“I cut them off for reasons you know about.” She jabbed the taser into Louisa’s chest to stop her. “Now, leave.”
“You can’t make me!” Louisa screeched.
Blossom smirked.
“Yes, I can.”
Then she pressed the button.
*****
The taser had done its job. Louisa had dropped at the shock and writhed on the floor in tears. Blossom had backed away and the security guard had put himself between them, taking the taser from Blossom. Louisa had still been writhing when the police arrived. She claimed she had a weak heart but once Blossom showed the restraining order paperwork, she changed her tune and started whining about her baby boy.
Blossom’s ears were still ringing from the shrieks.
Her boss had suggested she go home early. Blossom wasn’t in a state to work and they knew it. Even then, Blossom felt bad for leaving.
She felt emotionally drained as she drove home. There was something about Louisa that just made her feel like the energy had been sucked out of her. She was an emotional vampire.
Blossom was surprised at how the previously pleasant woman hadn’t shown her true colours until Adrian had been threatened.
Illya’s car had been gone when Blossom left for work that morning. But now, at two in the afternoon, it was parked and Illya was just getting out. Blossom pulled into her driveway and climbed out, giving him a wave.
“Hey, there.”
Illya looked up. Then he smiled. Blossom’s heart jumped. God, that smile was gorgeous. Blossom was amazed she hadn’t dropped her panties already.
“Hey. You’re home early.”
Blossom raised her eyebrows, putting on a bit of sass.
“Maybe I come back at this time. And while we’re at it, you’re back early as well.”
Illya grimaced. He reached into his car and brought out a backpack, which he slung over his shoulder while he shut the door. Blossom couldn’t stop herself from staring. She'd thought he looked good in suit pants and a dress shirt. Add a jacket and tie to it and he was drool-worthy. Blossom swallowed and fished out her backpack, nudging her door closed and locking the car up.
“I had an…incident in the office.”
“Dare I ask?”
“I don’t know yet.” Illya locked up his car and moved around to Blossom’s side. “I wouldn’t call it an incident but she ruined my trousers.”
Then Blossom saw the dark stain on Illya’s trousers, right over his crotch. It looked like he'd had an accident. Then she realized what he'd just said.
“She?”
Was Illya having an affair with someone at work? Blossom felt herself shutting down. Of course it would happen to her. Someone else had a prior claim to her neighbour. Whoever it was had to be a very lucky woman.
“Let’s put it this way,” Illya said grimly, “when she is the sister of Anton Romanov, you try to be respectful. But it’s not easy when she thinks she’s got the right to sit on your lap without any panties on.”
“Charming.” Now Blossom was beginning to feel awful for flirting with a taken man and relieved that Illya hadn’t reciprocated the advances. “Sounds like a spoiled teenager who thinks she can play with the big boys.”
“She’s twenty-three.”
“That makes it worse.”
Illya grunted.
“It certainly does. She’s been like this since she came back from college last year. Now, I would never hurt a woman. I was raised to be respectful to women. But Nicoletta makes it very tempting.”
Blossom could imagine. She'd never met the woman but already she wanted to smack her. What woman in their right mind would sit on a man’s lap with no panties on? That wasn’t right.
“Now, your turn.” Illya indicated her car. “You’re home early and I doubt the women’s shelter sends their workers home before the end of their shift.”
Blossom sighed. She leaned against her car. They weren’t standing very close but she could feel the heat coming from his body. It was making her legs weak.
“Adrian’s mom came into work and tried to get me to drop the charges against him.”
“Charges?” Illya blinked. He stared at her. “You never said you had charges against him.”
Blossom snorted.
“I’ve just met you. I’m not going to give you my life story, am I? I’ve got an RO against both of them. Louisa Rollins got angry and tried to attack me. I tasered her and she went down.” Blossom scowled. “I work in a domestic violence shelter, it’s not exactly the best environment for frightened women and children.”
Illya’s face darkened.
“I hope she was arrested.”
“Oh, she was.”
Blossom was glad about that. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with the woman. Although she had a feeling Adrian would be back once he found out. If he hadn’t been arrested too.
Blossom sighed and turned towards the house.
“I’d better go inside.”
She needed a bath. A long, hot one. Then she was going to put Netflix on and watch whatever she found interesting.
But as she neared her house, Blossom could feel a shiver up her spine. Her gut tightened. Something was wrong. She could feel it in the air. Then she shook it off. It had to be something to with Adrian and Louisa. It was residue from their shenanigans.
Then Blossom saw her front door. It was open. Not much but enough to know that it was ajar. She stopped. That had been shut and locked this morning. Blossom had checked it three times before she left, there had been previous times when she'd accidentally left the door open or the key in the lock. How she managed not to have a burglary before then Blossom had no idea.
“Blossom?”
Blossom turned. Illya was at her side. He looked from her to the door and his expression hardened. Putting his backpack down, he reached into the back of his pants. Blossom gasped when she saw the gun when his hand came back out.
“Get back by the car. Wait there for me.”
Blossom wasn’t about to argue. She hurried back to the car, getting inside and locking herself in. If there was someone in the house, Blossom was planning on getting out of there as fast as she could.
