Summer Storm (Broken Circles Book 1), page 18
“Go be her guardian. I’ve got a visit to make.”
Andrey left me alone with Jolie and I went back into the bedroom carrying the basin of water and towels. She hadn’t moved, looked so small in the middle of the bed and I almost didn’t have the heart to wake her. Needs must though. I placed everything on the floor before resting my hand on her hip.
“Hey, Jolie. Got to get you cleaned up, sweetheart.”
Her eyes popped open, those fathomless pits clear for a moment, staring back at me. “Okay.”
“Can you sit up for me?”
Jolie didn’t argue, and for the next ten minutes I swabbed her head as gently as I could, swiping away the blood crusted to her scalp and hair. Encouraging her to undress and get into bed, I was satisfied for the moment. Without asking, I undressed down to my underwear and climbed in beside her.
For the rest of the night I held her close and watched over her, waking her every two hours to go through the motions while my head was spinning off into a hundred and one different directions.
Jolie was more than just a something.
Jolie
Everything had been a blur coming out of the bar. Pressing hands and murmured voices didn’t deter the dark aching desperate to pull me under. I’d thought I’d felt lips on my forehead a time or two, the motion of a car, the soft mattress of a bed underneath me.
I’d been vaguely aware of Yannick in my bed all night. Sometimes I’d be huddled into his side, my arm across his waist. Other times he’d be tucked up behind me, his arm gentle around my waist, our legs tangled together and his breath puffing against my skin. I was too comfortable to want to move far, my head too muddled to do little more than answer the questions he asked before falling back to sleep. I had the headache from hell when I cracked my eyes open and realised the sun was streaming in through the gap in the curtains at the window. CeeCee had whacked me a bloody good one.
Yannick’s sleep was peaceful, and I lay listening to his breathing, smiling when he let out a soft snort every now and again. Content to lie there, I cuddled back into his side and tried to will the headache away. I’d need some painkillers soon, but I wasn’t ready to leave the warm cocoon that was Yannick Ischmov. Being almost naked didn’t even alarm me, he was a gentleman, he wouldn’t take advantage, especially not while I was feeling like crap.
“Mmmm… Tickles.” Yannick’s sleep rough voice interrupted the quiet, and I stilled my fingers, the unconscious act of stroking through the short, coarse hair on his chest not registering until he’d pointed it out. “Don’t stop, feels good.”
“Sorry. Didn’t know I was doing it.”
“Feeling better?”
“Ugh.” I shifted against his side. “My head is still sore.”
“Andrey brought some painkillers over, still boxed. I’ll go get you a fresh glass of water, maybe you could sleep a bit more?”
Yannick got out of bed, keeping his back to me as I watched him pad across the room. Flopping over in the bed, I winced at the movement. He was back a moment later with a glass of water and a box in his hand.
“Take the recommended dose, see how that goes.”
Such a sweetheart. “You didn’t have to stay all night, but I appreciate it.”
“I have to be honest,” he said, climbing back into bed and leaning against the headboard, arms crossed over his chest. “You worried me sick, didn’t trust anyone else to make sure you were okay.”
“That’s very sweet.”
“Sweet, I’m not,” he chuckled. “But for you…” he trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid which was likely just as well.
“I’m sorry to have ruined your street cred,” I teased.
“Meh, my ego can take it.” I didn’t doubt it for a second. “I didn’t mean to overstep by getting into bed with you.”
Yet, he’d had no qualms sliding back in. I side eyed him and grinned. “I liked having you here.”
“Yeah?”
“Mmhhmm.”
Yannick moved down in the bed and rolled onto his side, hand propping his head up as he gazed at me. “Come back down.”
Smooth bastard, yet I wasn’t inclined to refuse. Mimicking his position, Yannick pulled the covers up and over our shoulders, maybe protecting my modesty or maybe showing some chivalry. Whatever, I enjoyed his mindfulness of my half-dressed state, even if he had already seen me naked.
