Page 36 of Savage Boss

He loved teasing her about her upbringing and as she got older and put more distance between herself and the life she saw as oppressive, she was better able to appreciate her family. Joseph Senior and Kathryn stood on the porch waiting for them as they pulled up. The older couple didn’t have a phone, but Vlad made sure to send one of his guys out to the farm on a weekly basis to stay in touch and see if they needed anything. At first, the Millers were leery of the connection to the outside world, but Vlad was careful to respect their chosen life. He assured them it was his pleasure to give them whatever they needed, for the sake of their daughters.

“Vladimir.” Kathryn greeted Vlad first, pulling him in for a hug while Jane scowled at them. Vlad hid a chuckle in the older woman’s shoulder. Jane was jealous that her mother had spent Jane’s formative year as a militant taskmaster but now melted in the presence of her son-in-law and grandchild.

Sure enough, the second person Kathryn reached for was the baby leaving Jane empty-handed and rolling her eyes. Jane’s father, Joseph, gathered his daughter against his broad chest and patted her shiny head fondly.

“You are staying for the evening meal, of course,” Kathryn said, not giving them the option to leave.

“Da, it would be our pleasure,” Vlad agreed, stepping to the side as his bodyguards started hauling in enough baby equipment to set up a department store.

Kathryn and Joseph stared in wide eyed consternation as their entire house was taken over and set up for a modern baby. Their expressions rapidly turned to horrified as Jane tried to show them how to use the baby monitor. Vlad felt a potential blowup in the air if Jane kept insisting that they use technology they had no knowledge of or desire to learn.

Vlad placed his hand over Jane’s, pulling the monitor from her fingers. “They don’t need all this, malysh. You grew up without advanced technology and you survived.”

“Barely,” Jane muttered resentfully.

“Tell me about your recent case, dochter.” Joseph stepped in, wrapping an arm around Jane’s shoulder and leading her away. “I heard it was the woman who was the criminal and not her husband. Is this common in the big cities?”

Vlad, who was carrying baby Joseph, directed his men on setup while Kathryn chatted with him about their upcoming harvest and a new horse. It was completely out of Vlad’s experience and comfort zone, but he was gradually becoming acclimated to the people Jane brought into his life. He appreciated the simplicity of Amish living and he got along well with Jane’s family. Probably better than she did.

After a pleasant meal with Jane’s family, Vlad and Jane left the farm, giving instructions to the four men they were leaving behind to guard baby Joseph. “Eyes on my son at all times,” Vlad said coldly. “His grandparents will make sure he is cared for, so keep your eyes open for any trouble. No one knows Joseph is here and to make sure it stays that way there will be no contact with anyone from the outside. Phones stay off and out of sight. You will respect the customs in this community.”

“And if you’re standing idle, then please give my dad a hand in the barn. He’s not as young as he used to be.” Jane looked over their men, all four young and muscular. “I fully expect a clean and repaired barn when I return. And fix the wheel on his good buggy.”

Vlad chuckled at the image of his Russian enforcers working on the farm, fixing a buggy and shoveling horse shit. It would be good for them. Just like it would be good for Jane to learn to leave their son with her parents. Joseph and Kathryn loved the baby and wanted to be part of their grandson’s life. For someone like Vlad, who’d missed so much of his own childhood, he couldn’t deny them their wish to bond with their grandson.

“Come, wife, we aren’t needed here.” Vlad pulled Jane to the car, opened her door and pushed her inside while she was still barking out random instructions to her parents, who were on the doorstep with baby Joe. Vlad’s men were scanning the farm suspiciously, as though expecting the chickens to pull out assault weapons.

Vlad closed the door on Jane’s last sentence. Something about never feeding the baby mashed apples because Jane hated them and was going to ban them from existence.

“I wasn’t done talking,” she complained when he got into the driver’s seat.

“Da, you were,” Vlad disagreed. “You need to learn when to let things go, malysh, maybe enjoy life a little instead of all this tension all the time.”

“You’re a good one to talk,” she snorted, settling into her seat and kicking off her shoes for the drive to the airport where they would leave the car and meet Leo who was accompanying them to Moscow. “I saw you sneaking a cell phone to my dad in the barn and explaining how the portable charger works. If I had to guess, the phone has a direct link to yours?”

They talked for most of the three-hour drive to the airport, discussing what they wanted to do while they were in Russia. Since Joseph was only six months old, they didn’t want to be gone longer than a week. Boris had sent his private jet so they could travel to Moscow in style. Vlad had considered buying one too, but he was a homebody. He preferred to do business on his territory, forcing his contacts to come to him.

“Posh,” Jane commented running her fingers over the leather seats as she wandered down the aisle.

“You want one?” Vlad asked idly from behind her.

She laughed and shook her head. “I wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

She reached for a door at the back of the plane and gasped when it opened into a luxurious bedroom with a queen-sized bed piled high with gold and black bedding and pillows. There was also a generous wet bar, a shelf filled with books and magazines and a large screen for streaming TV and movies.

“Are you sure?” he asked huskily.

She tipped her head to the side and looked at him with large guileless brown eyes. “Why don’t you show me what use I might come up with for an airplane like this?”

Vlad needed no more invitation. He shoved Jane into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. She was still giggling when he swung her around and pushed her against the wall. He bent down and buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling his favourite scent in the world.

“Wanna play a game?” she whispered, her breath feathering his ear.

There was a jangle as she pulled a pair of handcuffs from her back pocket. Vlad lifted his head to look down at her with narrowed eyes. “Last time we played this game you got your ass beaten for taking it too far. I don’t like being locked up.”

“They aren’t for you,” she said huskily.

“Oh?” He was intrigued.

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