by Bella Rose
Hearing that ridiculous phrase from the usually crotchety old Sasha made Nicolai grin. “He’s right, Lily. Don’t mind them. What do you think? Hmm?”
“I think you’re crazy,” she said honestly. “But I love you to death and I would most certainly jump at the chance to become your wife.”
“Even though I’m going to wind up being boss of the Pasternak crime syndicate?” He really needed to know the answer to this. “Because if I’m going to give up the position, I have to do it now.”
“No.” She lifted his hands to her lips. “You think of those men as your family. You care about them and about their families. I think my only issue is with the brothels.”
One of the council members butted in. Denis generally had an opinion about everything. “Ah, yes! Nicolai mentioned that Vladimir had intentions of putting you in the brothel.”
Sasha Orlov nodded with total solemnity. “We never put women into that position unless they are willing and sometimes eager.”
“Who would be eager for that?” Lily demanded.
Sasha pursed his lips. “You are young yet to understand, but someday you will. If you like, you may oversee the care of those women.”
“Really?” Lily looked thunderstruck by this notion. “So I would be able to make certain they were being safe and had the opportunity to leave that job if they no longer wanted to be there?”
“Yes.” Sasha Orlov nodded and the other councilmembers offered their assent as well.
“Thank you,” Lily said fervently. “That makes me feel much better.”
Nicolai was pretty sure that was going to blow up in his face eventually, but then he was also pretty certain that everything would eventually become a rowdy butting of heads when she was involved. Her mind was quick and she was of strong opinions now that she was brave enough to voice them. It was a trait he would not have changed for the world.
***
Lily gazed at the council. They were nothing like she had expected. Perhaps that was because she had assumed they were evil men. Apparently she’d been way off.
“About the debt owed by Ivan Denisovich.”
The man who had just blown her away with his thoughtfulness was suddenly under suspicion once again. Lily narrowed her gaze and wondered where this was going.
“Yes?”
“That debt has to be paid, young woman.” Another man said stubbornly.
“Why?” Lily demanded. “It wasn’t my debt.”
“No,” the man agreed. “It was Ivan’s.”
“That does not mean that the casino owner isn’t entitled to what he is owed,” someone else pointed out. “Your stepfather took food from the mouths of the man’s family. There must be justice.”
Someone else looked on with grave civility. “Is Nicolai willing to offer compensation?”
“What?” Lily was horrified. “No! He can’t pay some ungodly amount of money just because my stepfather was a complete profligate!”
Nicolai frowned. “How do you know it’s an ungodly sum?”
“Vladimir told me that you would have to pay three-quarters of a million dollars to the council if you wanted to keep me,” Lily admitted.
Nicolai cursed. “That jackass never could keep his mouth shut.”
“Is that really how much Ivan owed at the casino?” Lily could hardly wrap her mind around such a sum. “How did he get that much credit? Shouldn’t the casinos be cutting people off long before that?”
Nicolai shrugged. “I suppose, but that would hardly be good business.”
“Really?” Lily snorted. “Because from a collections prospective, I would think it would cut down drastically on your accounts receivable.”
“The woman is most certainly intelligent,” a councilmember commented thoughtfully.
“Very,” Nicolai agreed. “You should hear her when she gets angry. She argues like a lawyer.”
“Is that a compliment? Because if it’s not, I think I might be inclined to deck you,” Lily growled. “And shouldn’t we get back to talking about the debt?”
“Quite,” the old man said. Then he turned to Anatoly. “Bring Denisovich inside, please?”
“Wait.” Lily felt the blood drain from her face. “My father is here. Now?”
Nicolai took her hands in his. “Yes.”
She felt frozen. Then she watched as Anatoly led in a fat man wearing dirty jeans that hung below his gut. His T-shirt was covered in what appeared to be mustard stains and his lank hair hung over his ears and down nearly to his eyes.
She clutched Nicolai’s hand between her own, but the fear never came. It should have come by now. Instead she felt only pity.
“What’s wrong?” Nicolai murmured.
Lily took a deep breath. “He looks so pathetic. I used to be afraid of him, but now I can’t imagine why.”
“You’ve grown,” Nicolai told her gently. “You will never be that girl again.”
***
Nicolai could see the very moment those words set into Lily’s mind. She stopped squeezing the life out of his hand, threw her shoulders back, and straightened her spine. He had never been so proud of another person in his life. In her beautiful dress with a healthy glow to her skin and her lustrous hair, she barely resembled the woman she had been even the first time he had seen her at Vladimir’s home.
It became obvious the moment Ivan Denisovich recognized Lily. The man’s shocked expression gave way to a wide smile that showed off his missing teeth. He left Anatoly’s side and attempted to approach Lily. Anatoly was having none of that.
“Hey! Let go!” Ivan struggled against Anatoly’s hold. “That’s my daughter.”
“You told me never to call you Father again,” Lily reminded him in an icy tone. “You reminded me that I was nothing to you but a burden that you had fed and clothed since my mother’s death.”
“I was angry, girl.” Ivan motioned to her. “Come here and give your papa a kiss.”
