Lauren wondered if her face would eventually just freeze in its beet-red flush since her terrible husband insisted on making her blush all the time. "I'm fine, Sir," she managed. He was sliding his hand over the flat planes of her belly with an unfamiliar expression on his face. "What are you thinking?"
Thomas pulled back, he'd been thinking the strangest thing, how beautiful her stomach would look, swollen with his child, her breasts fuller and plump. Shaking his head, he assured her, "Nothing, darling. I shall see you soon." With a tender kiss, he was gone.
Ready and waiting when Chuck knocked on the bedroom door, Lauren gave a grin to see her unflappable bodyguard well, unflappable as always. But he was holding a small white box. "Miss Lauren, Mr. Williams requested that I find a security feature for you."
Confused, she took the box, looking it over. "What kind of feature?"
Removing the lid, he pulled out a silver chain with delicate links. "This is platinum, very difficult to break. There is a microscopic GPS tracker inside that will not be spotted by a traditional security scanner. I will always be able to find you when you wear this."
It felt like a sliver of ice suddenly plunged into her stomach, making her shiver. "This is more dangerous than anyone's going to admit, isn't it, Chuck?"
With a most un-Chuck-like gentleness, her bodyguard removed the necklace from the box and fastened it around her neck. "Let's go slay the dragon, shall we?"
Lauren looked in the mirror, tears springing to her eyes. The platinum charm holding the tracker was a St. Margaret's medal. She should have known. With a determined smile, she turned to him. If Chuck thought she was strong enough to be a saint, she was going to try. Grabbing her purse and taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Let's go fuck that dragon up."
She heard a low grumble to her side as she laughed, "Now, there's no need for that kind of talk."
Chapter 34 – In the Belly of the Beast
In which Lauren and Thomas find a warm welcome, cold vodka, and an ugly revelation in St. Petersburg.
The car was silent as they headed to the Bratva-owned restaurant where they'd be "meeting the family," as a grinning Number One put it. Lauren looked wistfully out the window at the city and hoped Chuck would be willing to explore with her tomorrow. When they pulled into the winding driveway leading to where their Russian hosts were waiting, everyone was a little impressed. Fairy lights twinkled harmlessly in the trees and shrubs along the drive and up to the massive ivory building, built in the Imperial Russian style. In fact, Lauren thought with a little grin, it bore a striking resemblance to the Menshikov Palace on the other side of St. Petersburg. When the fleet of black cars turned into the circular driveway, the girl got her first taste of The Corporation swagger on someone else's turf. They had quite the impressive entourage, she thought cynically, watching multiple dark-suited men step out and flank them in a procession to the restaurant.
For a moment, Lauren forgot her role and moved to take Thomas's hand, her heart thudding painfully when he moved his away. Gritting her teeth, she forced a pleasant smile as they walked through the towering doors. Inside was a cacophony of sound and light and delicious smells: roasting meat, the sweet scent of baking bread, and more. Further down the hall, a group of musicians was tuning up, and Lauren vowed to make her way over there once they started.
Lauren had thought a great deal about the Bratva Clusterfuck (again, never a phrase said out loud) but she'd anticipated it either being a surprisingly not-horrible evening, like the one they'd shared with Karl Romanoff. Or, what she secretly feared was another terrifying and sordid night like the one they'd endured with the Bratva chief, Semion Mogilevich. She'd thought about it a lot- what to say, how to handle the endless potential pitfalls. As it turned out, the night was not like either experience.
"Dobro pozhalovat', druz'ya!"The woman who stood before them as they walked into the huge restaurant had her arms spread out in a hug, radiating good cheer, and motherly charm. She was tall, nearly as tall as Thomas and a shamelessly brassy blonde. She wore an incalculable wealth of diamonds on her fingers. The woman simply glittered. Effortlessly herding the three Corporation wives away from their spouses, she dragged them over to a group of laughing, chatting women. Looking them over with shrewd brown eyes, the woman turned to Lauren. "Welcome, darlings! We have been so curious to meet the families from The Corporation!"
Lauren grinned back at her. "Thank you for your hospitality, I'm Lauren Williams- Thomas's wife. Nodding at Clara, she added, "Clara Fassell, a newlywed and Michael's bride." There was a chorus of well-wishes from the little gaggle of women and Clara's smile became more natural. "And- and this is Arabella Kingston, Ben's wife and the head of Jaguar Holdings charity division." The gaggle was quieter, looking at Bella, who'd been seated by her handler and given a bottle of water, an absently pleasant look somehow frozen on her pretty face.