His fingers carefully trailed across my bruised cheek, his eyes lighting with anger. “You didn’t deserve this.”
“Doesn’t change the fact it happened. I should have been more observant of my surroundings.”
Yannick said nothing as he continued to stroke my cheek with soothing fingers, making me lean into the touch a little more. I could have easily fallen back to sleep, but I didn’t want to miss these tender moments, unsure if I’d get them again. It had been a long time since I’d stilled and soaked up any affection, it had been in short supply most of my life.
“How’s the head now?”
“Settling.” The pain had dulled, though still ever present.
“Bill’s got you covered for the weekend.” I went to protest, Yannick pushing a finger against my lips. “We look after our staff, the decent ones anyway.”
“I’m decent?” I asked cheekily.
“You so are, Jolie. Could I take you out for dinner later? If you’re up for it, I mean.”
“Don’t you have things to do, business to attend to? You’ve been here all night.”
“I do, but there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. I have guys who step in when needed, they won’t hold it against you if you monopolise my time for a few days.”
“A few days?” I squeaked out, while he stroked his fingers in a circle.
“If you can put up with me for that long.” He’d put his night on hold for me, was willing to do so for a few more days, which was great yet that gnawing feeling of discontent about the true nature of his interest seemed stuck fast. To hell with it, I could push everything else aside for now because I wanted something more. I could kiss him, maybe? The heat crawling up my face was as hot as the slap CeeCee had delivered, the thought of his lips on mine enough to chase away any pain left behind. No - that was entirely the wrong thing to do, no matter how attracted I was to Yannick. It said I thought we could be more and more was something I wasn’t sure I could be.
Nothing had changed since our last meeting except he’d played Florence Nightingale for a few hours. He was still married, still dealt in dodgy deals and violence, and I wasn’t ready to open up my life to that kind of uncertainty. Getting involved with Yannick Ischmov would still be like falling onto a bed of nails.
I hadn’t hidden the way I’d about turned very well, Yannick creating a space between us, his hand inching away. “I think,” I whispered, not truly believing I was about to say what I was and feeling mighty unappreciative. “As grateful as I am for your intervention, nothing’s changed.”
“No dinner?”
I shook my head slowly. “No dinner.” Briefly closing his eyes, he pulsed with heavy disappointment, and it made me want to explain more than ever so he understood my reservations. “I’m afraid if I start something with you, I’ll lose myself. You have the potential to do that and I’m already a mess. I can guess what you do, you all but spelled it out for me and I can’t live that kind of life. I’m simple, Yannick, uncomplicated. You and this,” I pointed between us, “Are not. I like you, but I like myself more and together we would just be a disaster waiting to happen.”
Yannick rolled onto his back and threw an arm across his face. “Fuck.”
“I’m sorry.” Truly, I was. Pushing him away from me firmly was the right thing to do, we had no future.
“It’s not you that should be sorry, Jolie. Everything you say is right, we both know it, but it doesn’t stop the yearning I have to get to know you, to treat you like the princess you are. That’s on me, not you. I’m a goddamn liability for anyone, which is pretty difficult to overlook. You’re being careful and protecting yourself, I can’t fault you for being smarter than I am.”
I wanted to apologise again, but he wasn’t a man who would have welcomed platitudes, so I kept my mouth shut. He sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed, back to me. Taking a moment, he heaved in a long breath, then got up to dress.
“CeeCee won’t come near you again,” he said without turning around. “Andrey sorted it out last night.”
“Oh.” Suddenly I worried for CeeCee, which was bloody stupid, considering.
“He didn’t hurt her, if that’s what you’re concerned about. I sent Andrey because I couldn’t trust myself. He’s far more diplomatic than I am.”
My brain had gone there, and I wasn’t proud to admit it. Yannick and the men surrounding him were lethal, more than capable, and I doubted they batted their eyelids doling out violence to those they saw fit.
“If you need anything, call me. If you feel any worse, call the doctor. Your friend, Carol, asked you to text her if you need anything.”
