Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(61)

She nodded to the doorman who smiled in return, slipping inside the warmly lit interior and heading for the bank of elevators. Inserting her key, the light next to ‘P’ lit up as she turned it, the doors closing after her.

His car hadn’t been anywhere in sight as she had passed the street coming into the building, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t already waiting inside. With each floor she passed, her heart beat just a little bit faster.

Alex knew she was overreacting a bit. It wasn’t as if anything had truly changed between them, not officially or anything. They just had sex.

Mind-blowing, mind-numbing sex.

She was so screwed.

The bell chimed, the doors opening to the foyer. She didn’t have to step out of the elevator to know that Lauren had gone all out. The smell of vanilla and cinnamon was strong in the air, not to mention the big ass tree that Alex could see from where she was.

The towering thing stood tall before the floor-to-ceiling windows. Interchanging white and blue bulbs decorated the pine, ropes of twinkling white lights wrapping themselves up around the tree until it reached the very top where a glittering star rested. The penthouse apartment looked particularly festive, and Alex doubted that Mishca had done all of this.

Alex smiled at the sight of all the decorations, surprised at how much care had gone into making it feel welcoming. The manor had been lavishly decorated as well, but in a way that was only meant for show. This room felt comfortable.

Setting her bags near the tree, she shrugged out of her coat, folding it over her arm as she turned the corner to head toward the noise she heard in the other room.

“Alex!” Lauren exclaimed as she came around the island in the kitchen, brushing her hands off on her jeans.

While Lauren was all smiles and in the holiday spirit, she seemed to be the only one. Klaus was sitting on the couch glaring at the ceiling as if it had personally pissed him off. When his eyes flickered to Alex, he did, at least for a moment, smile, though it was gone just as quickly. She was used to him being a grump, though he was much more fun to be around when he was arguing with Mishca, who—as Alex looked around—was notably absent.

Alex returned Lauren’s hug, looking over her shoulder toward the kitchen to see what she was cooking, but with the light inside the oven off, she couldn’t make it out. Whatever it was, it smelled nice.

Lauren pulled away a lot sooner than Alex was expecting—in the past she was a serious hugger—not getting too close either, but with the way she was fluttering around, Alex just figured she was too excited to stay still for too long.

“Where is everybody?”

“Mish is in the bedroom on his last call for the day. Amber’s on her way. Tristan and Matt wanted to come, but…” She glanced over to Klaus. “I can’t be sure what’s going to happen tonight. I don’t know about Luka. He only mentioned that he was on his way, said he had to make a stop first.”

She briefly wondered where he had to go, and why he hadn’t called her or even sent a text. And though she had no reason to, she considered the idea that maybe he was coming with Natasha. It wasn’t as if he had ever mentioned that he had stopped seeing her.

“He didn’t say he was bringing her,” Lauren said softly, reading her expression.

“It’s fine if he does.” As long as she kept saying that, it would be.

She had no claim on Luka. He could do whatever he wanted.

Dropping her coat off in one of the spare bedrooms on the first floor, she left Lauren to her cooking and went to join her sort-of brother. Collapsing down next to Klaus, she mimicked his posture as she slouched back. She waited until she felt his eyes on her before she spoke.

“Why so glum?”

Klaus kicked his legs up, and with little care for personal space, he dropped his legs on her lap. “Wanna profile me?”

She and Klaus didn’t have much of a relationship, and that was mostly her fault since she made it a point to avoid him whenever they happened to be in the same vicinity. It didn’t matter that Mishca hadn’t treated her any differently since Klaus had come into their lives, but she always had an irrational fear that he would choose Klaus over her since he was actually his sibling.

But it seemed Klaus didn’t care whether she wanted a relationship with him or not. He was going to force one.

“Just trying to make conversation so you’ll stop plotting the murder of plaster.”

When his eyebrows drew together in confusion, she laughed. “You’ve been glaring at the ceiling since I got here. Could have been longer.”

He smirked and leaned back against the couch. “Or you’re just waiting for the Albanian to get here and I’m meant to entertain you.”

Rolling her eyes, Alex deflected. “What’s your problem with using people’s names? Would it be so hard to say Luka or Mishca?”

“Names equal attachment and I don’t do those.”

“No? You’ve used my name before. Lauren, too.”

He frowned, looking away. “Neither of you did anything that made me want to kill you.”

Sometimes it was almost uncomfortable how blunt he could be. One of the traits he had in common with Luka. “What did they ever do to you? Mishca, I can assume that it was probably something along the lines of mistaken identity. Am I right? But what did Luka do?”

He downed the rest of his drink, reaching for the bottle on the table. “He turned me into this,” he said cryptically.