,” Maksim allowed. “But Nika is never shrewish without cause.”
“It must be difficult to be in charge of her safety when she would just as soon see you gunned down.” Mikhail’s tone was somber. “She’s a complex woman.”
“Really?” Maksim was starting to be annoyed by the rank familiarity in Mikhail’s tone when he spoke of Nika. Mikhail wasn’t an ugly man. Had the two of them been together in the past?
“My friend Ioann runs Club 68 on Charlie Street.” Mikhail looked as if he was just beginning to realize he had stepped on Maksim’s toes, unintentionally or otherwise. “Ioann says she likes to come in there and dance on the weekends. She doesn’t stay long and she never comes in or leaves with anyone.”
Maksim filed this information away for future use. Looking at each man in the group, he gave them a nod. “If you discover anything of note tonight, call me immediately. If for some reason you cannot reach me, call Ivan. Is that understood?”
There was a round of nods and few raised brows. This was certainly the first time Maksim had ever alluded to the possibility that he wouldn’t be immediately available. My how times were changing.