Chapter 2: Friday morning: Reunited

My bodyguards followed me off the train, and we headed for the exit.

Rolan and Armen were off for the next six weeks and planned on visiting their families. They deserved the break after spending each term by my side, protecting me while I was away. We were great friends, and even though they were the bane of my life at times, always there to spoil my fun, they were also always there for my protection. For that, I was grateful to them, especially after what happened to my sister, Krissa.

Krissa was murdered two years ago by three members of the Polish Mafia. They had gone out partying and kidnapped her off the street, raped and murdered her. At the time, we had been in an alliance with the head of the Polish Mafia, Janusz Glowacki, ever since the Albanians had murdered his oldest son and our parents three years earlier. Krissa’s murder could have ended the alliance, but the way Glowacki dealt with things and his genuine grief over her death strengthened it instead.

Hurting women was against our moral code and Glowacki’s. When his men broke that code, it sealed their fate.

The three dickheads responsible had been high at the time and had left DNA evidence, so they were caught quickly afterwards. The Nowack brothers were let out on bail. They disappeared, and the police thought they had gone on the run. Actually, Glowacki handed them over to my brothers, who made them pay for what they had done.

Unfortunately, the other man, Lev Petrov, didn’t get bail. He denied murder but pled guilty to rape and assault and was given ten years. Bloody bastard! He was currently in jail, safe for now, but one day, he would face my family’s vengeance.

So, after my parents’ murders, then my sister’s, well, my family and specifically my brothers, were strict with security. I understood the necessity for my personal safety, and I really did appreciate it. However, that didn’t mean I had to like it all of the time though. I was, therefore, looking forward to not seeing either of the guys for the next few weeks.

My family, and likely Romi, would take care of my security while they were away. I had everything crossed that it was going to be Romi looking after me most of the time. It would need to be him if my plan to seduce him was to work because I could hardly do that if I had other bodyguards keeping tabs on my every move. My insides fluttered with excitement just thinking about getting to spend quality time with the man of my dreams.

I looked around to see who was picking me up, praying it was him. My breath caught, and my heart sped up when I caught a glimpse of the man himself. He’s here, he’s here, the giddy little voice inside me squealed in delight. And dear God, he was even more handsome than I remembered. How the heck was that possible?

I stopped dead in my tracks as our eyes met, and the world around me fell away until it was just the two of us staring at each other across the carpark. I gazed at Romi, completely enthralled. My legs felt suddenly weak, trembling like those of a newborn foal, and I was thankful for the handle of the suitcase, which kept me from sinking to my knees in front of him. Geez, the thought of doing just that did special things to my insides. Hmm, that was something to explore in the future if I got the chance. I gulped as my stomach did a little flip at the thought.

My eyes scanned him from top to toe, then slammed back into his gaze and held as if pulled by an unknown force. I couldn’t look away. What a fantastic specimen of man he was. At around 6’2” with bulging muscle, cool amber eyes, dark brown hair that he kept short at the sides and slightly longer on top, and neatly trimmed facial hair, he was absolutely gorgeous.

Stop staring!Stop drooling! I chastised myself, forcing my gaze away from his mesmerising eyes.

My hands shook as I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and took a shaky step forward. Heck, I needed to get myself under control before I made a fool of myself. I had to come across as a sophisticated young woman, not a silly little girl drooling over her first crush.

Keep cool! Remember you’ve practised for this. You can do this! I gave myself a quick pep talk and took a deep breath to get my libido under control. Then, I pushed my shoulders back and schooled my features into what I hoped was a cool and confident smile. It was time I made my man notice me.

I sauntered towards Romi with a slight sway of my hips, and my smile grew bigger as I saw him beaming back at me. I was so happy to see him, but the grin on his face showed me he was happy to see me too, and my insides melted. His smile made me giddy with joy. I’d always had a soft spot for Romi, even before I noticed him as a man, and I had missed him so much. Not just because of my feelings for him but because of our lifetime of shared memories.

He took a few steps toward me, and instinct took over. Unable to stop myself, I ran toward him, laughing, and threw myself into his arms, just as I used to when I was a little girl. He picked me up and twirled me about just as he always did, and it was great.

“Hey, cuz,” he said, and I froze, frowning as I realised what I had done. My high spirits came crashing down. I had shown him his little cousin again, instead of the sophisticated woman I wanted him to see me as.

Shit, I was blowing this. I quickly jumped out of his arms. My cheeks burned with embarrassment at my faux pas, and I could no longer meet his eyes.

“Welcome home,” he said before turning abruptly away from me to chat to his men.

Oh no, this was not going how I had planned it.

