I spin Raven and pull her back to me, hand on her waist as we begin to waltz about the room. “We'll hire a string quartet. Rent a couple of tables.”
And one-two-three, one-two-three… spin. A little faster. I crush her to me. Chest to chest we turn about the room, never losing stride. She clamps down on my hand, and I clamp down on hers. “Light the chandeliers…” Ohhh, this is funnn… Raven begins to giggle. And I smile my pretty, pretty smile at her. “Valet…” I begin to giggle as my thighs burn. Crackles burrow in the bottom of my brain. “It sounds like such a wonderful event you're planning, Mother.” I spin us again. “TheMatilda Barclay hosting a charity for beginning authors to meet and network with book influencers and socialites? Why, I think it's a grand idea.”
“Me?” Her voice rises into a questioning octave.
I whirl Raven one last time and dip her, all while maintaining eye contact with my mother, ignoring all the rest. Especially Parker's. “If we can't go to them… we'll have them come to us,” I practically purr.
“But… men wouldn't come to a gathering like that.”
I stand straight with Raven, who looks a little green from all the spinning, then look about the room. “Good thing the theme will be the best theme of all ages. A soiree fit for Syndicate matters.”
“Which is?”
I grin devilishly. “Casino Night. Everyone loves a good James Bond.”
Niko and the rest of Maksim's men smile rakishly back at me. “Alright, Boss Lady. That we can do. Let me call Johnny. See what he can help you cook up in such a short amount of time.”
“Thank you, Niko. Call the Capos. I need to sort a meeting. Have them here in the morning.” I nod to no one in particular as the pieces start coming together. “Mum, call all your friends. Let's get the fire started.” I want everything in its path to burn.
“Right. Er, Sabrina?” My mother nervously says my name.
Parker is smiling wickedly at me. The scar on his face making his dimple deepen. God, he’s wondrous to behold.
“Yes, Mama?”
“Are you alright?”
“Perfect, Mum.” I giggle. “In fact… is there still ziti left? I'm feeling all sorts of famished.”
Later on that evening, once Mum has gone to bed and Parker can’t sleep, we decide to go downstairs for a bit of chamomile. I know Parker hates hot tea, but… I don't know what else will help with his nerves. If he’s not speaking to Aleksi, the capos, or one of Raven’s men, he's constantly pacing, and he’s worrying me. We find Aleksi alone pondering over the maps again. His eyes are continuously scanning and skimming. I doubt he’s slept more than I have.
I’ve come to have a deep appreciation for the giant. He’s young, but his intelligence is astounding. I put water in the kettle that is now a permanent fixture on his stove and turn it on. When I turn to face him, he hasn’t moved. “Aleksi?”
“Yeah?” He finally drags his gaze away from the maps and faces me, brown eyes tired and baggy. “Hmm?”
I take a seat beside Parker at the table and motion for Aleksi to sit down. When he does, he sighs heavily, pulls his hair out of the bun on his head, and runs a finger through his luxurious blonde locks, which curtain forward when he shifts to put his forearms on the table. I make a mental note to ask what conditioner he uses later. Brown eyes peer over at me. “Are you alright?”
He dips his chin just as the kettle whistles. I get up and make three cups instead of two, add honey, and set them on the table. “Thanks.”
“How long since you’ve slept?”
He lifts a shoulder and lets it drop, blowing on the tea. He stays quiet for a few moments. “You know my mom died when I was ten and living in Moscow?”
My fingers lay flat on the table. “I know that part, yes. My husband didn’t tell me much, but he did say your mother had passed away when you were young and your father was… not around.”
He scoffs. “That’s a fuckin’ understatement. My dad’s dead for fucking my mom up one too many times in front of me. I’m the one that called Sasha that night. He made the calls, and my dad was never seen again”
“I’m sorry you had to witness that.”
Aleksi stares at me, unblinking, for a few beats. “You learn who you want to be from your parents. I learned I don’t want to be anything like my father. I was seven when that happened, and I don’t regret it.”
I hum.
“When my mom was diagnosed, it was too late to do anything,” he says sadly. “When she died, Sasha went and picked me up; Maksim went with him. Which, you know, back then, he was still under Aristide's thumb. He wasn’t Capo Dei Capi or Pakhan yet.” He takes a sip of the tea and sits back. “A few weeks after living in New York, I got lost coming home from school one day. Sasha wasn’t… he wasn’t the best at remembering me sometimes. I was a really quiet kid, too. Sometimes I think I was too quiet. I don’t hold it against him. I kinda fucked up his bachelor routine, plus, with still having to do things for Ari at all hours of the night, sometimes my uncle fell asleep at the wrong times. So I took it upon myself to walk home. But English… washard. The letters were different, and…” hetrails off, but his eyes connect with mine again. “While I was walking home, it started raining. That coupled with the fact that I couldn’t read the street signs, was a bad combination. The good thing is that while I was passing this big building, I did recognize the wordlibraryfrom school. So I went in there.”
Parker and I stay quiet.
“Maksim found me. He had gone to the school to pick me up because Sasha got caught up dealing with someone, and when Maks couldn’t find me, he freaked out. Called Niko. It was a whole thing. When he found me, I was looking at pictures in a book. I didn’t know what it was saying, but I got the gist of it because of the pictures.The Giving Tree.When he found me, he didn’t scold me. Didn’t make me feel terrible about myself for being stupid and not picking up the language as fast as other kids probably can. I mean, the motherfucker’s been trilingual since he was in the crib.”
