Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
We find Vlad in the old administration office. He’s sitting in the chair with a bullet in his forehead.
“Well fuck,” Feliks says, kicking a broken waste basket on the ground next to the door.
I’m seething. “Who the fuck got to him before I did?”
I hear someone behind us and swing around.
Vadim steps out from the shadows. “Hello, Nephew. I think we need to talk.”
41
BROOKE
I leave the hospital to run some errands and spend the next couple of hours shopping for baby items. But I’m so distracted by what just happened with Lev at the hospital, I can’t concentrate.
Yesterday afternoon I was angry at the both of us for what happened in his office so much I couldn’t sleep for it and I was prepared to keep being angry.
But today there was something different between us. The ice has thawed. And when he placed his hands on my stomach they had lingered, and I had felt something between us. The same feelings we had before I ran. I could see them in his eyes. Feel them in his touch.
I need to talk them over with someone. So when I receive a text message from Enya asking me to join her for an early dinner at one of the bratva’s restaurants, I jump at the chance.
The restaurant is a popular venue on the waterfront, but when I arrive, it looks closed. The sign on the door says it doesn’t open until five o’clock, but Enya’s message specifically said to meet her here at four.
Perhaps they’re opening early for us?
As I approach the doors, they open, and a beautiful woman welcomes me in with a big, glossy smile. She’s gorgeous. The kind of beautiful you can’t help but stare at. Wearing a silk suit in the deepest navy and a pair of Jimmy Choo stilettos, she looks a little overdressed to be a waitress, but leads me through the restaurant to a table outside on the deck.
While I’m being seated, one of the two bodyguards Lev insists I take wherever I go, leaves to do a perimeter check, while the other sits far enough away to allow me some privacy.
“Can I get you some water while you wait?” the beautiful lady asks in a thick Russian accent.
I don’t know why, but a cold, uneasy feeling crawls up my spine.
I let out a heavy breath and tell myself to get a grip. I’m safe. Still, I can’t help but glance at the bodyguard sitting mere yards away.
I give the server a smile. “No, thank you, I’m fine for now.”
She walks away, and I open the menu, but it’s all in Russian. Enya will need to translate it for me. Which makes me think that perhaps I need to learn Russian. No doubt Lev will want his son or daughter to speak it, and I should probably learn too.
I’m typing myself a note on my phone to look into online Russian language courses when a shadow falls across the table.
I look up and see Boris smiling back at me.
Instantly, my nerves are calmed. Behind him, I see Maksim talking to the lady in the silk suit. She touches his arm intimately, and I get the feeling that they know each other well.
“Brooke, how delightful to see you,” Boris says. “May I join you?”
I smile up at him. “Please have a seat.”
I’m sure Enya won’t mind Boris and Maksim joining us. After being at the hospital all day, Boris’ jovial demeanor might be exactly what the doctor ordered for all of us.
Boris sits and rests his big, meaty hands on the table in front of him. But Maksim doesn’t sit. Instead, he stands beside his father, and unlike his father, he’s not smiling.
The uneasy feeling I felt earlier returns.
Something isn’t right.
“It’s lovely to see you,” I say to Boris, trying to push back my sudden unease.
He smiles but there is no warmth. “Do you like my restaurant?”
I glance over to my bodyguard but he isn’t there, and a strange sensation begins to tingle in my stomach.
Get out.
I smile but it’s weak. “Oh, yes, it’s beautiful.” I pick up my phone, look at the dark screen, and then put it down again. “But unfortunately, it looks like I’ve been stood up. Enya just messaged me to say that she can’t make it. Looks like we’ll have to reschedule dinner.”
I stand and pick up my handbag and tell myself not to make it obvious that I’m freaking out. That there was no message from Enya. That I’m terrified because something in my gut tells me to run.
But I feel Boris’ eyes on me, and my hands start to shake.
“Sit down, Brooke,” he says calmly.
“I really must get going,” I insist.
“I said sit down,” Boris says again, this time with an edge in his voice.
My mind racing, I slowly sit. “Is everything alright?”