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Sonia was the one who’d named the club and worked with our architect on the design. She had also helped Marcie with planning tonight’s event but hadn’t actually been inside the building. I knew she was longing to see the finished product.
“Oh my God, look at those lights!” she squealed in delight. “I knew they would look great.”
Despite myself, I felt a tug on my lips as I fought to hide my smile at her enthusiasm. That was Sonia, though; she was a bubbly person with an infectious laugh that would get even the darkest, most soulless being to smile. She giggled and pointed at the water feature with coloured dancing lights that ran along the outside of the wall in front of the entrance.
“Just like the Bellagio,” she clapped her hands. “I love their show with the dancing water lit up in beautiful colours. I’ve always wanted a water feature like that, and now we have one of our own. It’s great!” She jumped up and down excitedly like a small child.
I smiled indulgently. I had to agree; it was. I even felt a brief moment of pride as I looked at it.
Romi chuckled at her and nodded. “It sure is.”
She turned her head to look at the beautifully designed entrance.
“Stunning!” she said breathlessly, looking awed.
“Yes,” he agreed, but there was something in his eyes when he looked down at her that gave me pause. I narrowed my eyes, but it was gone in a flash, and he turned to stare at the doorway. I shook my head. I was obviously imagining things. These recent attacks and Sonia’s comments in the car were making me paranoid.
I turned to look at the entrance myself and listened to Sonia gush with pride.
It was a great-looking building. The outside was black marble withGlitzwritten in foot-high letters of gold leaf, done to look like glitter. It sparkled against the flickering light from the lamps that burned on either side and looked like real flames. It was elegant and sophisticated, the sort of entrance you would expect from an exclusive members-only club. The tall, heavy, dark wooden double doors were wide open, waiting for the guests to arrive.
“Come on, let’s go see the inside,” I said, hurrying her along.
I needed to get in so I could check with the security team that everything was as it should be.
Sonia linked arms with both of us, and we entered the building. As I stepped through the door, the feeling of excited expectation I had felt earlier returned full force. I pursed my lips, wondering what it meant.
I nodded at my brother, Miki, who was chatting to Luca. Luca Orlov was Miki’s best friend and Bratva. He oversaw the management of all our other clubs and was now going to run this one for us as well. His dad, Stefano, had been a close friend of our Dedushka’s (grandfather) in Russia. When we came to London, he came with us to act as a second and mentor to my dad.
Stefano helped us all out a lot before he retired. He was older than my dad and acted like a father figure to him and a surrogate grandfather to us. Luca was his son from his marriage to a much younger woman and was the same age as Miki. We’d all grown up together, but he had an even closer bond to Miki than the rest of us.
Although I was Miki’s second, it was often Luca that Miki took with him whenever he needed backup, both in legitimate and non-legitimate situations.
The guests hadn’t arrived, and Marko wasn’t here yet, either. He was still busy finishing something off on his computer when we left. Sometimes, that man was tied to it. He would follow along later, with two of our bodyguards, Vlad and Trigger, no doubt late as always.
Maria, our Italian housekeeper, and surrogate grandmother, who we lovingly referred to as Nonna, wasn’t coming. She’d suffered from a headache earlier in the day and so had decided to go to bed early. She planned on visiting the club another time when she felt better.
I was glad no guests had arrived yet. I didn’t really like people much anymore, and I didn’t like events such as this. I used to be a fun, sociable guy. I found it hard to have fun now. Still, opening a club required an event such as this, so I told myself to suck it up.
Besides, I knew there was a change coming, and I still couldn’t shake off that unusual feeling of excited expectation that was bubbling up inside me again. For the first time in a very long time, I was actually feeling things, and I didn’t quite know what to make of it.
I left Sonia in Romi’s capable hands and headed off to find Anton to brief the security team.
CHAPTER 5
GRACIE
SATURDAY NIGHT - GLITZ OPENING
Thankfully, after a large glass of water, a couple of paracetamol, and some sleep, I felt much more human again. Showering and washing my hair helped immensely, too, so by the time I checked myself out in my full-length mirror, there was no trace of my hangover from earlier.
I was wearing a pair of black trousers with a white cotton shirt and flat black shoes. I’d tied my long blond hair up in a high ponytail, and I’d even put on a bit of make-up, not too much, but enough that I thought I looked natural but pretty.
A tiny bit more, I decided, as I added a touch more mascara to make my blue eyes pop and slicked on some light pink lip gloss.
Okay, I nodded in approval. I looked the part of a competent waitress, so now all I needed to do was act it. I had been known to be incredibly clumsy in the past, especially when I was young, but I hadn’t had any real issues in years. I was sure that I’d be fine tonight. So much so that I was excited when Marcie picked me up in time for me to be at the event an hour before things kicked off to help Derrick.
Derrick was Marcie’s assistant and our good friend who would be overseeing the opening of the club while Marcie organised the other event. A leading politician was holding a conference at a hotel nearby. It was supposed to be next week but had to be unexpectedly brought forward. Hence why she was so short-staffed tonight.