Waiting for Illya felt like hours. Blossom was getting antsy. What was he doing in there? Had he come across the intruder?
Then Illya was coming out, tucking the gun back into his waistband. His expression was grim. Relief flooding her body, Blossom clambered out and hurried over to him. Illya grabbed her before she could go past him.
“Let me go!”
“You don’t want to go in there.”
Blossom stopped.
“What do you mean? What’s happened?”
Illya sighed. He didn’t not look happy.
“All of your belongings have been destroyed.”
Blossom couldn’t get it through her head. It took a while for it to sink in. Someone had vandalized her home? The only home she'd felt truly safe in? She began to tremble.
“Oh, God.”
Illya slipped his arms around her and held her close.
“It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Blossom didn’t know about that.
*****
Blossom’s house was a complete and utter mess. Furniture had been broken or ripped apart. Paint had been sprayed on the walls, spelling out racial epithets. The bedroom had been completely turned over. All of Blossom’s clothes had been ripped or ruined by bleach.
Illya had never seen such an awful sight. Whoever had gone to this much trouble wanted to obliterate Blossom from existence.
He shuddered to think what could have happened if Blossom had been there.
Blossom had been very shaken. She saw her home as her sanctuary and now she couldn’t even call it a home. Illya could tell she'd been trying to hold back tears. Much as he wanted to hold her, he'd slipped her his key and urged Blossom to go inside. She didn’t need to see the damage that had been done.
Then he'd made a few phone calls, one of the
m at Blossom’s request. Illya knew this wasn’t going to be good when he came face to face with Anton but he had a feeling Anton wouldn’t let him down. Despite his sternness, Anton wasn’t about to let an innocent woman get hurt.
Especially if Illya managed to make the case that Blossom meant a lot to him.
It was agonizing waiting for backup. Illya paced around outside the houses, trying to get his thoughts in order. Anger and shock were at the forefront of his mind, followed by fear and worry. Blossom could have been seriously hurt or killed and he would have only been a few feet away. That made Illya cold.
He'd only been here two days and trouble seemed to have followed him.
Nearly an hour after he called, a black Mercedes pulled into the street and stopped behind Illya’s car. Ivan was driving and Anton climbed out of the passenger seat. Illya couldn’t see Anton’s eyes with his sunglasses on but he could tell that Anton wasn’t pleased. Ivan didn’t look too happy, either.
“This had better be good, Illya,” Anton growled as he approached him.
Illya braced himself and glanced towards his house. He hadn’t checked on Blossom yet. If he had, he wouldn’t have been able to walk away.
Chapter 4
“You remember I told you about my neighbour?”
Anton groaned.
“You didn’t call us here for a woman, did you?”
“Someone broke into her house, Anton. The whole place has been ripped apart.” Illya ushered him towards the house. “Take a look.”
And look they did. Anton and Ivan went through the whole house, going from room to room in silence. When they came back downstairs, Ivan looked stunned. Anton was shocked. He took off his sunglasses and frowned at Illya.
“Did you call the police?”
Illya shook his head.
“They wouldn’t be able to do anything beyond take a statement.”
“But they can do more than us.”
Illya sighed. He didn’t have good footing with the police. And he'd been raised in a household where he was told the police weren’t to be trusted. He wasn’t expecting good things from them at all.
“Anton, how many times have you told us not to use the police unless we absolutely have to? We keep it in the family.”
Ivan and Anton exchanged looks.
“Your neighbour is not family,” Anton pointed out.
“Then do it for me.” Illya wished he didn’t sound like he was pleading. “I don’t ask for a lot and I know this is an odd request for someone I barely know but I’m willing to put my reputation on the line to help her.”
That shocked even Illya. Did he really mean that? The thought that Blossom Fairbrother had managed to sneak past his defences so quickly was a concerning one.
Ivan glanced at Anton and shrugged.
“I think he means it.”
Anton still didn’t look happy. But he nodded.
“Fine. I’ll get a few people in to see what they can do. But if we’re wasting our time, you’re in trouble.”
“With what's following Blossom around, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”
“What does that mean?”
Illya was saved from answering when he heard a car pulling up. Glancing out the open front door, he saw a tall, beautiful black woman with braids down to her waist climb out of a smart Fiat. That had to be Blossom’s friend. He hurried towards the door.
“One moment, sir.”
The woman was strolling up the driveway like she had all the time in the world. Illya went to meet her.
“Are you Jenny?”
“I am.” Jenny gave him a smile and an appreciative look. “I’m guessing you’re Illya.”
“I take it Blossom’s spoken about me?”
“We’re friends. Of course she would.” Then Jenny’s smile faded and she frowned. “What happened? You said something had happened to Blossom’s house?”
“We got home and Blossom found her door open.” Illya glanced towards Blossom’s house. “The place is a complete mess.”
Jenny’s jaw tightened and Illya was sure he saw her eyes glowing with her anger.
“If this is Adrian, I’ll kill him,” she growled.
“Join the line,” Illya grunted. “But I think Blossom needs you right now. She’s in my home.”
