Chapter 12 - Alexei

"Who the fuck would be here now?" I mutter as I march towards the front door, still trying to get my cock to calm down.

I pause in the hallway, taking a deep breath. I do my best to pull myself together.

Shit. That was so fucking sexy. I am furious that I got interrupted just when I was about to finally find out what she feels like.

I wait, counting to ten, as my cock simmers down.

I shake my head as the doorbell rings again.

"I'm coming," I shout loudly, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

I pick up the gate phone near the front door and the monitor jumps to life.

"Hello," I say over the speaker. In the camera, I see Oleg's car. He is in the driver's side, Anya on the passenger side. Oleg and Anya both turn their heads towards the camera, waving at me.

"Hello," Anya shouts.

"What the hell?" I say too softly for them to hear me.

Pressing the gate buzzer, I watch through the camera as they drive through the security gate and into my yard. I take a deep breath before I pull the front door open, stepping outside, closing it behind myself and hoping like fuck they don't ask to go inside.

I stand on the top step, waiting for them to climb out of the car.

"Oleg, Anya, what brings you here?"

Oleg glares at me. "You were acting pretty fucking strange at work this morning, so I followed you home—and of course I saw her." He gestures towards the front door, obviously meaning Clara. "So, I went back to town to fetch Anya because clearly someone has to come through here and talk some fucking sense into you. What the fuck is going on?"

Oleg is furious. His fists are clenched at his sides, his neck muscles are taunt.

"Look, man," I begin, but I have nothing to say that can explain anything at all. Even I don't know how this happened. It just happened. I didn't plan for it to happen.

I swallow hard. I look over to Anya. She is usually more understanding, a little more patient than Oleg. But she looks just as angry.

"Alexei, this is really stupid even for you . We've only just got this whole alliance with Giorgio under control, and this—this is going to fuck the whole thing up."

Anya glares cold steel into me and I clench my jaw.

"Guys, it just happened," I blurt out. "It was an accident."

"How the fuck do you accidentally kidnap someone?" Anya says sarcastically.

"I don't know." I throw my hands in the air, defensively.

"Leon is going to be furious, and Yefim—Yefim has been out there looking for the girl…." Oleg is pacing up and down the front step.

"No," I say quickly. "You can't tell Yefim or Leon."

"How the fuck are we supposed to keep this from them, Alexei?" Oleg asks angrily.

"Just—I just need some time." I plead.

"We can't do this, Alexei." Anya says. "We can't just let this slide and watch Yefim help search for her. You've created such a huge problem here for everyone. People are going to find out what is going on."

"Please, guys—just a bit of time."

Behind me, the front door opens, and Clara is standing there in fresh clothes. She has changed into a pair of jeans and a black hoodie. Her hair is pulled up into a bun and she is smiling nervously.

Everyone's eyes are on her, including mine. I am not quite sure what to do at this point. Is she going to try and run? Is she going to try and convince them to tell me to let her go?

I hold my breath without realizing it.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, Clara says, "Why don't you guys all come inside—it's getting pretty cold out here." She pulls the door all the way open and steps to the side.

We all stare at her blankly. This is not the behavior any of us would have expected from someone I am holding prisoner.

She smiles.

"Uh…yeah, come in, guys. We can talk about this inside."

Oleg looks bewildered. Anya's eyes are narrowed towards Clara as though she is expecting her to pull out a knife or something.

Anya moves first, walking through the door with her eyes locked onto Clara.

Clara steps back a little, sensing the tension.

Oleg follows Anya into my place, and I feel my jaw clenching tightly as I walk behind them, then gesture for Clara to follow while I close and lock the front door securely.

We all head through to the living room in silence.

Clara sits down first; oddly, she seems to be the least stressed-out person in this house right now.

I sigh and sit down next to her, but then I stand up again.

"I'm getting everyone a drink. What are you all having?"

"Vodka soda," Anya says.

"Yeah, that will be fine," Oleg agrees.

Glancing at Clara, I just say, "Wine?"

She nods.

I bring another bottle of the same wine we had with our cheese board, and two vodka sodas for my siblings.

I pour Clara and I each a glass of wine, then sit down again.

