Chapter 15 - Rodion

“Good afternoon, sir. A table for four?” The young waitress asks, eyeing my brothers and me up and down.

“Leon probably booked a table,” Rigor says.

The waitress glances towards the hostess, who runs her finger over the clipboard. “Leon Dubrov. They are in the private section at the back,” she says to the waitress.

“Please follow me, gentlemen,” she says, leading the way through the restaurant, past a doorway closed off with a thick beaded curtain, and into a private dining area that has views across the entire city through massive glass windows that stretch the side of the room.

Leon stands up, nodding a greeting at each of my brothers. “Afternoon, guys, thanks for coming through.” Then he holds his hand out towards me to shake mine. He has a firm grip and a solid shake, and his eyes lock with mine when he greets me. “Rodion.”

“Leon.” I nod back and then smile across the room at Yefim, Alexei and Oleg.

Each of us takes a seat and a harsh silence falls over the room.

Leon clears his throat, “I guess we can get straight to it.”

“Of course,” I say in agreement.

“We’ve set the date for Thursday,does that suit everyone?”

He looks around and we all nod. “Thursday is good.”

Yefim picks up his phone and drags his finger across the screen, scrolling through some information. “I’ve got several trucks available for the haul. If Alexei, Leon, Oleg and I drive the trucks, then Rodion, Rigor, Rad and Renat can convoy behind us with the security teams.”

“Sounds good,” Leon agrees.

“Is there a reason we are not driving the trucks?” Rigor asks.

“Because we know the trucks. We know the routes too. This is a massive shipment, and we can’t take any risks,” Oleg says.

“We have all been driving for years. It wouldn’t be a risk.”

I shoot Rigor a look, letting him know it makes no difference. We need to pick our battles with the Dubrovs, and I don’t give a shit who drives the trucks. I just want to be present, to make sure it all goes smoothly.

“We are fine convoying with security,” I say sternly to my brothers and the Dubrovs.

“Alright, then I’ve plotted out a route—“ Alexei pushes a map into the center of the table, traced with a bright red line showing the pathway of the delivery.

I pull it closer to myself so I can trace through the route.

“I don’t think we should take Second Street,” I shake my head. “Especially not if we are driving midday.”

“Second Street will be fine,” Alexei huffs, trying to pull the map back towards himself.

“No. It won’t,” Rigor says, quickly making a grab for it. “We have a building on Second Street, so we know the area well. It gets chaotic midday. I think there is a school nearby and the tRodyafic can randomly back up across the entire street.”

“You guys are worrying for nothing. We’ve done this before,” Yefim sighs in agitation.

Rad leans forward to point at a street three blocks away from Second. “If we take this route we can just avoid—“

Alexei grabs the map back. “I said Second Street will be fine,” He snarls.

I glance at Leon, expecting him to control his brothers, but he does nothing.

“Is this a joint operation or not?” I ask.

“It’s a joint effort,” Leon nods.

“Then why not trust our advice where we know we can add value? You said you wanted this to go smoothly—no mistakes. We want the same thing. Second Street is a terrible option.”

Every single one of the Dubrovs is glaring at me now.

Rigor and Rad stand up with their hands resting on the table. Menace in their eyes tells me this meeting is not going well.

I hold up my hand towards them. “Guys, sit the fuck down,” I snap. I don’t need them making shit worse.

They sit down, but the tension increases.

Leon pulls the map towards himself and asks Alexei, “did you factor in the school? The tRodyafic around midday?”

“Do I look like this is the first fucking time I’ve plotted a route?”

I feel a hand on my shoulder and glance around to see Anya standing there. “Hi everyone,” she says. “Sorry, I’m late.”

Anya takes a seat next to me while her brothers and mine all mumble very tense hello’s to her.

“Wow, ok. Is the planning going alright?” she asks, looking around the room. The stark, annoyed faces staring back at her is all the answer she needs.

Leon, dismissing his sister’s question, which annoys the hell out of me as I find it incredibly disrespectful, says, “We are taking Second Street. Now let’s discuss—”

Rigor is back on his feet, his fist slams into the table. “Are you not listening to a word we are trying to tell you? Second Street is chaos at that time of day. Don’t be an arrogant fucking asshole, Leon—“

Anya quickly reading the room, realizes the issue. She has been to my building on Second Street.

“Isn’t your building on Second Street? The one where you gave me a tour a few weeks ago?” She asks me calmly.

“That’s the one,” I nod, narrowing my eyes towards her.

“Leon, I’ve been past there twice. Once early morning and once after lunch. Don’t you think it would be better to turn off a few streets before Second? That way we can loop around and avoid any delays.” She stretches across the table, throwing Alexei a massive smile. “Remember, you taught me how to do this,” she grins at him. I can see his face softening.

“Here,” she points on the map.

Alexei grunts, “Fine.”

She digs around in her purse, pulls out a black pen and traces a new line on the map. Then she carries it around to where Alexei is sitting, leans over his shoulder and says, “See, I listened to what you told me.”

