Page 55 of Climbing Everest

Everest

I didn’t sleep all that great, but at least the guys did as I demanded and left me alone. I’m hungover. Again. Two days in a fucking row.

Something that kept me awake and kept waking me up was the fact it was the second night in a row that I got drunk. And both nights…I could have been pregnant.

See, that right there is yet another reason they should have told me sooner. Did they really think I would have drank so much the night of our engagement party without taking a pregnancy test? Hell, I might have even asked for a blood test instead of peeing on a stick to be absolutely sure.

I might have been drunk last night, but I still remember everything. I remember Maddox wrestling the key fob from me when I attempted to stumble my ass to the driver’s seat. Not that Flora or her guards would have allowed me to drive in that state.

I remember the big oaf carrying me in like I was some invalid and unable to walk on my own two feet. I remember Kato begging me to put the full force of my anger on him, to blame him for…well, everything.

Sitting up and tossing the blankets away, I sigh. I’m still mad. I’m not sure that will pass anytime soon, but he was right – he’d done that, done what he could to punish me, when he’d thought I had aborted our child and stabbed him in the back.

Doesn’t mean he couldn’t have told me sooner. Like before I drank enough to drown a fucking horse two nights in a fucking row.

As my stomach lurches when I push to my feet, I make a mental promise to forgo alcohol for a while. I didn’t drink much when I was on my own, always determined to stay vigilant, refusing to allow myself to be vulnerable, even when locked inside my apartment.

I’ve become a damn lightweight. Although I had drunk quite a few shots and three glasses of wine last night. Or was it four?

Doesn’t matter in the long run, unless I’m carrying a little bean in my womb. Then the poor thing is probably doing the backstroke in all that booze.

Dumbasses. That right there is the main reason they should have told me the second we started to reunite. I mean, I came clean with them about everything I could. The least they could have done was tell me they were treating me like a dog in heat while chipping me like a fucking pet.

I’ll be the first to admit the tracker…it’s not the worst idea. At least not while my sperm donor is out there plotting against me. And yeah, I can say without a doubt that’s exactly what he’s doing. After all, my reappearance more than likely put him on the Pakhan’s shit list.

Unless Roman Yegorov already did us a favor and my father is rotting in the woods or a shallow grave somewhere.

After relieving my full bladder, washing my face, and tying my hair into a crazy looking knot at the top of my head, I wrap a robe around my body and slide my feet into some slippers.

I’m sure it’s no longer morning and I’ll look a little insane traipsing around the house like this, but I really don’t give a shit.

Voices carry through the halls as I wander from my bedroom in search of caffeine and food.

Eh. Food might have to wait a little longer or I’ll have to find some crackers, maybe toast to settle the churning so I don’t end up puking everything up.

I hesitate around the corner when I realize there are more voices than just my guys, and there’s a woman’s voice mixed in.

Did I have an appointment with the wedding planner today and forgot all about it?

Tying the robe with the sash, I move forward and peek around the corner. Then straighten and step fully in.

“What the fuck?”

Flora is sitting at the table across from Kato, Madd, and Brix. Her guards are standing behind her chair, their hands clasped in front of them, unhappy looks on their faces.

There are also a couple of men who look as though they just got off work as lumberjacks or some shit with worn out t-shirts under flannels, and ball caps covering their hair.

All heads turn toward my outburst.

Flora smirks then pushes her chair back and saunters over to me as though her presence in the Antoniou home is the most natural and normal thing in the world.

“Well, good morning, sunshine,” she teases.

Grabbing my hand, she pulls me behind her to the table and waits until I sit.

“Someone get this girl some coffee. She looks rough.”

“Please. By all means, don’t sugarcoat it,” I say, my eyes pinging around the room. “Seriously. What the fuck is going on?”

No one looks pissed or freaked, so I assume Dima hasn’t been found and there is no current threat. So why the hell is my best friend and her Russian guards standing in the kitchen of the region’s Greek Don.

“These idiots called and said they fucked up and needed my help. So here I am.”

