Page 79 of Disgraced (Russian Sinners 3)

I threw the pregnancy test into the trash can and went into the bedroom. I stood in the middle of the bedroom, suddenly at a loss. What should I do? From the moment we landed in Russia, it would seem my world started spinning. And I didn’t even know it.

I left the bedroom, noting the shopping bags piled right outside the door. Pavel was just bringing another one. I felt guilty making Sergei’s men bring all those bags of stuff I didn’t even need.

“Thank you, Pavel,” I told him. “Let me help you.”

“No worries,” he smiled goodheartedly. “This was the last one.”

“I should have helped you. I am sorry.” It was rude of me to just leave it all behind for them to take care of. The fact that I couldn’t wait to take the pregnancy test was a poor excuse.

“Don’t worry about it. You sure like to shop, ha?”

I chuckled. “I used to. Today was a bit different.” He waited, waiting for me to explain but I really couldn’t. There was nothing to say really.I wanted to go shopping so I could get a pregnancy test,as far as explanations go was out of the question. “Do you know where Sergei is?”

“You’ll find him in his office.”

I smiled at him and headed in the direction of his office. I wasn’t quite sure what to say. Maybe I could start by finding out why he arranged a marriage with my father eight years ago. Yes, that sounded like a good place to start.

As I neared the office, I heard several elevated voices. My step faltered. I couldn’t help it but now wonder if maybe Sergei didn’t like to be disturbed while in his office. My father’s rules were never to go into his office or linger around it. My mother explained once it was for our protection as well as his. It was best we didn’t know everything he was into.

Of course, my reply to my mother was that if he wasn’t in the mob there wouldn’t be a need for a rule like that.

“You cost me millions of dollars,” a woman’s voice shrieked over a speakerphone.

“I don’t give a flying fuck, Irina.” Sergei sounded calm, almost bored.

“You will regret this, Sergei,” she continued shrieking, her voice kind of rough. Like she was a heavy smoker. “Unless you pay us the damages of the stolen goods, you will regret this.”

Sergei laughed. It wasn’t his happy, light laugh. It was a menacing laugh. “I will make it my life’s mission to intercept every single one of your shipments till I bring you and your husband down. Those shipments were not stolen goods. Those were humans that you intended to sell. Innocent women and children. You better pray I never get my hands on you or that fucking husband of yours. Because I will wring your neck till I see the light in your eyes extinguished.”

“You are fucking mad,” the woman yelled back. “Fucking Mad Russian Sinner. And then you wonder why I didn’t want to marry you. You are nobody and will remain nobody for as long as you live.”

What did she mean? She didn’t want to marry Sergei. When was that? So many questions swarmed in my head. I barely knew anything about Sergei. For Pete’s sake, I have been promised to him for eight years and I didn’t even know his name. Shame on me for burying my head into the sand. That was so stupid, and as my father’s daughter, I should have never allowed myself to be so willingly blind and deaf.

“And you Irina will remain a heartless bitch in the short life you will live,” Sergei retorted back. His cold voice sent shivers down my spine, and not the usual ones. This Sergei was dangerous and hard.

The line went dead and a string of curses left Sergei’s mouth. Some of them were in English but many of them Russian. I didn’t need the translator to know they were curses.

“One day I want to torture and gut that woman alive,” Michail’s voice surprised me. I didn't realize he was there too. “I never want to hurt women but that… that is not a woman. She is a bloodsucking, greedy, evil bitch.”

“I could add a few more adjectives to that,” Sergei muttered. “See if you can get someone within the Polish to talk. We’ll need to find a way to end her human smuggling activities. Both her and Bartek will have to be eliminated.”

Yes, now I could understand why my mother forbid me to ever linger around my father’s office. Eventually my brothers were allowed into his office, and I knew he groomed them to take over the business. And I said that with quotation marks in my head. This was really hard information to stomach. Although, I couldn’t say that I disagreed with Sergei. If that woman was trafficking and selling humans, she deserved to be killed.

“Scarlett,” Michail’s voice startled me. “How long have you been standing here?”

“Long enough,” I told him. He wore a three-piece suit, just like Sergei and a gun holster underneath it. It was unnerving that they carried guns within their own home. “You two should really learn to shut the office door when transacting your business.” I emphasized the last word. Shit, I really didn’t want to be in this world. I didn’t want to be part of it in the States, and I certainly didn’t want it here in Russia.

I strode past him, entered Sergei’s office and shut the door. Sergei sat in his chair, his beautiful eyes on me. When he watched me, my body just responded. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. My attraction to him was so strong, but I knew without love, it would diminish. I wanted his love, because I gave him all of mine. My mother said it took her all of five minutes to realize she loved my dad. But she never mentioned any heartache or roadblocks on the way to the altar.

Now what?

I should have taken some notes because I forgot what I was going to do. Well if I was honest, I didn’t know what I was going to do to begin with.

“Sit down, Scarlett.”

I sat down in the chair, his eyes never leaving me. He observed my every move, my every breath. Now that I watched him, I couldn’t believe that I was so blind not to see his ruthlessness and harshness. Yes, he could be soft, caring, and protective but also dangerous. My father gave off the same vibes. Growing up around people like my father, uncle, and brothers, I should have spotted those qualities from miles away. Instead, I totally missed them.

Damn it, I really liked him. Loved him. Wanted him. And now I was going to have his baby. But unless we had some foundation to build our future on, we’d both end up miserable. I wanted to raise children in a happy home with loving parents. Just like mine.

---