Page 15

Mikhail

“It’s a manor?” Arielle gasped, staring at the view in front of us.

It was a high stone structure that seemed to stretch into the sky. Its walls were adorned by ivy spines wrapped around the length of it with equally tall, arched windows reflecting the soft gleam of the sun. I often likened the house to the castle of Camelot when I was younger. It was big, looming and it held its own secrets, lots of secrets.

“Yes, it is. Try not to get lost,” I replied, equally staring at the structure for entirely different reasons. I’ve not been here since my grandfather died, but his aura still clung heavily to the air. I half expected to hear him barking out orders from his wheelchair the moment I stepped through the huge oak doors.

“ Bozhe moy !” Maya exclaimed, dropping her bag on the floor and rushing off to the orchard to the right. “They let my trees and vegetables die!”

I rolled my eyes at her antics. The woman loved her vegetables more than anything and would readily exchange a few humans for them. I returned my attention to Arielle, whose eyes were still bouncing from one part of the building to the other. “Ready?” I tilted my head to the entrance.

She blinked at me before registering my request. “Yes!” She wrapped her arm around my elbow. “There’s just so much to take in.”

“You’ll have all the time to get familiar with everything. You’ll be seeing a lot of it.” I smiled at her. I wish we had visited under different circumstances so I would’ve had the time to give her a proper tour. This trip was impromptu and strictly business.

The double oaks doors were pulled open as we approached, and we were welcomed by the staff flagging the imperial staircase. I could feel Arielle’s arm tighten around mine, and her steps slowly falter.

“This is Arielle, and you’ll be taking orders directly from her,” I announced, and her grip around me grew tighter.

“Hello,” she greeted softly, sending a shy wave their way. She was adorable when she was shy.

I dismissed the staff and headed for the stairs, feeling the judgmental eyes of all the Dons before me resting on my shoulders from their portraits. The absence of my father’s picture always hit me whenever I climbed the stairs. Grandfather had ordered it to be disposed of and replaced with mine the moment I turned eighteen, stating that my father had not earned his place in the family’s hall of fame.

“Won’t you introduce me to your ancestors?” Arielle asked, taking in the faces on each frame. “Hold on, is that—” She trailed off, staring at the year inscribed on the first portrait before whirling around to face me.

“How old is this building?”

Here comes the long-awaited history lesson. “It was built in the early 1900s by my great-grandfather,” I replied, taking in the expression on her face. “Yes. He was the first Don of the Ivanov family.” I added, sensing the question pooling in her eyes.

“Woah. That’s a long time ago. Did every member of your family have to live here? How many rooms are there?” She fired question after question at me, drawing a soft chuckle from me. She looked so cute with her brows tightly knit together.

“Only the first sons and future Don have ownership claims and are expected to remain in the house. The rest were free to do whatever they wanted and live wherever they wanted.” I supplied, wondering what my life would’ve looked like if I wasn’t the firstborn son and was free to do whatever I wanted.

I honestly couldn’t picture it. This was all I’ve known my whole life, and I can’t imagine a life away from it.

“That’s a great way to maintain the family legacy,” she mused, her eyes bouncing from one picture to the other.

“Come on, love, you’ll have all the time to acquaint yourself with dead men if that’s what you want.” I smiled, pulling her the rest of the way up.

“Woah,” Arielle exclaimed, untangling her arms from mine and taking in the master bedroom. “My whole house could fit in here, and there’d still be room for a mini kitchen.”

She pushed open the double doors leading to the balcony, causing the wind to sweep in, her blonde hair flying all over the place like streams of sunlight as she stood there, staring at the wide expanse of land. I tore my attention from her, my gaze sweeping through the entire bedroom. It felt odd to be occupying the same bedroom my grandfather died in. And despite the fact that I had everything in it changed, it still felt like it belonged to him.

“You have a pond?” Arielle shirked from the balcony. “Is that a fish? Can I go fishing?”

