Music from the venue pulsed along the corridor and, after pressing a finger to a sensor beside a door, Arkady escorted me out into a busy, vibrant atmosphere.
Beams of soft light lanced through the room where people drank and danced. The chatter of many voices swelled above the music, and the bar practically heaved with patrons.
I took notice of the soldiers here and there, even the one I knew as Grigor, Jo’s personal bodyguard.
Keeping hold of Arkady’s elbow, I followed as he guided me through a maze of people. After a moment, some sort of recognition whispered through the crowd, and the thick masses parted for us without Arkady having to say a word.
It didn’t bother me that he held such power.
It didn’t bother me that some would describe him as a bad man.
He was as dangerous as they came with everyone but me and his family, and for that I’d be forever grateful.
“Lucia!” Sasha stood from a booth, waving her hands madly.
“She’s been pestering me for weeks to bring you here,” Arkady muttered at my ear.
“And you’ve been keeping me from all this because you just didn’t want to share?”
His hand slithered down my back to settle on my rear end, which he squeezed with no small amount of possession. “Remember who you belong to.”
I leaned up to whisper in his ear, “You remember who you belong to.”
Eyes gleaming wickedly, he towed me the last few paces to the table that was obviously reserved for family.
“Don’t you look glam.” Sasha gave me an approving once-over even though she looked nothing less than runway perfect herself.
Maksim, Kirill, Jo, and even Yury sat around the table.
Jo pouted. “You’re both lucky bitches that you don’t have to deal with an unruly mop of hair like me. I hate you guys.”
“I like your mop of hair, malyshka.” Kirill ringed an arm around his wife’s shoulders, nuzzling the bright red curls.
“I hope the kid doesn’t inherit it.”
It was always amusing listening to Jo talk about the baby she carried. She jokingly moaned the entire time, but it was clear how excited she was every time she patted her just-showing belly.
“I want at least ten redhead babies from you.” Covering her hand with his, Kirill grinned widely.
“Ten!” Jo shrieked. “Maybe if you were the one that had to get all fat and bloated with cankles.”
Everyone chuckled then she simpered, “For ten kids, I want that damn samurai sword once and for all.”
Ahhh, the sword.
I’d heard the whole story from Arkady about the Yakuza and the katana blade Kirill had claimed, which Jo tried to inveigle off of him every chance she got.
“I don’t think baby mommas should carry Japanese swords, malyshka.”
“They probably shouldn’t swear like a sailor and carry a switchblade either, babe.”
I laughed at their antics with everyone else before Sasha announced, “Drinks!”
“Oh yay, more sprite and cranberry juice for me,” Jo winked, grumbling good-naturedly.
She may have been on the soft stuff, but Sasha ordered bubbly for me and her, and a fresh, frosty bottle of vodka arrived for the men.
With the drinks poured and handed around, cheers were shared in both Russian and Italian, which was oddly touching.
Yury too gave a toast in his deep baritone voice. “To the next generation of the Zolotov Bratva.”
He gave special regard to Jo who blushed lightly before grousing, “Seriously not having ten of them though.”
“And you are next,” the pakhan said.
I almost choked when his dark, deep-set eyes landed on me.
“Young love must not waste time,” he continued.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you want us women to breed simply to keep you in power longer.” I met his stare boldly.
Sudden silence fell across the table, and Arkady squeezed my hand.
Then the pakhan slapped his knee and chortled from deep in his belly. “Da. I like you, Lucia.” He slung back another shot of vodka. “Next week we go over plans for new club.”
“And?” Sasha shot the question across the table to her papa.
“You and Lucia both, doch.” Settling back in the booth, he took out a cigar but didn’t light it in deference to Jo’s pregnant state, I imagined. “Soon I have more daughters.”
Again, he was referring to me truly becoming one of the family although Arkady hadn’t mentioned anything about marriage. Yet Yury’s wish for it gave me a warm feeling of belonging.
“Must be getting soft in my old age.” The pakhan tapped his cigar against the tabletop. “I will go now to take care of Boris upstairs and smoke this without women nagging.”
He left with little fanfare although several soldiers shadowed him across the floor of the nightclub and up the stairs to the private offices.
“Baba isn’t here?” I asked.
Sasha snorted. “She’s not allowed access at night because of the dress code and her penchant for those godawful Crocs she wears.”
A laugh gurgled from my throat, then Jo rolled her eyes. “I’ll be wearing those eyesores as soon as the cankles get too big.”
I couldn’t ever imagine the petite, so-sarcastic woman getting so big that she deigned to wear the hideous rubbery sandals, but stranger things had happened.
I glanced at Arkady to find him looking down at me, the heat of his gaze sending tingles to all the most sensitive places on my body.
My cheeks flushed beneath his smoldering perusal, and I was just about to tell him to behave when Maksim mumbled, “Better than those slut shoes you have on, Sashenka.”
Oh damn.
Sasha almost leaped across the table to get at him. “You would know. Probably the only action you get is from hookers you have to pay extra for.”
“They’re always like this,” Arkady murmured to me.
“I’d noticed,” I whispered in return.
Jo scooted around the semicircular seat of the booth to me. “You think they need to just fuck it out too, right?”
I tried to stifle my laughter, I really did, but she was so right.
Anyone who couldn’t see what simmered beneath Maksim and Sasha’s animosity was blind.
And I imagined Sasha really did want to blind Maksim at that moment because she actually had her nails out, ready to inflict serious harm.
While the others watched in amusement, I decided to change the subject.
I snagged Kirill’s attention. “I take it Boris isn’t allowed in here during opening hours either?”
“The mutt is very aggressive with strangers around Jo, especially now with her special bundle.” He took her hand in his. “I am too. You’re just lucky you’re part of the family now.”
Arkady let out a low growl, and I hoped I hadn’t just opened another can of worms.
But Kirill grinned. “Easy, brother. I was simply making a joke. Lucia and I have come to an understanding, da?”
I nodded with a smile reflecting his. Finally, I fully saw Kirill for the man he was instead of the enemy I thought.
Just like Arkady, but different.
In some ways, I understood now. I forgave.
Hadn’t Arkady done exactly the same thing Kirill had? Murdered those who’d threatened me? Sadly, it was my own brother who’d sought to harm his wife, and I couldn’t blame him any longer.