“And how are you supposed to fix…anything,” I say, pinning Kato with a glare. It’s kind of half-hearted being as I’m still half-asleep, but the point gets across when he averts his own gaze and rubs the back of his neck. “Does your dad know you’re here?” I ask, turning my frown on her.

She tosses her hair over her shoulder and sniffs. “Since when do I ask permission to do anything?”

“He knows,” Pyotr, the older of the two guards, answers.

Flora turns and gives the guard a disgruntled look, shakes her head, then turns back to me.

“Apparently, my guards are snitches.”

I huff a laugh. Of course, they’re snitches. Because they don’t want to die at their Pakhan’s hands just because his daughter is a bit of a spoiled brat.

The men dressed in worn out jeans, work shirts, and ball caps are standing quietly off to the side, occasionally leaning toward each other to whisper.

And I’m pretty sure I catch the word for wife…in Greek. Of course, my husbands would only hire Greek contractors. At least I assume by their attire they’re contractors.

“What the hell is all this? And how are you supposed to fix their mistakes?” I ask, looking around the table at the guys before settling my attention on Flora.

“They’re making a bigger room for you all to share. You and I are going shopping. On their dime. Oh…and your money is sitting over there,” she says, jerking her head toward my threadbare duffel bag sitting on the island.

No idea how I missed that when I walked in, though it probably had a lot to do with my best friend sitting in my kitchen with three men she didn’t like all that much and with her very Russian guards standing at her back.

Looking from the money to the contractors, to Flora, then to my guys, my brain struggles to catch up and catch on, especially hungover and without even close to enough coffee in my system.

“I made a doctor’s appointment for you this afternoon for some bloodwork,” Kato says, raising a brow.

He’s trying to let me know he set an appointment to check to see if I’m pregnant without coming right out and saying that in front of these men I don’t know.

“Then the two of you are going to do…whatever. Go shopping for new shit for the house. Buy new clothes. Buy yourself a car. Whatever the fuck you want to do.”

It's my turn to raise a brow. I cross my arms and sit back against my chair.

Kato clears his throat. The contractors disappear as though he’d barked out an order. No idea where they’re heading, but I don’t hear the front door open and close, so I assume they’re still here.

“You’re letting me walk through the door without you?”

“Without me, yes. Without some backup? Abso-fucking-lutely not.”

“Flora’s guards –”

“Are loyal to Flora and are not on my payroll. Their priority is the Pakhan’s daughter.”

I mean, he’s got a point. But damn, that stung a little. He’d more or less said Pyotr and Lev wouldn’t protect me if shit hit the fan.

“I’m sending a few of my own men, and I want you packing as well.”

“My daddy has people looking for your father, but no luck as of yet,” Flora says a little softly. Not like my guys can’t hear her, so maybe she’s keeping the contractors from overhearing our conversation.

At no point would the Pakhan – or any leader of a criminal enterprise – want others to know they can’t control their own people.

“While you two are out, I have a meeting scheduled with Roman Yegorov.” His brows pinch together a little and his lips form a flat line before he says, “Since someone went ahead and spoke on my behalf.”

The face I pull lets him know how very not sorry I am for that or anything that happened that night.

Well, shit. Now I’m thinking about the more…delicious activities we participated in once we were home and behind closed doors.

Not the time to get all hot and bothered and end up with wet panties.

Wait…

“Did you say to buy myself a car?” Seems a little…extravagant, but hell, if they’re footing the bill, I’ll get an expensive, fancy as fuck luxury car or truck for myself.

After all, it appears they’re trying to buy my forgiveness, and who am I to say no?

“Are you fucking serious?”

I’m seething. Kato said one thing and now he’s reneging on his offer.

Well, maybe not fully reneging.

No. What he’s doing is demanding my pretty new red Porsche Cayenne be taken back.

With a sigh, I amend my own damn thoughts. He didn’t say I have to take it back – what he said was one of his men would be arriving to take it to have it reinforced . Seriously. How the hell do they plan on reinforcing a Porsche? Not like it’s big enough for paneled doors or whatever.

