Chapter Fourteen
Nika exited the helicopter and immediately kicked off her shoes. She buried her toes in the warm, white sand and closed her eyes in bliss. The warm morning sun caressed her face. Behind her the whup whup of the chopper blades faded out as the vehicle lifted back into the air and disappeared into the blue sky. She knew the pilot had been instructed to come back in two hours, but for now she considered herself on vacation.
Maksim touched her shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She smiled up at him. “I’m fine.”
He took her hand and gently tugged her closer. In his plain T-shirt and cargo shorts he looked nothing like the vengeful mobster that had extracted her from the police station less than twenty-four hours ago.
Nika touched his face with her fingertips. It still surprised her sometimes that she could no longer see the bully when she looked at him. The lines of his face were clear to her now. Even when his brows drew together and he appeared to be mean as hell she could see beneath the mask he had been forced to wear for so long.
Maksim nodded to the sandy beach and the blue water. “Are you sure this isn’t what you want?”
She knew what he meant. This private island was a symbol of wealth and affluence that Nika had craved her whole life. She had watched the Petrovs siphon money off the people in their territory and use it to enjoy a lifestyle that Nika would have killed for. Katrina had been admitted to that world. She was set to marry Ivan Petrov and become queen of all this.
“I don’t want it,” Nika told him. She gazed out at the water churning just off the beach. “The cost is more than I want to pay.”
“I could keep working for my brother,” he offered. “I could demand a larger portion. He would give it to me.” Maksim’s dark chuckle made her smile. “In fact he would have no choice but to give me whatever I wanted.”
She wound her arms about his waist and rested her cheek on his chest. “I would never ask that of you.”
“I know. That’s why I would do it.”
Nika laughed and stood on tiptoe to press a kiss to his lips. “What a pair we are.”
“Ahh, there’s the welcome wagon.” He was looking at a point over her shoulder.
Turning, she saw her sister dragging Ivan down the beach. Katrina was in a turquoise bikini. Her skin was bronzed, giving her already perfect body a brilliant sun kissed appearance. The straight blond hair hanging down her back had bleached a few shades lighter. In short, Katrina Sokolov looked like a spoiled woman living a life of leisure. She was toned, taut, smiling, and obviously in love.
“I’m going to puke,” Nika grunted irritably.
Maksim pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Now, now, play nice while I talk to my brother.”
“Me?” She gave him a shove. “You’re the one with the lethal reputation.”
One shove turned into two and then resulted in a bout of wrestling on the beach that had her trying to push him down into the sand. Right then she had forgotten everything but Maksim. There was no Katrina, no Petrov crime family, and no reason to leave town. It was just Nika and Maksim and the sound of their mingled laughter.
“Oh. My. God!” Katrina squealed. “Look at the two of you!”
The reason for her and Maksim’s visit to this private getaway came back in a rush. Nika watched her sister snuggle close to Ivan. The two of them were truly, disgustingly happy together. At least that was something. Right?
“I told you it would work out, Ivan.” Katrina poked him in the shoulder.
The elder Petrov didn’t look convinced. Probably because there was absolutely nothing in Maksim’s expression to suggest he was there to pay a social call.
Nika sighed and took her sister’s hand. “Come on, let’s go have a look at your cabana of love.”
Katrina started to stare over her shoulder at the guys, but Nika dragged her off. They took a path that curved inland. Gradually a palatial house appeared. They topped a rise and Nika realized that the building was situated on a narrow strip of land between two beaches. It would have spectacular ocean views on nearly every side.
Her sister started to head down to the house, but Nika stopped her. She realized that she didn’t want to see the place. Not at all. There was no reason anymore to sit and stew over the luxury her sister was getting to experience. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t what Nika wanted.
“Let’s stay out here,” Nika requested. “Please?”
Katrina shrugged. “I suppose. Don’t you want to come pick a bedroom?”
“Oh, we aren’t staying.” Nika dug her toes into the sand and sat down. At this point she didn’t care if she got sand in her shorts. She was moving to a new city tonight and the beach wasn’t going to be part of her life anymore for a long time.
“What do you mean you aren’t staying?” Katrina’s eyebrows shot up. “Of course you are! You’ve been wanting a vacation like this forever.”
“Yeah. I have.” Nika nodded. “And then I realized that all of this is just stuff. What I really want and what really makes me happy is Maksim.”
Katrina nudged her. “So you love him.”
“Yeah. I really do.”
“That is so cool. Sisters marrying brothers.” Katrina’s voice grew wistful. “We should have a double wedding.”
“Maybe.” Nika didn’t really know what to say. How could she tell her sister that there wasn’t going to be any double wedding because she and Maksim were defecting the Petrov ranks altogether? Talk about awkward moments.
***
Ivan clapped Maksim on the back and urged him to take a seat. “It’s so good to have you here.”
Maksim smiled, but it felt fake. Here they were sitting on the open-air patio with the brilliant blue Florida sky overhead and the waves crashing on the beach less than two hundred yards away. But Ivan was kidding himself if he truly believed that this was reality.
