Tony, Her Billionaire Russian: A BWWM BBW 5 Stories In 1 Bundle

by Cher Etan

  “Girl I knew you before you knew yourself.”

  “Oh? That is amazing. I never figured you for the psychic type. You look so normal. I guess you never can tell with people.”

  “Yes, you never can tell,” Tony said. Sophie saw that he was smiling again and she smiled to see it. She really hated when he was upset.

  “Hey I was meaning to ask you; have you noticed the fireworks between Solomon and Katarina?” she asked him.

  “What? Fireworks? When? Where? Spill,” Tony said.

  “You’re such a gossip,” Sophie said indulgently. “You haven’t seen it? Seriously?”

  “I haven’t been looking but now that you mention it, I certainly will.”

  “Don’t. You’re going to be acting all weird and you might put the kibosh on things.”

  “You’re okay with your brother dating her?”

  “I’m okay with the way he brightens up when she’s around.”

  “And the fact that she’s a single mom with an autistic kid…?”

  “Details,” Sophie said as he handed her into the car.

  ***

  Solomon decided to fix himself a sandwich since he was all alone in the house. As he extracted the ham and cheese from the fridge he looked out the window toward Katarina’s cottage. Her lights were on but he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her or her son since he’d put her to bed this afternoon. He didn’t know if she was avoiding him or just sleeping it off. He was guessing it was the former just because he was sure Sam would have come looking for him to draw some more if his mother was asleep. The fact that he hadn’t must mean she had stopped him from doing so, which would indicate she was awake…and avoiding him. He wondered if he should go and see if maybe he could talk to her but he didn’t want to act like a stalker. The last time he’d courted anyone he’d been fifteen and he’d invited her out for ice-cream. Her name had been Hannah and she’d been game. Mostly because she was mad at her mama and her mama was adamant about her not talking to boys. And now, here he was, nine years later with no game, and the most fascinating creature he’d ever met just a stone’s throw away.

  “What are you gonna do about this Devereaux?” he asked himself thoughtfully as he made up the sandwich. Then he perked up. He could fix them supper and take it to them on the pretext that he’d thought maybe Katarina was still out of it and Sam would need to eat. Come to think of it, that could totally be true. He quickly assembled another sandwich and put it in a lunch box, took a deep breath and headed for the cottage.

  He knocked tentatively at the door and he heard light footsteps coming to open it. He looked up expecting to see Katarina but had to adjust his vision downwards to see Sam standing there staring out into the night.

  “Hey Sam. I thought I’d bring you some food since your mother wasn’t feeling well this afternoon.”

  Sam stepped back still looking into the night or inward – Solomon couldn’t tell. He stepped slowly into the house and closed the door behind him. He held out his lunch box of sandwiches and slowly Sam took it.

  They stood awkwardly for a while in the foyer before Solomon suggested they sit at the dining table. Katarina was sitting curled up on the sofa a blanket wrapped around her. She was sipping some water and looking miserable.

  “Katarina? You alright?” Solomon asked tentatively.

  Katarina looked at him then scrunched her eyes tight like she didn’t want to see him.

  “I come in peace,” he said softly. Katarina still didn’t open her eyes.

  Solomon sat down at the table and indicated that Sam should do the same. He opened the lunch box and handed Sam a sandwich.

  “Eat,” he said.

  Sam ate the sandwich slowly and Solomon sat back and watched them both.

  “Why have you brought Sam food?” Katarina asked not looking at him.

  “I thought maybe you were still asleep since you didn’t come back to the house.”

  “I…was I expected back at the house? I thought everyone was out.”

  “Everyone but me.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So…you didn’t want to see me?”

  Katarina shrugged and avoided his eyes.

  “Okay, cards on the table time,” Solomon said. Katarina stared at him in horror.

  “Now?”

  “Yes. Now.”

  Katarina was silent, looking at anything but him. Sam continued to eat industriously.