“Okay,” Jenny said briskly, walking towards the house. “And she’s coming with me. She’ll spend the night at my place.”
“No problem.”
Illya watched her go. Then he noticed that someone else was watching her. Ivan was standing in the doorway, openly staring after her. Illya bit back a smile as he approached his brother.
“Is that the friend?” Ivan asked. He was still staring even after Jenny had gone inside.
“Yes.”
Ivan whistled.
“Wow. This neighbourhood has a lot more attractive women than I realized.”
Illya snapped his fingers in front of Ivan’s face and pointed towards the door.
“In. Now.”
*****
Jenny had been insistent that Blossom would spend the night in her apartment. Blossom wasn’t about to argue. She didn’t think she could go back into her house, not after seeing Illya’s expression once he'd been inside.
Her special place had been desecrated. Blossom felt very cold and alone now. Her house was the one place where she could feel safe, even with maniacs like Adrian and Louisa knocking on the door every other night. Now, there was nothing.
As soon as they'd left, Jenny drove Blossom to the nearest mall. They spent time distracting themselves, buying the things Blossom needed for the next few days. A bit of retail therapy normally worked but Blossom still found her mind wandering back to her house. Maybe it was a blessing she hadn’t gone inside. She didn’t want to see what had really happened.
Sometimes, it was nice to live in blissful ignorance.
Jenny was the consummate host once they got in. She set everything in the kitchen and pushed Blossom towards the bathroom. Blossom wasn’t about to argue, not when Jenny'd had a jacuzzi installed a few months previously. That was enough to make anyone live in the bathroom.
Jenny was sorting out Blossom’s various purchases when Blossom finally left the bathroom, wrapped in Jenny’s spare robe and feeling like a wrinkled prune. She gave Jenny a smile as she sat at the kitchen table.
“That bath felt like bliss.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Seeing as you probably used all the hot water.”
Blossom winced.
“Sorry.”
Jenny smiled.
“After what you’ve been through today, I don’t think anyone can be mad at you for that.”
Blossom watched as her friend put the plastic bags away and went to her laptop, which she opened up.
“I’m going to order Chinese for us. Sound good?”
“Please. I’m starving.” Blossom burrowed deeper into the robe. It was thick and soft. And very warm. “Thanks for letting me stay here tonight. I don’t think I could handle going into my house.”
“You didn’t see it?”
“No, Illya wouldn’t let me.” Blossom shuddered. “But the look on his face said everything.”
Jenny glanced at her thoughtfully.
“You think Adrian did this, don’t you?”
“Don’t you?” Blossom shot back. She slumped. “He’s always threatened me whenever I say no, which has been practically every day. Every time I’ve told him to get lost, something would happen the day after. He would key my car, slash my tires or throw a brick through my window.”
“But to destroy your entire house?” Jenny went back to scrolling on her laptop. “That sounds like he’s escalating.”
“That’s what I’m worried about.” Blossom played with the belt of her robe. “The red flags were there the whole time and I didn’t see them.”
“That’s because you were taken in by someone who had a nice smile and was genuinely interested in you.”
That was
the problem. Adrian had genuinely been interested in Blossom at the start. The relationship had been good. And then Adrian had become distant, drawing away. Blossom had been heartbroken when he'd ended it that time around but she understood.
She just wished that she hadn’t agreed to a date with him in the first place. Then again, if she'd had turned him down then he might have started the stalking much earlier. Blossom didn’t know what to think anymore.
“Why can’t I find a nice, decent man?” she lamented.
“Well, you might be able to find one in Illya.”
Blossom snorted.
“He may be decent but I’d hardly call him someone I could take home to meet my folks.”
“You don’t talk to your folks.”
“You know what I mean, Jenny. I saw the guys going into my house. One of them was Anton Romanov.”
Jenny had been right. Illya did work for the Russian mob. Something like that should have scared her. But it didn’t. Blossom didn’t know if that was more worrisome than Adrian stalking her.
Jenny finished making up the order and clicked on the button. Then she closed her laptop and turned to Blossom with a sigh.
“I know he works for Romanov but he was nice. And he was decent enough to call me at your request. From what I know about Russian men, they're always respectful towards women.”
“You’ve changed your tune.” Blossom raised her eyebrows. “You were warning me yesterday not to get involved with him.”
“Not exactly. But now I’ve met him,” Jenny winked, “I can see your point.”
Blossom rolled her eyes. She knew why the sudden change of heart.
“This wouldn’t have anything to do with Ivan Chekov and the way you were staring at each other?”
Jenny came across as a confident woman, something that made her very attractive. Blossom was surprised she didn’t go up to Ivan and start talking. That wasn't like her friend at all.
“Well, he’s a gorgeous man,” Jenny sighed. “I don’t think it’ll ever happen but I wouldn’t say no.”
Blossom wasn’t going to ask what she meant by that. She had a pretty good idea.
Her cell phone started buzzing on the table. Blossom scooped it up and glanced at the text message. At the sight of the name of the sender she couldn’t help but smile.
In Too Deep_BWWM Romance Page 4
