Chapter 5: Saturday: Pre-Glitz event

As I waited for Ash and Sonia to come out of the house, I reread the text message from Sergei again. Hed sent it to Ash, too. Another of our dealers had been attacked and was apparently missing. Fuck!

Our drug dealers were being attacked and robbed. After dropping off Sonias luggage and rushing to hide out in my room, I received a call from Sergei, who headed up our drugs operation on the street, about a prior attack and had gone to deal with it. I had been busy investigating these attacks since, and it had given me the perfect excuse to stay away from Sonia and the Estate. It hadnt taken my mind off a certain little cousin completely, but it had helped.

We had an alliance with the Polish Mafia, and their boss, Janusz Glowacki, was also a good friend. However, we had caught two of Glowackis men after the latest incident and spent time torturing information out of them, but all we got from them was that the Polish and Albanians were behind the attacks. Which was bollocks.

Apparently, someone wanted us to believe that the Albanians and Glowacki were working together to go up against us. I shook my head in disbelief. We knew that was definitely not true because Glowacki, like us, hated the bloody Albanians. He would never side with them for any reason.

When my uncle Alexi was Pakhan, he and Glowacki were rivals. Glowacki was younger and ambitious when he first came into the role of boss for the Polish Mafia and foolishly thought he could infringe upon our territory. He made several attempts, but Uncle Alexi quickly thwarted these, and after a few years, they came to an uneasy peace.

Glowacki matured, became a good leader, and solidified his hold on his own territory, forging his own path. It turned out that path was very similar to how Uncle Alexi ran our brotherhood. So, they became increasingly more tolerant of each other and even grudgingly grew to respect one another.

Sadly, around five years ago, Uncle Alexi and Aunt Marissa were killed by the Albanians just a couple of days after they had murdered Glowackis oldest son. Thats when the rivals, who barely tolerated each other, suddenly needed one another. And so, Miki stepped into the role of Pakhan in place of his father, and an alliance was formed between the Polish Mafia and the Bratva. The alliance helped prevent a lot more loss.

Bolstering our numbers and pulling our resources meant we were able to take the Albanians down quickly. They were pretty much decimated, with only a few survivors. It was true that the Albanians had been slowly rebuilding. Nevertheless, they were not strong enough to take us down alone, and as nobody liked the crazy bastards, it was hard to believe anyone would work with them. Least of all, Glowacki.

Our alliance with the Polish Mafia might have been built out of tragedy and necessity, but it had only strengthened over time. When my cousin Krissa, Sonias sister, was murdered about two years ago by three of Glowackis men, our alliance could have crumbled then. However, it didnt. Glowacki had been as devastated by Krissas murder as we were, and he had turned over two of the men involved to us for immediate revenge. The other, unfortunately, ended up being jailed, but we would eventually exact our revenge on him.

So, we knew without a doubt that Glowacki wasnt involved in these attacks, but we didnt believe the Albanians were either. It appeared that they were both being set up. Why and by whom remained to be seen.

I huffed a breath out in frustration at not yet knowing the answer to that question. I hated that we had unknown enemies. My family and our businesses were in danger, which meant Sonia was in danger, and I would stop at nothing to help find out who was involved and deal with them.

In the meantime, at least the situation would give me more excuses to stay away from the Estate and Sonia in the future. That wouldnt help me tonight, though. I groaned at the thought. Tonight was going to be a bloody nightmare. I just knew it.

I leaned against the door of the car and pursed my lips. I was suited and booted, ready and waiting for Sonia and Ash to head to our club opening. Ash wanted me to be with Sonia all night to ensure her safety, so it was going to be tough. My fantasies had definitely not abated by seeing her in the flesh as I had previously hoped. Instead, theyd ramped up, and no matter how far I stayed away from her physically, I couldnt get her out of my dreams.

After our electrifying touch yesterday, my body practically hummed at the thought of touching Sonia again. I dreaded spending time with her alone because all I had done since I had left her yesterday was imagine grabbing her and kissing her until she couldnt breathe.

My cock pulsed, and I swore I felt my lips tingling at the thought.

Damn it! I needed to stay in control tonight. I adjusted myself and pushed my cock down with the palm of my hand. Geez. Just the thought of that woman had me nearly losing it. I was being ridiculous. I was a grown man. I could control myself. I would control myself. I would focus on Sonias safety tonight and remember her brothers were always nearby. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep my behaviour in check and my hormones under control. Id just finished that thought when the source of my discomfort appeared.

Oh hell. Just when I thought Sonia couldnt get any more beautiful, she stepped out of the house, looking like Aphrodite had come to life again. Shit, shit, shit!

She was completely stunning, and my mind was struggling to cope with her presence again.

What was it about this woman that suddenly had me acting like an inexperienced teenager? How the heck was I going to get through this evening? I should have found an excuse not to attend tonights event. Why the hell didnt I? I chastised myself for not telling Ash I was sick or something.

