“Brat.”
“Brat!”
Brother.
Boris and Vladimir tossed back their shots of vodka and slammed their glasses down on the desk. Boris reached for the bottle and refilled their glasses without permission, not something he would usually consider. Though Sitnikov thought of Boris as a brother, Boris was always careful to maintain that professional distance between the Boss and his brutally loyal enforcer. Appearances in their circle were everything. The fact that Boris would take even this small liberty was significant.
Vlad picked up the shot glass between his crooked middle finger and thumb and raised an eyebrow at Boris. His massive second in command picked up his own glass and said, “Krov.”
Vladimir nodded and repeated, “Krov.”
Blood.
It was a reminder of the blood oath the men had taken when Boris had sworn featly to Sitnikov and followed him from Russia to America to help build an empire. Vlad had repaid Boris’ loyalty handsomely, but both men knew it would never be enough. Boris was a king in his own right, sporting the same eight-pointed stars on his shoulders, same as Vladimir.
Boris was happy enough to leave his younger brother sitting on the throne, heading the Grekov section of the Russian Bratva. Boris received regular updates from his informants and ran his empire from afar, while enforcing Vlad’s throne as his right hand and brother through blood oath. As he got older though, he became more restless and less satisfied with the situation. Rumblings out of Russia suggested Dimitri Grekov may be hiding things from his older brother.
“What is this about?” Vlad asked, placing his glass on the desk and leaning back in his chair. He studied Boris, taking in the brutally serious features.
“I must go home.”
Vlad nodded. It was as he expected.
“There is trouble in the homeland and it is past time I reclaim what is mine,” his dark eyes pierced Vlad’s, not as an enforcer, but as equals.
Pain stabbed through Vlad. Boris was like a brother and there was no better enforcer – or friend – to be had. He had been instrumental in placing Vlad in a position of power and had helped him hold that position, killing anyone that threatened them. He would be missed. Smiling sadly, he reached across the desk and lifted the bottle of vodka, filling their glasses once more.
They lifted their shots.
“Bezopasnoye puteshestviye, moy brat.”
Safe journey, my brother.
They drank and set their glasses back on the desk. Vlad sat back in his chair again and ran a hand over his short-cropped hair. The scar that ran down from his scalp to his chin marred an otherwise good-looking face, giving him a chilling visage. He eyed Boris with concern. “You will take good care while you are overseas, my friend? There is still an absurdly large bounty on your head.”
Boris flashed him a grin. “Fuck bounty, I long to see my homeland. To taste my old nanny’s pirozhki once more.”
Vlad laughed. Not something he did before Jane’s appearance in his life. It was good to see the tiny firecracker lightening up her too-serious husband. “You think with your stomach, old friend.”
“It takes a lot of calories to maintain this much bulk,” Boris defended, flexing his biceps. It was true. Vlad had picked up the bill more than once when they’d eaten out together.
The smile slid from Vlad’s face. “I don’t like it.”
Neither man spoke. They didn’t need to. They knew this call would come. They both understood that eventually Boris would have to go back and fight for his birthright. It didn’t make it right though. Boris would be walking into a bloody war with no idea who his friends and who his enemies were. If he could, Vlad would keep Boris in America, safe at his side. But he knew it wasn't a fair thing to demand of a man who was his equal by birth and by honour. Russia was a trap. They both knew it. Yet Boris would go anyway.
“I’m on the no-fly list,” Boris pointed out. They were both high up in the Russian mafia and as such, subject to federal regulations putting them on the watch list. Boris had been in prison twice making, his ability to fly even more difficult.
Vlad snorted. “Fuck the list. I will take care of your transportation. I have a cargo ship leaving harbour in two days. I’ll ensure your place on it.”
Boris nodded his gratitude. The reality of leaving in two days began to set in. He dropped his head between his hands and rubbed his face wearily, hunching his massive shoulders. Tattoos rippled down his arms and across his flexed knuckles.
Vlad studied him contemplatively. “What will you do about the girl?”
Boris lifted his head and looked at his boss with heavy eyes. If Jane were not in the picture, this conversation could not happen. But Vladimir would understand. “She is my future,” he said simply.
Vlad nodded, satisfied with his answer. They were men cut from the same cloth. They did not live easily and they did not love easily. The women they chose might fight, but in the end, they would surrender. “You will take her with you?”
Boris smiled grimly. “I have tried wooing her and she has resisted me at every turn. I have enjoyed the chase, but one way or another, she will leave on that ship with me.”
Vlad flashed him a grin and shook his head. “I do not know if I envy you, my friend. She is at least as deadly as my lovely wife. You will spend almost two weeks in a small cabin with her. Take my advice and make sure she has no way to create weapons out of anything. Or nothing.”
Both men laughed heartily. Jane Sitnikov, after all, had managed to turn something as innocuous as a toilet against her husband.
***
“No, absolutely not,” Laney said vehemently.
“Please,” Claudia begged, batting long mascaraed eyelashes at her young, deadly bodyguard. “Just one? I’m about to go to New Zealand on my honeymoon. You’re about to go to Japan to visit your family. We won’t see each other for a whole month! Who will it possibly hurt?”
Laney kept the desk between them and glared murderously at the tall, beautiful blond woman. “The last time I let you hug me you cried and nearly ruined your wedding makeup. You almost made me cry. This hugging thing is unacceptable. Everyone around here wants hugs. Hugging is not part of my contract.”
Claudia looked stricken and then nodded slowly, hanging her head. Her bottom lip quivered slightly and she said quietly, “I understand. You don’t want to cross that line with me. You… you’d rather just be employee and employer.”
Laney tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling causing her braids to slither over her back. She sighed heavily. She was being played. Again.
