by Bethany-Kris
Also, her soon-to-be sister-in-law definitely needed some merriment in her days. At twenty-eight weeks pregnant, Ana knew Gia was exhausted from teaching, her morning sickness hadn’t abated, and now a wedding needed to be planned, too.
It was a lot.
Ana’s gaze caught a blue-eyed stare from across the room. Koldan Vasin tipped his chin up in acknowledgment, amusement playing at the corner of his mouth. The oddest sensation washed over her skin as the man continued watching her. It tickled along her nerve endings like they were exposed to his attention, too.
She shouldn’t have been surprised he was there. His parents were, after all, and her father mentioned something about Koldan doing work for Adrik in New York. She didn’t have the first clue what that meant and didn’t want to know, either. Nonetheless, they hadn’t come in contact with one another again since that dinner two months ago.
He sure looked at her like he wanted to talk to her, now.
Ana shivered and bit the inside of her cheek. Confusion didn’t do her strange feelings justice. She didn’t know Koldan, but what she did know, she wasn’t entirely sure she liked. Ana wasn’t stupid. She saw enough things over the years to know where she should and should not be sticking herself into.
Koldan was from Jersey and the only affiliation Ana’s father had to Jersey was another Bratva family. A simple Internet check confirmed Ana’s suspicions that the Vasin family was thoroughly mafia connected. Adrik was the goddamn boss, actually. Working for his father led Ana to the only conclusion there could be about Koldan: he was Bratva associated, too.
No fucking thanks.
So, why couldn’t she shake his piercing stare still leveled entirely on her?
Ana gulped down a mouthful of red wine, gave Koldan one last glance, and then made her way through the throng of people milling between rooms. She needed space, or at the very least, some air to breathe.
The front step seemed as good of a place as any. Ana grabbed her sweater from the closet, tugged it on and slipped outside before one of her parents noticed her leaving. The coolness of the mid-October air felt refreshing compared to the claustrophobic heat inside the home. Resting her back to the brick wall of the house, she downed the rest of her wine in one drink and closed her eyes.
“It feels like ants inside a farm in there,” came a dark, honeyed voice from her left.
Ana jumped with a squeak, her eyes flying wide open as the wine glass fell from her hand. It shattered across the decorative steps of the entryway. “Shit.”
Koldan cocked a brow. “I didn’t realize you knew those kinds of words.”
“I beg your pardon?” Ana asked.
“Shit. I didn’t realize you knew how to say a word like that.”
“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, there’s another one,” he said. “I almost feel like I should mark it down or something.”
Her annoyance perked. “If you came out here to poke fun at me for your amusement, feel free to waltz right back inside the house before you really piss me off.”
Koldan’s grin grew. “Are you as beautiful when you’re angry as you are when you’re playing the good little girl for the public?”
Ana blinked, her mouth popping open audibly. She felt both offended and entertained at the same time. How was that even possible? “I don’t remember you being this much of an asshole two months ago at dinner.”
“I was making nice, kind of like you were,” Koldan explained. “Seeing you today with all the people, fake smile plastered on and a blank stare, it kind of makes me wonder.”
Don’t poke the bear, Ana thought. She never was any good at listening to her inner voice. “Wonder what, Koldan?”
“Is this really who you are? I don’t know. What are you like outside of your parents’ view?”
Again, Ana gaped, stunned speechless.
“My sister,” Koldan continued, “… she’s wild as fuck, but you wouldn’t know it when my dad’s around. Adrik spoiled her like nothing else growing up. All she has to do is bat her lashes at him and he’s fucking putty. He thinks she’s going to settle down with some connected man like any good mob wife because she’s got our father living in delusions. It’s never going to happen, you know. Sofia, she doesn’t want to be a guy’s one girl, she’s the type who gets labeled the other girl. Get what I mean?”
“Did you just call your sister a whore?” Ana asked sharply.
