12. Anton

12

ANTON

Nina is doing a wonderful job of lifting my spirits, but that might have something to do with the fact that she’s straddling my lap wearing nothing but my shirt.

I always feel deflated after spending time with my mom.

I love her dearly, but it’s exhausting, and that only adds to the permanent guilt that weighs heavy on my shoulders.

When it comes to her condition, my feelings are irrelevant, so I force the guilt down and try to push through the pain of her not knowing who I am.

She was particularly distressed today. I’m not sure where this sudden fixation on Nikolai is coming from. She’s barely mentioned him in the last few months, and I had almost hoped she had forgotten about him entirely, if only to save her the heartache.

I hate that he’s causing her so much pain, but I hate even more that he doesn’t seem to care.

Nina presses another kiss to my lips, bringing me out of my thoughts.

It’s like she can sense me spiraling and is working to keep me focused on something else.

I part my lips, letting her tongue slowly explore my mouth.

She’s so sweet and warm and a much-needed distraction.

Despite feeling guilty for focusing on Nina instead of my mother, I am grateful to have her to confide in.

I probably should have told her about my mom before bringing her to my home in case she caught her wandering around the house, but that always leads to discussions about her condition.

I’m not ashamed of it in the slightest. It’s more that I don’t want the sympathy or praise that tends to follow after explaining our unique living situation.

I’m just doing my job as a son, nothing more.

It’s time to take my mind of the outside world and focus on the gorgeous woman on my lap.

I reach for the buttons on Nina’s shirt, unbuttoning the first and kissing the skin I reveal.

My phone buzzes on the bedside table.

I huff.

“Don’t answer it.” Nina traces my lower lip with her tongue.

My cock strains against my shorts and from the way Nina moves her hips against me, I know she can feel how hard I am.

“It might be important.”

“More important than this?” She takes my hand that is currently resting on her thigh and moves it higher until my fingers brush against her pussy.

“Fuck,” I hiss at how wet she is.

Nina chuckles before moving her lips to my ear.

“Still want to answer the phone?” She nips at my ear lobe.

I gently graze her clit and smile as she shudders with pleasure.

“Fuck no.” I flip her onto her back. “I have much more important business to attend to. Which reminds me, I think we’ll leave the shirt on…”

Thankfully, my phone remains silent, and Nina and I pick up where we left off last night for the majority of the morning.

I take in the sight of Nina sitting at the kitchen table, her dark hair in loose messy waves around her shoulders. She’s still wearing my shirt though she insisted on putting on some panties in case my mother decided to make another trip into the main house. “You’re so beautiful.”

“So you keep saying.” She chuckles as she stirs her coffee.

I plate her up some eggs and toast and set it down in front of her. “Eat up.”

Just as I’m plating up my own food, my phone buzzes on the counter beside me, and I notice a few notifications from Mikhail.

“I should probably deal with this. Are you good here for a minute?”

“You mean with this massive plate of food you made for me?” She glances down at the mountain of eggs.

“Got to keep your strength up.” I smirk as Nina rolls her eyes. “I’ll be back soon.”

As I head into my office, I call Mikhail.

My cousin scoffs. “Thanks for finally bothering to get back to me.”

“I was busy.” I pull out my desk chair, taking a seat.

“With a certain ballerina?”

“What can I do for you, Mikhail?”

“I thought you’d want to know that Rosa finally got back to me about Lev.”

I sit up straighter. “What did she find?”

Rosa is Mikhail’s personal private investigator, and for good reason. She’s an absolute shark, and the fact that she’s taken months to track down the long-lost Koslov sibling means that Lev sure as hell didn’t want to be found.

“According to Rosa, Lev left Russia for the US five years ago.”

“Why don’t you sound happy? Surely, it’s a good thing that he’s at least in the same country as you?”

“Well, that’s the thing, she couldn’t find any evidence on where in the US he actually is.”

“Seriously?”

“There’s no paper trail on him at all.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, fuck,” Mikhail grunts. “It’s a complete nightmare. Rosa literally couldn’t find anything else on the guy.”

