Page 45 of The Pakhan's Forced Bride
“It’s a video call. But Emmanuil just arrived at my office in the city. So I have to go there. But the others, Benedikt and Nestor and them, they’ll be calling from wherever they are.”
I nod, disappointed, but also feeling a knot of worry tighten in my stomach. I wonder what it’s about. I wonder if there was an attack and someone’s been hurt. What if it were my brother?
“How long will you be?” I ask, watching Ardalion slide a jacket over his shoulders.
“I don’t know. You don’t have to wait up. I’ll be back as soon as I can, but there’s no way to know.”
“Alright,” I say quietly, knowing I won’t be able to sleep. I’ve been around enough times to see my brother get called away to an emergency meeting with the other bratva leaders. There’s no telling what’s happened, and in my experience, it’s usually something horrible.
Ardalion leans over the bed and takes my chin in his hand. He lifts my face towards his and kisses me.
It’s a tease, and it makes it harder to watch him walk away.
Once he’s gone, I flop onto his bed, staring at the ceiling.
I was so close to experiencing something incredible.
First, we got interrupted in the pool, and now we've been interrupted again.
It’s frustrating, and I’m sulking.
I throw my legs off the side of the bed, standing up and going to take a shower and change into something more comfortable. Ardalion might be gone all night. I should at least try to get some sleep.
Chapter 14 - Ardalion
I walk into my office and find Emmanuil already set up at my desk, the meeting having started without me.
He pushes a key on his laptop, muting his microphone. “Hey man, it just started, I got you a coffee.” He tilts his head towards the mug of coffee on my desk.
“Thanks. What’s going on? Did I miss anything?”
“Not yet, so far they’re just settling in.”
I open my laptop and set it next to his, navigating to the program so that I can join the call.
Once I’m logged in, the screen fills with several blocks, each showing the live feed of one of the bratva leaders.
“Where’s Benedikt?” I ask.
Emmanuil shrugs. “He’s been quiet lately.”
“Hi guys,” Nestor says, tilting his head at the camera.
“Hey, man,” I greet him with a tight smile. “What’s this about?”
“If everyone can just mute themselves for now so we don’t have you all speaking at the same time," Nestor says, holding up his hand, “then Arthur will explain what’s going on, and we'll open the discussion afterwards.”
I press mute. Em does as well. He grumbles, with his hand over his mouth, “Arthur is the worst person to explain anything. He speaks so slowly, I’m going to fall asleep.”
I let out an agitated huff and pick up my coffee. It’s lukewarm. He obviously got it on the way here, and I took longer than I said I would.
The more Arthur explains why this urgent meeting was called, the more agitated I get. This could definitely have waited until the morning. There was nothing urgent about this in the least. Usually, these meetings get called when there is an imminent attack or something terrible has just happened. But Arthur is droning on and on about a long series of attacks that have been happening over the last two months. Not today. Not even yesterday, just over time.
We wait, Em continuously throwing me knowing glances as I tap my foot against the side of the desk, trying to maintain my cool.
Finally, Arthur finishes up by saying, “Alright, I want to hear from everyone how we can stop these attacks. We need to find out who is behind them. All ideas are welcome.” He leans back in his chair, and slowly the microphones turn back on, one by one, everyone talking at the same time.
“Why was this an emergency meeting? Could this not have waiting till morning?”
