Page 91 of Mafia and Scars

“It’s arhino,” I say in a louder voice. “Hippos don’t have a fucking horn on their nose.”

A huff bursts out of him. “I don’t care if it’s a fucking hippo, a goddamn rhino, or a flying unicorn. Ever since that woman, Geliy, and their kids turned up here, there’s been nothing but disruption to our lives.”

“Yeah,disruptionbeing the operative word.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“If I can fucking put up with this shit in our office, then so can you, Grigory.”

He stares at me. And he realizes that I mean it. Really mean it. Because he knows how any sort of untidiness can mess with my head. So, when he sees that I’m deadly serious about this, that I want Avelina to feel like she can bring the kids in here, he begrudgingly accepts how important this is to me—and how important Avelina is to me as well.

“I just hope you know what you’re getting yourself into,” he murmurs. “And you need to tell her to make sure those kids don’t leave any sticky fingerprints or crayon scribbles over my papers.”

“Say one more thing to her,” I say in a dangerous tone, “and I’ll replace your desk chair with a beanbag shaped like a ladybug.”

His mouth opens. Then snaps shut. “You’re not serious.”

“Fucking try me,”I growl. “I like having herhere. I like seeing hersmile. And I like the way she feels likesunshine.”

He mutters something very rude in Russian and stomps out, the door slamming so hard the rhino flops to the floor.

Silence. At fucking last. Now, I just need to check that Avelina is okay.

I find Babulya in the rec room. A big smile is on her face as she fusses around the children, feeding Leon and slipping candy to Sofia. Avelina is nowhere to be seen, so I check the bedroom. But when I also come up with a blank there, I head outside and finally find her sitting on the bench in the vegetable garden, nursing a cup of coffee.

Her eyes flick up to meet mine, then back down again.

I sit down beside here. “You okay?” I ask.

She nods quickly, but it’s not convincing.

I take a slow breath, fists still clenched in my lap. “You don’t have to take that.From anyone.”

She swallows. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

“You didn’t.”

She hesitates. “But you’re mad.”

“I’m furious,” I mutter. “But not at you. Grigory cares deeply about his men, and he’s still upset about the two men we lost when the compound was attacked. But that’s absolutely no excuse for him to speak to you in the way he did.”

Side by side, we walk back to the house. And once we’re back in the air-conditioned comfort of the office, Avelina turns to face me. “You didn’t have to defend me.”

“I wasn’t,” I lie. “I was defending my interior design choices. I like pink rocket ships and stuffed toys.”

Her lips twitch. “You’re really something, Viktor.”

I grunt and reach down, picking up the rhino I bought for Sofia. I set it back on top of the gun safe.

Avelina kneels to fix the tipped over dinosaur bucket. “Thank you,” she says, her voice quiet but sincere.

As I look at her, I don’t say the words, but I think them:You’re safe with me.

And it’s like she can understand me. Because she gazes at me—and this time, her eyes seem to shine for a different reason.

That afternoon, the scent of gunpowder fills the warehouse as Grigory and I stand over a pallet of sealed canisters while our men cross-reference the invoices.

“So, she’s touching your paperwork, huh?” he comments. “Didn’t think I’d see the day anyone got to touch your holy Excel sheets.”