I meet Natalia by the door to my bedroom. She gives me a once over, taking in my flat strappy sandals, simple dress, and hair still damp from the shower. Her lips curl into a subtle smile as if she understands my intentions, but she doesn’t comment.
Natalia leads me through the sprawling home. I don’t bother asking her what’s going on because I know she won’t tell me. After my meeting with Andrei yesterday, I have a pretty good sense of what we’ll be discussing this morning—the plan to send me back to Oleg.
As if that’s happening.
Natalia delivers me to the ground-floor terrace where four hulking men sit around a table under the shade of a trellis dripping with bright pink bougainvillea. It’s quite a picture. A mafia meeting in paradise.
Andrei is the first to spot me, the intensity of his gaze warming me from the inside out. Even in the June heat, he’s wearing a dark suit. His dark blond hair is swept back from his face, a hint of a five o’clock shadow across his jaw. The sight of him hits me like a blow to the chest, and I need to look away to break the spell.
He certainly didn’t get any less attractive overnight. I remind myself he’s a monster on the inside.
A beast of a man rises and pulls out a chair for me. As I take a seat, Andrei introduces me to his head of security, Yulian, and his two brothers, Daniil and Leo. I remember Daniil from the attack on Oleg’s, but we certainly weren’t properly introduced.
Good looks clearly run in this family. While Daniil and Andrei share the same coloring and height, Leo is no slouch. Dressed more casually than the rest in ripped jeans, white t-shirt and a leather vest, he’s even bigger than his brothers, as if that’s possible, with darker, shaggier hair and clear blue eyes. They are all inked up the wazoo. I guess that’s a gangster thing.
“We need to talk about the details of our plan,” Andrei says, getting down to business. “We have a security detail watching your father’s home and restaurant.”
“Really?” My head whips up. “Is he okay? Can I see him? Speak to him?”
I had a restless sleep worrying about my father—and to be honest, worrying about myself—but I do feel marginally better knowing he’s protected. Even if he’s being protected by the bratva that I’m trying to escape. This complicates my plan, but I can’t think of that now.
“Soon. We can’t risk communication at this point, and we have to focus on the job at hand. You have a part to play,kra—” He nearly calls me by that Russian pet name he has for me, but seems to think better of it with the others at the table.
His slip of the tongue doesn’t go unnoticed. Daniil grins, Yulian cocks an eyebrow, while Leo eyes him curiously.
“Georgia, you know why you’re here, but you don’t know the entire story.” Andrei pauses, as if he’s choosing his words carefully. “Six months ago, Oleg assassinated our father, Sergei Kozlov, head of the Kozlov Bratva. After a decades-long feud, it was an attempt to destroy our family once and for all.”
“I remember reading about that in the newspaper,” I say. “I thought they didn’t catch his killer.”
“Not by the authorities. We handle our own business,” Daniil says with a smile and a wink. Is he flirting with me? Judging by Andrei’s thunderous expression, maybe.
“I’m sorry about your father,” I say and mean it. Even hardened criminals love their parents. “I don’t understand the world of the bratva, but I understand why you would want revenge. I just don’t see how I can help with that.”
“We’ll take down Oleg when the time is right,” Andrei says, his expression hard as stone. “But first, we need you to help find Oleg’s daughter. Kira Antonov.”
“I’m sorry… Did you just say Oleg has a daughter?”
“He does.”
I sit in stunned silence for a moment. “I certainly never saw her, or heard that name mentioned. By anyone. And trust me, all I did was eavesdrop when I was in his home.”
Andrei’s face darkens. “Think harder. There must be something of relevance that you picked up.”
Memories flood my mind as I mentally catalog every overheard conversation, every exchange I had with one of the other maids or guards. But try as I might, I keep on coming up blank. “Oleg was gone for most of the time I was at his home, along with most of his top lieutenants. I was completely focused on escaping, but I would have definitely noted if Oleg had a daughter, or if I heard the name Kira. I assumed Oleg had no family.”
“Well he does,” Andrei says, irritation creeping into his voice. As if it’s somehow my fault I’ve never heard of her.
“What do you want with Oleg’s daughter? Isn’t she the enemy?”
“Don’t worry about the details,” Daniil advises. “All you need to know is that we want to find her, and we think you can help.”
I frown, crossing my arms over my chest. “I won’t be part of this if you are going to hurt her. Even if she’s Oleg’s daughter.”
“This is not about hurting her,” Andrei says, his voice dark ice. Judging by the intensity in his expression, Kira must be someone important to him. Like a girlfriend or a lover. Then again, maybe he wants to use her to get back at Oleg. Either way, I have no intention of helping them.
“You overestimate me,” I snap, heat creeping up the back of my neck. “I’m not crafty. I’m a terrible liar. Oleg will know it’s a set-up the moment I land on his doorstep.”
Yulian leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his beefy chest. “We’ve planted spies in the home of our enemies before. We will train you as well as we train any of our other operatives. By the time Oleg emerges, you’ll be more than ready to take him on.”