She was bouncing on her feet like a child when I joined her on the balcony and that fluffy feeling I was yet to place engulfed my chest.

She turned to me with a look of disbelief “Why did you move to New York? If I had a home like this, I’d never leave.”

“Maybe that’s why I had to come find you in New York. To bring you here so you can stay and never leave.” I replied, placing feather kisses on her shoulders. “I’m glad you like the house.”

“Like it? Don’t be silly, Mikhail. I fucking love it. You have a beautiful home.” She said, her voice falling slightly at the end of her statement.

Beautiful is hardly the word I would use to describe the house. Granted, it had its share of greenery and well-carved-out features, but that was all there was to it. It was an empty museum unless you count all the souls who were still trapped in the hallway. A memory I had successfully tucked away for the longest time came rushing back. Flashes of eight-year-old me running to my grandfather because I felt a presence in the hallway and him making me walk through all the hallways in the dark that night.

He repeated the process every night till he was satisfied. During this time, Maya would sometimes slip me a candle for when I got to the very dark corners and was too scared to continue. In his defense, an Ivanov should be feared by both humans and otherworldly beings, not the other way round. The sound of the clock striking two p.m. brought me back to the present. I had more pressing issues, like the current state of my family business, to deal with than the preferred upbringing methods my grandfather employed.

“Why don’t you get settled in, and I’ll join you early tomorrow morning. Enzo and I need to make a quick run to the port. It’s a four-hour flight from here, and I won’t be able to make it home on time.”

The attack at the port has barely left my mind since the news got to me last night. We left New York at four a.m, to get here as soon as possible.

“We barely got here, and you’re already abandoning me,” she pouted, her voice dripping with accusations.

I placed a kiss on her head “I won’t be too long, I’ll be home before sundown, I promise. You can explore the house while I’m out.”

“What about my fishing?”

“We will talk about your activities when I get back, and I’ll update Canaan. He’ll be your guard for the duration of our stay.”

“Alright. Stay safe.” She smiled.

Casting one last glance at the bed, I made my way out of the room. It was going to be a long day, and I’d prefer to get a head start.

*******

“Fuck me,” Enzo muttered the moment we stepped down from the chopper.

My fingers curled into a fist, and I could feel my nails digging into my palms as I took in the sight in front of me.

About ten of the storage containers were completely blown up. A few looked like they had suffered from the vibrations from the explosion, and only a very small fraction appeared untouched.

“Good afternoon, Don.” Alexei, a distant cousin I kept in charge of the port, greeted, handing me the file that was clutched to his fist

I eyed his outstretched arm, and he quickly tucked it in. Enzo took the files from him.

“What happened?” I demanded. A file containing statistics on damaged goods and the cost of repairs was the least of my problems. I had more than enough money to acquire an extra port if I saw it fit.

“It happened shortly after the container was brought down from the ship and moved into storage. My men traced the source to be the restroom next to one of the storages,” Alexei explained.

“And my shipment?”

“We were in luck. The men were slow in offloading the ship, following my instructions to apply extra caution, and it was saved for the last. It suffered little to no damage.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean by little to no damage?”

“It was an explosion, and the container was rattled. We couldn’t ascertain the extent of the damage. Enzo requested it be kept sealed until you arrived.” His answers were quick and efficient. It’s why I picked him out of every other relative.

“We sustained casualties,” he added softly.

“Send the condolence package to their families and have someone be present for their funeral,” I replied, dismissing the conversation.

Everyone who worked for me signed an NDA and understood the risks involved before they were employed. “Take me to the storage.”

When the three of us were safely locked in the storage, I unlocked the container and let out an audible sigh of relief. The tension in my muscles disappeared when I found the content untouched.

“Told you if they were affected, the whole of Russia would’ve gone up in flames,” Enzo muttered behind me.

