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CHAPTER 20
Gavril
I was home.
I sat next to Naomi in the car as it wound through the streets of St. Petersburg, taking in the familiar sights and sounds of the place of my birth. I could practically hear the gentle sloshing of the Neva as it wound its way through the city. It had been at least a year since I had come home, too busy with the Bratva to come and visit.
It was like nothing had changed. A swirl of memories assaulted me with each turn of the car, remembering things about my childhood and then ultimately my teenage years that my mother thought I would never get out of without dying first.
She had always said that I was hardheaded and on a path to the devil, and her description of my life wasn’t far off even now.
I was on a path, a destructive path that would lead me right to hell. My soul was too far gone to be saved, and no amount of prayers was going to change that.
Still, I knew she prayed for my soul each night, and that was enough.
Naomi was silent next to me, but I could tell that her eyes were soaking in everything as we passed. From the time I had helped her off the jet, she had been taking in her new surroundings, likely full of questions she was afraid to ask.
In fact, we hadn’t said more than two or three words to each other since she had woken and that worried me. I fucking hated that I was worried about my wife. That was not the intention, nor would it serve as anything good.
So why did it bother me so much? Why did I want to pull her to my side, to whisper words of encouragement in her ear?
The car finally pulled through the wrought-iron gates that protected my family’s property, and I drew in a breath. I should have prepared Naomi more for this meeting.
The car drew to a halt in front of a large, sparkling fountain, the water trickling down gracefully from the stone vase in the center. Well-manicured poplar and maple trees lined the circular drive, and despite the fact that it was close to midnight here, staff were scurrying about, likely preparing the house for my arrival.
The door opened and I stepped out, buttoning my suit coat before joining Naomi on the other side of the car. She had changed clothing on the plane, wearing a pair of leather pants that framed her ass that stuck out from underneath the green blouse she wore.
It didn’t matter what she wore. Nothing would be good enough. It never was.
Still, I reached out and grabbed her hand, wrapping mine around it.
“Remember,” I said softly into her ear. “Russian only.”
She didn’t respond and I walked us up to the open door, stepping inside the home. It was on some historical record somewhere, old-world Russia coming out in the decor and the structure. Many times I had tried to sell the place, but my mother refused to even entertain the idea, stating that it was one of the more stately homes along the Neva and a memory of what our family used to be.
So I left it alone.
“Wow,” I heard Naomi remark as we walked through the foyer and to the formal living room, where the furniture was older than our ages combined. The less formal living room was in the back of the house, but this one was used for receiving guests.
“Gavrushka!”
Aleksandra was the first one to reach me, throwing her arms around my neck and squeezing me hard. “You made it! We have been waiting all day for you to arrive.”
“You might have,” Katarina exclaimed as she joined us, bumping her sister out of the way so she could hug me next. “But I haven’t.”
I returned her hug. “What have you been doing then, dear sister?”
She pulled back, a frown on her lovely face. “Making money! I’ve been trading cryptocurrency.”
“Crypto?” I echoed, arching a brow. “Don’t you need to understand something before you trade it?”
She scoffed. “So? When has that ever stopped you, Gavrushka?”
She had a point. I reached out and tugged Naomi to my side, watching as my sisters took in the woman that I had brought with me. I hadn’t brought a woman into this house in many, many years, and they had both been far too young to remember that. “This is my wife, Sveta.”
Their eyes rounded. “You got married?” Aleksandra exclaimed. “And you didn’t tell us?”
I nodded, feeling Naomi tremble at my side. “You will treat her as you would treat me.”
Katarina rolled her eyes. “We will treat her better. Are you an American?”
The moment of truth. I didn’t change my expression and neither did Naomi. “She is, so her Russian is rusty. Be patient with her.”
“Your brother thinks my Russian is horrid,” Naomi responded in flawless Russian, even with a convincing St. Petersburg lilt. It shocked the hell out of me and I stared at her, dumbfounded at how she had changed her voice that quickly.
Aleksandra laughed, pulling Naomi into a hug. “Oh, he always thinks the worst of people! Welcome to our home. I can’t wait to find out all about America! Gavrushka says that I have to be eighteen to join him in America, so I have only one more year.”
“Lucky you,” Katarina responded. “I have three.”
I should have never made those deals with my sisters. Mother was never going to allow them to come to the States, knowing that once they did, they wouldn’t want to leave.
Hell, I hadn’t.
“Well then,” Naomi responded as Aleksandra released her. “I guess we should prepare the guest bedrooms just in case.”
“Oh, I like her!” my younger sister laughed, looking at me. “You are very lucky to have her, brother. Very lucky indeed.”
“I understand he can be a bit difficult,” Aleksandra added, rolling her eyes. “But he is not entirely without hope.”
I gave her a dark look. Now my own sisters were ganging up on me. “Enough.”
“That is the truth!” Katarina said as she tucked her arm into Naomi’s. “But he can be taught to be civil. I swear it. After all, he’s put up with us for his entire life.”
I watched my wife and my sisters smirk at each other, that familiar tug on my chest intensifying. A person looking in from the outside would believe that I had married my wife with my sisters’ blessing and not under some twisted scheme.
“Do you have any family?” Katarina asked.
I shot Naomi a look, but she only smiled sadly. “I had a brother once,” she said. “But he died.”
Immediately my sisters comforted her, and I loosened a breath. She had remembered. I would have to thank her later, but this was only the tip of the iceberg for her.
She still had to meet my mother. “Has anyone come looking for me?” I asked instead, catching their attention once more.
Aleksandra’s mouth pulled into a frown. “Yes,” she answered, finally turning her attention back to me. “An older man came by earlier, asking for you. I told him you hadn’t arrived yet.”
I reached out and mussed her hair, earning a shriek from her. “Good, good.” That was Surov, likely making his appearance known so that I would know he was ready to talk. “I need a favor.”
All three of them looked up at me and I caught Naomi’s eye, finding myself lost in her depths. When I had shown her the bed on the jet, I had every intention of joining her, but the moment we walked in the room, I backed off, not wanting to share that intimacy between us with anyone.
There were the pilots, the flight attendant, and Anatoly on board. Though the walls were soundproof, knowing that they were all within earshot had stopped me from stripping off her clothes and giving us both something to sigh at.
That and there was a hell of a lot of work to do before my arrival. I had calls to make, meetings to set up, but none of that would have mattered if she had asked me to stay.
She hadn’t, and I knew why. I had been harsh with her when she had asked about my shipments, about my fucking business dealings. A small piece of me had wanted to spill everything to her so she could see what sort of monster I truly was, but I had refrained.
The last thing I needed was to have her try to run from me while we were here. She was safer in LA than she was in Russia, and I was going to have a hell of a time protecting her.
Besides, she didn’t need to know about my business dealings right now. While I had trusted her so far, I hadn’t given her a lot of insight into my life and the things I oversaw. That was private information, information that was only for my inner circle, and the moment I let her into that realm, there was no turning back.