“I’m done working for you, Ivan,” Maksim said quietly.
Ivan’s smile disappeared. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I’m done strong-arming shopkeepers and business owners for protection money. I’m done dealing with shipping deals gone bad and Feds breathing down my neck. I’m not going to be your enforcer anymore.” Maksim kept his expression neutral and his voice steady. He had said and done some crazy things over the years, but it had never been so important to hang onto his composure.
“You cannot mean that.” Ivan’s expression was pensive.
Maksim watched his brother get up from his seat. Ivan paced over to the outdoor bar and pulled down two glasses and a bottle of Stolichnaya. Ivan might look as if he was perfectly calm, but Maksim could see he was anything but.
Maksim took the glass that Ivan handed him. “I do mean it, brother.”
“You are a Petrov.” Ivan threw back his glass, emptying the contents. “Petrovs stick together. You have a responsibility to the family!”
“I am tired of that responsibility dragging me down each time I leave the house.” Maksim had never been more certain he was making the right choice. “After all these years my soul is stained.”
“A tad dramatic, don’t you think?”
The words set Maksim off more effectively than if someone had lit a fuse on a stick of dynamite. He shot to his feet. “Dramatic? You think I’m being dramatic?”
“Maksim, calm down.”
“The hell I will!” Maksim shouted. “You calm down. That’s your specialty, not mine. You’re the one who goes and sits in a café down the street to avoid having to face the gritty reality of what being an enforcer means. You get to be the benevolent leader while I’m the bad guy. I threaten and bully and destroy people and their lives. I’m the one tasked with listening to them beg for mercy that I don’t even have the power to offer. What kind of man does that make me Ivan? Do you even care?”
Ivan’s face had paled several shades. Maksim didn’t care if he was shocking his brother. Maksim was done with the mafiya.
“Maksim, please just take a few days and think this through.” Ivan reached out, but Maksim pulled away. “I’m your brother. Your place is with me.”
“My place is with Nika. Because that is where I want to be.” Maksim shook his head. “Look at you, Ivan. Even when the chips were down in Hollywood you took Katrina and you ran here. You left everyone to clean up your mess. You are the kingpin who runs his empire from a tower so far away from the action that he doesn’t ever feel the heat. You call men like Buchanan and pull strings because you were groomed by our father to be better than the rest of us.”
“That’s not true!” Ivan protested. “I wanted to be like you. You were the bad ass and I was the bookworm. You think our father didn’t rub that in my face?”
Maksim had never really thought about Ivan’s relationship with their bastard of a father. The man had pitted the two boys against each other since their childhood. But now, after so many years Maksim was too tired to care.
“I’m sorry,” Maksim said softly. “I cannot do this anymore. I’m tired of the blood and the guilt.”
Ivan opened his mouth, but no words came out. Then Maksim saw Katrina and Nika approaching from the direction of the beach path. Both women had somber expressions on their face. Katrina went directly to Ivan and slipped her arms around his waist.
Nika waited, obviously trying to gauge Maksim’s expression to see how his discussion had gone. He knew without asking that hers had been equally painful. The two of them were the same, siblings who had lived in the shadow of their elders for too long. It was time to break free.
Finally Nika nudged her way beneath his arm. Maksim held her close, savoring the contact and the knowledge that what the two of them had was honest. There was no hidden agenda here and no expectations of things he could not live up to. Nika only wanted him as he was.
“They’re leaving,” Katrina told Ivan softly. Then she glanced at her sister and Maksim saw tears in her eyes. “Why is Maksim taking my sister from me?”
“He isn’t.” The tone of finality in Ivan’s voice suggested he had accepted Maksim’s choice even if he did not agree with it. “The two of them want to make a life together.”
“They can do that here, with us,” Katrina insisted. “When we go back to Hollywood they can live nearby. We’ll all be a family.”
Nika sighed and Maksim realized that while she was fed up with her sister in many ways, they still had a strong bond. Then Nika glanced up at Maksim. “We want our own fresh start, Katrina. Maksim can’t get that in Hollywood. He will always be Maksim Petrov, the mafiya enforcer.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way.” Katrina swiped at her tears. “I don’t want to lose my sister.”
“You’re not losing me,” Nika assured her. “I’m just going away to grow up a little, the same way you did. You had your chance when Papa sent you to school. Now it’s my turn.”
Maksim realized the truth of this and the thought eased his mind. Ivan had gotten the same opportunity for education away from the gritty everyday reality of the family business. Now it was Maksim’s turn to try something different.
“Be safe,” Ivan told him.
The whup whup of the helicopter rose over the sound of the waves. Maksim felt his stomach tighten, but this time it was with eager anticipation and not dread. This was the beginning of so much more and he was going to be sharing it with Nika.
She glanced up at him and grinned, her eyes sparkling with joy. “I’m ready to go. What are we waiting for?”