  “Thank you for making Sam a sandwich although I had already made him some soup. Obviously he’s still hungry though,” she said watching her son eat.

  “No changing the subject.”

  Katarina smiled. “Okay fine then. Cards on the table. I’m a mail order bride abandoned by her new husband when he discovered I was pregnant already. But not before he beat me half to death. Mikhail rescued me, and Anton gave me a job. I am happy and secure…I don’t want to jeopardize that.”

  “Wow. That’s quite a story. Well you know mine so I guess we’re both damaged. Do you wanna be my girlfriend?”

  “WHAT?!?” Katarina sat up and dropped her blanket in shock.

  “I get that it’s a risk and you probably don’t want to get involved with someone with my history. And I can make no guarantees. I do know that I like you. A lot. More importantly, I like your son – I think he and I have a connection all our own. The rest is up to us. So you wanna take this ride with me?”

  ***

  Crowley gave the password to the underground entrance of the club and walked in heading straight to the office. He knocked on the door and one of Konstantin’s bodyguards opened it. He stepped into the office where Kos was waiting with two men. They were engaged in conversation but stopped talking when Crowley stepped in.

  “Kos,” Crowley said.

  “Crowley,” Kos replied.

  “I need the room,” Crowley said.

  Kos looked at him and then at his two body guards. He nodded at them and they left the room.

  “You have news for me?”

  “Yes I do. Do you play darts?” Crowley asked, making Kos frown with puzzlement.

  “No. Now do you have news for me?” Kos asked, his tone becoming slightly hostile.

  “Yes I do,” Crowley said and removed a dart from his pocket. He examined it for a minute and then threw it. It landed smack in the middle of Kos’s neck, piercing him all the way through. For a minute, Konstantin looked comically surprised and then he dropped to his knees, eyes wide and trained on Crowley.

  “Fifteen years ago, when you sent me to tamper with those brakes Kos, I didn’t know those people and I didn’t give a rat’s ass about them or what I was doing. Then you sent me to spy on Roman for you and report on everything he was doing. Get close to him, get to know him; be his friend…let him be mine. Well now he is my friend, he has saved my life more than once - and his family is in danger once again. Will you kill the little child his son’s wife carries this time? Will you send me to tamper with their brakes? I can’t do it. I quit. Consider this my resignation letter,” Crowley watched Konstantin sink to the floor and then he walked out. He told the guards at the door that Konstantin wanted to be alone for a while and then he walked away.

  He fished his mobile out of his pocket as he waited on the train that would take him out of town, “Roman I have some news,” he said.

  “Speak,” Roman said.

  “Konstantin is dead.”

  “Say again.”

  “Konstantin is dead. All debts are paid. Go forth and be free or whatever.”

  “What…when?” Roman asked.

  “The less detail you know the better.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Like I said, the less you know the better. Goodbye Roman. And thank you for everything.”

  “Goodbye…Crowley,” Roman said and waited for the phone to go dead. Somehow he knew he would not see Crowley again.

  ***

  Sophie was in the living room sitting with her legs up, listening to Solomon tell her how he’d pro
positioned Katarina.

  “I mean for a rookie that was pretty damn good,” she said nodding.

  “I know right?”

  “So did she cry or giggle or what?”

  “She just like…sat there for a bit not saying anything. And then Sam said ‘say yes Mama’. Then she started to cry.”

  “So Sam is like your wingman now?”

  “Yup,” Solomon said smiling with satisfaction.

  The doorbell rang and they waited a moment to see if Katarina would answer. She was out back taking advantage of the weather to air out the beddings.

  “I’ll get it,” Sophie said putting her legs down in preparation to stand up.

  “Sit your pregnant ass down. I’ll get it,” Solomon said.

  He leaped up and went to the door opening it without checking the eyehole.

  “Mr. Roman!” he said in surprise when he saw who was on the other side.

  “Solomon. You look well,” Roman said stepping into the house. “Is my son home?”