“Hell, no. My sister gets no judgment from me as far as her preferences for dating, or lack thereof depending on how you want to look at it. I just say it like I see it. Sofia gets to be and do whatever the fuck she wants in my book, including men. It’s her right. What I meant, was that who our father sees and who the rest of the world sees are two entirely different people. She’s not upfront with her motives and that shit unsettles me in a way I can’t explain.”
Ana crossed her arms, feeling a bit unsettled herself. “Why are you telling me this at all?”
“You’ve got me curious, Ana. You’re beautiful, for one thing. Don’t fault me for looking. Unfortunately, when you draw my eye, it means I’m going to notice other things, too. Like that sweet but fake smile to the crowd. Or when your back is against a wall while you toss down a half a glass of wine before you make a beeline for the door. Being curious means I might want to know more about you, but if that also means learning two completely different people, I would like to be warned before I even tried.”
“Wow,” Ana mouthed, not sure what else to say.
Koldan shrugged. “I’m not in the business of hiding my intentions, the things I do, or who I am. I don’t make excuses for any of it, either. Honesty gets a man everywhere.”
It sure did, in most cases.
Ana couldn’t help but like the fact Koldan was as frank and blunt as he was. To Ana, because she lived in a world where sometimes feelings and opinions were left at the door, this man’s boldness was appealing.
And frightening.
But, hey, if he wanted to play the honesty game, Ana could do that, too. “Why are you here, anyway?”
“Work.”
Ana nodded, passing him a look. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“If you want a better answer, krasivyy, ask a better question.”
Point taken.
“Fine. What kind of work?”
“Anton and Adrik have an arrangement that’s been ongoing for years. It works for them, I guess. Regardless, there’s been a few issues getting shipments ready to transport at the time they’re supposed to be rolling out due to a new crew working the docks, so here I am to make sure everything is smooth sailing for the next couple of months. Or, however long it takes to work all the kinks out.”
Ana’s brow furrowed. “Shipments?”
“Oh, come on, Ana. You’re telling me you don’t know the kinds of things your father is involved in?”
“No, I know,” she said quietly, refusing to meet his gaze. “I just don’t know how it all works or whatever.”
“Shipments, the product making the money. Whatever might be selling hot like candy on the streets, it’s coming off those ships in crates.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” Koldan said simply. “Bothers you, doesn’t it?”
“What you do?” Ana asked back.
“That’s what I said. Disgust is written all over your face.”
Ana mulled his words over, deciding to choose her own carefully. “I have a trust fund coming to me when I’m thirty, a Mercedes bought by my father, a fully paid education, and a monthly allowance paying for my apartment and needs while letting me focus on school instead of work.”
Koldan’s expression didn’t change a bit. “What’s your point?”
“How hypocritical of me would it be to say I don’t approve of what you do for a living, yet know the things I have are paid for with the same kind of money?”
“Nobody said you had to approve of it. Nobody is asking for your permission, Ana.”
> “No shit,” Ana muttered, blowing out a huff of air.
“You missed my point this time,” he said, winking. “It’s your choice what you want to do now, okay. Your car? It probably showed up one day with a bow on it. Your schooling, apartment, and allowance? That’s what parents are supposed to do—take care of their kids and provide for them so they can be better and have better than what they did. That trust fund? Spend it or give it all away.
“You don’t need their approval because it’s yours. You don’t have to like what I do, Ana. It’s my choice. You have your own choices to make. Simple as that. And if when making those choices, you refuse certain things because of the root at which they came from, that’s all on you. Nobody cares because nobody here is looking for permission. They do what they want to do, you do what you want to do.”
Huh. Ana never thought of it that way before.
“Besides,” Koldan drawled, grinning roguishly. “What I do for a living doesn’t stop me from having the same kind of interests and feelings as you, Ana. My hands might be a little dirtier than yours, but they dress up nice all the same. By the way, good deflection. I’m impressed, but not stupid or easily distracted.”
“What deflection?”
“Is there two of you to learn, or just the one?”
