Demyan & Ana (4 page)

Demyan reached out to stroke Gia’s back as he said to his father, “Put the phone on speaker.”

“Why?” Anton asked. “You know I don’t like doing that. Bad enough the feds listen to all my conversations as it is.”

“Just fucking do it. You’re ruining the moment with your craziness.”

“What moment, Demyan? You can’t call someone and have a
moment
.”

“Put it on the goddamn speaker so Ma can hear this, Papa.”

“Yeah, we found out,” Gia told her mother on her call.

“Alright, it’s on,” Anton grumbled. “Vine, don’t leave yet.”

“What, why?” his mother asked.

Gia looked over her shoulder and Demyan nodded. Together, they announced the gender of the baby. “It’s a girl.”

Demyan wasn’t sure how Gia’s mother was reacting to the news, but his phone call had gone entirely silent. But, only for a short time.

“A girl?” he heard his mother ask.

“That’s what he fucking said,” Anton muttered. “Give me that, would you?”

“God, you’re such a prick when you want to be,” Viviana snapped.

“But I’m your prick, baby. And you love it.”

“Love something about it.”

Demyan cringed ten ways to Sunday. “You two are disgusting.”

“No one asked for your opinion, Demyan,” Anton replied derisively.

“Anton, what are you doing?” Viviana asked.

“Calling Ivan.”

Demyan was stuck between amusement and annoyance. He placed his cell to the bed and turned on the speaker so Gia could hear the madness right along with him. She rolled her eyes and waved her own phone before turning it on speaker, too.

Shouts of unintelligible excitement rang out from her call. Then, both Ivan and Anton could be heard picking up the call for each other.

“It’s a girl,” Demyan’s father said, laughing. “And you owe me a grand, man.”

“I didn’t agree to that bet, Anton!”

“Did so. Pay up, fucker.”

Demyan shook his head in disbelief. Eva was chattering away about names and Viviana was saying something about Ana needing to be informed. Their families were insane. The brilliant smile playing on Gia’s lips caught Demyan’s attention like the ray of happiness it was.

He spoke to Ivan the week before. His father was right about what he said to Demyan a couple of months ago at his birthday party. He was a good man. A Bratva raised man, sure, but a good one where it counted. Ivan gave his permission, and it finally felt like the right time. He didn’t have a ring, though. There wasn’t any time for him to pick one out, but he didn’t think Gia would mind. Gia met his gaze, her grin growing at the volcano of noise ringing through the phones. He couldn’t think of a better time, really.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Demyan smiled right back. “I know. Me, too. Marry me, Gia.”

Both phones went silent as her jaw fell slack.

Gia blinked. “What?”

“I want you to marry me.”

Gia reached over and ended both phone calls as she stared at Demyan. Not five seconds later, both phones starting vibrating with calls. They both ignored them.

“Why did you turn the phones off?” Demyan asked warily.

Had he made the wrong choice? Marriage had always been a sticky topic with Gia, partly because of their young age, her independence, and what would be Demyan’s future in the Bratva.

“It shouldn’t matter, you know,” Demyan said, keeping his gaze locked on hers. “I know you worry about what might happen to me or whatever. I get you don’t want feds knocking down our doors and searching our house someday if something goes wrong.

“And I know you don’t want to be some pretty little mob wife playing her part, but none of that should matter, Gia. I love you. I’m always going to love you whether you’re my wife or not. But, I’d really like it if you would be. I’ve wanted to marry you since I was five-years-old and figured out why my mother wore a ring on her finger that matched my father’s.”

“Stop rambling,” Gia said.

“Okay.”

“I hung up the phones because I didn’t want anyone to think my answer was based on the pressure of others listening in.”

Demyan’s heart started beating again.

“Yes, Demyan, I’ll marry you.”

Chapter Four

Ana

“What do you think?” Cavan asked.

Ana tossed her bag onto the couch and turned a wide circle in the open loft, taking in the view from the windows. “It’s really nice. Quiet.”

“I thought so.”

“So, hey, we’re having a baby shower and engagement party for Demyan and his fiancée tomorrow. Would you want to come with me?” Ana asked, glancing at Cavan over her shoulder.

The look on his face said he didn’t. She wasn’t surprised.

“Not really.”

Cavan was behind Ana in a second. He ran his hands down her sides as he placed a kiss on her neck. Ana shrugged out of his hold with as much grace as she could muster and put a safer distance between them. Cavan was attractive. Ana would be a goddamn liar if she pretended like parts of him didn’t turn her on, but there was a lot about him that kept her at arm’s length.

Like the fact he kept
her
at a distance.

Ana didn’t know a whole lot about him, and after five dates over the span of a couple months, you’d think she would. He didn’t like to talk about his family, she had yet to meet any of his friends, and this was the first time she had seen where he lived. Other than that, he didn’t make any effort to let her in past his walls.

She was waiting for anything to give her an inclination why. At least something. But, nope, Cavan seemed to think his mystery was a desirable trait or some bullshit. Ana was getting tired of it.

