Page 16 of The Umarova Crime Family

“Yeah, I can. Did she say if she’s coming in tomorrow or Sunday for me?” Britton covered for me last weekend since I was away, and she was supposed to cover for me this weekend as well.

Gregor chuckles on the other end of the line, but it isn’t an amused one. He sounds aggravated. “Yeah, she won’t be in at all anymore. If you can work the next two nights, I’d appreciate it. And if you know of anyone who’s looking for some extra, easy work, send them my way.”

Immediately I think of Emily. She works during the day when she doesn’t have classes, but every couple of weeks, she might want to make some extra money. I’ll have to talk to her about it later.

“Okay, I’ll mention it to a couple of friends,” I tell Gregor, and we say our goodbyes.

Ruslan has cocked a brow and is waiting for me to explain what the conversation was about. “The woman I asked to cover me this weekend called out, so I have to go to work tonight. Gregor told me she won’t be in tomorrow or Sunday night either, so I’ll have to work those nights as well. He told me if I knew of anyone looking for some easy work to send them his way. I’m thinking about telling Emily. She’s not exactly hurting for money, but the tips I get there are amazing.”

“It would be a good idea to let her know. She’s in college. That’s why she’s living with you, right?” Ruslan asks as we approach a bench in the park. The two of us sit down, and Ruslan moves his arm from around my waist to over my shoulder.

“Yeah, she’s going for her master’s degree. Her moving in is helping me with the rent, and I’m not living by myself, so I really like that.” Ruslan smiles at my words, and he gives me a chaste kiss on the side of my head.

“I’m glad having your cousin so close to you makes you happy. I wanted to talk to you while we were out here today, more about what I do if you’re open to it.”

I give Ruslan a nod, encouraging him to go on, but he’s silent for a few moments.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you everything about what I do. It would put you at great risk, and it isn’t something I’ll ever be okay with. I’m also not going to sit here and lie to you or tell you I just work in security. You’ve become very important to me, Amelia, and my hope for us is that you’ll be in my life for a long time to come. I’ve grown quite attached to you, and I can tell the same is true for you.”

“I’m really attached to me, especially my body,” I joke around with him, and he laughs, then shakes his head.

“I missed this humor of yours. It’s refreshing to hear your silly jokes again.” He rubs my arm and pauses for a moment. “My line of work is very dangerous, which I think you know now more than ever. My family is very powerful. My father’s family, the Umarovas, have been in Grozny since the start of the Chechen Republic. My ancestors ran everything there, and nothing happened in all of Chechnya without them knowing about it. That being said, I think you’ve come to the understanding that my family is involved in the crime world. For the most part, I’m untouchable, but two people betrayed me as of late. One of whom I trusted for a very long time, while the other was someone I never really trusted all that much.”

I don’t know who Ruslan’s speaking of, but I understand feeling betrayed. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I… I hope you know you can always talk to me about these sorts of things. I might not understand completely, but I do understand quite a lot. My mother, in a way… she betrayed me. At least, it’s how I think of it now. She just made really bad choices when I didn’t do things the way she wanted me to.”

“I wish your life was easier. I wish you didn’t have to go through any of the things you did before I met you.” Ruslan doesn’t know every bit of information from my past, but he knows a lot of what’s happened over the last couple of years. One day, I’m sure I’ll tell him everything, but it’ll all happen in due time. We both have pretty complex stories, I think.

“It made me stronger in the end,” I offer a soft smile. It was shitty, but I made it through.

“You were already strong enough, to begin with, malen'kiy krolik,” Ruslan comments lowly, and I grab the side of his face and pull him to me. I press my lips against his and kiss him softly, almost as passionately as he kissed me the other day. If someone had told me weeks ago that I’d be so content with Ruslan, I’d call them crazy. I never thought we’d be this close, not in the least bit.

I break our kiss, and Ruslan clears his throat. “I don’t sell drugs, Amelia, but we sell other things. Things that are dangerous to a lot of people. If we’re going to keep doing this, I need you to know how dangerous it really is being beside me, and I think you have some sort of understanding of the risks.”

“I do. When you went missing, everything became very clear to me. I just…” I go quiet for a few moments, trying to think of a way to ask him this. “I don’t know how to ask you, so I’m sorry if this seems so straightforward. Is your family the mafia or something?” I ask the last bit very lowly, almost so low that I can’t really hear it.

Ruslan cackles, obviously amused by my nervousness. “That would be a good way to put it, yes.” I notice Ruslan looks up, and he keeps staring straight ahead.

Sure enough, I look in the same direction and see a familiar face staring at us. One from my past that I never wanted to see ever again—my ex-boyfriend, Carter.

A sinking feeling forms in the pit of my stomach. It could be a coincidence that he’s here. After all, he does live in Atlanta too. But before my mind gets too crazy, Carter walks off and is on his way. He must’ve just been in the same park as us. That’s all it is. There’s nothing more here.

Chapter Ten

Ruslan

Yesterday at the park, I recognized the man staring at us. The first night I went over to Amelia’s apartment, I saw a photo of him with her. When I pointed it out, she threw it directly in the trash. She and I were sitting on that bench having a great time, but the moment I stared off into the distance and saw he was looking at us, tension immediately appeared.

I don’t know a lot about their relationship, or lack thereof, I should say. But I know enough. I know he treated her like trash when they were dating, and I know that he packed up his bags and left the same day Amelia was accused of stealing the money from Christian Steele’s safe at Illusion. Now, I don’t believe in coincidences, so I think Carter has something to do with it. I just don’t have any solid proof yet.

Amelia and I ended up leaving a few minutes after Carter walked off. I bought us some tacos from a cart at the corner of the park, and we went back to the hotel suite. She stayed there for a bit and then had to go to work, so Danill went with her, as he was supposed to do.

I caught a nap at the suite while she clocked in some hours at the club, and before I knew it, Danill and Amelia were back. Amelia didn’t say much, but she muttered something about needing a shower because it was so hot in the club. I didn’t think anything of it, so she went off and took another shower. Danill came up to me, though, and he told me a few things that happened over the night.

He said Amelia was acting very odd, constantly looking over her shoulder. He told me she was acting paranoid, like someone was watching her. Danill continued to tell me he questioned Amelia on it, and she didn’t want to say anything to him at first, but eventually, she confessed that it felt like someone was watching her every move.

Now, Danill saw exactly what happened at the park yesterday with Carter because he was there too. Only, Danill was behind us, maybe forty or fifty feet away. When we were sitting at the bench, I think he was sitting a few benches down. I’d put money on it that Carter doesn’t know Danill works for me or that it’s his job to protect Amelia at all costs.

Danill told me Amelia said at one point in the night, she turned around quickly and saw someone staring, and when she tried to follow them, they disappeared into the crowd of people. It’s obviously shaken her up quite a bit, especially with seeing Carter earlier in the day. Danill told Amelia she was safe with him, and nothing would ever happen to her while he was there. Apparently, she appreciated it but still seemed a bit upset with everything going on.

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