Chapter Eleven
Nika would never have thought she could be excited to walk back into her father’s flower shop. Yet when Maksim dropped her in the alley a block away, Nika found herself hurrying to get home. It had been over a week since she’d seen her papa. She might not miss the work, but she certainly missed his smile and the quiet way he would tease her throughout the day.
“Papa!” She shoved the door open and dashed in through the back.
Nika passed the cold storage and the table where she always sat to remove the thorns from their roses. The radio was playing soft and low in the background. Papa probably hadn’t heard her. His hearing wasn’t what it used to be.
“Papa!” she called again.
“Nika?”
She finally spotted him in the front display window, rearranging some of the dried floral arrangements they kept on hand. He turned and took two steps in her direction before opening his arms wide.
Nika flung herself at her father and sighed with happiness when his arms folded her close. “Papa, I’ve missed you!”
“My little Nika,” he murmured. “My wild girl. How have you been?”
She drew back a little, wanting to show her father that she was truly all right. “I’m happy, Papa. I really am. It’s been a little adventure.”
His knowing gaze almost made her blush. Then he chuckled. “My girl needs a little adventure in her life. No? I think life here is too boring for you sometimes.”
Maybe he had seen more that she gave him credit for. Nika allowed herself to be tugged toward the two stools where they sometimes sat to eat their lunch during quiet moments. She sat down and thought about boring and exciting and what role those desires might play in her life.
“Papa, did those policemen hurt you?” Nika asked. She hated to think they had left her father to face the dirty Tretiak cops alone. Perhaps if Katrina hadn’t been there she and Maksim could have kicked some butt.
Her father waved away the worry. “Things have been fine here, daughter. The police know that they cannot push me around. Not anymore. I pretend to be neutral. They know I am happy for my daughter, but they also realize I have no information to give.”
“Is it all over then?” Nika absently stroked the fronds of an orchid. “Is everything back to normal?”
“Are you asking if it is time for you to come home from your vacation? Then the answer is yes. I will be glad to have my girl back.” He glanced around the shop. “It has been busy and I’ve missed you sorely.”
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear though. And as her father patted her on the arm and suggested she might find her favorite pair of shears exactly where she left them, Nika had the thought that she was sliding right back into the unfulfilling life she had left such a short time ago. This wasn’t what she wanted. Not really. But unfortunately it was where she belonged.
Getting down from her stool, Nika moved to the little table in the back of the shop where she had been sitting on that day when they’d had to leave and go into hiding. She could recall every detail of that day with such perfect clarity. Katrina’s gushing about her upcoming vacation. The way her father had taken pleasure in her sister’s happiness, and her own sadness and frustration at being left behind yet again.
Nika picked up a rose and snipped off the thorns. It was so odd to think that she had spent years of her life doing exactly this. What purpose did it serve? What purpose did she serve?
The bell over the front door jingled, signaling a customer’s entry into the store. Nika heard the familiar timbre of her father’s voice. And then she heard something else that was equally familiar. It sent a shiver of awareness down her spine and made her wet between her legs.
Maksim.
“Have you been telling tales on us, Sokolov?” Maksim asked roughly.
“Of course not, Mr. Petrov. I would never dare.”
Nika put down her shears and got up from her seat. How long had she been there anyway? Ten minutes? Twenty? Time was simply a drop in the bucket when she was here at the shop. Now Maksim was in here threatening her father again? But why?
There was a rustle and a thump, and then something crashed to the floor. “I believe we told you what happens to people who betray the family, Sokolov.”
Nika burst out from behind the counter as though she’d been shot from a catapult. “You cannot be serious!”
She found herself gazing at a stone-faced Maksim. Her father gave a tiny shake of his head, but that didn’t deter Nika. There was no way she was putting up with more bullying. The Petrovs were trying to get away from that. She’d seen it! So why was her family still getting the short end of the stick?
“If you think I’m going to let you come in here and bully my father, Maksim Petrov. You’ve got another thought coming!” Nika got right in his face and curled her lip with as much anger and disgust as she could muster.
***
Maksim could not imagine a sweeter, more appropriate torture for this situation than to be so incredibly close to Nika and unable to do a damn thing about it. Saying she was angry barely scratched the surface of what he could see in her eyes. His hands itched to cup her face. He wanted to brush the softness of her lips with his thumbs and then kiss her until she was done yelling at him.
