Page 4 of Bratva, Baby
“No, thank you. Your office girlfriend has already called dibs on you, and I am steering clear. My life is a drama-free zone and Meredith reeks of drama.” I respond jokingly to lighten the blow of my rejection. It’s not that I am not interested, he seems to be exactly my type with his dark colored hair, tall, firm body and facial hair; I am sure if I gave myself time to get to know him, I would be attracted to his personality too but I just can’t take any risks by fucking around with one of my coworkers right now.
“If you’re talking about Meredith, it will never happen between us. She saw me in the office only today and suddenly staked a claim on me as if I were her chew toy. I am notinterested in her at all… Besides, you still have your side of the dare to hold up to, and I plan on holding you to it.” He says cockily.
Fuck I forgot about the dare already. “Fine. But just coffee. Now, if you will excuse me, it has been a long first day and I am more than ready to wind down for the evening.”
“You know what they say helps a woman relax after a hard day of work, right?” He says, winking, and walks out the door.
As he leaves, I turn around and take in my oddly decorated home. The closest thing to a theme I have going is all the fake orchids I have everywhere, since I kill all the plants I try to keep. I try to imagine what my home looked like through his eyes,Universe. That’s a depressing thought.
Andrei
So far, the plan has taken off without a hitch. I am surprised Alek was able to pull off the authentic thunderclap over the Bose speakers. I knew I spared no expense for a reason. But still she fought me on bringing her home, and she continues to fight me about tomorrow morning. No matter, I know where she lives, and I plan on her riding with me in the morning regardless of what she thinks her plans are.
I know I could have hired a private investigator to find all this information for me, but where is the fun in that? This is personal. She is mine and I need to do this myself. I willfind out everything there is to know about Ava, feed her breadcrumbs of “sweet Andy,” and then slam the door to her cage shut with her safely inside so she can learn to become the perfect Bratva wife. My little bird may not know who I really am, but she will learn in time, she will learn that I am hers just as much as she is mine.
In the meantime, I have other business to take care of and need to leave my little bird to her devices for now. Pulling my phone from my jacket pocket, I call Alek.
“What’s up, boss?” Alek asks as he picks up the phone on the second ring.
“Why do you insist on calling me that? I am not my father or yours.” I tell him.
“Because it always gets a reaction out of you,mudak.” He says in Russian. It may not be our native language, but it is the language we grew up around.
“Whatever. Did you secure the delivery at the docks?” Those guns already have a buyer, and I don’t need any fuck ups, so I put my number two on this.
“Of course,Brat, I am here now.” He says. “Been here since before the ship arrived, just like we planned. When are you going to head your lazy ass over here?” Themudakis asking for an ass whooping. He is not only my second-in-command, but he is also my lifelong best friend, as we grew up together; his dad was my dad’s second-in-command. We have remained best friends even though my father is the reason for his father’s death.
“I’m on my way now, so we can confirm everything is there and contact the Irish to come get them. I want these gone by the end of the week.” I say.
“I think that can be done, boss. How did you enjoy your day in the office?” He cackles quietly down the line. Nosy bastard. If he weren’t my best friend, I wouldn’t put up with his impudence. But I won’t go down like my father, losing trust and camaraderie in all those around me until I kill them and then myself. I will take myself out before I go down like that.
Reluctantly, I step on the gas and speed even further away from my little bird. The only thing that makes me capable of leaving her in the neighborhood she calls home is that I bought the house next door and placed a couple of brigadiers there to keep her protected when I can’t be around. My brigadiers aren’t complaining since they are being compensated generously for living in such conditions; they can fix it up if they decide, and I’ve offered them a stipend for that as well. If only I could offer Ava something to improve her living conditions, but something tells me she would not be amenable to the idea.
Thanks to my inner musings, the trip to the docks passes quickly, and Alek meets me at the door of the on-site warehouse. As we get everything squared away, my mind wanders again to Ava. I wonder what she is doing? If she is asleepalready? Is she dreaming of me? I never did check if she was already in a relationship; I guess I didn’t care because even if she is, I’d kill the fucker if I had to, and then I’d be the shoulder to cry on for my little bird.
“GOD-FUCKING-DAMMIT” yells Pyotr, ripping my attention from my thoughts.
I look over at the commotion and it’s like a scene from a gore movie. Blood is everywhere. It seems like he mangled his hand trying to pry one of the crates open. Darkly, I wonder if it is salvageable or if he will be telling people “he’d better use his strong hand” at our next family dinner. I don’t panic in the face of blood. In our line of work, blood and gore are inevitable. You can’t be a Pakhan with a weak stomach.
“Settle down, mother fucker. Swinging it around isn’t doing anything but getting blood everywhere.” My guys are good men, but they aren’t always the brightest. “Mikhail, use that piece of cloth and tie a tourniquet above the injury until we can get Drummond out here.” Taking my phone out of my pocket, I call the doctor on the bratva’s payroll.
“Dr. Drummond.” He answers immediately. We pay him too much for him to fuck off when we call. “You’re needed. Pyotr seems to have fought with a shipping crate, and there is a lot of blood. We are at the docks.” I hang up. He’s not in my inner circle; there is no reason to chit-chat like we are in a book club.
After the doctor leaves, it’s two in the morning, and we’ve learned that Pyotr has lost his pinky and gashed his palm open. Since we weren’t able to find the pinky, it couldn’t be saved, but the palm has seventeen stitches. He will be fine as long as he doesn’t do anything to rupture the stitches on his palm until they’re healed. I had Ivan clean up all the blood. It may be our warehouse, but we still don’t need blood everywhere. We're Bratva, not animals.
Knowing I won’t be able to sleep while not knowing what Ava is doing, I decide to go home, clean up, dress for another day in the office, and go back to Ava’s neighborhood. I’m not stupid enough to park my SUV right in front of her house, so I park down the road where I still have eyes on her home. Usually, I would have switched to a more discreet car, but since I am picking her up in the morning and she only knows me as Andy, a coworker on the office floor, I have to go along with the façade and pretend I only have one car. It will be exhausting to keep up the façade, but for her, it will be worth it.
Expecting her to fight me in the morning over the ride to work, I take matters into my own hands. She can’t take a car to work if the car won’t start, so I send a text to Mario, one of the brigadiers in the house next to hers, who knows enough about cars to prevent it from starting.
Me: Mario, discreetly take care of Miss Ava’s car. She doesn’t need to drive it anymore; I can take her where she needs to go.
Mario: You need it to disappear, sir? I can make it disappear.
Me: No, insurance might help her get a new one if she reports it as stolen. Just make sure it doesn’t start in the morning. Thanks.
Now that’s done, I sit back and make more plans for my little bird. I can’t sit here every night; I know I still need sleep. But I don’t own a tech company for nothing, and it’s not just for laundering the Bratva’s money either. I have a special interest in technology myself, though I am no genius; I just know what I like.
Texting Mario again, I lay out the plans for tomorrow while Ava is out of the house.