“Thank you.”
Finally, he turned as he swung his suit jacket on, buttoning it at the front. “Let me sort my shit out. Please, Jolie? Never say never. Given half the chance, I could give you the world.”
Enticing as his plea was, it was entirely the wrong thing to say. “I don’t need the world, Yannick.”
He smiled sadly, his eyes downcast. “No, you don’t, but I’d give it to you all the same.”
I cried for a long time after Yannick left. How could I miss something I’d never had? How could I turn away a man who’d been nothing but kind to me? I knew the answers, which was why the tears took a long time to stop falling. Life simply wasn’t fair.
Irina
Seeing my grandfather always left me perched on the edge of an extremely sharp knife blade. He was unpredictable, old school, brutal and had not been a fan of either my father or my mother. In fact, he had very few kind words to say about his only son. If anyone scared me, it was Lev, and he’d absolutely earned that fear tenfold.
He hadn’t taken long to reply to my curt text with one of his own, he’d known it was coming from the scant conversation I’d had with Lev the week before. His demand that I visit the sanctuary he’d built amongst four acres of woodland in the middle of nowhere, not a surprise. Lonely Lev I’d nicknamed him in my head, which was far from the truth. He’d never been lonely in his life, not with Sergey at his constant beck and call, and not with the way he’d bought loyalty with good old-fashioned money and brute force. He was a revered man in our circles, one whose name made people shrink in their boots at the mere mention of him.
The organised family Yannick and I had fronted for years had definitely not been ours. Lev orchestrated from behind the scenes. I knew what Yannick wanted, found it impossible to see Lev granting him it without strings attached. I’d briefly entertained the notion too, then brushed it away as an idle dream because I enjoyed the power that had been handed to me and didn’t know any other way. I wasn’t ready to let go, not yet, and I was in no way eager to see how this would shake out and who would come out on top. There were no illusions Lev would let me sit at the head, even if I was to get down on my knees and beg for the accolade.
My hands shook a little as I parked up outside the sprawling farm cottage, laughing sourly. If anyone could have seen me, they’d realise I wasn’t as put together as I made out, my facade always slipped coming to meet this man, the young girl I’d tried so hard to leave behind, resurfaced every single time.
He stood at the door, a stooped figure looking all of his years. The glasses were new, and maybe the wrinkles etched across his leathered skin too. But from where I stood, I could see how right Yannick and Sergey had been when they’d told me Lev still had a rigid hold of his mind, as he assessed me shrewdly. A deep breath and I was out of the car, standing in front of him in a few short steps.
In a move I found somewhat alien and disconcerting, the old man folded his bony arms around my shoulders and hugged me, planting a kiss to the side of my head.
“Moye ditya. My child.” I closed my eyes at the endearment, it had been so long since I’d heard it cross his lips, so long since I’d heard our mother tongue spoken to me. He may have set my teeth on edge but there was love born of respect and familiarity. He was my grandfather above all, the last of my family alive.
“Dedushka,” I replied, my Russian unfamiliar through lack of use. We may have had those roots once, though the passage had time had erased most from our lives. I didn’t sound or look any more Russian than Lev looked like a Londoner.
“It has been too long, no?”
I agreed, it had been. “I await your invites.”
Clucking his tongue, he squeezed, then pulled away. “You do not need an invitation, Irina. I’d rather a pleasant visit with you than this.” He waved behind him and I took his gesture to mean there were others already in the house, possibly Yannick.
“I’ll be sure to visit more often in a less formal capacity then.”
“I am not long left of this world, child,” he said softly, taking my hand. “I would like some quiet comfort for a change.”
“Are you sick?” Staring up at the man, there were no obvious signs of illness, just old age.
He laughed and pinched my fingers. “Dorogaya, I am not ill, I am old. I’ve already been fortunate with the years I’ve had.”
“And you’ve softened.” I smirked, my nerves finally flittering away. Old age had indeed mellowed the man.
