Time Stood Still (Volkov Bratva #3.5)

Time Stood Still (Volkov Bratva #3.5)

London Miller




Mom,

Thank you for the inspiration.





CHAPTER ONE





“Just a little to the left…no, back to the right. Okay, just—”

“Make up your damn mind!” Klaus snapped, the muscles of his arms straining since he was still holding the stuffed arm chair Lauren had bought for her new office.

It was still wrapped in a protective layer of plastic, but instead of him letting the delivery men bring it in as they were prepared to do, he’d carried it, seemingly unbothered by the weight of it, at least until he had brought it into the office and she was trying to direct him where to put it.

“You keep moving. You’re throwing me off.”

“I’m about to kill you.”

Smiling still, she waved for him to move the chair again. Despite his rather hostile demeanor, after getting to know him over the last few months, Lauren found that Klaus rarely meant half of the things he said…except to Mishca. While he might not have completely thawed, their relationship was significantly better.

“Have you considered his proposal?”

Klaus was silent for so long, she wondered if he would answer. It was a question that had been asked for a while now, mostly by Mishca, but once he had brought it up to her, she figured Klaus might be more willing to actually give her an answer.

Since Mishca had relocated many of Mikhail’s men in the Bratva, there were a number of positions open that he wanted filled. Namely, who his underbosses were going to be. Surprisingly, the first person he was considering was Klaus, though there were still details that had to be worked out with the other Pakhans as far as his involvement was concerned. It wouldn’t be as though he was starting at the bottom and working his way up the ranks, but was immediately being offered a top-tier job…it also didn’t help that he had rather publicly vowed to kill Mishca.

But Mishca didn’t care what they thought, and despite their recommendations, he had his own thoughts about what he wanted.

“I’m a mercenary. I don’t do politics, and I for damn sure don’t want the Russian breathing down my neck.”

Rolling her eyes, Lauren took a seat, running a hand through her hair as she pushed the strands back over her shoulder. “You would be a Captain, and besides, it’s not like you would let Mish boss you around.”

He shrugged, pulling one of his knives free to cut through the plastic. “Look, I’m still thinking about it. We can’t act like the last five years never happened. There are still some people that need to answer for that.”

“You two are exhausting. Why don’t the two of you just fight it out already, yell about how much you hate each other while you’re throwing punches. I feel like that would solve a lot of your problems.”

A surprised laugh escaped him as he dropped down into the freshly unwrapped chair, folding his hands behind his head. “I’d kick that Russian’s ass.”

“Not a chance. Mish could totally take you out.”

“Wanna wager?”

She nodded. “What do you want? But, I’ll only agree to this if you truly think about accepting his offer and stop stalling.”

Dropping his booted feet down, he grinned at her. “I’ll do you one better. Once my current contract is up, I’ll go freelance while I give the position a shot, but only if he plays by my rules and agrees to my demands. I win, he pays me triple my current salary, and I decide what role I play. He wins—”

“He wins and you have to start calling him by his actual name, and you give an effort in trying to mend your relationship with him. And even if you lose, you should do that anyway, let go of some of that anger you carry around.”

It was clearly the right thing to bet on. His entire face scrunched up in horror. “That’ll never happen.”

Glancing down at her watch, noting the time, Lauren grabbed her coat and purse. “Then don’t lose.”

“Yea, whatever. Going to see the Russian?”

The way he put emphasis on it made Lauren laugh. “Yep.”

“I’ll give you a ride.”

“I thought you had a job in the city.”

He grimaced, looking very much like Mishca as he rubbed the back of his neck. Since Jetmir, Klaus had been acting weird about whatever new assignment he’d been given. He hadn’t shared any information about the actual job, only said that he had one—one of the reasons he had given as to why he hadn’t planned on accepting Mishca’s offer.

“I forgot how f*cking nosy you can be.”

Out on the sidewalk, Lauren pulled on her coat. Klaus was ever the imposing sight, leading the way to his car. Lauren had only ridden in it once before, but even she knew it was impressive.

Perhaps she should have bet on his car.

***

Mishca

It had taken two months for things to finally settle enough so that Mishca Volkov could take a step back from the dangerous world he lived in and take a breath. Since he had gotten married, he’d nearly been killed by a mercenary hired by his mother-in-law, targeted by the Albanian Organization that had once tortured and nearly killed his brother, Klaus. Not only that, but he had been brought up on RICO charges that had been dismissed nearly as quickly as they had come up. Though Special Agent Tabitha Green was no longer a problem, he knew that she wouldn’t be the only agent wanting to use him to make their career.