Lev: a Shot Callers novel(72)

He let go of my chin and stomped up the stairs, leaving Nas and me alone in the foyer. After a moment, I called up the stairs, “Now, was that a threat? Or a promise?”

The sound of Nastasia’s gagging had me laughing softly.





Chapter Thirty

Lev

“We need to talk,” I spoke into the receiver as soon as he answered.

Igor Alkaev was a hard man. Luckily for him, I understood men like him.

His Russian accent harsh, I heard his sneer through the phone. “Unless you are calling me to arrange initiation into Zakon, I don’t want to hear it, Leokov.” A slight pause. “What do you want?”

“I believe I made things clear to you. Your family would have no contact with mine. No excuses.”

Igor sounded tired when he began with, “If this is about Lidiya...”

For once, it wasn’t about Lidiya. I cut in with, “Corinna approached my woman today.”

I heard him breathing, but he didn’t speak for a long while. “So it’s true then?” He sighed. “I had hoped you and Irina would get past your problems and unite in marriage.”

My lip curled. “I know that’s what you wanted, but I have told you time and time again that Irina and I would never be married.”

He spoke quietly, but the anger wasn’t hard to miss. “Who is she, the girl?”

My hand came down on my desk, the harsh slap reverberating through the room. I stood and snarled into the cell, “None of your concern.”

Igor enjoyed my sudden outburst and tried to feed it. “Some of my men say she looks like an angel. That her beauty is unmatched. Perhaps I will have to meet this woman.” I growled, but he went on, “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to marry Irina?” He came across as bored. “You would do well to remember my promise, Lev. It would be a shame for Lidiya to disappear with her mother. You know how Irina can be. So flighty. All she would have to do is board a plane with her daughter and—”

My fury rose and I cut him off with a shout, “My daughter. Lidiya is my daughter. Irina was nothing more than a vessel.” My voice shook with anger. “Irina is not fit to call herself a mother, and I will bide my time until the day Lidiya is returned to her home, here with me.”

Igor clicked his tongue. “Such animosity.” Then he sighed, “I understand your concern, Leokov, but Irina is not the monster you make her out to be. She may not be very maternal, but she does love Lidiya. We all love Lidiya.”

My eyes closed and I swallowed hard. I had to remind myself that Irina was a good actress and could lie so well that even Sasha was shocked by the sudden turn in her character. Igor didn’t know his own daughter.

If only he knew.

He would know soon enough. They all would. Mirella was good at her job. I didn’t want to rush the situation. When you rushed, you became sloppy, and if Irina thought for one moment that I had a plan, she would disappear into the night with my baby.

I couldn’t let that happen. Lidiya was my world, and if she were taken away from me, I don’t know what I would do.

This conversation was giving me a headache. “Tell Corinna to stay away.”

Igor responded with an uninterested, “I’ll talk to her.” Then he hung up.

My heart pounded in my chest. Every day away from my little girl was a painful death on it’s own. I needed her. She was the only thing I had done right in my entire life. She was proof that even the most damaged person could produce something special.

Wait. Just wait.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. No. I was done with waiting.

It’s too soon.

If I felt I had the strength to wait any longer, I would, but too much time had passed already. I needed my daughter.

I dialed the number and held the phone to my ear. Mirella answered with a happy, “Hello, Mr. Lev. What can I do for you?”

“I need you to speed things up.”

At my tone, she spoke quietly, “How much time do I have?”

“A week,” I responded. I couldn’t wait much longer.

She said confidently, “I’ll get it done, Mr. Lev.”

“Give Lidi a kiss for me, will you?”

She whispered her response. “In a week, you can give it to her yourself.”





Chapter ThirtyOne

Mina



It was the third night in a row that Lev and I would be sent home early from lack of customers. It was worrying. If things kept on the way they were, half the staff of Bleeding Hearts would be out of a job.

Was it so terrible that the only thing on my mind was sex?

Lev and I had become thoroughly acquainted with each other’s bodies. There was not a place on his tall, strong frame that my lips had not grazed, a place I had not sucked, licked, or sighed against in pleasure. But the main deed…it still had yet to happen. From the intense stares Lev had given me from across the floor during the night, I had a feeling that tonight would be the night.

As it turned out, I was not wrong.

Hooray!

As we undressed for bed, I watched in awe as Lev stripped down to nothing, his muscular body bare, sauntering over to where I lay in nothing but a pair of white panties and bra. His eyes hooded, he climbed over me, sitting up, reaching down to unclip the front hook of my bra.