Ana gestured at the front door. “Maybe if you weren’t so busy staring at me in there, you might have noticed my parents are sporting the same attitude I have. Be good, smile, and get it done with. My family, we don’t have parties like this. We never have because my parents are too private and distrustful of outsiders. But, it’s not about us, right? It’s about Demyan and Gia. So—”
“You be good, smile, and get it done with,” Koldan interrupted softly. “I get it.”
“Do you?” Ana asked.
“Sure, just the same way Adrik forces me to the Temple though I’d rather chew glass.”
Ana giggled. It was completely inappropriate, but she did. “Nice. You’re honest. I like that.”
“Speaking of being honest, what are you doing for the next couple of hours?”
“You’re looking at it, Koldan.”
He gestured at the house. “Yeah, but you don’t really want to be here and that house is so full no one will notice you’re gone.”
Ana swallowed the thickness building in her throat, her nerves taking over. “Are you asking me out right now?”
“Absolutely, right now,” Koldan murmured. “If this party isn’t your kind of thing, I’d like for you to show me what is. What’s holding you back?”
Nothing, really.
“A boyfriend?” he asked.
Ana considered Cavan though only briefly. Really, she thought of him for Koldan’s sake more than her own. The guy wanted truthfulness, after all. Koldan was nothing like Cavan who couldn’t or wouldn’t let her in. She preferred Koldan’s no-nonsense attitude and straightforward intentions to Cavan’s distance and evasiveness.
“You want all the cards face up, right?” Ana asked. Koldan nodded. “I don’t play games. I’ve been seeing someone I met a couple of months ago, but it’s not serious, we’re not a couple, and we’re not intimately involved. Actually, we’ve gone on a few dates and he sometimes shows up after my classes to have coffee.”
“Anyone else?”
“I don’t do casual sex, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Koldan smirked. “It was, so thanks.”
“I’m not an easy lay, I won’t do a one-night stand, and my father is a mob boss with a short temper and a collection of guns. Still want to take me out?” Ana asked.
“Like crazy.”
Chapter Five
Demyan
The elbow jamming into Demyan’s side was really getting annoying.
“Demyan Avdonin, I swear to God if you don’t pick up that fucking phone of yours I’m going to smash it into the wall. I have to be up at five to get ready for work!”
Why was it that every time he began to fall asleep, something or someone was waking him up? It was starting to get ridiculous. Demyan turned to his side in an attempt to avoid another bony appendage ramming into his kidney, but instead, Gia simply smacked his bare back with her opened palm. The sting radiated over his skin like painful little fireworks
“Shit, ow,” Demyan hissed in the dark, finally semi-awake. “That hurt, katyonak.”
“You sleep like the dead. Pick up the phone or the next one is going to knock you onto the floor. Don’t test me. The couch isn’t comfortable, babe.”
Despite her obvious aggravation at him, Demyan chuckled. Gia was terribly sexy when she was angry. One of the better perks of having a fiery woman for his best friend and lover. “Love it when you get nasty.”
“Ugh, shut up. You’re such a pig.”
“You love it.”
“Pick up the phone!”
Groaning, Demyan rolled over in the bed and skimmed his hand over the nightstand to find his ringing phone. He didn’t bother to check the caller ID as he fell back into the bed. Putting his hand on Gia’s rounded stomach to feel his daughter’s movements, he answered the call.
“Yeah, allo.”
“Demyan, I need your help.”
“Ana?” Demyan sat up straight in the bed at the terror in his sister’s voice. “Ana, what’s wrong?”
“Can you let me in?” she asked barely above a breath. “Please, Demyan.”
“You’re at my place?”
Why would Ana be there?
“Yes, just please come open the door, Demyan.”
Fear seemed to saturate her every word. A cold chill ran down Demyan’s spine. “Yeah, yeah … shit, just give me a few minutes. I’m fucking indecent and in bed with Gia. Are you okay?”
“No,” Ana said, crying low. “I’m not.”
“All right. One minute, then,” Demyan muttered, pushing up from the bed to stand. Gia followed, not asking any questions.