He chuckles, “I guess you were paying attention.”

“I have to pay attention if I want to learn from the best.” She laughs, then walks back to her seat.

Leon pulls his mouth tight. “Alright, then let’s talk about the handover process.”

The rest of our planning meeting goes well after Anya defuses the situation over the route. My brothers still look agitated, but no one argues over the remaining plans.

When the meeting ends, the Dubrovs are quick to get up and leave.

“We’ll see you Thursday,” Leon says formally.

“Thursday.”

Once they have all left, Rigor and Renat burst into a heated flow of words about their attitudes.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck talks to someone like that? I thought we were equals in this operation?”

“We are, calm down,” I say sternly, very aware that Anya is in the room with us and not wanting to cause more issues between us and the Dubrovs.

Rigor shakes his head. “I wanted to punch that smug ass in the face. Alexei needs a lesson or two in teamwork,” he snarls.

Anya giggles and my brothers turn to glare at her. I clench my jaw, unsure of what she is up to. But I stay silent because she handled her own brothers brilliantly—so I’m curious if she can do the same with mine.

“What you guys don’t realize is that when my brothers talk to you like that it’s a good thing.” She shrugs, a sly smirk on her face.

“How the fuck is that a good thing, darkling?” Rad snaps.

“Because brothers argue—right? I’ve witnessed my own brothers wanting to tear each other apart, trying to decide things like the best route. They challenge each other to see who will back down and, in that way, they establish hierarchy over time.”

Their eyes are locked onto her.

“And what does that mean?”

“It means that you probably impressed Leon because you refused to back down on something you felt strongly about. Alexei is a hot-headed fool. You’ll learn how to deal with him. He gets under everyone’s skin, but Leon was the one you needed to have your eye on.”

Rad shifts in his seat, his shoulders relaxing a little. “So, it was a test.”

“In a way, yes. And I think you guys did well.”

Rigor and Renat are eyeing her closely. “Leon wanted us to argue?”

“No, Leon wanted to see that you were confident in your decisions. And you were. That says a lot about a man. The bottom line is, Leon wouldn’t do an operation like this with just anyone. He has to have immense trust in people to work this closely with them. You’re already part of the team guys, now it’s a room full of opinions and the ones with the most confidence will push through. And you pushed through.”

My brothers are starting to look pleased with themselves and I can’t help but be amused. She is brilliant. She knew exactly how to defuse Alexei and now she’s calmed down three of my brothers, all three hot-headed, ego-driven idiots at the best of times.

I can’t hide the grin touching the corners of my mouth as I watch her, elegant and calm, soothing my brothers down like children. She bats her eyes and smiles sweetly when she looks at them and I think she’s fucking charming the socks off these idiots.

I also think I need to reign her back in before they start to get the wrong idea.

“Alright, guys, let’s get going,” I say, pushing my chair back as I stand up.

Rigor, Rad and Renat make their way out of the private room and Anya is about to follow them through the door when I grab her arm and pull her back inside.

“Stop right there, you little minx,” I say sternly, wrapping my arm around her waist and holding her against my chest.

“What?” she asks, as innocent as ever, her long dark lashes fluttering demurely.

“I think you know exactly what,” I say, wrapping my hand around her jaw and tilting her face upwards. I hover my lips over hers and she smiles, her lush, pink lips only inches from mine.

I lean closer, my mouth locking over hers. The kiss is slow, deep and intense.

She slides her hand around my waist and up my back, pressing her body harder into mine.

An image flashes through my mind. I want to throw her onto this table and pull her skirt up over her ass.

Her hand slips beneath my shirt and her fingertips trace hot fire across my skin.

I stop kissing her, but I don’t lean very far back. I can feel the heat of her breath on my face when she laughs.

“You know you belong to me, don’t you, Anya?”

“Is that so?” she whispers.

“It is so. And if you think I’ll let you get away with flirting with my brothers like that again you’ll be in for a surprise,” I warn her.

“What kind of a surprise? I rather like surprises.” She grins, cheeky and feisty.

“The kind that lands you bent over a table with my hand print on your ass cheek.”

My cock throbs at the thought.

“Well, in that case, I will definitely be flirting with your brothers again. When is the next family dinner?”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “You aren’t going to survive until the next family dinner. I’m going to have to see to it that you are punished before then.”

Her eyes are bright with mischief when she pushes away from me.

“I’ll be waiting at home,” she chimes, glancing up and down over my body. Then she turns her back on me and with an extra sway in her hips, she walks out of the room, leaving me alone with my cock hard and pressing against my pants.

That cheeky little minx just made me fall even harder for her.

I pace around the private room with a grin on my face, waiting for the evidence of her flirtatious playfulness to subside. When it’s faded, I make my way out to the car, still smiling. I really like that side of her. She is confident and sassy. And extra playful. I think that was the first time she ever really flirted with me. I mean properly.

I want more of that.