“Sorry, Boss.”
I look at my three Boeviks, all top earners under one of my brigadiers and all known for causing trouble when they get together. I really don’t need this tonight.
“So, what’s the deal? You don’t think you need to pay your way around here because you work for me?” I ask them. The one I slapped, Mikhail, looks tentatively over at Ares.
“We thought it was cool since?—”
“Don’t look at him. I’m the one talking.” I step directly in his line of sight. “Answer my fucking question.” I continue in Fenya. “You little shits think I won’t take your heads for messing with one of my businesses?”
“Hey, hey,” one of the girls—the little dark-haired one that I’ve seen around Ember—says. In Russian, she says, “It’s not a big deal. We can dance for your guys for free.”
“I don’t think so,” I tell her in English. I turn to Ember. “They’ll pay whatever’s owed.”
“Come on, Boss,” another of them, Stephan, says. “We don’t even get a discount?”
“You might’ve gotten one before you decided to act like assholes,” I respond. “Thanks to your bullshit tonight, you’ll pay full price for your lap dances and everything else here until I decide you’ve earned the right to have a discount. Are we clear?”
All three nod.
“Good. Carry on.” I turn to leave, and I hear high heels clicking behind me.
“Hold on a second.” Ember rushes around me and blocks my path. “You can’t do that.”
I stare at her in confusion. “What are you talking about? You had a problem, I solved it.”
“It wasn’t your problem to solve,” she says. “This isn’t how I run things, Mr. Orlov. You said you’d stay out of the way of how I run this place.”
She isunbelievable.This tiny little thing really thinks she had any real sway over my men? “You were out of your depth, trust me.”
“Why? Because I’m just some frail little girl and they’re big, bad Bratva? I’m not as fragile as you think. And besides, that problem was mine to deal with. Not yours.”
“Not tonight, it wasn’t.” We stare at each other under the colored lights and thumping club music for a few seconds.
“Just stay the hell out of my way, all right? I’ve got this.”
And again she storms off. I swear, this woman is going to drive me insane.
7
EMBER
These past few weeks have beenbrutal. I’m glad to have the night off tonight.
I almost didn’t take it, either. Every night, it seems like there’s one fire or another that I need to put out. I swear, things weren’t this chaotic before Roman Orlov and his band of merry men stepped in.
I have such mixed feelings about him. Sometimes, I hate his guts. Especially when he steps in to solve a problem that I should be handling. And then sometimes, when it’s just us and he’s going over something like zoning laws with me, I’m… I don’t know. Drawn to him.
Yesterday afternoon, he was talking to me while leaning against his desk, his eyes flitting to my legs as I crossed them. I turn him on, probably just as much as he does me. And there’s just no part of him to focus on that doesn’t yank me out of that line of thought. Even the roughness of his hands sends goosebumps up my arms.
I will say that his being there is a boon in some ways. For one thing, there’s been a significant decrease in drunken troublemakers. By the time I hear about someone causing problems, several of Roman’s men are already carrying them out and hurling them out the door. He always seems to have someone milling around the club. They hide in plain sight like ninjas. I’ve been trying to figure out how to spot them. The only real way is if any of them have their tattoos showing, which is rare. They all like to wear expensive suits that cover most of them.
In that vein, I’ve also noticed that he’s particularly protective of me and the other women in the club. I don’t know. I’ve always heard that of all the things these connected guys are, they aren’t exactly known to be feminists. I didn’t expect him to keep the assholes from getting out of line around here. I guess this money I’m paying for ‘security’ is worth it in the end.
It’s working fine for now, but I wonder when the price will eventually go up. One of these days, these thugs are going to make problems that I don’t need.
It’s early and I just finished my morning run. I’ve stopped in a nearby coffee shop to get my reward of a iced latte and I’m waiting in line. The ‘normal’ world is starting to feel foreign to me. I look around myself and see soccer moms on their phones in line, businessmen in their suits, looking at their watches and phones to see how late they’ll be…
All these months, I’ve been working so long in the dark, I forgot what the world is like in the daytime. Calm and unassuming, without muscley tattooed men flanking the door. There won’t be any fights breaking out here today, nor is anybody muttering some insult in Russian at me.
