Page 90 of Scarred (Russian Sinners 2)

“Our cook kept me and my brother in the kitchen by her side when my parents fought,” I told him. “Which was quite often. So to keep us distracted, she’d have us help her prepare meals.”

I bit into my food remembering those days. They were bittersweet memories. I loved the time spent with our cook, Hilda, but each time we emerged from the kitchen, we’d face our mother battered a little bit more. I never understood why she didn’t leave my father. My grandfather would have taken her back and helped her, if only she asked. He hated my father and his cruelty. But I guess her pride wouldn’t let her.

“Was your dad mean?” Tasha’s question brought me back to present, and I realized it was not an appropriate conversation for a little girl.

“Sometimes adults are complicated,” I answered her as truthfully as I could. “Did I hear you have a new playground in the back?”

Her eyes lit up immediately. “Yes, can I go back there and play? I already finished my food.”

I raised my eyebrow in question to ensure Nikolai was okay with it and when he nodded, I responded. “Sure thing. Have fun.”

Before I finished my response, she was already running out the door.

“So did Anastasia make any other food?” I asked, hoping we’d not go back to the conversation about my parents.

“No, we all went separate ways later that day,” Nikolai answered. “I came back to the U.S. to find you; Andrey and several guards drove Sergei to Scarlett. When Andrey dropped Sergei off, he went to my place. Dimitry went to his estate along with Anastasia and a few other guards.”

“I still don’t understand why Sergei didn’t just ask Scarlett to go with him instead of resorting to kidnapping,” I commented. It didn’t make any sense to me. “She would have dropped it all and went along with him anyhow. He was all she talked about since the moment she ran into him.”

Nikolai shrugged his shoulder. “I think Sergei believed she wouldn’t come along willingly.”

“If she’s not willing, let’s force her. By all means,” I muttered under my breath sarcastically.

Andrey got up and took his plate into the kitchen.

“Don’t worry. Your friend made him pay. She dropped a vase on his head when I dropped him off,” he explained with a wide smile. “And called him a few creative words. Thanks for dinner, Olivia.”

My lips tilted up into a smile. I could totally envision Scarlett doing that. She was a firecracker through and through. He better sleep with one eye open.

“Sergei won’t hurt her,” Nikolai said once Andrey was gone. “Don’t worry about it. Whatever it is, those two will work it out one way or the other.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. If anyone can handle dangerous situations and dangerous men, it was Scarlett. Although I didn't want to see her in a dangerous situation. I wanted to see her happy too. “Maybe it will all work out.”

Maybe she could marry Sergei before the mysterious man her family promised her to shows up. You’d think in this day and age, parents would stop dictating who their daughters marry. And yet, here we were.

Nikolai’s phone rang, and he quickly answered it. It took exactly five seconds and a string of curses left his lips. I chuckled softly and glanced out the window. There was another hour or so before sunset. I took his empty plate along with mine and bent my head to place a kiss on his scarred cheek.

“You take care of that,” I whispered against his cheek. “I will go check out that fancy playground.”

He nodded, and before I could pull away, he took the nape of my neck and kissed me hard, melting me. This man captured all of me so easily. When I pulled away, I saw desire in his eyes that reflected mine. I wanted to explore where all this could go with him, if only Malcome was no longer a haunting, dark cloud looming over us.

I gave him a smile, pushing the fears of Malcome out of my mind. Dropping off the dishes into the dishwasher, I hurried outside finding Tasha on the swing set flying as high as she could go. I joined her, taking the empty swing, and spent the next hour competing who could go higher. Her giggles and laughter helped to ease worries plaguing my mind.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Nikolai

Iwatched my niece and Olivia on the swing set, and it was a picture-perfect scene. Whatever they were talking about had them both smiling.

“Are you sure there is no chance Malcome or his man could locate your place?” Oliver was concerned, rightly so.

Oliver and his team succeeded stripping the supposedly secured links Schmidt was selling through his company to military intelligence. Now the U.S. government was after him, and he should have been apprehended; instead, he slipped through their fingers. Oliver was worried about his sister, and so was I.

My gut feeling was telling me he was coming for Olivia. He was a desperate man now, and people in such positions were capable of causing destruction on their way out.

“He couldn’t know about this place,” I replied instead.

The problem was there was a connection between Vlad and Malcome. Although I never told Vlad about this place, he would be able to locate it if he searched hard enough. All he had to do was look at the history of shipments from Dimitry’s estate across the river over the last six years, and he’d see the pattern.

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