Unfortunately he couldn’t do that. There was still a strong possibility that the police were watching this shop. It was vital that he keep things as normal as possible. That meant Maksim needed to demonstrate that there was no partiality on the part of the Petrovs toward the Sokolovs.
“How can you do this, Maksim?” The strain in her voice tore him up inside.
Was there anything he could say to make this better? No. “It’s the way of things, Nika.”
“The way of things? Seriously?” She put her hands on his chest and shoved him back a step. “How can you do this? I know you don’t want to. I know you, Maksim.”
“Do you?” He wished he knew if this was true. The two of them had connected on a deep level he’d never experienced with another person, yet the fighting never seemed to end. “Or did you just think you knew me because we were forced to spend a few days in each other’s company?”
“Forced?” Now there were tears in her eyes. “Is that what you think?”
Her distress seemed strange, especially since he had been the one to say the “three little words.” She had never indicated more than a passing interest. Or perhaps she had. Maksim’s thoughts were so tangled.
He sighed. “Nika, just take a step back and let me do my job.”
“That’s all this is. Isn’t it?” She poked him with a finger. “It’s just a job to you. Well it’s my life!”
“Daughter, please,” Denis interrupted softly. “Go to the back and let me talk to Mr. Petrov. You are just making things worse.”
“Oh great. Is that what I do now? I just make things worse?” Nika’s voice broke over the words.
Maksim clenched his hands. The expression on her face gutted him. Then she turned on her heel and disappeared into the back of the shop. Maksim turned to Denis, knowing that everything he felt was right there on his face.
The older man’s lips thinned and his gaze lingered after his younger daughter even once they had heard the slam of a door somewhere in the upstairs living portion of the building. Denis Sokolov sighed. “Nika was always a difficult child.”
For some reason, this statement really pissed Maksim off. “Do you really believe that? Or is it just what you’ve been telling yourself all these years?”
Denis looked confused. He set aside the flower he had been placing and gazed at Maksim. His brows were drawn together in a tight line. “Katrina was always the curious one who would ask questions, but who never broke the rules. She tried to please and always seemed to find her place in the world.”
“And Nika would never stuff herself into your mold,” Maksim said coldly. “I know.”
“Nika never seemed to be happy with things as they were. She was constantly trying to shake things up or cause drama.” Denis seemed almost defensive.
“Yes. Because she wanted so badly for you to see her as herself and not just as Katrina’s willful sister.” Maksim realized he and Nika had more in common than he’d known. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to live in the shadow of a sibling like Nika has? Katrina has been your perfect child. You nearly bankrupted yourself and your shop to send her to school.”
Denis waved off the accusation. “She was so bright. The teachers always knew she would make something of herself.”
“And Nika wouldn’t?” Maksim had always respected the old man. This time he was just angry on behalf of a woman who had tried to be the daughter her father wanted, but had always seemed to fall short. “She’s worked by your side her entire life in a career she never even wanted, and yet that’s not enough for you.” Maksim snorted. “Ask yourself why not.”
Disgusted with himself and with Denis, Maksim turned and stalked out of the shop. At least he didn’t have to worry about looking like he and Denis were still on the outs. Anyone watching would think he was as frustrated with the floral shop now as he had been for the last five or six years.
Maksim only got half a block away from the shop when he saw Nika standing in the middle of the sidewalk. Her expression was bleak. He heaved a deep sigh and wondered if there was anything he could say that would make this situation better. He suspected there was not.
“Why?” she demanded once he was close enough to hear.
“To keep your father safe.” He realized that this dead feeling inside him had been present for so long he hadn’t even noticed it until Nika woke him up. Her fire and vitality had brought spice back into his life. Now going back to the way things had been was almost agony. “We all have roles to play, Nika.”
The way she looked at him was like a knife wound. “And now your role is being cold to me and my family? You and I can’t really be together because it would be against the rules?”
“Maintaining the status quo keeps the people we love safe.” Maksim was having a difficult time buying his own philosophy. That wasn’t a good thing.
“I’m done playing a role and I’m done playing by someone else’s rules.” Her chin was set stubbornly and her eyes flashed. “Aren’t you tired of being your brother’s bitch?”
The accusation caused a brief flare of anger, but Maksim had to admit that she had a point. He was Ivan’s bitch as he’d been his father’s before Ivan took over. “When things are settled, perhaps we can choose a new path.”
She shook her head, looking disgusted. “When are things ever settled, Maksim?”
He watched her walk away and realized she was right. There would never be a right time. There would only be differing varieties of wrong.