“Please don’t hang up the phone.”
Demyan froze as he reached for his slacks hanging over the bedpost. He had never heard his little sister so entirely shaken and afraid before. She was stubborn as hell, sassy, and quick. They didn’t always get along, and maybe they weren’t close, but that didn’t mean he was oblivious to her good traits. The girl on the other end of the call was not the Ana he knew.
“Demyan?” Gia asked.
He swallowed hard, panic welling in his gut. He couldn’t answer Gia because his focus was entirely on his sister. “Thirty seconds, Ana, okay?”
“Just don’t hang up the phone,” she whispered.
“I won’t.”
Demyan wasted no time yanking on his slacks. He tossed a silk dress shirt to Gia for her to put on. In a blink, he was jogging through the apartment, turning on every light as he went with the phone still pressed to his ear. Ana didn’t say a word, but her soft sobbing sliced him straight down to the fucking bone.
“I’m coming, Ana,” he said, wanting her to know.
“Okay.”
Demyan flicked off the chain and turned the deadbolt before throwing open the front door. The phone dropped from his hand to the hardwood floor as he took in the sight of his baby sister. Her usually curly black hair was a mess, her makeup was smudged and ruined. Tears streaked down her face. Her short black dress was crumpled and disheveled and her entire body was shaking all over. She clenched her phone in one hand, held her bag to her chest with the other, and seemed to be literally trying to turn in on herself.
Worst of all, she wouldn’t meet his stare.
Demyan lurched forward out of instinct, needing to protect his sister from whatever had turned her into what was standing in front of him. A full-body flinch took over Ana when Demyan held her wet, messy face in his palms, forcing her to look at him. Redness and puffiness littered her eyes. Teeth mark fissures cut across her bottom lip. Fingerprint bruises marred the left side of her jaw.
“Oh my God, Ana,” Demyan managed to croak. “Look at you.”
Ana sobbed. “I�
�m sorry, Demyan. I didn’t know where else to go.”
“No. Christ, it’s—” He stopped himself from saying fine, because clearly she was not. “Never mind, you know you can always come to me, Ana. Always.”
She nodded jerkily, more tears falling down to his hands. “I know.”
Demyan surveyed the bruises on Ana’s jaw one more time, rolling his thumb along the line of marks. Who had done this to his sister? Why would they do this to her? He didn’t like the looks of her injury added on to the mess of her clothes.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?” Demyan said, keeping his gaze locked on hers. “Anything, Ana. I’ll do whatever you need me to, but you need to tell me what happened.”
Ana whimpered a terrible sound before her knees gave out and she fell into his arms. Demyan didn’t hesitate to pick her up in a cradled embrace. She buried her face into his chest and bawled harder. The force of her sobs shook them both. Gia, who had stayed quiet behind Demyan, moved aside to let him pass into the living-room.
“Gia, close and lock the door, babe.”
“Yeah, okay,” Gia replied with a shake to her tone.
Demyan deposited Ana on the couch, kneeling down in front of her to fix her messy hair and clean her face. It didn’t help much, considering the tears kept coming every time he wiped them away. Her muscles felt as tight as a coiled wire ready to snap. He heard her teeth grinding beneath her clenched jaw. Every time he touched her, she folded inwards to get away from his hands.
“Ana, look at me,” Demyan ordered.
She wouldn’t.
The sick feeling pummeling his insides was a killer.
“Demyan, do you need me to call somebody?” Gia asked.
Ana flew into a round of hysterics. “No, no, no! You can’t, Demyan, you can’t!”
“Calm down,” Demyan whispered, his hands ghosting over Ana’s face to wipe away the wetness. “Ana, if something really bad happened, I need to call Papa. He’ll fucking kill me if I don’t. Okay?”
“No,” Ana wheezed, her eyes flying wide and her hands grabbing his wrists so hard her nails cut into his skin. “Please, you can’t call Papa.”
“Ana—”