The look of revulsion on Lily’s face tugged at Nicolai. None of them would ever truly know what she had gone through when she had been helpless and in this man’s possession.
“You’re not my papa,” Lily told him again. “You made that clear when you traded me to clear your own name without one care as to my welfare.”
“You look like you’ve done pretty well for yourself,” Ivan pointed out. “And I may not be your papa, but I did the best I could for your worthless carcass.”
Lily’s expression grew stormy. “Exactly, you worthless pig. I did pretty well for myself. That’s what happens when people take responsibility for their own actions.”
Nicolai glanced up at the council. A few of them were shaking their heads. A few others were trying valiantly not to laugh. All were enjoying the show.
“Gentleman,” Nicolai said in order to remind them of their task. “I would be happy to offer whatever payoff is needed in order to free my future bride from the debts of her family. But as you can see, Ivan Denisovich is not her family.”
Nicolai felt a pang of satisfaction when the man seemed to realize what had just happened. It was exactly as it should be. The dirty old man’s face crumpled and he began to weep like a child while falling to his knees before the council.
“Anatoly, take him away.” Sasha Orlov waved his hand. “We are done with him.”
Nicolai and Lily watched Anatoly drag Ivan back out of the room by the tail of his nasty T-shirt. She was trembling delicately against him. Nicolai wrapped his arm around Lily and held her securely against his side. He pressed a kiss to her temple.
“What will happen to him?” she whispered.
“He’ll have to work off his debt somehow,” Nicolai explained. “We aren’t in the habit of cutting off thumbs anymore. That’s rather medieval, don’t you think?”
Sasha Orlov banged on the table. “What I think is that the new leader of the Pasternaks needs to get his lady home and start planning a wedding. I could go for some wedding reception entertainment, how about you?” He lo
oked around at his cronies. They were all nodding.
“Then I suppose we need to plan a wedding,” Lily said with a smile.
Nicolai put his arms around her and kissed her until he forgot there was anyone else in the room. That was the only thing that mattered anymore.
THE END
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Russian Bad Boy's Untouched Love
By: Bella Rose
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Russian Bad Boy's Untouched Love
By: Bella Rose
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2016 Bella Rose
Chapter One
Mary Reilly primly straightened the papers on her desk and surreptitiously checked her watch. To her knowledge, she was the last teacher left at the school. She didn’t normally like doing conferences this late at night, but one parent had particularly insisted.
The school building was one of the oldest in South Boston. She tried to suppress a shiver as the old structure creaked and settled as the late evening coolness set in. It didn’t help that it was late October. A week more and they would be celebrating Halloween. For now Mary was violently aware that she was a twenty-three year old single woman alone in a poorly secured building while waiting for a criminal to show up for a parent/teacher conference.
Someone knocked on her classroom door. Mary jumped. She tried to cover her telltale response by tucking a stray strand of dark red hair into the haphazard bun she’d secured on her head with a stray pencil. “Come right in, Mr. Sokolov,” she urged with a wave.
The tall Russian looked to be in his sixties, far too old to have a second grader. But Mary had met Mrs. Sokolov several times. She was rumored to be a former prima ballerina with the Russian ballet and she didn’t look over thirty. Apparently she’d married for money and power.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet so late,” Mr. Sokolov said in perfect English. He had only the barest hint of an accent coating his words.
Mary stood at her desk and gestured to the chairs she’d placed on the opposite side in order to do her conferences. Considering the variety of parent types her inner city students had, keeping a barrier between them seemed prudent. Now more than ever.
Mr. Sokolov strode over to the chairs. He sat down, glanced over his shoulder and snapped out something in terse Russian. Another man appeared in the doorway and Mary suddenly forgot how to breathe.
Sokolov seemed to guess her discomfiture. “I’m sorry, this is Vladimir. I never go anywhere these days without someone to watch my back.” Sokolov snorted. “You know how it is.”
No. She most certainly did not. But she could well imagine that Vladimir was good at watching someone’s back. The guy looked as if he could scare away just about any threat by glaring at it. Mary had almost zero experience with men. She had always been too busy with school and work to put much effort into a relationship. This man could tempt anyone to play hooky. He was fascinating.
Vladimir was easily six feet tall and built like a professional athlete. His muscles probably had muscles. He had black hair and inky dark eyes. He was wearing black cargo pants that fit obscenely well in the crotch and a black T-shirt. There were tattoos sticking out all around the edges of his shirt. Mary had never seen a man with so many. She wondered what they meant.
He seemed to sense her staring. His gaze shifted to Mary, sliding briefly over her and apparently finding her of no interest because he returned to his perusal of her classroom.
She stiffened. It was like being slighted without even understanding why. She knew she didn’t look like a bombshell. She’d had a long day. By now her hair was messy and her sensible clothes were rumpled. Still it would have been nice to at least feel a passing curiosity from a member of the opposite sex.
Mr. Sokolov cleared his throat and Mary realized she’d been staring openmouthed at Vladimir for far too long. She dragged her thoughts back to the moment at hand. The stack of papers before her was for Mr. Sokolov. She carefully placed them on the opposite side of the desk in front of him.