While he was right, computers were more his thing and not ammunition. These were far too delicate and everything had to arrive in optimum state without as little as a scratch for a sale to be made.

“Get them ready for distribution. I’ll be leaving with them. What do you have on the hit? Do you have a suspect yet?” I questioned, making my way out of the storage with Enzo and Alexei hot on my track.

“It was a suicide,” Alexei replied, stopping me in my tracks.

“Whoever this is, he’s particularly keen on not getting caught,” Enzo whistled behind me.

“You’re telling me a man bypassed all the cameras, got into the bathroom, and blew my port up without a trace?”

“We’re still working on finding him. Most of the cameras were damaged as a result of the explosion.”

“Alexei,” I seethed, taking a step towards him. “I didn’t place you here for explanations. I don’t give a flying fuck if you have to tap into every camera in the whole of Russia. Find him.”

The last time an attack of this magnitude happened, I was fifteen years old, still a kid, but old enough to know that anyone who was brave enough to blow up my family business was no small enemy, and I’ll be damned if I let this slip through my fingers.

“And Alexei, I’ll be needing the core members of the family in my house at dinner time tomorrow. I don’t care if they’re halfway across the world. I need everyone here,” I bit out, making my way to the chopper.

If I don’t get a drink in the next ten minutes, I might just murder someone.

*****

I heard her before I saw her. Her contagious laughter spilled from the kitchen, bouncing off the walls of the house and filling the space with joy. A small smile played on my lips, and I could feel a gentle squeeze in my heart as I made my way to the kitchen, the anger and exhaustion from the night before slowly melting away. Not once in my thirty-two years of life did I ever see the manor this alive or its staff smiling cheerily, and it was all thanks to her. Even the men seemed to have taken a liking to her.

She had the touch of mide and brought everything she touched to life. Even the coldest of hearts would feel warmth in her presence. I would know, she did the same to mine.

“ Dobryy vecher dorogaya ,” Arielle greeted when her eyes found me leaning on the kitchen door frame. My brows lifted in surprise at her cute attempt at Russian. Her accent would need a little bit of work, but her pronunciation was good enough.

“I leave you for one night, and you wake up a full-fledged Russian woman,” I replied, pushing off the door frame.

She flashed me a wide smile. “What can I say? You don’t find me where you leave me.”

“ Dobryy vecher, lyubimaya .” I returned her greeting, wrapping my arms around her. “ YA skuchal po tebe.”

“Uhhh, Maya didn’t tell me about that one,” she replied, and I chuckled lightly. From the corner of my eyes, I could see the staff slowly emptying out of the kitchen till we were left with Maya and her vegetables, of course.

“What’s for dinner?” I nibbled softly on her ears, causing her to giggle and swat my arms.

“Certainly not her,” I heard Maya murmur over her chopping board, and Arielle burst out laughing.

“Maya is teaching me how to make some pelmeni and borscht soup.”

“Sounds delicious but we might have to increase the quantity. We’ll be having some guests joining us for dinner,” I said, shifting my gaze to Maya.

“ Семейно е собрани е ?” she asked, her blade paused mid-air.

“ Д а , ” I replied, holding her gaze. Moments like these made me appreciate Maya more. I didn’t have the patience to ease a new person into my lifestyle and teach them the ropes.

“Alright,” Arielle said, pulling out of my embrace. “I know I might’ve used one Russian sentence, but that doesn’t make a native. Someone give me an explanation.”

“We’ll be having dinner with some of my family members,” I replied, observing her for a reaction.

“I get to meet someone from your family?” Her eyes sparkled with interest.

“Not in that context, sweetheart, but yes, you’ll be meeting some of them.”

“I better go get ready then. Maya, we’ll continue the cooking later.” She called out on her way out of the kitchen.

“Are you sure it’s time for her to join the meetings? You know how those can get,” Maya asked once Arielle was out of earshot.

“She’ll be with me,” I replied, my voice cold and hard, leaving no room for more talk.