“Play nice kids.” Willow speaks again with playfulness to her voice.
“Okay then, dinner at yours.” She adds, facing me and sounding nervous. She has no reason to be. My mother is going to love her.
“I’ll come back with Mikhail at seven to pick you up.” I say before taking a sip of my coffee. She sips her own and nods.
“Sounds good! I finish work at three thirty today, plenty of time to get ready.” She says smiling at me.
“I’ll drop you both to work since Alina’s car is still there.”
“We can get the train. It’s fine.” Alina says as she turns her phone with the train times on it.
“Not with someone stalking Willow. If you can’t drive yourselves, I’ll send my driver to take you both where you need to be, anytime, not just today.” I say sternly because this is a non-negotiable.
“Fine.” Is all Alina says before she stalks out of the room and back down the hallway.
“She’s pissed right now, and hurt. She’s taking her attitude out on you because you’re Lev’s cousin. I promise she’ll come round again to you soon.” Willow says as she sips her coffee and leans into me. If only she knew the real reason why Alina hates me so much right now.
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Mikhail and I dropped the girls to work earlier and I’ve been in a mood all day because Willow has been separated from me. I’ve taken calls with our other territory leaders, trained with my men for their upcoming fights and ensured everything is in order with our arms deals as well as making sure the upcoming trade to the Italians runs smoothly.
“Moy brat, please. Just tell me if she’s at least okay?” Lev says from beside me. I actively avoided his questions when he first got to the club earlier.
“What do you think Lev? The poor girls life just got upended. She finds out her father is a scumbag mafia leader and finds out her boyfriend is Russian Bratva and not just that, butthat you both know each other and have business together. How the fuck do you think she’s feeling?” I grumble back at him and he stands and throws a fist at the wall.
“I fucking hate that slimy Italian bastard. She would of never of found out like this if he wasn’t such a fucking idiot!”
“Calm down, don’t break your fucking hand before your fight. You knew this was always a risk. Either of them finding out about our business was always a possibility, it’s why I tried to stay away from Willow in the first place. She might come round eventually, you never knowmoy brat.” I tell him because seeing him so wound up over Alina and knowing exactly how he feels is killing me. If Willow walked away from me I’d set the world on fucking fire.
Oh how life has changed lately. I’m a thirty four year old unforgiving Pakhan obsessed with a twenty two year old woman who probably hasn’t even killed a fly, all while now taking her best friend under my wing and no doubt will end up playing matchmaker for Lev by trying to talk to them both into seeing each other again.
My mother is going to have a field day with all of this when I tell her.
I check my watch and see it’s time Willow should be finishing work. I pick up my phone and dial Andrei, it rings three times too many before he answers.
“Hey boss. The girls are locking up.” He says down the line.
“Follow Mikhail as he takes them home and let me know if you see anything suspicious on the drive.” I say before hanging up and standing.
“I have dinner with my mother tonight, Willow is going to meet her, so I’m going home to get changed before I pick her up. You good to stay here?” I ask Lev who still looks like a wounded puppy.
“Yeah, sure.”
“I know you care about Alina, but don’t do anything stupid that’s going to make her push you away any further. She’s processing a lot of information right now. Just give her time.” I say to him as I put a hand on his shoulder.
“Let me know if there’s any trouble later.” And with that I walk out of my office and mentally prepare for the two most important women in my life to meet each other.
Chapter Twenty Three
Willow
“Holy shit Dragna. THIS is your house??” I try to keep my voice calm but the words come out in a soft squeal.
I knew he was rich, but this is next level.
His home isn’t even a home, it’s more of an estate, no not even, it’s a freaking castle. Huge black iron gates surround the entire place, only opening at the long driveway that snakes up to a gravel turning circle and in the middle is a fountain. A fucking fountain!
There’s cars scattered outside the house, sorry, castle. A huge, gorgeous, castle like mansion with stone steps leading up to the massive double front door.
