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CHAPTER 42

ANASTASIA

Song- Me and the Devil, Soap&Skin

“Wow.” My mouth falls open as we enter the grand hallway. It’s like something you’d read about in a fairytale.

Huge chandeliers, with servers in bow ties holding champagne on a tray. Fresh red roses perfectly arranged in vases, and even a string quartet. Of course.

“Enzo knows how to throw a very elaborate event.”

Miki tugs at his bow tie, clearly uncomfortable.

“You look sexy.” I elbow him in the side and he looks down, arching his brow with a smirk.

“Don’t tempt me, I’ll lock us in the nearest room and have my wicked way with you.”

Goosebumps erupt over my arms. I want that.

“I bet there is a huge library in here, there has to be.”

This place has that old world sense about it. I bet it has one of them rolling ladders and some dusty books.

“We can go hunt it down if you want?” He nods towards the staircase.

“We can at least show our face in there first.”

Miki told me he has lots of friends coming to Vegas for this. I want to see this part of his life and he made it clear he wants to show me off as his wife.

He swipes us up two flutes of champagne and leads us to the ballroom.

I recognize his family huddled in a corner laughing with each other. Alexei’s cackle carries over the crowd. I half expect him to be swinging from a chandelier by the end of the night.

Instead of heading to them, Mikhail beelines for another group of men. As soon as we approach them they stop talking.

Jesus. They’re scary.

The tall one at the back is covered in tattoos like Miki. He’s a beast. The blond one next to him is pretty similar, but with a short cut like maybe he’s military.

The guy in the front, with the navy suit and dark hair grins and extends his hand to Mikhail, who firmly shakes it.

“Mr. Falcone. Good to see you again.” Miki greets him.

“Same goes to you, Mr. Volkov.” He looks at me and extends his hand. “You must be Anastasia.” His deep Italian accent is kinda nice to listen to.

“I am.” I accept his firm handshake.

“These are my guys. The muscle, Mr. Keller Russo. This one here, Grayson Ward. And my right hand man, Mr. Luca Russo.”

I nod my head. They all seem nice. Not as rowdy as Mikhail's group. But I bet just as deadly.

“Lovely to meet you all.”

Mikhail wraps his arm around my shoulder.

“We can catch up later over a few vodkas.” He looks to Luca. “Or Brandy? Is that still your poison of choice?”

“Can’t beat it.” Luca holds up his glass.

Jax appears from beside us and clasps Keller on the shoulder.

“You ready for a fight?”

I frown. What is he talking about?

Frankie clearly notices the confusion on my face and chuckles.

“Keller is the world heavyweight champion. Him and Grayson here trained up Jax.”

“Oh, cool.” I can’t imagine what they’d all look like in the ring.

“So Keller is fighting Jax?” Mikhail asks, looking at Jax who excitedly nods.

“Yep. Charity match at the start of next year, we’re donating to a Men's Mental Health Charity. I’ll take it off as vacation, don’t worry boss.”

The men erupt into laughter.

“I expect our invite.” Mikhail tells him.

“You can get in the ring if you want, Miki vs Grayson?” Jax sniggers.

Grayson grins. “I’ll give you a run for your money, Mikhail.”

Miki huffs beside me. “Yeah, I’d like to see it.”

Jax claps his hands together. “This could work you know. Luca you can fight Alexei.”

Luca quickly shakes his head and laughs. “Only if you take any weapons away from him. He fights dirty.”

“Who is taking on Nikolai?”

The men all turn to Frankie.

“I’ll fight anyone. I’m sure I can give the big guy a run for his money.”

As if on cue, Nikolai slaps Mikhail on the shoulder.

“I heard my name and ‘fight’ in a sentence. Who’s head am I ripping off?”

Frankie’s eyes go wide.

“Jax and Keller’s charity boxing match next year. I signed us all up.”

Nikolai gives him a sly grin.

“Nice.” He cracks his knuckles for full effect.

Nikolai and Jax keep the guys chatting and Miki leans down, stroking my hair away from my shoulder.

“Shall we go to the bar? Then maybe search for that library you want to see?” he whispers in my ear and my body heats up.

“Sounds good.”

He presses a kiss to the side of my head.

“We will be back, tell Enzo I’ll find him later.”

He leads us away. I’m looking forward to getting Miki to read to me. I wonder if they have any spicy books up there?