Russian Roulette (Russkaya Mafiya) (46 page)

I lean down and pepper kisses all over her face, causing her to giggle. “You, lovely, are a genius! I never would have thought of all of that. I think it sounds perfect. I’ll send a few men out and see what they can come up with.”

“Awesome! And now I don’t have to pack up our gorgeous cabin. Thank you, baby Jesus!”

“Elaina, you finally said it,” I reply happily.

“What are you talking about?” she inquires quizzically.

“You called the cabin ‘ours’.” I smile wolfishly and she rolls her eyes.

“Oh my gawd, you’re so silly about somethings. I have embraced that this is our home, happy?”

“Yes, I am, one hundred percent. I love you so much,” I mumble against her mouth and she closes her eyes.

“I love you, Vik, with everything that I am,” she answers and I kiss her tenderly.

Pulling back leisurely, she gets a panicked look on her features. “When is she coming?”

“Today, that’s why I’ve been rushing you.”

“Crap!” She jumps up and runs around.

“What? Why are you freaking out?”

“Because, Viktor! We aren’t ready!”

“Of course we’re ready. There’s nothing to prepare for, she’s just a girl coming to stay.”

“Shit! Men never understand this kind of thing! Tell whoever does the cleaning around here to get to washing the sheets for her bed!”

“My love, you’ve been the one zipping around cleaning stuff.”

“Oh. Right.” She scrunches up her nose, “Well then, I need to go clear out that barn and get it situated.”

“Why don’t I call the housekeeper who visits weekly? I’m sure she would enjoy the extra work time. Mishka will probably be up here again when she hears of another female staying.”

“I can’t wait, I love that mean old woman.” She smiles fondly then gets that determined look on her face again, “Yes, the maid is a good idea. I’ll go get started and you call her.” She bolts right out the back door like a woman on a mission and I can’t help but think about how amazing, and a little crazy, she is.

As soon as she leaves I slip my hand into my pocket. The box I pull out keeps feeling like it’s burning a hole there. Flipping the lid open eagerly, I’m just glancing down at it when the screen door crashes open. I slam the lid closed, hiding the box behind my back.

Elaina peeks her head around and looks at me suspiciously. “What were you doing?”

“Nothing, I was just getting ready to make that call,” I reply as nonchalantly as possible, my heart beating a million miles per minute.

She nods slowly. “Right, well, I was just going to ask you to ask your men to pick up some more sweet tea. We need tea if we are having company.”

“We usually drink vodka.” I shrug as I shove the box in my pocket as if it’s my phone.

“Please get some tea.”

“You got it, lovely.”

“Thank you,” Elaina croons, blowing me a kiss. She runs off to finish doing welcoming stuff and I breathe normally again.

I think she just gave me a miniature stroke by coming back early.
Let’s try this again.

I pull out the nondescript white box and flip it open. A stunning three carat, Princess cut diamond, shines brightly back at me. The plain Platinum band accents the nearly flawless diamond even more. Pulling it out carefully, I flip it over to read the inscription. Engraved in beautiful lettering is ‘Прекрасная принцесса’ (Lovely Princess). This ring was made just for her and it deserves to have her name in it always.

Elaina seems to favor more simplistic things. I have to come up with a good way to ask her. I don’t want to be over the top and scare her, but I want her to remember it. I think I’ll ask her tonight. She’ll be so distracted with the company coming, she won’t even realize what is happening until it occurs.

It’s only been a month since we’ve been official, but I can’t hold off any longer. It seems like I’ve wanted her for ages. We can have a long engagement if she would like, but this needs to happen sooner rather than later.

Elaina

I’m busy cleaning up the barn and trying to make it as presentable as possible when the maid comes in to relieve me. She thanked me graciously like I was the one who called her, so no telling what Viktor told her. He gives me way too much credit for things. I just give my input or complain about something and he acts like I hung the moon.

When I first met him I never could have imagined this would be my life, or that I could love him so much. I was so incredibly blind to not see what was waiting very patiently right in front of me. I could kick myself for holding out on him for so long.

I still have some setbacks with my touching issue. I’ve tried to let him know what triggers things and he has backed off a remarkable amount. He still shows me a huge amount of love and affection, he’s just more aware of how he does it. I’m so lucky to have found someone so understanding of it all.