Just because he was handsome and seemed nice didn’t mean Ana was going to jump in bed with someone she didn’t know. That wasn’t going to happen. Ever.

“Hey, what’s that all about?” Cavan asked, raising a single brow.

Ana wet her lips, trying to figure out how to tell him to open up or back off. “I’m not in the market for a casual relationship, Cavan. Coffee, dinner, or a club is fine, but if you want to get any further than that with me, you’re going to have to work a little harder for it. I didn’t come up here with you to fuck.”

Cavan scoffed. “I invited you to my loft, Ana. There isn’t a whole hell of a lot to do in someone’s place, you know. What else did you think I might want? I thought we were good and had something going on.”

Ana bristled. “What we have going on is a few dates and your aloofness. I don’t know anything about you, Cavan. If you want to get me into bed, take me further than the surface. Is that understood?”

Something unknown flashed in his eyes. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Good.”

Ana plucked her bag up from the couch, ready to leave. Cavan grabbed her wrist, stopping her. “Where are you going?”

“Back to my apartment,” Ana replied. Cavan’s grip on her tightened to an almost painful point and for a brief second, fear slipped through Ana’s veins.

“Is there somebody else?” he asked, anger heating his tone. “Because I don’t get why you keep pulling me in and then pushing me back. That shit is ridiculous. Nobody likes a tease, Ana.”

A tease
?

And when had they become anything at all? They weren’t.

She glanced at his hand before saying, “Let me go.”

Cavan did, instantly. “Sorry. Shit, Ana, I just—”

“I get it. We’re on two different wavelengths. Give me a call when you get to mine or don’t bother at all.”

• • •

Large parties were not commonplace to the Avdonins. In fact, Ana’s father preferred to keep people out of the privacy of their home. Birthdays and celebrations were quiet with a small attendance of guests. Especially if Anton and Viviana had the event at their house. Ana understood her parents reasoning, what with her father’s status and the concern of an undercover official bleeding their way in.

Somehow, even though Ana knew Gia didn’t want one, Demyan convinced his fiancée to allow both their parents to throw a co-ed baby shower mixed in with an engagement party. With two families inviting people plus Demyan’s and Gia’s guests, there was no room to move in the large Oceana home. The amount of people made Ana flustered.

Hell, Ana talked to people she didn’t know from a hole in the ground.

Ana bet her father was going insane. But, Anton’s weakness had always been Viviana. Ana had no doubts her mother used that to her advantage for this …
thing
.

Ever since her brother announced the baby’s gender and the two became engaged a month earlier, the party planning started. Ana didn’t care for parties, but Gia and Demyan looked happy surrounded by people celebrating their joy. That was the most important thing.

Also, her soon-to-be sister-in-law definitely needed some merriment in her days. At twenty-eight weeks pregnant, Ana knew Gia was exhausted from teaching, her morning sickness hadn’t abated, and now a wedding needed to be planned, too.

It was a lot.

Ana’s gaze caught a blue-eyed stare from across the room. Koldan Vasin tipped his chin up in acknowledgment, amusement playing at the corner of his mouth. The oddest sensation washed over her skin as the man continued watching her. It tickled along her nerve endings like they were exposed to his attention, too.

She shouldn’t have been surprised he was there. His parents were, after all, and her father mentioned something about Koldan doing work for Adrik in New York. She didn’t have the first clue what that meant and didn’t want to know, either. Nonetheless, they hadn’t come in contact with one another again since that dinner two months ago.

He sure looked at her like he wanted to talk to her, now.

Ana shivered and bit the inside of her cheek. Confusion didn’t do her strange feelings justice. She didn’t know Koldan, but what she did know, she wasn’t entirely sure she liked. Ana wasn’t stupid. She saw enough things over the years to know where she should and should not be sticking herself into.

Koldan was from Jersey and the only affiliation Ana’s father had to Jersey was another Bratva family. A simple Internet check confirmed Ana’s suspicions that the Vasin family was thoroughly mafia connected. Adrik was the goddamn boss, actually. Working for his father led Ana to the only conclusion there could be about Koldan: he was Bratva associated, too.

No fucking thanks.

So, why couldn’t she shake his piercing stare still leveled entirely on her?

Ana gulped down a mouthful of red wine, gave Koldan one last glance, and then made her way through the throng of people milling between rooms. She needed space, or at the very least, some air to breathe.

The front step seemed as good of a place as any. Ana grabbed her sweater from the closet, tugged it on and slipped outside before one of her parents noticed her leaving. The coolness of the mid-October air felt refreshing compared to the claustrophobic heat inside the home. Resting her back to the brick wall of the house, she downed the rest of her wine in one drink and closed her eyes.

“It feels like ants inside a farm in there,” came a dark, honeyed voice from her left.

Ana jumped with a squeak, her eyes flying wide open as the wine glass fell from her hand. It shattered across the decorative steps of the entryway. “Shit.”

Koldan cocked a brow. “I didn’t realize you knew those kinds of words.”

“I beg your pardon?” Ana asked.

“Shit. I didn’t realize you knew how to say a word like that.”