Feeling foolish, I started fiddling with my phone, suddenly finding a generic text I had received from the network very interesting. Anything to keep from looking at Romi while I desperately sought to get myself under control.I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. How had I managed to let my cool, confident, sophisticated woman act slip so soon?

I had planned my first meeting with Romi almost to the last detail. Of course, I had always pictured one of my brothers being here with him, too, which would have helped keep me focused, but I was so disappointed with myself.I glanced at him and was glad to see he was still chatting to Rolan and Armen. Maybe my faux pas hadn’t been so bad. I rallied my thoughts, remembering my affirmations, and squared my shoulders again. That little slip was simply a minor setback in my plan and nothing else. I could still do this. I would do this!

Putting my phone away, I walked over to Rolan and Armen, just as they were saying goodbye to Romi. They were going straight to the airport to catch a flight to spend the summer in Russia with their families. I quickly hugged them and waved as they headed off towards the taxi rank.

“Where are my brothers today?” I asked Romi as we walked to his vehicle, desperate to open up a conversation and get my plans back on track.

“They are all caught up with various things. We have a situation, but they will no doubt discuss that with you at some point when they see us later at dinner,” Romi told me, but I noticed he wasn’t looking at me as he spoke.

“Is it bad?” I questioned, chewing on my lip.

“Miki will tell you what you need to know later, Sonia,” he said firmly, his voice sounding almost strained.

Something was different; the atmosphere had changed between us. I wondered why. Romi seemed delighted to see me initially. Had I embarrassed him by jumping on him like a silly girl? Or by acting embarrassed afterwards? Or was it this situation, and he didn’t want to tell me something that Miki might not want me to know about? I hoped it was the latter and that he hadn’t noticed how awkward I’d acted.

As I climbed into the SUV, I wondered about what the situation he had mentioned could be.

My oldest brother, Miki, had been the head of the Bratva here in the UK for the last five years, ever since he took over from our father after our parents were murdered by the Albanian Mafia. Those brutal bastards had always been our enemies because they were absolutely crazy, but they had never done anything so awful to us until then.

They had also killed Glowacki’s oldest son a couple of days before, too, in an attempt to weaken both us and the Polish so they could take over our territories. They hadn’t succeeded. Instead, we had forged an alliance in our mutual grief and took the bastards down, avenging the deaths of our family members, Mafia style.

The Albanians were almost wiped out at the time, but I knew they had been trying to rebuild. I might have spent the last few years mainly away at University, but I always caught up on the family gossip when I returned for the holidays or when I spoke with my other brothers on the phone. While Miki and Ash often kept me in the dark about a lot of things, Marko, the youngest of my brothers, always filled me in after some prodding.

I wondered if they were the cause of our new situation. I didn’t think they had grown strong enough to take us on again, but if they had, then it would be very bad. I really hoped it wasn’t anything to do with them, but I had no idea what else it could be. As far as I knew, we didn’t have any other enemies capable of causing us any real problems. Minor issues, yes, but anything beyond that, no.

Not that I would know. My brothers rarely discussed what they deemed to be Bratva business with me. Being a woman, I was often kept in the dark. I hated that. I always found it worse not knowing what was going on because my imagination took over, and I had a very active imagination.

My libido livened up then as she was more than aware of how active my imagination had been of late, especially regarding the gorgeous male sitting next to me. I decided to put my worry about the situation behind me and concentrate on making some real headway with my plans instead. I needed Romi to start interacting with me again if I was going to manage to ever convince him I was the woman for him. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be as easy as I would have liked.

Sneaking a glance to the side, I checked out his profile as he drove. He seemed tense; his hands gripped the steering wheel a bit too tightly. Something was definitely going on with him. I knew that look; he was brooding. I took a deep breath. I needed to get him talking.

“How have you been, Romi?” I asked.

“Fine,” he said. His one-word answer clipped and sounded very much like the end of a conversation instead of the start, as I desired.

Pursing my lips, I waited to see if he would say anything else. When he remained silent, I frowned. This wasn’t like him. We didn’t usually have any problems chatting.

Pouting, I turned to stare out the window. This reunion was definitely not going the way I had hoped. I really needed to turn things around. I couldn’t stand the silence between us or the tension I felt radiating off him. It seemed to thicken the air between us, drawing me to him. I was turned away from him, yet my body strained towards him. I held myself still, suddenly hyper-aware of every move he made and every rise and fall of his chest.

Something was definitely wrong with him. It couldn’t be about me, though, because I hadn’t done anything to warrant his standoffishness. I decided not to take it personally. He probably had a lot on his mind right now, with whatever this situation was. That had to be what was bothering him, but we were finally alone together after so long apart, and I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to talk with him. I chewed on my bottom lip as I desperately tried to think of something else to say that would lift the mood.