Page 7 of Born into Darkness

He grins. “How sad would it be if I agreed with you?”

I keep a straight face when I say, “Incredibly sad.” Bran turns around, so I sign while I say, “Dima’s taking us out later because he said we’re way more fun than the hoes at the bar.”

Bran smiles and gives a thumbs up while Dima laughs and shakes his head at us. I give my brothers a wave goodbye and meet my mom by the door. My dad is just now pulling back from her, making it clear what they’ve been doing in the hall while I’ve been talking to my brothers.

“I’m going to pretend you’ve both been discussing our lunch plans this whole time,” I tell them.

My dad laughs while my mom blushes. “Of course we were,” my dad says. “We were just talking about what a great time you’re going to have.”

I play along because I don’t want to sit here and talk about how they were making out in the hallway. “We are going to have a great time,” I agree, pulling my own sneakers on. As if on cue, we hear a vehicle pull up out front. Opening the door, I see a black SUV with one of our bodyguards behind the wheel and another in the passenger seat. Any outing we go on is one that’s going to include several armed men, and when my dad walks out, the driver rolls the window down to speak to him while Allie runs up the drive to join us with her mom right behind her. Nikolai and Ilya’s wives weren’t able to make it today, but I’m sure they’ll join in next time. Allie has an excited grin on her face, and she gives my dad a wave before hopping in the back when Yulia opens the door for us and Sitka scoots over to make room.

“Bye, Dad,” I holler before following her into the back.

He leans down so he can see me through the driver’s window. “Bye, honey.” Lowering his voice, he says something else to the driver. The man nods and says a quick, “Yes, sir,” before my dad walks around to give my mom another hug.

“Love you,zolotse,” he tells her, giving her another kiss before she gets inside. He smiles at us and gives a wave. “You girls have fun and be safe.”

We promise him we will, and he gives my mom a wink before pulling back and shutting the door. I smile at my aunts and settle into the seat between Allie and Sitka while the driver sets off down the driveway and another black SUV follows us. They’ll be trailing us the whole day because my dad and uncles take zero chances when it comes to us. I’m so used to it by now that I don’t think anything of it.

When we were younger, we attempted to make friends with the men who constantly surrounded us, but that was quickly nipped in the bud. My dad told me I should think of them as guard dogs—fiercely loyal, vicious when needed, and always on alert. He hadn’t meant it as an insult. He’d just been trying to explain it in a way that my young mind would understand. I can still remember his exact words:Talia, these men are important to the family and treated with great respect, but just like a guard dog, sweetheart, you wouldn’t ever want to just run up and hug it. These men have a job to do, and you need to let them do it.

It had made perfect sense, and even though we all treat the bodyguards with the respect they deserve and we’re all grateful for them, we leave them to do their thing and don’t bother them.

During the drive, our moms talk while Allie tells Sitka, Yulia, and me about how she’d convinced Kostya and Tyoma to go four-wheeling with her last night.

“Your dad about had a heart attack,” Svetlana says, butting into our conversation with a laugh. She looks at us and adds, “We were about to go to bed, and all of a sudden he hears engines revving and our wild child of a daughter giving a holler that could wake the dead.”

Yulia, Sitka, and I laugh at the image while Allie just laughs and says, “It wasn’t that loud.”

“He had no idea you’d gone out, and you know he worries about you on those things.” Svetlana’s fast Russian fills the vehicle as she tries to reason with her headstrong daughter. Allie thinks her parents are overprotective, and her parents think she’ll never be too old for them to worry about. It’s a stalemate if there ever was one. Yulia, Sitka, and I accepted long ago that our dads are overbearing, but Allie’s yet to get and accept that particular memo.

By the time we get to the restaurant, Allie has us all laughing at her impersonations of Kostya and Tyoma when she’d jumped a small gully and scared the hell out of them.

The man in the passenger seat turns around, cutting into our laughter by saying, “Wait here, ladies. I’ll get you when I’m sure it’s safe.”

The restaurant is on the water, a popular spot that has dockside service so boaters can place orders or dock their boats while they come in to eat. They always have live music at night, and even though it’s barely lunch time, the place is already packed.

After a few minutes, the back door of our SUV is opened and the man motions for us to step out. He’s wearing an earpiece, and I know he’s heavily armed beneath his suit, but he’s trained to appear casual, and to any outsider who wasn’t paying close attention, it would be easy to assume he was just a husband helping his wife and family out of a vehicle. Our eyes briefly meet when he takes my hand to help steady me as I climb out, but it only lasts a second before he looks away. He’s not rude, but there’s no warmth in his dark eyes. Yep, he’s fully in guard dog mode.

He stays behind us as the other guards fan out and we make our way inside. The hostess takes one look at our large group before grabbing a stack of menus and leading us to one of the large tables by the windows that overlook the dock. One of the reasons this restaurant is my favorite place to go is because of its laid-back atmosphere. Most of the people around us are in jeans and sweatshirts, and there’s already a layer of peanut shells on the floor. The boats lined up at the dock are a mix of everything from a pair of jet skis to a few larger yachts down at the end.

The hostess gives us each a menu and then leaves with a smile and a promise that our waitress will be over soon. My mouth is already watering at the delicious scents coming from all the tables around us. We each grab a chair with our bodyguard taking the one at the end that puts him in view of everyone else. The other men are strategically placed around the restaurant. He won’t eat while on duty, but it’d be way too obvious to just have him hovering over the table the entire meal.

Aside from Yulia and Sitka, who are too young, we all get a round of Dirty Shirley’s and then place an order for several appetizers. We didn’t come here to mess around. Today isn’t about watching calories. It’s about eating as much as we possibly can and then waddling our well-fed asses to the car.

We’re all still looking through the menus when the waitress comes back with our drinks. She looks about my age with her brown hair cut in a cute bob and a little diamond stud in her nose. Giving me a big smile, she starts unloading her tray. I take a healthy drink when she places it in front of me and then start to get up after she leaves.

“If she comes back, can you get me the fish and chips?” I ask my mom. “I’m going to run to the bathroom.”

“I can go with you,” Yulia quickly says, but I shake my head, not wanting her to have to get up.

“No, I’ll be quick.” I nod to our bodyguard and add, “They’ve already scoped the place out. I really doubt I’ll get kidnapped on the way to the bathroom.” Giving her a smile, I take another quick drink and then point towards the bathroom when the bodyguard at our table looks back over at me. He nods right before I see his lips move, and I know he’s speaking to the others through the hidden mic he’s wearing.

Turning away, I weave around the tables, smiling at a young toddler who’s fisting a roll and giving me a big grin, before heading down the hallway that’s decorated in a nautical theme. Another woman is just stepping out of the bathroom when I go in, and it isn’t until I’m done and washing my hands that I start to feel lightheaded. Bracing my hands on the sink, I close my eyes, breathing through the sensation, but all it does is get worse. I’m just about to send a text to my mom when the door opens. I recognize the girl who walks in as our waitress, and when she sees me hunched over the sink, she walks over and puts her arm around me to help me up.

“Are you okay?”

I shake my head and then quickly think better of it when it just sends a wave of nausea running through me. “No,” I whisper. “Can you help me get back to my table? Something’s wrong. I don’t feel right.”

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