  “Umm, yeah, he’s in the study. Shall I get him?”

  “If you would be so kind.”

  “Come in, sit down,” Solomon said leading Roman to the living room.

  Sophie sat up in surprise when she saw him, he bowed to her and then straightened up and smiled. “My dear, how are you?”

  Sophie stared at him in surprise. “I am well,” she said.

  “Good,” Roman said.

  “Papa. This is a surprise,” Tony said from the doorway.

  “Indeed. I was hoping to have a word.”

  “Have a seat then.”

  Sophie stood up and went to pour out vodka. She suspected it would be that kind of word.

  “Son, fifteen years ago a man named Konstantin came to me. He wanted a piece of my import/export business to run his money laundering and drug business through. I said no to him. He threatened my family and I still said no to him. So then the brakes failed on that car and your mother and brother were dead; but you were not. On the day of their funeral Konstantin sent me a cake with your face on it and a knife through the skull. That’s when I knew who had killed my family. I knew he would kill you too so I sent you to America to live with my brother. But Kos found you and he threatened my brother, his wife and you. So I gave in. I agreed to launder money for him and to store drugs in false bottoms of my bottles. He has had me by the neck for the last fifteen years. But he is dead now, and I am free. We are free. So I am here today to give you back your restaurant.”

  Tony stared at him in shock.

  “Just like that?” he asked.

  “I only ever took it to protect you and your family from him. He would not have hesitated to terrorize them if he felt threatened.”

  “Did you kill him?”

  “No.”

  “Papa…I don’t know what to say.”

  “Just say you’ll let me see my grandchild now and again.”

  Tony smiled and held his hand out to Sophia. “Of course Papa”, he said. “Anytime.”

  3. My Russian Baby

  Chapter 1

  Solomon walked down the street, looking around him; trying to find something familiar. The alleged graffiti he’d been doing on the wall when the levees broke was gone. Solomon guessed they’d painted over it when they were rebuilding the city. He stopped at the spot where he was reportedly arrested by the cop trying to recall anything he could about it. The place was not familiar at all – it was like he’d never been here before. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind but it made no difference. All he could see was waves. But he’d just come from the bayou trying to see if something else would occur to him. The first memory he’d gotten back had been of his grandfather teaching him to fish.

  “Anything?” she asked from behind him. He turned around to look at his sister and shook his head.

  “Okay then,” she sighed, “We’ll have to go back to our home.”

  Solomon stared at her intently, “Are you sure about that? The place must have some painful memories for you.”

  “Yes but that’s neither here nor there is it? We have to try.” Sophie said turning back to the car that was waiting at the end of the lane. Solomon followed her, a frown puckering his brow.

  “Were you there? When our grandmother got left behind? I mean did you see it?” he asked holding his breath even as he did so. This could be forbidden territory for all he knew.

  Sophie looked at him, her eyes far away. She was thinking about that time. She had been obsessed with Stephen Jensen a boy in her class who she’d had a crush on for the longest time. It didn’t help that he had never given her the time of day. He liked petite girls of a lighter hue than her, with longer straighter hair. She had been having a lovely daydream about him where he was begging her forgiveness for not seeing what an amazing human being she was. Another part of her brain was busy jeering at her and her daydreams and calling her pathetic for caring so much about a guy who couldn’t even see her. She had been lying on her bed fantasizing about it when she first heard the screaming. She’d ran to the window and seen the street full of people. The panic they were experiencing affected her and she ran out, looking for Nana Grison who came to sit with her grandmother and make sure she took her medicine. She found her downstairs staring out of the window with her mouth open. People were running and screaming.

  “What do we do!?” she’d shouted.

  “Run.” Nana Grison said. Sophie had hesitated but Nana had come up to her and pushed her out the door.

  “Run”, she’d said again.

  “But…grandma,” Sophie had said faintly.