I used to think Emily was a little nutty with how she always acted with Tate, but I get it now. Emily’s growing with Tate and I’m so proud of the woman she has become given all the stuff she has dealt with. Having a baby on the way has made her grow up so much and it seems like it’s really good for her.

Now, onto seeing about Nikoli and this new chick coming to stay. Viktor calls it a visit, but I seriously doubt it will be short. I’m pretty wary about having someone from that family around here, and especially around Viktor. He doesn’t believe I would kill her, but he doesn’t realize how much Kendall changed me. I would never cause harm to anyone for pleasure, but best believe I would shoot this one in a heartbeat if it came down to it.

I hit up the shower to scrub this grime off and find something appropriate to wear.

I throw on some jeans, t-shirt and combat boots. Nothing fancy, I want to be prepared if this new girl gets wild and crazy. She’s lucky I don’t have a gun or I’d tuck it in my pants to look really bad ass.

I wonder if Viktor is aware what exactly he’s getting into with me. I’m probably going to drive him to drink more than a normal Russian drinks vodka, and that’s a lot.

Chatter comes from the living room so I silently make my way to see what’s going on. Peeking around the corner ninja-like, I’m met with a gorgeous blond giant, also known as Nikoli, and a small sprite of a girl. She’s dressed in skinny jeans, a plain tank top, flip flops and has short, brown hair in a pixie cut.

She comes up to Niko’s chest—granted the man is like six foot four or something crazy—but I think this chick may be shorter than me and I’m short. They main thing that stands out though, is she is the exact opposite of Kendall.

We lock eyes and stare at each other for a few moments. She doesn’t seem scared nor overly brave. I wish Vik would have told me her damn name.

Nikoli turns, catching a glimpse of me for the first time and beams a bright smile at me. He’s freaking beautiful in a completely different way than Viktor.

“Elaina!” He gestures for me to come to him, holding his arms wide open. Of course he would be happy to see me, he loves my sister dearly and I look exactly like Emily. Well, besides the eye color. I don’t think I’ve ever met a man so protective over females who don’t belong to him.

Making my way leisurely into the living room and attempting to keep my features blank, I step to Viktor’s side. I feel a large, warm hand grab onto mine and it’s like instant relief. I have real live proof that he’s right beside me and he’s okay. Nothing like the last time will happen. I’ll make sure of it.

His breath tickles my neck as he leans close enough to whisper, “Relax, lovely. Everything is going to be okay. You appear as if you’ve swallowed something sour. Please show them your sweet smile and be happy. I love you.”

I briefly check him over then nod. “I love you, too,” I murmur quietly. Inhaling a deep breath and attempting to look friendlier, I bend in to give Nikoli a brief hug. “Hi, Niko.”

“Hi, little sister!”

“Geez, I’m not the little one! It’s Emily, she’s so stubborn sometimes. I’m going to look it up on our birth certificates; just so I can rub it in her face that I know I’m for sure older than her.”

He chuckles and pulls the female in front of him slightly bringing her much closer to me. He nods to her proudly then introduces her, “This pixie girl is Sabrina.” He grasps her shoulders, dwarfing her like a football player would. “Sabrina, this is Em’s sister, Elaina. I told you about them all, yes?”

“Da, blondie,” she answers half in Russian and I cock a brow. I’m not amused, she better bust out with the English.

Snotty attitude firmly in place, I prop my hand on my hip. “Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry, Niko likes to speak to me in Russian and it’s become habit to just automatically answer him that way.” Her voice is small and pleasant. She speaks kindly and it makes me feel like a tool for being bitchy, but her family doesn’t like the man I love. It should be expected that I act wary around her.

Niko jumps in, razzing Viktor, “Never thought you would settle. This one must come with whip.”

I giggle and Viktor shakes his head. “She doesn’t need the whip, although I wouldn’t exactly write the idea off completely.” Niko busts out laughing and Sabrina smiles.

How on earth can she be so calm about all of this? She was just traded for a warehouse and she’s acting like this is no big deal. I would be flipping my shit right now if I were in her shoes.