I lean back in my chair as I rub my jaw as I try to think of what to do next.

The lack of paper trail won’t be a coincidence, but it makes our next move very tricky, considering it gives us nothing to go on.

“That means, either Lev is living completely off the grid or he’s using an alias.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“Either way, he’s likely wanting to avoid Igor. From what Maxim said, the guy treated Lev like shit, so he probably doesn’t want to risk being found.”

Mikhail is quiet for a moment.

“Or… Igor is the one controlling him.”

“What do you mean?”

“We don’t know that Lev left Russia in order to escape Igor. If anything, Igor could have brought him over here to use as bait against us but is keeping him hidden until it’s the right time to use him.”

I curse under my breath.

“Maybe it’s time we paid one of Igor’s haunts a visit. He’s bound to have a weak link working for him and with any luck, with enough booze, they might be willing to share some privileged information.”

Mikhail hums. “It’s worth a shot. It’s not like we’ve got much else to go on.”

I end the call with Mikhail after deciding on a time and place.

I lean back in my chair and stare at my recent call log, my thumb hovering above Rosa’s name. Before I can talk myself out of it, I dial her number and put the call on speaker.

“What?” she barks.

“Rosa? It’s Anton Koslov.”

“I know who it is, dumbass, I’ve got caller ID.”

“I was wondering if you could look into someone for me?”

“I can. If I’m willing to is an entirely different question.”

I bite back a retort. I forgot how much of a nightmare Rosa is to talk to. If she wasn’t as good as she is, she would have been fired a long time ago for her attitude.

“Would you be willing to look into my brother, Nikolai?”

“Anything in particular you want to know?”

“Where he is would be a good start.”

“It’s very short notice.”

“You will be compensated.”

“I should fucking hope so, the headache your family causes me.”

“And if you could keep it to yourself that you’re looking into this for me, I would appreciate it.”

Rosa grumbles some more before finally agreeing after I offer her triple her regular rate.

My head feels full as I head back into the kitchen after ending the call with Rosa, my mood suddenly clouding over once more.

“Everything okay?” Nina looks up from her phone as I head back into the kitchen and take a seat opposite her at the table.

She’s devoured her breakfast and is mindlessly scrolling through her social media accounts.

“Yeah, that was Mikhail. I need to meet with him in the city later.”

“Anywhere fun?” She looks hopeful.

“It’s for business.”

Nina frowns. “Oh, I was hoping I could come with you.”

“Absolutely not.” The last place Nina should be is one of Igor’s clubs.

“Why?” She folds her arms across her chest.

“Because it’s too dangerous.”

“What if we bring Yakov?”

“That wasn’t part of the deal, Nina.”

She narrows her eyes at me as she juts out her bottom lip.

I want nothing more than to lean across the table and take it between my teeth, to hear her make that breathy sound that makes me cock ache.

“Fine.” She looks hurt.

I let out a breath as I try to think of a solution that doesn’t involve Nina getting killed.

“How about this…” I lean forward and rest my forearms on the table. “What if I promise to take you out, just me and you?”

“Really?”

“We’ll go somewhere romantic.”

“I hope you know that I have very high expectations.”

“I’m well aware.” I chuckle. “But I think even you will be impressed by my skills.”

“I already am, Koslov.”

I pick Mikhail up from his townhouse just after nine.

Lucia is already in bed, asleep, after having a few bad nights with Vivi, but Mikhail assures me that she would love for me to visit soon.

“Maybe you should bring Nina over too.”

I pull away from the curb.

“If you’re going to spend the whole night giving me shit about Nina, I’m throwing you out of the damn car.”

Mikhail only laughs as he slaps me on the shoulder.

“And you used to call me the grumpy one.”

We decide to head to one of Igor’s more seedier clubs near Chinatown in the hopes that the men he’ll have working there will be more willing to talk. Or if it comes down to it, more willing to be bribed.

The place is fairly busy, and it reeks of stale booze and sweat.

Mikhail and I force our way to the bar where we order a couple of drinks that have no doubt been watered down to increase the profit margin.