  “I’ll get her…go!” Nana had said and to her eternal shame, Sophie had gone. It was the last time she ever saw her Nana Grison or her grandmother, again. Her grandfather had found her three days later in one of the rescue centers. They had looked for Solomon then in every rescue center they knew of, and online as well.

  “When did you know for sure that grandma was dead?” Solomon asked her.

  “We went back to the house to see if there was anything that could be salvaged or if you had maybe gone back there…but there was only rubble.”

  “So you never found out what happened to them?”

  “Their bodies were found after the rubble was cleared…they didn’t make it out…alive,” Sophie told him avoiding his eyes so he couldn’t see the tears in hers. Solomon’s hand reached out and touched hers. They reached the car and Tony opened the door for them.

  “Anything?” he asked.

  “Not a thing,” Sophie said.

  “That’s too bad,” Tony said closing the doors after them, “Where to now?”

  “67 Bleaker Street,” Sophie told him.

  “Right,” Tony said starting up the car.

  Solomon’s phone went off and he picked it up, “Hallo,” he said. The person on the other end said something.

  “Yeah I’m just fine, nothing to report,” Solomon said to them.

  “Is that Katarina?” Sophie asked looking back at him from the front seat. He nodded his head and then put a finger to his lips so she’d shut up.

  “I don’t know when we’ll be back. Sophie’s still giving me the tour of our greatest hits. We’re headed to our former house now I think.” He listened for a while.

  “Tell Sam I miss him too, and I’ll bring him some new watercolors when I get back.”

  “Okay bye then.” Solomon said and hung up to behold Sophie smiling at him.

  “What?” he demanded.

  “Oh you know, just…enjoying your whole lovey dovey thing that you’re doing with Katarina and Sam. Y’all are like family and all; ‘tell Sam I miss him too’…so sweet.”

  “Shut up,” Solomon said.

  Sophie laughed out loud and reached out to bop Solomon on the nose, “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed,” she said.

  “Leave the poor man alone Soph,” Tony said.

  “Thank you Tony. That’s how you have your brother-in-law’s back,” Solomon said. />
  “Aww, you just winning over hearts and minds everywhere aren’t you my boy?” Sophie teased.

  Solomon held up his middle finger to her and Sophie made a faux shocked gesture in return.

  “Aww you guys are so sibling-like. Doesn’t matter if you can’t remember a thing Sol. I remember my brother and I were the same,” Tony said.

  Solomon and Sophie looked at him, unsure of how to respond to that. Tony took his eyes off the road to glance at Sophie and saw the frozen look on her face.

  “It’s alright you know. I’m…over it.”

  “Over it as in…? You don’t blame yourself for their deaths anymore?”

  “As in, I’ve forgiven myself.”

  “That is great Tony. I’m happy for you.”

  “I know you are,” Tony said smiling at her.

  “Aww, look at you guys, so sweet,” Solomon mocked gently.

  “Bite me Starship.”

  They drew up at the site where the house used to be. There was nothing but grass and some abandoned pieces of wood and roofing material. New houses were going up around them but this location still belonged to them so it was relatively untouched, them not having been around to give permission.

  “We moved in with grandma and grandpa after our parents died. We were ten and thirteen respectively when it happened. They tried to tell us it was only temporary. That Papa would recover from his injuries and take us back home. But then two years later, he died and Grandma was indisposed so Grandpa and us muddled through. Somehow we managed to live without going too crazy and then Katrina happened-“

  “Sounds like a really bad dream when you say it like that.”

  “Yes well, thinking about it now, I don’t even know how I got through it. I know you kind of retreated into yourself, lost in your graffiti and I kind of became a typical teenager lost in angst and self-absorption…hmm, when I say it like that it does kind of sound nightmarish.”

  “But hey, here we are, three survivors marveling at the devastation of the battlefield and that we got away from it,” Solomon said.

  “Surprisingly poetic,” Tony murmured in impressed tones.

  “I’m an artist,” Solomon said using a high class British accent.

  “La di dah,” Sophie replied in the same tones.