“Only for you.” He winked. “Don’t let my secret out. Now come, there are people you need to meet, people to make alliances with if you are to let Yannick disentangle from those chains we have bound him in for far too long.”
“You didn’t approve of the contract?” Yet he’d never saw fit to sever, or to dissolve the partnership and would hear nothing of it since the day we had signed the godforsaken thing.
Lev tutted. “Necessary however, just as Yosef’s death was. I needed the time, you needed the purpose.”
He’d had always talked in riddles, ones I was used to and could never figure out for the life of me. Lev refused to unveil his plans until the perfect time presented itself, and just like I’d expected, he’d had one for this eventuality all along. He liked Yannick, enough to let him leave it seemed, but I also needed someone beside me who could do what Yannick had. I wasn’t foolish enough to think my ex husband wouldn’t take his men with him, and I needed to fill the void they would leave.
“You’ve brought people from Russia?”
“Ah, just wait… I don’t want to spoil the surprise, I went one better. You can thank Sergey later.” Ominous. I didn’t like the tone and the fact Sergey had had a hand in something he wouldn’t normally. Lev had a trick or two up his sleeve I would undoubtedly not agree with or enjoy very much. “Relax, old friends, moye ditya, old friends.”
Yannick
“Where’s Tayte?”
Everyone except Tayte had gathered in the office at Andrey and Sandir’s house, and it was a question I was asking all too often these days.
“He’s with Lev.”
“Lev?” Irina was with Lev and it didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. I guess this had been the answer to Lev’s plan for going forward, and to say it disappointed me was an understatement.
“He just texted a minute ago.” Andrey held up his phone showing the simple message from Tayte. Now I wasn’t feeling so confident in the loyalty of my men. Clearing my throat, I thumped down in a chair and shoved my hand in my pocket, feeling for the flick-knife there. God, this was ridiculous, not a single one of them would stab me in the back like this. It had to be a coincidence, right?
“Hey.” Sandir sat next to me. “That’s not us, I know what you’re thinking.”
“Appears to be Tayte though, so why not you?”
Sandir looked like I’d slapped him. “Fuck you, prick.”
“Whatever he’s up to, there’s a reason for it,” Andrey became the voice of reason, as per usual. “I’m surprised you’re here and not there.”
“He didn’t summon me. I’ve spoken to Lev already, there was nothing more to discuss.”
“Maybe Tayte has?”
“Yeah, that can’t be good,” Greg murmured. “Guy can take care of himself, but this is Lev we’re talking about.”
“Fuck.” They hadn’t quite pieced it together yet. Tayte was the replacement, the one who would open the gate and let me bolt. My friend, the one I didn’t know as well as I thought, was giving me my freedom, but at what price?
All four of us sat looking at one another. “Lev’s going to offer him something, and I bet it’s something he can’t refuse. He does his homework, he’s got Tayte’s number somehow,” Sandir mused.
“No.” I shook my head, sweat cresting along the hairline. “Tayte’s offering Lev, and Lev’s the one in no position to refuse. He’ll want strings because this is Lev we’re talking about. She’s his priority, he’ll want Irina looked after.” It all fell into place. I’d seen it, hadn’t I? Brushed it off because it was as ludicrous as Tayte betraying me, though could I really call it a betrayal? Whilst it hurt like a scalding poker in my chest, I understood, and wasn’t entirely convinced his reasons were all about Irina. There was something else going on.
“Tayte wants Irina?” Sandir asked in surprise.
“Seriously?” Greg huffed. “No offense, man, the woman’s cold as fucking ice. What the fuck does he want with a woman like that? He’s a moron if Irina’s his end game. If he’s gone behind your back and offered himself to Lev for the low price of Irina, guy’s going to want a refund before long.”
“Yet, I think it might be. What else is there?” Andrey was seeing it now too. There was no other explanation was there? Tayte had never been power hungry, not that I’d noticed anyway. He’d never so much as moved an inch toward top dog status, maintaining he couldn’t do it. Lev had his nuts in a vice but over what?