“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, there’s another one,” he said. “I almost feel like I should mark it down or something.”

Her annoyance perked. “If you came out here to poke fun at me for your amusement, feel free to waltz right back inside the house before you really piss me off.”

Koldan’s grin grew. “Are you as beautiful when you’re angry as you are when you’re playing the good little girl for the public?”

Ana blinked, her mouth popping open audibly. She felt both offended and entertained at the same time. How was that even possible? “I don’t remember you being this much of an asshole two months ago at dinner.”

“I was making nice, kind of like you were,” Koldan explained. “Seeing you today with all the people, fake smile plastered on and a blank stare, it kind of makes me wonder.”

Don’t poke the bear
, Ana thought. She never was any good at listening to her inner voice. “Wonder what, Koldan?”

“Is this really who you are? I don’t know. What are you like outside of your parents’ view?”

Again, Ana gaped, stunned speechless.

“My sister,” Koldan continued, “… she’s wild as fuck, but you wouldn’t know it when my dad’s around. Adrik spoiled her like nothing else growing up. All she has to do is bat her lashes at him and he’s fucking putty. He thinks she’s going to settle down with some connected man like any good mob wife because she’s got our father living in delusions. It’s never going to happen, you know. Sofia, she doesn’t want to be a guy’s one girl, she’s the type who gets labeled the other girl. Get what I mean?”

“Did you just call your sister a whore?” Ana asked sharply.

“Hell, no. My sister gets no judgment from me as far as her preferences for dating, or lack thereof depending on how you want to look at it. I just say it like I see it. Sofia gets to be and do whatever the fuck she wants in my book, including men. It’s her right. What I meant, was that who our father sees and who the rest of the world sees are two entirely different people. She’s not upfront with her motives and that shit unsettles me in a way I can’t explain.”

Ana crossed her arms, feeling a bit unsettled herself. “Why are you telling me this at all?”

“You’ve got me curious, Ana. You’re beautiful, for one thing. Don’t fault me for looking. Unfortunately, when you draw my eye, it means I’m going to notice other things, too. Like that sweet but fake smile to the crowd. Or when your back is against a wall while you toss down a half a glass of wine before you make a beeline for the door. Being curious means I might want to know more about you, but if that also means learning two completely different people, I would like to be warned before I even tried.”

“Wow,” Ana mouthed, not sure what else to say.

Koldan shrugged. “I’m not in the business of hiding my intentions, the things I do, or who I am. I don’t make excuses for any of it, either. Honesty gets a man everywhere.”

It sure did, in most cases.

Ana couldn’t help but like the fact Koldan was as frank and blunt as he was. To Ana, because she lived in a world where sometimes feelings and opinions were left at the door, this man’s boldness was appealing.

And
frightening
.

But, hey, if he wanted to play the honesty game, Ana could do that, too. “Why are you here, anyway?”

“Work.”

Ana nodded, passing him a look. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“If you want a better answer,
krasivyy
, ask a better question.”

Point taken.

“Fine. What kind of work?”

“Anton and Adrik have an arrangement that’s been ongoing for years. It works for them, I guess. Regardless, there’s been a few issues getting shipments ready to transport at the time they’re supposed to be rolling out due to a new crew working the docks, so here I am to make sure everything is smooth sailing for the next couple of months. Or, however long it takes to work all the kinks out.”

Ana’s brow furrowed. “Shipments?”

“Oh, come on, Ana. You’re telling me you don’t know the kinds of things your father is involved in?”

“No, I know,” she said quietly, refusing to meet his gaze. “I just don’t know how it all works or whatever.”

“Shipments, the product making the money. Whatever might be selling hot like candy on the streets, it’s coming off those ships in crates.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Koldan said simply. “Bothers you, doesn’t it?”

“What you do?” Ana asked back.

“That’s what I said. Disgust is written all over your face.”

Ana mulled his words over, deciding to choose her own carefully. “I have a trust fund coming to me when I’m thirty, a Mercedes bought by my father, a fully paid education, and a monthly allowance paying for my apartment and needs while letting me focus on school instead of work.”

Koldan’s expression didn’t change a bit. “What’s your point?”

“How hypocritical of me would it be to say I don’t approve of what you do for a living, yet know the things I have are paid for with the same kind of money?”

“Nobody said you had to approve of it. Nobody is asking for your permission, Ana.”

“No shit,” Ana muttered, blowing out a huff of air.

“You missed
my
point this time,” he said, winking. “It’s your choice what you want to do now, okay. Your car? It probably showed up one day with a bow on it. Your schooling, apartment, and allowance? That’s what parents are supposed to do—take care of their kids and provide for them so they can be better and have better than what they did. That trust fund? Spend it or give it all away.

“You don’t need
their
approval because it’s yours. You don’t have to like what I do, Ana. It’s my choice. You have your own choices to make. Simple as that. And if when making those choices, you refuse certain things because of the root at which they came from, that’s all on you. Nobody cares because nobody here is looking for permission. They do what they want to do, you do what you want to do.”