Its too bloody late now! my annoying inner voice said. It was right. There was no way out of this situation, and I would just need to suck it up and deal with it.

Hey, Romi, she said, smiling.

My breath fled, and I froze like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Sonia literally took my breath away, and the sight of her had me so bloody tongue-tied I couldnt say a word to her. All I could do was smile awkwardly before jumping into the car in an attempt to cover up my sudden inability to communicate like a grownup. Again.

Thank God Ash hadnt noticed.

As we drove in silence, I desperately tried not to look at her, but I couldnt stop myself from sneaking peeks in the rearview mirror. Every now and then, our eyes met, and my breath hitched each time. Oh, I really had it bad!

Fuck! I needed to get a grip and stop acting like a teenager. If I didnt, someone would definitely notice. I couldnt let that happen. I took a deep breath and released it slowly.

I valiantly avoided looking at her again until a short while later, as we pulled into the private driveway leading to the club, I heard Ash say, You look beautiful, by the way.

Unable to help myself, my eyes flew to hers in the mirror, and before I could think better of it, I heard myself agreeing, You certainly do.

Well, hopefully, that tall, dark, and droolificent male specimen, I am hoping, will sweep me off my feet and carry me off over his shoulder might actually notice me then! She laughed and winked.

All the blood rushed south, my cock liking that idea, and my mind was onboard, supplying me with a visual of doing just that. I imagined carrying Sonia off, taking her home to my room, and never letting her leave, before chastising myself for the thought. It couldnt happen. Our family would kill me.

There will be none of that nonsense, young lady, or we will turn this car around right now, and you will be locked in your room for the rest of the summer, Ash growled, and she chuckled.

The sound of that breathy chuckle had me imagining all sorts of dirty thoughts, and I had to bite back a groan.

I pulled the car to a stop just as she said, Relax, bro, Im teasing. I am not planning on meeting anyone new tonight, but at some point, I am going to want to set my sights on someone in particular, and you are going to have to deal with that!

Hell no! There was no way I was allowing anyone else to have her.

Shit, there I was again, acting all possessive like I had a right to be.

She is not mine!I reminded myself sternly. It was futile, though. I knew my heart was not convinced. Neither was my cock. Thank God I was wearing a suit jacket to cover it.

Well see, Ash said, but I knew he was thinking the opposite.

Ash doted on Sonia, especially now Krissa was gone. I doubted he would ever think anyone was good enough for his baby sister. Especially not me. Doing anything with Sonia would be seen as a complete betrayal. That thought sobered me up. I wished it wasnt the case, but it was, and I needed to keep that in my mind. It was unfair, but that was life. There was no changing the fact that the woman I had fallen for was out of my reach. I would deal with my feelings. There was no other choice.

However, as I watched her climb out of the car, I had an idea. It might not be my best idea, and it would probably make everything worse for me from now on, but once Id thought about it, there was no stopping things. I wanted to be with Sonia; that couldnt ever truly happen, but just for tonight, I would allow myself to pretend.

Licking my lips, the idea took hold, and the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. I would let myself have one night enjoying Sonias company in the way that I longed to. I would talk to her, laugh, and dance with her. I would allow us one night of fun and do my best to enjoy this evening with the woman of my dreams. But I wouldnt allow anything more to develop between us, and after tonight, I would do everything I could to keep my distance from her.

Climbing out of the car, I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with air, then slowly released it as I let my whole body relax.

Sonia squealed. Oh my god, look at those lights, I knew they would look great. Just like the Bellagio, she said, clapping her hands and pointing at the water feature with coloured dancing lights.

Grinning at her enthusiasm, I hurried to her side, feeling happier than I had for the last year. We might only have this one night, but I was going to savour every minute of it.

I love their show with the dancing water lit up in beautiful colours. I always wanted a water feature like that, and now we have one of our own. Its great!

She laughed and did a funny little wiggle of excitement.

It sure is, I agreed, chuckling at her antics.

Stunning! she said in awe as she watched the water show.

Yes, I agreed, but I was not talking about the show. Sonia was the most stunning thing here.

Come on, lets go see the inside, Ash said after a minute or two.

Sonia nodded and grabbed us both, linking her arms with ours. A pang of longing hit me, and my mouth went dry. If only it could always be like this.

Shucking off the negative feelings that threatened to engulf me, I wrapped my hand around the one she had on my arm and relished the feel of her. I licked my lips, suddenly very aware of her warm body so close to me. She smelled wonderful, too, like vanilla and citrusy orange with chocolate and cinnamon. I wanted to smell her and lick her all over. Tonight really was going to be torturous, but instead of fighting against it, I was going to revel in it.

God, I was a masochist. However, the English had a saying, In for a penny, in for a pound, which meant if you were going to invest a little effort into something, you might as well invest a lot. I was going to invest my all in this evening—just for tonight!