The bartender barely looks old enough to be serving alcohol, and Mikhail discreetly nudges me.

Here goes nothing.

“Do you know who owns this place?”

The bartender shakes his head, his mop of dirty blond hair falling into his eyes. “No.”

“Do you know someone who does?”

“Why?”

Mikhail leans against the bar. “We’re looking to invest in some clubs in the area.”

“Hang on.” The bartender disappears into the back, and I feel a spark of hope.

Perhaps this won’t be a waste of a trip after all.

A few minutes later, the bartender reappears with an older guy, perhaps in his late fifties, who looks like he hasn’t seen daylight in decades.

“These guys want to talk to the owner.” The bartender jerks his thumb toward Mikhail and me.

“What’s this about? You cops? Because ain’t no dodgy business goin’ on here.”

“We’re potential investors. We just want to speak to someone about the place, that’s all.”

“Owner’s not here.”

“Could we talk to you?”

“I’m busy.” He reaches for the half-empty bottle of gin currently sitting on the counter and disappears into the back.

“This is going well.” Mikhail picks his drink up off the sticky bar top. “Come on, let’s find somewhere to sit.”

Many heads turn in our direction as we wade through the crowded seating area to find an empty table.

I glance down at my pristine black suit and frown.

“I think we’re a little overdressed.” Our thousand-dollar suits look completely out of place in this dive. “I think it might be putting people off.”

“Not to the waitresses it won’t be.” Mikhail dips his chin in the direction of a girl who is definitely under the legal drinking age with a skirt that barely covers her ass and bleached blonde hair. “Maybe you should work your magic on her.”

“Work my magic?”

“You know, smile at her and shit.”

“How the fuck are you married?” I chuckle, taking a sip of my drink.

“No idea.”

It seems like any magic Mikhail thought I have doesn’t work in this place.

Whatever illegal dealings Igor has going on behind the scenes has gotten his staff members on edge at the sight of two guys in suits, despite us assuring them all we’re not cops.

After the third waitress reluctantly brings us fresh drinks after we bribed her for information by offering her a job at Espionage , Mikhail and I decide to back off so as not to draw too much attention.

Mikhail shrugs. “Hopefully, one of them finally decides to take us up on our offer and start talking.”

“This vodka tastes like shit. How the hell does this place stay in business?”

“You know how.” Mikhail chuckles. “The same way Espionage does.”

“Fuck off.”

Mikhail’s eyes dance with amusement. We might be cousins, but we give each other crap like we’re brothers.

“How’s Nina doing?” Mikhail sets his glass down on the table.

“She seems to be okay, all things considered. She’s not happy that I wouldn’t let her come with me tonight, but I reminded her it’s for her own good.”

“Maybe she should talk to Lucia. She knows all too well what it’s like to be under lock down.”

“I literally can’t tell if you’re being serious right now.”

“I’m being deadly serious.”

“You’re a psycho.” I laugh. “We’re not starting some club with our girls where they get together and talk about the times their men locked them up. That’s sadistic.”

“So, you admit she is your girl…”

“You’re exhausting, you know that?”

“What I meant to ask is how are things going with her?” Mikhail leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs.

“It’s going…well. She’s a pretty special person.”

I think of how she managed to dissolve the dark cloud that was threatening to consume me this morning. How easy it felt to confide in her about my family and have her listen and provide comfort.

I’ve never met anyone like her, and I’m starting to think that I would be a complete fool to let her go.

“You seem surprised.”

“Your skepticism has been rubbing off on me.”

“Well, I’m genuinely happy for you, cousin. You truly deserve it after everything you’ve sacrificed for this family. I hope it works out with Nina.”

“I appreciate that.” My chest tightens.

It feels selfish to even consider moving forward with Nina, but perhaps I should follow in Mikhail’s footsteps.

For so long he was closed off to the idea of a relationship, and then Lucia came along, and it was like she brought him back to life.

I wonder if that’s what Mikhail sees happening to me…

“This might be a dead end.” Mikhail sighs as he glances around the club.

“People always come crawling out of the woodworks eventually, Mikhail. You just have to give them a good enough reason to.”