“Tell me about the retreat Mom and the boys are at.”
“It’s for women who…need an escape from the life.” An escape from the Bratva, he means. “Some left bad men. Some left their own bad days. They tend a garden. They walk in pairs. The fence is for wolves and for men who think they are wolves.”
“Does he know it exists?”
“No. Few know about it. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work.” He pauses, and I can’t tell if that’s because he doesn’t want to tell me more, or if there’s even more to tell. “My mother…she could have used a place like it. She died, and then once my father had passed, I set the retreat up for women to tell their captain husbands that they were going to an exclusive spa or whatever lie they thought would work.”
“And the husbands buy that?”
“It is not uncommon for their wives to go overseas for the latest in plastic surgery or what have you. So, a few days at a spa is nothing to them.”
I nod, but it’s hard for me to imagine separate vacations like that. “Go on.”
“When they’re free, I send the team to meet up with her and ensure she doesn’t have a tail. She can spend a few days there, or weeks, or we can help her fake her own death and relocate her. Whatever she needs. Some merely need a break, but others…they need a new life. If I let it be known that I offer such a thing, I would be a dead man. So, I keep that resource a very guarded secret.”
“Oh. Then it’s as safe as it can be, I guess. They all are.” I let that settle me, even though it’s hard to believe my sons are okay without me. Leaning against the window until the cold sinks into my skin helps. The ocean is black below us. The map screen draws a thin line over it and writes one word at the end. Fiji.
I text my mother even though I know the phone is off.I love you.It goes nowhere. It helps anyway.
Roman moves to the seat beside me after the belt sign dims. He doesn’t touch me until I lift my hand. Then he covers it. Warmth moves from his palm to mine. It doesn’t fix anything.
I don’t know what could.
14
ROMAN
My bride is nervous.
I do not like sending my sons away either. I understand her nervousness. This is all built on a foundation she is unsure of. She doesn’t really know me. To be fair, I don’t really know her. But I have more security in this arrangement than she does, hence her nervousness and my lack of it.
The plane is steady. The belt sign is off. No one comes into this cabin unless I permit them. It is the one part of today that feels like a clean rule. After everything else, it gives me peace of mind to know we are here together, just the two of us.
I have never been truly alone. Growing up under my father’s roof, there were always servants and guards and associates coming in and out of the house. I never left for school, never moved out. He died, and I inherited the house and the servants and the guards. Even the associates, or their successors.
And now, I am married once again. Being alone was never in the cards for me. But alone time with my bride? That is something I can have now and then.
The quiet hum of the plane is low enough to allow for conversation, but Mina’s not especially chatty since she got out all her nervous thoughts. She stares out the oval window and pretends she is not counting minutes. She is. I can see it in the tight line of her mouth and the way her fingers press the armrest when the plane shivers. She is pretending for me and for herself. She needn’t do that.
But she doesn’t know that. How many times has she pretended to be okay for other people? I suppose I should get to know her better, since we’re married and will be for the foreseeable future.
“We are alone for now. Tell me something you like.”
She blinks. “Like what?”
“Anything. I will start if you want.”
She lifts her defiant chin. “You start.”
“Very well. I like kitchens that smell like coffee at five in the morning. I like when a plan is so simple my captains cannot break it. I like the way you stand when you’re angry. You plant your feet like you’re telling the floor to answer to you. And I think it does.”
Her mouth tilts. “I like to finish things before anyone remembers to ask me. I like being the person who knows where the good stapler went. I like the weight of my boys when they fall asleep and I don’t want to put them down even if my arms go numb.”
Tanner taps twice on the frame, so I click the button that allows him into my part of the cabin. He sets a silver bucket on the credenza and leaves without speaking. The bottle wears a strip of tamper tape I can read from here. I tear it and check the cork forholes. I fill two flutes and set one in front of her. I also set water next to it.
“To your health.”
She touches my glass with a click that is more firm than polite. She takes a sip, and I hope the bubbles do their small trick. The tight lines at the corners of her eyes ease. “I like champagne too.”
