“I’m glad. I saw it on a whole bunch of videos online and figured if it helped all those women, maybe it would help you.”
“I appreciate you so much! Whatever you said … god. You could be a couple’s counselor with your skills.”
“Damn, I should have you write that down as a recommendation for me soon.” I tease. “I’m just glad it helped, especially when I’m too far away to do more.”
“Well, you should be receiving some gifts soon. They’re thrilled.”
“Thank you, Val!” Gunner yells in the background.
I hear Sophie sigh in relief and then take a shuddering breath. “So good.”
“He’s doing it right now, isn’t he?”
She laughs. “Yes. Making me fall in love with him all over again. Hopefully, you can get a weekend soon with some time to spare so we have one last visit before the baby.”
“Agreed.”
“How are things with the guys?” Gunner asks.
I freeze. Sophie jumps in and asks if he means who she thinks he means and they start placing bets on if I’ll fuck them all or one specifically. My cheeks burn. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t hold out on us. I have to live vicariously through you!” Gunner yells.
“Rude.” Sophie grumbles.
“I’m not saying a thing. Love you. Bye.” I hang up and try to catch my breath. Why am I suddenly shy?
HUNTER
Ihate that I can’t meet up with Valerie tonight, especially when I know she’s holding out on me despite wanting me. But I love a challenge … and being with her will be exactly that. We can’t have her around here. It’s not safe for her. Our life is pretty and shiny from the outside, with paparazzi following us on slow news days, living in luxury with no concern where our next meal is coming from or if we’ll have a house in six months, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have our own issues.
Issues and complications that Valerie doesn’t need to be a part of. I head downstairs and run into Lief. He has on jeans and a black button-up that’s rolled up to his elbows. His hair is down, and he looks comfortable, deceptively.
“Going somewhere?”
“Out.”
I pause. “You’re not having dinner with Valerie, are you? No business things?”
“None.” He agrees, continuing to walk out the door without answering my main question.
Fucker. I head to the conference room near the offices in the back of the house and drop into a chair next to chase. Being the heir of any business is bullshit when your opinions don’t matter, you just get to watch, but this is just an extra helping of that shit.
Maybe, if our mother had stayed around, things would be different. I still remember bits and pieces of her and I can’t imagine her staying with dad. She should have taken us with her. Chase is lucky he doesn’t remember. It’s easier not to know what we had than to keep longing for it.
My father’s hand comes down on the table and I jump, thinking of how many times it came down on me when I’d ask when Mom was coming back.
“The Italians can’t be trusted.”
There are only two other men in the room other than my brother and I. Father said that the more people in the room, the more chances of things getting out. The smaller the meeting, the less risk.
I switch my brain to Russian and fold my hands together on the table while Chase puts on that bored face he keeps for meetings. We’re both good at controlling ourselves around Father.
“With Stefan taking over for his father, we have problems. Lorenzo adhered to our … agreement. He played nice, we played nice, a good balance. Let’s play this smart so we can limit our involvement outside the community.”
The comparatively small Russian community in D.C. has always been Father’s main concern. Protecting our people from discrimination, taking care of problems within the community without reaching out to the police, ensuring that we’re safe, managed, and have opportunities like any other American citizen.
In that way, at least, he’s a good man. Everyone has some redeeming quality. Father makes living in the moral gray area look like internal warfare.