Man of the House(80)

I stood. “Thank you, sir.”

He nodded, dismissing me. I placed my coffee back down on the serving tray and then left. Lucas was right behind me.

“I hope you’re right,” he said. “I hope she’s worth it.”

“Me too.”

“How is she?”

“Angry and confused, mostly.”

“Take care of her, Vince.”

I nodded. “I will. Convince them to let her stay.”

He grinned. “Don’t worry. I already did.”

I laughed, shook his hand, and then turned and left.

What a shit morning. The Russians were already threatening all-out war, which was surprising. I figured they would try to negotiate first, but apparently they were itching for combat.

Which meant my Chinese deal was that much more important. We’d need those guns and armor if it came to a war.

I headed back to the office, my mind on Kaley and war.





11





Kaley





Like every morning, I woke up to Alexei crying in his crib.

This morning didn’t feel too overwhelming though, not like every other morning had been since I’d had Alexei.

I fed him, burped him, and changed him. I called for breakfast from room service, which was just a crazy and bizarre idea. The food arrived not too long later, and so I sat with Alexei, drinking coffee and eating.

I was worried. I was worried about everything, about Alexei and myself. I was worried Vince would get sick of me and throw me out. I was worried about Sophie and my family. I had so many reasons to worry that it was overwhelming.

Sighing, I grabbed my phone and dialed Soph’s number. It rang a few times, but she finally answered.

“Hey!” she said.

“Hey, girl. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Have you heard?”

I paused. “Heard what?”

“The family is pissed. Like, really pissed. They sent some crazy ultimatum to the Italians this morning.”

“How do you know?”

“I overheard Vasili talking about it, that dumb fat man.”

“This is scary, Soph.”

“Don’t worry. You know the family. It’s all talk.”

“Still. I’m not coming back; they have to know that.”

“They don’t care what you want to do, Kaley. They just are embarrassed that you went running to their rivals.”

I sighed. “Selfish bastards. They don’t care who they hurt.”

“No. They care more about their pride than they do about their people.”

“Are you okay? They’re not pissed at you?”

“They’re not happy, but they’re not going to do anything to me.”

“Please, Soph, stay safe.”

“Come on, you know I’m fine. Now, tell me about it.”

I told her as much as I felt comfortable with. I told her about the crazy size of the mansion, of all the amenities. I told her about Vince a little bit, and about Sonya.

She laughed when she heard about Sonya speaking Russian. “Your father would love that,” she said.

“Yeah. He’d kill to get me to speak Russian to my children.”

“Legitimate children only,” Soph said, joking.

There was a knock at my door. “Got to go,” I said.

“Call me again soon.”

“I will. Be safe.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and quickly answered the door. It was Sonya, smiling at me. “Good morning,” she said.

“Morning.” I let her in. “Coffee?”

“No, thanks. I just came to see your little man.” She walked over to Alexei and picked him up.

“We were just having some breakfast.”

“Well, why don’t you take some time to yourself? I can watch him for an hour.”

I frowned. I did want to shower and explore the mansion a bit more, but I hated to keep asking her to watch him.

“Just go,” she said, smiling, before I could complain.

I smiled back. “Okay, okay.”



It felt good to have a nice, long shower. I didn’t have to worry about leaving Alexei alone. I dressed and nodded at Sonya as I walked out into the hallway.

The mansion was an enormous maze. I wandered around trying my key on random doors, though most of them stayed locked. What few opened were usually empty. One of them was a gym, which I mentally marked. I’d need to visit there soon enough.

I kept moving, trying to avoid people, although that wasn’t too hard. The place was huge. There were clearly lots of people staying there and working there, but I guessed there was just so much space that we didn’t run into each other too often.

After a little bit of wandering, I ended up in a dead-end hall. There was only one door at the very end, which I tried with no success. I turned to walk away when suddenly I heard the door open.