Man of the House(118)

I couldn’t let that get to me. Kaley was important, but the war was more important. Once the war was finished, I could worry about what Kaley meant to me and what I wanted from her and Alexei. I could worry about being a father after I was finished being a fucking good soldier.

We headed back toward the compound, and I tried my best not to imagine Kaley’s face distraught from the news of her family’s murder.





29





Kaley





I was sore in the best way.

Vince was on my mind the next morning. After what had happened in his office, I went and got Alexei right away and stayed in my room all night, talking to him and taking care of him. But in the back of my mind was Vince, his strong arms holding me up, pinning me against the filing cabinet.

But for whatever reason, Alexei was fussy all night. We both got some sleep, but not nearly enough, and I was exhausted the next morning. I got my usual breakfast and sat with him, rocking him slightly in his little bouncy chair while I scrolled through my phone.

I was constantly looking for news about the war, but Facebook was oddly quiet about it. I had plenty of friends in the mob, but none of them were talking about it. Maybe they were instructed not to post about it, or maybe they were just blocking me, but either way there was an eerie silence about the whole thing.

You’d think that if two of the biggest, most badass mobs in the city went at each other, there would be news about it. But I saw and heard absolutely nothing. It was almost like it didn’t exist, although I knew it did.

I’d seen the guns. I’d heard the whispers in the hall.

When Sonya knocked on my door a few hours later, I didn’t even pretend to put up a fight. I was just too tired and sore from the day before to argue. I needed a break, plain and simple, and I was beginning to trust Sonya more and more. She took good care of Alexei, that was obvious, and if she was good enough for Nat, then she was good enough for me.

I shut the door to my room softly and went walking out into the hallway.

I was sick of sitting around in my room, cooped up. I was antsy and annoyed, frustrated and upset as I moved through the halls.

Nothing was resolved with Vince. Just because I wanted him to fuck me rough and take my body didn’t mean I felt okay with the war and the way they were using me. I didn’t want to be a part of that, but it seemed like I didn’t have much of a choice.

As I walked, I began to notice more and more people. The staff didn’t seem like they were shying away from me anymore. Actually, I began to notice people staring at me as I walked.

Which was strange. When I first got here, I could wander around the halls and basically see nobody, and everyone I did see completely ignored me. I was totally invisible.

Now, it was the opposite. It was almost like people were going out of their way to stare at me.

I shook my head. That was just stupid. I was being paranoid. I turned down a stairwell and headed downstairs. I went out the back door and walked out into the lovely spring day.

The sun was shining, and I felt good as I headed down toward the stables. I hadn’t taken a good look at the horses yet, and I wanted to see them at least once before I left the mansion for good.

I walked in through the back barn doors and headed down a thin path. There were stalls on either side, but I couldn’t see any actual horses.

Up ahead, I saw an older man reach into one of the stables with a handful of what looked like food.

“Excuse me?” I called out, not wanting to startle him.

He looked up. “Yes?”

I walked closer to him. “Hi. My name is Kaley. I’m new here. I was hoping I could see one of the horses.”

He eyed me. “You’re the new girl, huh?”

“Yes. Sorry to bother you. I just wanted to see one of the horses.”

“You said that.”

The man was probably in his sixties, with wrinkled skin and graying hair. He wore a light gray sweater over a white shirt tucked into brown slacks and big black boots. He frowned at me.

“No horses here,” he said.

“Oh, sorry. Which is the horse stable?”

“No horses,” he repeated.

Just then, I heard a snort.

A clearly horse-like snort.

I looked over the wall of the stall and saw a horse toward the back, eating.

I turned back toward him. “There’s one right in there,” I said, laughing.

“I don’t show my horses to Russian whores.”

I took a step back from him, shocked. I felt physically surprised by his sudden outburst.

“Uh,” I said, “okay. Sorry,” I stammered, not sure what else to do.

“Get out of here, you dirty Russian whore,” he said. “Go back to where you came from. Good men died because of you.”