“First, I would like to thank you for coming this evening,” Mary said in her best teacher voice. “It’s really important for parents to be involved in their child’s education. That’s when kids really do their best.”
Mr. Sokolov murmured something indistinguishable and then pointed to the papers. “What is this?”
“That is a record of every time your son Ioann has been sent to the principal’s office for breaking the rules.” Mary tried to keep her tone neutral. She actually liked Ioann. He was a good hearted boy with a quick mind. She just didn’t understand why he was prone to such outbursts of meanness.
“Why was I not told of this?” Mr. Sokolov’s accent grew more pronounced. Then he threw a glance over his shoulder at Vladimir. “Did you know about this?”
“Da.” Vladimir nodded his head once.
Mr. Sokoloff turned back to Mary. “Is this school picking on Ioann?”
“No.” Mary pursed her lips. She hated confrontations like this. “I think your son is bright boy with amazing potential. He just seems to feel that he should be allowed to boss around the other students. He’s also prone to outbursts of anger that result in physical violence.”
“Ah,” Sokolov said with a smile. He relaxed back into his chair. “So Ioann is behaving as he should. Your rules are just not meant for him.”
“Rules are meant for everybody.” Mary narrowed her gaze, a strong suspicion growing in her mind. “Especially for second graders. Children need boundaries or they soon start to believe that they can do whatever they want in life without consequences.”
Sokolov held out his arms. “Rules are for those who are meant to be ruled. My Ioann will lead, not follow. You should keep this in mind when you are trying to discipline him. I do not want you putting ridiculous notions of compassion and mercy into his head. Those are weaknesses he cannot afford in life.”
“What?” Mary asked incredulously. “You cannot be serious. Your son is a wonderful boy with a big heart. Why would you want to stifle that and make him into a monster?”
“Because monsters survive,” Sokolov said simply.
Behind Sokolov, she could see that Vladimir was taking in everything they were saying. Did he believe the same thing as his employer? Was he coldhearted and mean? It was strange, but Mary didn’t feel as if he looked mean. Vladimir looked intimidating. Yes. But that wasn’t the same thing as mean. And it certainly wasn’t the same thing as what Sokolov was suggesting for the raising of his child.
Mary took a deep breath and gathered herself. She had come to this tough inner city school right out of college. She’d meant to make a difference. Maybe this was how she would accomplish her goal. “Mr. Sokolov, if your son does not improve his behavior he runs the risk of being expelled from school. I must tell you that even in our school district we do not see a lot of second graders getting expelled for this sort of behavior. If this is how you want to raise your child, there’s nothing I can do about it. But I can make him responsible for his actions here at school and I will continue to do that.”
VLADIMIR WANTED TO laugh at the expression on his father’s face. The elder Vladimir was not accustomed to anyone gainsaying him on any topic. And he certainly hadn’t expected a tiny schoolteacher to tell him she wasn’t interesting in taking his suggestions for Ioann’s discipline at school.
Vladimir had initially been looking forward to meeting this Miss Reilly. Ioann had spoken of her as though she were a tough woman that didn’t take any backtalk or bad behavior from her students. On first sight though she was less than impressive as a disciplinarian. In fact it looked as if one good wind could blow her over.
Mary Reilly looked like a young, inexperienced idealist. She was short. Her head would probably only reach the middle of his chest. Her voice was pleasant, but it didn’t strike him as being forceful or commanding at all. It was
impossible to tell how long her hair was with it all piled on top of her head. She was wearing a pair of glasses with little rhinestones on the rims. Plus she was wearing plain khaki pants and a bulky green sweatshirt with the school logo on it. From the look of her it was quite possible she had graduated college less than a year ago. He couldn’t imagine how the kids took her seriously.
The elder Vladimir stood suddenly. He gave Miss Reilly a cursory glance. “I think we are done here.”
“You didn’t want to discuss Ioann’s academics?” Miss Reilly asked pleasantly. “He’s really quite good in mathematics and his reading level is far about what I’d expect for his age. It’s also very impressive that he’s bilingual. We have several other children who also speak more than one language, but Ioann’s command of both languages is excellent.”
“Thank you,” the elder Vladimir said grudgingly. “But I still need to go. Please allow us to walk you to your vehicle. It is dark and quite late.”
“Thank you, but no.” Mary Reilly glanced back down at her desk, apparently done with them. “I appreciate the offer.”
“As you wish.”
Vladimir felt Miss Reilly’s gaze linger on him once again. He couldn’t decide it if was interest or horrified fascination and finally settled on the conclusion that it must be both. Regardless, he had no choice but to follow the elder Vladimir outside.
The dark tinted limo was already idling at the curb. Vladimir opened the back door for his father and waited. It was obvious that the content of the conference was bothering the aging mob boss. There wasn’t much in life that Vladimir Sokolov, Senior. could not buy, cheat, or bully his way out of. Yet here was a woman who had already made up her mind not to be accommodating.
“You will wait here for Miss Reilly,” Vladimir ordered.
Vlad frowned. “To what end?”
“I want you to romance her.”
“Excuse me?” Vlad couldn’t even begin to imagine how someone like him might go about doing that with a good girl type like her. “Again I ask, to what end?”