Anya lets out a massive sigh as we all continue to sit in awkward silence. Then she blurts out, "Alexei, just let us take her home with us tonight. We can drop her at her uncle's place and—"

"No," I say, leaving absolutely no question in my tone. "She is not going anywhere."

Clara bites her lower lip, then lifts the wine glass to her mouth and sips slowly.

"For fuck's sake," Oleg mutters. "Clara, none of this was planned. We had no idea this was going on." He sighs.

"I gather that," she says softly.

"So, what now? Are you going to tell your uncle everything?"

She shakes her head.

"You were kidnapped, why wouldn't you want justice? I mean—you obviously want justice."

She doesn't say anything.

"She—she's perfectly fine here with me." I sigh, pressing my fingers against my right temple, trying to massage away the stress headache that is building next to my eye.

"You can't speak for her," Anya snaps. "Besides, what we are worried about more than whether she is okay here or not is how this whole mess is going to affect everyone else."

The tension in the room is growing thicker by the minute. I have to do something to break it up a little, to ease it off and hopefully get my siblings to calm down enough to agree not to tell my other brothers.

"Guys, I'm about to heat up some left over lasagna. Let's all sit down, eat dinner, and just take a moment."

They all look at me like I'm a little crazy. Then Oleg shrugs. "I am hungry."

Thank fuck.

I get up to go through to the kitchen, then hesitate. I don't want to leave them alone with Clara. There is no telling what they will say to her.

"Clara, do you mind helping me?"

She jumps up, all too eager to get away from this tense situation.

She follows quickly behind me to the kitchen.

"They are really angry, Alexei," she says quietly once we are alone.

"Yes, I noticed."

I want to ask Clara why she didn't say anything when Anya offered to take her home, just drop her off at her uncle's place. She could have jumped at the opportunity. Why would she stay quiet?

But I can't bring myself to ask in case she says she would like to do that.

I don't want her to.

I wouldn't allow it.

And then things would be really tense all over again.

My eyes roam up and down over her.

I want to go back to the moment on the couch outside.

"I'll get some plates," she says, distracting me from my daydream.

"You can put them on the dining room table. I'll start the oven to heat this lasagna up and then I'll bring the knives and forks."

Clara disappears, carrying a pile of four plates, then comes back in to fetch the salt and pepper shakers.

She disappears again and I stare at the empty doorway she just walked through.

What in the world is going through her mind right now?

When the lasagna is hot, I carry it through to the dining room and call out to Anya and Oleg, "You guys can come and sit down."

Once everyone is settled and has some food on their plate, my brother and sister turn their attention on Clara. They are clearly done trying to convince me to let her leave, so now they are starting to interrogate her.

"Look, Clara, we are obviously worried about the security of the alliance. We don't want to start an all-out war with your uncle over this. What do you think he will do when—uh, if—he finds out what happened?" Oleg asks.

"If my uncle were to find out—I mean, obviously, he would be really angry. He has quite a temper."

"How do we avoid that?"

"Um—"

"Who else is out there looking for you?"

"What do you mean?" She tilts her head towards Anya.

"Well, maybe an angry finance? A boyfriend? Some guy who has had his eye on you and now notices that you aren't around?" Anya shrugs.

"I think—"

I feel myself losing all of the patience that I thought I had nicely in place.

"What the fuck kind of questions are those?" I snap, hating the idea of Clara having some other guy interested in her or paying her any kind of attention. She is mine. I don't give a fuck if some other guy is looking for her—he can burn in hell for all I care. Why is Anya asking such stupid questions?

"We need to know who else to watch for. Obviously," Oleg snaps at me.

"There is no one else to watch for," I snarl back at him, my fists clenched on the table.

"Oh please, how can you say that? You don't know for sure. You don't know if she was dating someone, or if someone was asking her out—"

"No one—no one was asking her out. And if they were, it's over now." I stand up, pressing my knuckles into the dining room table.

"Oh sit down, Alexei, take a breath." Anya rolls her eyes.

"Do you think you can just walk into my house and start causing shit here? This is my house, my rules. What I say goes."

"Yes, yes, you're the boss," Anya giggles, grating at my nerves even more.

"Don't start with me, Anya," I snap.

"Will you two grow up?" Oleg huffs loudly.

"Or what?" Anya and I both say at the same time.