“You can use one of the other cars or SUVs until they’re finished,” Kato says, his eyes on his phone. His brows are pinched together, causing a little pucker between them, but I can’t tell whether it’s from anger or confusion.

When he doesn’t say anything else, doesn’t even bother mentioning how many trips it took Dimitri and Karolos – the same guards who’ve been watching over me since that first morning I woke up – to carry all my new purchases in, I reach out and snatch his phone out of his hand.

Now, while I’m tempted to scan the screen, make sure he’s not texting another woman, I’m not generally the jealous type. That, and it might be a huge faux pas if I end up seeing something business related and not for my eyes while looking for another reason to be pissed at him.

“Give me my phone, Everest.”

“What’s going on?” I ask.

His brows only furrow tighter. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Give me my phone. I have work to do.”

I’m not so deluded as to think he couldn’t snatch it away from me before I have a chance to react. Hell, he could easily strongarm me to get it away – not like I can hold it up over my head and out of his reach.

“I just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, and you didn’t bat an eye.” In fact, he’s planning to spend even more by sending the Porsche off for some 007 type shit.

“I told you to spend the money,” he says, his hand still outstretched as he waits for me to place his cell in it.

And the wrinkle between his eyes doesn’t smooth the entire time.

“You haven’t even bothered looking at anything I bought. How do you know I didn’t get a bunch of pink shit for the house?”

He huffs a laugh, but his lips never form a smile. “You hate pink. And if you suddenly became a different person and decided to make the entire place look like the inside of a Pepto Bismol bottle, have at it.”

It’s my turn to frown at him. Yeah, his brows are furrowed, but he doesn’t look angry. He looks deep in thought. And impatient. Of course, he’s impatient – I just took his phone hostage when he obviously has work to do.

“Did something happen?” They never did elaborate on the shit my dad said about someone coming after their business nor did they elaborate about what they meant when they told my father his men weren’t as loyal as he believed.

But it’s obvious something is going on.

“Did you find Dima?” I ask, the hopeful tone a little too obvious. I really shouldn’t be excited over the prospect of helping my guys commit patricide, but if anyone deserves it, it’s Dima Sidorov. “Did something happen during the meeting with Roman?”

Pretty sure I’m the only human on this planet who can get away with calling the Pakhan by his first name, but only because I’ve known him since birth and spent more time at his house than my own.

“No. But…Madd has a gift for you,” he says, that frown still in place.

Stretching my arm forward, I place the phone in his waiting hand. “If it’s a gift, why do you look so unhappy about it?”

“Because…because I am unhappy about it,” he says, abandoning whatever he’d planned to say at first.

“So…where is it? Where is he?”

I haven’t seen Brix or Madd since I got home from my doctor’s appointment and shopping. The appointment…took less time than I anticipated. And I feel like I should have a conversation with them, but from the second I walked through the door, Kato has been acting off.

“He’ll come get you when he’s ready,” he says, his eyes glued to his phone again before he starts tapping his thumb across the screen rapidly.

“Is he…home?”

“He’s home.” After a few more seconds, he finally shoves his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. It’s odd to see him in jeans. Since I’ve been back home, I’ve seen him in those expensive silk suits, sweats, and naked.

But in jeans and the buttery soft sweater…damn. What had I done to attract the three most attractive men on this planet?

When my gaze finally raises from his thick thighs encased in denim, the bulge in his pants, the way the sweater accentuates his beautifully toned body, and up to his eyes…well, the jerk is smirking.

“You were checking me out,” he teases.

Finally, my Kato is back instead of the Don.

“I’m allowed to check out my husband,” I say with a shrug. “So…what am I supposed to do while I wait for Maddox to fetch me for my surprise?”

This time, when he chuckles the smile stretches on his face and causes the most adorable crinkles at the corners of his eyes. “I would suggest figuring out where you’re going to put all that shit you bought.”