“Fine,” she snapped in annoyance. “You may hug me.”
“Thank you!” Claudia squealed, flying around the desk toward her.
“Just one!” Laney yelled as Claudia enveloped her in a flowery scented hug. She was much taller than Laney in her high heels, so Laney’s head was cushioned on Claudia’s generous breasts.
“Now this would make nice video,” a deep, accented voice said from the doorway.
“Don’t you dare, Russian,” Laney snarled, extricating herself from Claudia who was sniffling and patting Laney’s back like they were never going to see each other again.
Laney snapped a tissue from the desk and handed it to Claudia who dabbed at her eyes and turned to Boris with a bright smile. “It’s so good to see you again. Thank you so much for the wedding gift. $500 to Victoria’s Secret was both over the top and uniquely designed to piss off my husband.”
He grinned back and shrugged. “I like you. Thought you could use a treat. He’s got enough money of his own.”
“Very true,” she agreed happily, “which is why I made sure he wasn’t able to dispose of it.”
“Good girl,” he said approvingly. His dark eyes moved to Laney, lingering on her serious features. “May I have few moments with your bodyguard.”
Claudia glanced at Laney who nodded after a moment of thought.
Claudia smiled and touched Boris’ arm as she left. “Treat her kindly, she’s a little emotional right now. We hugged.”
“I am not!” Laney yelled as the office door closed behind a snickering Claudia.
As soon as Boris and Laney were alone in the office, the atmosphere turned thick with tension. Boris strode toward her. Laney stepped back, her ass bouncing off the desk. She didn’t want him touching her again. She lost all reason when he touched her. She couldn’t be trusted around him. Her hands went to her hips in a quick weapons check. One gun, two blades.
He smirked, giving her the impression she didn't have enough weapons.
“What do you want?” she asked eyeing him warily.
He ignored her question, instead stopping in front of her and looking down at her hungrily. She shivered, reading in his eyes the memory of their time together. The way he had pleasured her with is tongue and his fingers. The breath caught in her throat and her knees suddenly felt weak and shaky. She had to lock them so she would remain standing. She dropped her eyes so he wouldn't see the sudden heat in hers.
“It is true? You are going to Japan?” he growled.
Ah, so he had overheard her conversation with Claudia. It was better than she’d hoped. She wanted word to get back to him that she planned on going home for a while, but she hadn’t anticipated his turning up and actually overhearing her plans.
“Yes,” she confirmed.
“You are going back to him,” he said in a lethal snarl.
Her head snapped up, her cheeks firing with heat. How could she keep forgetting about her imaginary fiancé? Boris certainly never forgot about him. He had been a convenient fabrication at the time, but was now becoming a serious point of drama and contention between them. What could she do? Admit that she’d lied? He would demand to know why, which would lead to even more lies.
She nodded dully and dropped her eyes from him. He growled and curled his hands into fists so he wouldn’t grab her. She shivered, very aware of their great difference in size. She reminded herself that he never hurt her, no matter what she’d said or done to him. She wasn’t sure that would continue to apply if he found out she was charged with killing him.
“I… I’m sorry,” she whispered. Truly, she was sorry. It was becoming harder and harder to crush this big man’s feelings beneath the heel of her combat boots. It was beginning to affect her heart, too.
He sighed and ran a large finger down her cheek. She frowned as she caught sight of a fresh tattoo on his wrist. Frowning she grabbed hold of his hand and yanked it down. Taking his thick wrist in both hands she turned it over so the inside was facing her. He had two bands on his wrist, which indicated two stretches in prison. This did not interest her. She’d had this information before she’d even met him. It was the tattoo above this, a black outline of a sleek cat sitting primly with its tail wrapped around the name ‘Laney.’
Her mouth fell open. She let go of his hand and jumped away from him as though he were on fire. Covering her mouth, she stared up at him. He stared back with dark eyes that said to her the words she would refuse if he said them out loud.
“You. Did. Not,” she gasped, eyes wide and shocked.
“Day after the wedding,” he confirmed. “I knew there would be no other for me.”
“You are insane,” she declared, but her voice was filled with awe.
He reached for her, dragging her into his arms. She tried to resist him but he pulled her hands behind her back and held them easily in one hand. She was still too surprised to seriously fight him anyway. The gesture of getting a tattoo with her name, it was too much, too romantic. She was having trouble processing it. He pressed kisses along her forehead and down her cheeks.
“You are going to Japan and I am going to Russia, moy kotenok,” he breathed against her. “Let us go together. I am bound to leave on container ship in two days. It will take ten days to get to Hong Kong. From there, we can separate. You will not have to see me again if you do not want, but please grant me those ten days. Do not fly to Japan, do not fly away from me. Sail with me to Hong Kong instead, Laney. I promise you won’t regret it.”
She stared at him with wide eyes, frozen, the Master’s words ringing in her head. Here was her opportunity, presented to her on a platter, yet she was hesitating. Because she knew her heart and soul were becoming more and more wrapped up in this man. How could she accept his proposition and come away from the experience heart whole?
“I… I… don’t know,” she whispered, biting her lip.
He dropped to his knees in front of her still holding her wrists behind her back. He was so tall he was able to press his face between her breasts. He tilted his head up and looked at her, his eyes filled with possessive longing. “Please, kotenok, you must say yes. This is our time. I am perhaps going to Russia to face a death sentence. I have never loved as I love you. Say you will come with me.”
Laney stared back at him, remembering the way he could make her feel. Wanting more of the same. Wanting the feel of his hands and his mouth on her. Knowing he was right. This was their time. Her decision had nothing to do with the Master or her mission.
“Yes,” she whispered.