Hmmm, at least Sabrina is a better name than Kendall. I just met the chick five minutes ago so it’ll take some time to warm up to her. I’ll back off a little but she better not walk behind Viktor or I may go psycho. I do kind of feel bad for her besides the resentment I feel for her family. I can relate; I grew up with a family that didn’t want me either.

FIFTEEN

ELAINA

“Come on, Princess, let’s show them where they
will be
staying. I’m sure Sabrina would like to get settled.” Viktor carts me out the back door, Nikoli follows and Sabrina trails last. I sneak little looks back behind us a dozen times, paranoid there will be a blade in her hand at any moment.

I have to stop thinking that way. I just can’t help my feelings; it’s in my nature not to trust people. It’s not a switch you can simply turn off and on when it’s inconvenient.

I catch up quickly, whisper shouting, “Viktor! She’s behind us! Let her go first!”

Viktor stops abruptly and catches me off guard. He shoots me an irritated look and then speaks over my head to Niko.

“You both head to the door and give me just a second with Elaina, please.” It’s not a real question, even though he makes it appear so. They smile and walk to the barn, waiting next to the door for us like this is totally natural.

He grumbles at me. “You need to stop this nonsense.”

Glaring, I practically hiss back, “Nonsense? Have you lost your marbles? Her sister stabbed you in the back of the damn head! Your wound isn’t even fully healed up yet and you want me to calm down? Not just no, but
hell no
!”

“Ugh, you’re so infuriating sometimes! I know who she is! I was the one who was stabbed for Christ’s sake!”

I know he’s irritated but he just sends a friendly smile to Niko, like we’re having a normal conversation about dinner or somthing. “If you give me two minutes I could tell you that she apologized profusely as soon as she came in the door and explained her sister had terrorized her. She’s grateful because she thinks you helped her out but feels guilty because it was her sister. Her father has already told her that if she so much as screws this up with any of us that he will kill her himself. They are
not
a very caring family. I would assume you have a touch of compassion to share, being you were her advocate not too long ago when you found out about the trade.”

“I’m not sure I buy it just yet. I just met her. You can’t expect me to be buddies with her when I know nothing about her. And I gave you two minutes; in fact you had two goddamn weeks.” I finish my reprimand and stomp the rest of the way to the barn, painting a smile on my face.

I open the barn door so we can all go in and get our new ‘guests’ settled in comfortably. We will definitely be talking more about this crap.

Viktor catches up quickly, acting as if he didn’t just get put in the dog house. We show them around the ginormous building. If it wasn’t for the safe room under the house, then this place would be bigger than the cabin. The barn actually resembles the cabin slightly, being that it’s all wood. It’s missing the porch, and the windows in here are fewer but much bigger.

The barn has been converted into more of a loft type space. Up the ladder there is a landing large enough to fit three full size beds for the guards. I had them take the stinky mattresses with them when they left though and asked Alexei to bring up a new large bed the same size as ours. It’s a king size, which I’m now patting myself on the back for because otherwise Niko would have been hanging off the bed from the knees down.

I hung the old light blue curtains we had in the kitchen and used one of the new packaged comforters from the safe room downstairs. Being broke the majority of the time meant I never really had many options when it came to decorating. I may have gotten a little overexcited at the chance of sprucing up the barn.

Looking pleasantly surprised, Viktor’s eyes shine with approval. It warms me inside to know he is proud of something I did, no matter how small.

The bathroom was a disaster. Thankfully, the cleaning lady gave it a good scrubbing and I brought new cream colored towels over from the cabin’s guest bathroom. I love the huge fluffy towels we have.

The kitchen is a tiny space. It’s adorned with a two-seater wooden table and was hard to do anything with, so it’s still dreary. I did pick some pretty purple and orange wildflowers for the table though.

I can’t believe I went to all this trouble to make them comfortable and it hadn’t even registered until now. It didn’t seem like I was preparing for an enemy, but for a guest instead. I guess because of Nikoli I have been treating this whole ‘stay with us’ issue as if they really are our guests.

At least Sabrina will be sleeping out here and we will be locked securely in the cabin, with Alexei as a watch dog. Hopefully Niko will keep her in check, so I won’t have to worry about it too much.