After a polite silence to see if Arabella was going to respond the blonde said, "It is good to meet you all. I am Yehvah Mogilevich, Semion's wife but you will call me Eva and..." Of course, thought Lauren, the Queen Bee. It unnerved her that the woman had gone straight to her instead of Arabella. She was quite sure Eva knew who they were well before introductions.
Forcing herself to focus, she nodded and smiled as she met the rest of the female power structure. Lauren was relieved to meet Zia, the surprisingly young wife of Karl Romanoff. "Oh, this must be the little one whose pictures are stuffed in her papa's wallet," she cooed, bending over to smile at the baby.
"Really?" Zia looked shocked, "Karl- he showed you pictures?"
Lauren wondered if she'd done something wrong. "Oh, at a business dinner when he was in London last fall. He showed pictures of the boys, but he seemed quite proud of his first little girl." A huge smile spread over the other woman's face, and she sagged in relief. The Russian wives neatly encased The Corporation spouses and it actually took a moment for Thomas to find Lauren again. He finally spotted Straker, on the periphery of the group of laughing, chatting women and upon closer inspection found his wife bouncing a baby on her lap while teaching a toddler how to make a paper airplane with their placemat. The crowd between them separated for just a moment and she looked up with a sweet smile when she caught his gaze, and without thinking, Thomas smiled back. They lost sight of each other again in the movement of so many bodies, but there were three men who didn't miss the exchange. Apparently, Number Two's weakness for his wife was more pronounced than they thought.
When the head of Bratva stood, so did everyone else. The laughter and chatter cut off instantly, and Lauren could hear herself swallow in the silence. Semion Mogilevich could be quite the showman when he wished, and he was in rare form tonight."Dobro pozhalovat', druz'ya!"he roared cheerfully,"My rady, chto vy zdes', v nashem dome, posle vashego gostepriimstva v Anglii. Tost za Jaguar Holdings i nashikh novykh partnerov."
Looking around, The Corporation group raised their glasses with the others in a shout."???? ????????!"Lauren smiled warmly and tipped her glass to Eva and threw the shot back, grimacing despite her best effort. But her hostess merely laughed and filled her glass again.
The night was turning into a bit of a blur, but Lauren laughed and talked with the Bratva wives, mentally adding in translations from her grasp of Russian when their English slipped and they all understood well enough to enjoy the conversation.
"No children?" Zia said sadly, looking at Lauren and Clara's flat stomachs.
"Not yet," they answered together, which apparently was the signal to push another glass of vodka in their hands.
When the endless table was groaning with food, Eva called everyone over, and The Corporation wives found they were sequestered with the women again. Lauren looked longingly up the table a few times, but Thomas never caught her eye. Clara leaned in close, "I guess we should be grateful they let us sit together, huh?" Squeezing the girl's hand, Lauren looked over to see Arabella sitting quietly, playing with her fork.
The meal started with a wonderful, thick soup."Solyanka,"Eva explained as her guests hummed in pleasure. Next wasPelmeni,which Lauren had enjoyed several times at her friend's home in Manhattan. She shamelessly took three, biting into the crisp pastry blissfully, enjoying the dumpling slathered in butter. Each course was more delicious than the last, though the most popular with the children crowding the table was themorozhenoe- which Lauren savored. More texture than American ice cream, but with a lovely body and flavor that even gelato couldn't boast. When no one could contemplate another bite, the musicians began tuning up and Number Two's bride was on her feet, eager to see their instruments.
Thomas had forced himself to focus in on Mogilevich all night, the sly Russian had been making strange little jokes about "family" that really made no sense. But he watched the interaction between the Bratva chief and Number One, who were toasting each other and laughing. There was an undercurrent that he couldn't recognize, but he had to stay focused and trust that Straker was watching over his wife.
This was not as easy as Lauren’s bodyguard might have hoped. She was darting excitedly from one musician to another, examining their instruments and asking questions. When the group launched intoOn the Murom Path,Lauren's hand was seized by one of the children and she entered the circle to dance. When the circle finally became a blur after a few more songs, she held up her hands in appeal and sat down for a minute. Her eyes were closed, enjoying the sweet sound of the domra and the balalaika when she heard the two men behind her.
"That's the musician? Williams's wife?"
