AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sighing, I walked inside of my father’s home. The stately mansion where I grew up was just outside of the city. It was a lovely brick Georgian with a large fountain in the front. From the outside it appeared like any normal home in the area.
But if you looked closely, you noticed the tip of a small scope pointing towards the gate. Said gate was designed to withstand the blunt force impact of an armored truck trying to crash through it, though no one had ever tested its capabilities.
There was a small cottage that one would think held garden tools but was really a security outpost that served as a small armory.
My father’s paranoia was legendary and warranted.
Boris Ivanov was Pakhan of the Russian mafia in New York. The only man more powerful than him was the head in Moscow, and given what was happening with the Soviets, there were those who would argue that power was shifting towards New York.
Enemies were all around us, which explained my father’s emphasis on security.
“Katarina!” My father stood up from the chair he’d been occupying as I walked into the room. His arms were outstretched in an inviting hug, and I smiled despite myself.
“Papa,” I said as I allowed him to envelope me in his embrace. I breathed in the scent of cigars and expensive vodka that always seemed to cling to my father and tried not to laugh as his wiry whiskers tickled my cheeks.
“You are late.” Both my father and I groaned as we broke apart our embrace and turned to look at my grandmother. She was sitting at a small table. Her small form was draped in black Givenchy—the only color she ever wore—and her small beady eyes were examining me closely.
I stopped myself from fidgeting with my skirt, sure that she could tell what I had been doing in the limo.
“Mama, please. Do not start on such an unhappy note.”
My grandmother did not react to my father’s request. Though he was Pakhan and ruled the outfit, my grandmother ruled him.
“She should show more respect to her family.”
I tried not to roll my eyes. The old hag was never pleased with my demeanor. Not that it mattered. The way I looked at it we were all counting the days until she finally croaked - or my father did. Then her power would diminish.
“There was traffic,” I said, as I took a seat. “You did not tell me that you wanted me here until this afternoon. It took time for me to arrange my schedule.”
All of that was partially true. Though, I likely would have been on time if I had not let Stephan take the edge off. I suspected that my grandmother knew that.
“See, Mama. We should be happy that Katarina was able to come to meet us. I told you she would be busy with school.”
My grandmother turned her nose up, and I groaned under my breath. I knew what was coming next.
“I do not see why you need to attend college,” she spit out. “It’s unseemly.”
“An education is unseemly?” I snapped back. “Tell that to Gloria Steinem.”
This time my father released a groan of despair. This was not the first time he found himself caught between me and his mother. Normally, he sided with her on everything. Since my mother ran off on us, my grandmother had been put in charge of my care. A mistake if you asked me.
If anyone was to be blamed for my rebellious streak, it was my grandmother. My entire life, my grandmother had tried her best to force me into what she thought that I needed to be, which made me want to scream.
“Let us not argue,” my father said.
I rolled my eyes at his attempts to try and calm down the situation. It was frustrating that my father refused to ever take my side in things.
“We called you here for a specific reason,” her father said.
“I figured as much.”
For the most part, these days my father allowed me to live my life. Though I had a large security detail, for the most part, I was left to do my own thing. As long as I did those things quietly, of course.
“Your father is getting old.”
I snorted at my grandmother. “He’s sixty-five,” I reminded her. “I don’t think he’s got one foot in the grave just yet.”
Her mouth thinned, and the red lipstick on her lips fell into the wrinkles around her lips. “This is not a joke,” she snapped.
