Page 49 of Surrogate for the Bratva
“Don’t you have something to do,” Maxim growled the words that didn’t quite come out as a question.
Ivan shrugged.
“Good.” Maxim accepted that non-answer with a smile. “Then you can go to the store and grab April what she needs.”
Ivan flashed a smile in my direction. “Anything else you need?”
I smiled and handed him the folded scrap of paper in my hand. “It’s all here. Thank you, Ivan.”
“My pleasure, even though it sounds weird as shit.”
I laughed. “Well you try growing a baby and having hormone surges and tell me if you don’t end up craving tuna fish and chocolate pudding.”
“Worse,” he shuddered and shook his head. “I’ll be back with your bag of indigestion.” Ivan strolled away looking as if he’d gotten exactly what he wanted.
“I will have to inform Igor that you’ve strayed from the approved diet.”
“That’s none of my business. You tell him whatever you have to Maxim, we all know who writes the checks around here.” All of us were employees. Sure, he trusted Maxim more than anyone else but at the end of the day we worked for him.
Something I was trying very hard to remember.
“Are you okay?”
“Yep. Just fine,” I assured Maxim in a bright voice that was just scary enough that no man with half a brain would push further. When it was clear Maxim was a man of intelligence, I walked away and headed back to my room to wait for my pickles and peanut butter to be delivered.
After a week without Igor, I stopped cravinghim.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Igor
My phone buzzed underneath the stacks of paper spread out on one of the VIP tables insideClub Omen, where I set up shop for the day. It was still early enough that aside from a few employees the place was quiet, and I could work in peace without the confinement of my office walls. It continued to buzz while I carefully lifted each stack until I spotted the screen with Maxim’s number blazed across it. “Maxim, what’s up?”
There was a long silence. When he finally spoke, I heard the tension in his throat. “Ivan was stabbed. He is alive but injured.”
I frowned. “How the fuck did anyone get on the compound?”
Maxim sighed. “I sent him to the market to get a few of the things April was craving.”
Craving? “Everything she needs is on the approved list.”
“These items were not on the list, and she was being rather insistent, so I sent Ivan.”
“And he was stabbed.”
“Yes. He didn’t see who it was, they stuck him from behind as he loaded the bags into the trunk of the car. One clean slice through his right side.”
Fuck! “How is he?”
“Fine. He dropped off the bags and drove himself to Doc’s office to get stitched up.”
Like most organizations we have a doctor on the payroll for just this purpose, to stitch us up without getting the law involved. “Good. Did he have any clue who it was?”
“No but he managed to see the license plate as they sped off. I’m looking into it now, but I wanted you to know.”
“Let me know as soon as you have an answer.” The fact that he managed to get the plate impressed me. The kid was more than a guy looking to make a shit ton of money and kill people, and that was exactly the type of men I needed. “And April?”
“Beating herself up about Ivan getting hurt but otherwise she is where she always is, in her room.”
