Page 5 of The Brutal Arrangement (The Ivanov Syndicate #2)

LUCY

W hen I started this job at the Kozlov mansion, it was so quiet and simple. Easy work for good pay.

The longer that Anton stayed at the residence, though, I understood more and more why Joann warned me that he was a gruff jerk. And why I should mind my own business.

Some days, it was easier said than done with how loudly he could yell and belittle and rant and demand.

Whether it was on the phone. With his guards and soldiers.

Or even directly with his niece. I hated those occasions the most, when Katerina and Anton would fight.

She was so defiant and stubborn, never caving to whatever he was trying to tell her to do.

I didn’t follow much of what he expected of her.

I couldn’t. Because I truly, honestly didn’t want to hear a single word this raving Mafia man said.

Getting involved was the absolute last thing that I wanted to do, but it wasn’t as simple as turning to look away and tuning them out.

He was that loud. And she was that sassy right back.

One morning, I tried to handle the tricky chores earlier than usual.

By tricky, I meant the ones that might set me up to encounter Anton.

It really was preferred to avoid him altogether if I could.

While he didn’t seem to notice me specifically as an individual to bother or berate, he carried such a horrible negative energy that I didn’t want to be near him at all if I could help it.

Carrying my cleaning supplies to the study at the end of one particular hallway, I stepped quietly and quickly, praying that like all the other times I dusted that room, no one would be in it.

I was wrong.

“Oh!” I stopped short, seeing Katerina slouched in a chair, laptop in hand.

She didn’t react as startled as I had, but she didn’t waste a second in slapping her laptop closed.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you.” I began backing up, curious what that screen meant. A long list of acronyms showed, and I couldn’t help but think that I’d seen it before. The map wasn’t familiar, but those acronyms…

No, I’m thinking of those facilities and programs I researched for Mom.

I shook my head, hating the possibility that I was so curious that it’d seem like I was prying.

“No. No.” Katerina set the laptop aside but kept her hand on top of it. I often spotted her on a computer, but never when Anton was near. “It’s all right. You’re up early, Lucy.”

I smiled, enjoying how it seemed like we could be friends.

Small talk was the extent of what I shared with most clients at the houses I cleaned at.

When I sensed that drama was brewing, I refrained from even that.

However, in this first week that Katerina had been home, it seemed like she had genuinely friendly intentions toward me.

She had to give a damn about me at a basic level for stopping those guards from bothering me, something I’d thanked her for a few times.

“So are you,” I replied kindly. While I was curious what she did on her computer, often typing at what seemed like a supersonic speed of her fingers clacking over the buttons rapidly, I wouldn’t dare to ask. That wasn’t proper. Because we weren’t friends. I was just the maid.

She shrugged, but as she glanced to the side of the room, almost as if she didn’t want to be confronted with the fact that she was up early, I noticed how exhausted she looked. And just like I always did, the typical bleeding heart that I was, I was concerned. “Couldn’t sleep?” I guessed.

Sighing, she slumped deeper into the chair and tipped her head over at the other one, implying that I should sit. “Not really. What’s your excuse?”

“I just wanted a head start on the day’s work.

” I sat, knowing she’d insist that I join her for a moment.

I’d lost every round of her invitation to “talk”.

First, she insisted that I have lunch with her.

Then another time, to enjoy the sunset. And then another time, for breakfast. Something got me thinking she was lonely, and it was ironic that she’d see me as someone to confide in.

“Did you get a chance last night to talk to your mom?” she asked, now more familiar with my situation.

I didn’t go into details of telling her where my mom was staying, but I was upfront in a vague way that I was working to fund my mom’s care and stay after her early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

I’d shown her on my phone how I was searching for different care programs and facilities for her.

“I didn’t.” I shook my head and hated how it still stung so badly.

I knew it would get worse. She’d have fewer “good” days until they disappeared completely.

But I wanted to get my hopes up high and think that she had a decent amount of good ones left to let me experience them with her. “She was agitated.”

“From the medication?” she asked. It could’ve seemed nosy and blunt, but I’d gotten to know her that well over this one week. She was inquiring out of real concern. “Or from the disease?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. If I could get her into that other facility, the staff would be more on-task and probably give her the care she needs.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said.

“It is what it is. Thanks for asking.”

We chatted a little more about this and that, still learning more about each other, but the sound of Anton yelling for someone was like the record scratch we didn’t want.

Katerina rubbed her face and groaned. “We’ll catch up later.”

I nodded, not wanting to stress her out by talking any further. Nor did I want to risk being in trouble for speaking with her instead of just being the maid I was supposed to be.

Once I left her, I struggled to keep my spirits up for the rest of the day.

I refused to get involved with these Mafia people, but something about Katerina just broke my heart.

In some ways, I saw parallels between us, both of us stuck in a situation that was less than ideal—me stressed about my mom and affording her care and Katerina living with her demanding and angry uncle.

But what stood out between us was that she wasn’t forced into her position.

She could leave. She could move. She could start her own life with nothing holding her down.

I assume she doesn’t.

Katerina didn’t go anywhere or do anything but type on her laptop, but there was something more vulnerable like sadness that lurked in her blue eyes that made me wish she was all right.

Hey, you know what, she’ll be gone soon, anyway. Like Joann had told me, the Kozlovs relocated and hopped around their many properties.

Surprisingly, the idea of not seeing my new almost-friend bothered me.

That evening, I tried again to call and speak with my mother, but she was too agitated and had to be sedated. Again.

“Thanks for the update,” I told the nurse at the station.

“Hang on,” she said before telling me goodnight. “Financial wanted to speak with you too.”

I cringed, flopping back on my bed and dreading this conversation.

It went about as well as it could have, what with me promising I’d pay the outstanding balance as soon as I got my first paycheck.

They weren’t rude, but informative. Still, I hung up and stared at the ceiling, wishing that I not only could cover the small debt that had accrued with this facility but also the freedom to move her to a better place that would be more suited for the care she needed.

One day. I tried to promise myself that my life would be better one day.

All night, I tossed and turned, bothered by too many worries to truly let my mind rest.

I’d heard more guards mentioning a “demon” or some kind of enemy that they had to get rid of.

I’d noticed Katerina was more stressed than usual.

And I couldn’t shake off these thoughts about how I’d be failing my mom by not having the funds for the best care for her.

Restless and annoyed by how little I was resting, I swung my legs over the bed and sat upright. Rubbing my face, then shoving my hair back, I heaved out a deep breath and knew this was useless.

I couldn’t make myself sleep. But perhaps getting a drink of water would distract me.

Leaving the confines of the maid’s room that was next to Joann’s was a risk I didn’t often take.

I’d exited in the middle of the night only one other time for a glass of water, and that was before Anton and Katerina had arrived.

Too many guards could be in the house at random times, preying on me.

With the Kozlov residents here, and the consequent increase of security men, I didn’t like the danger of a pervy man eyeing me and trying to force himself on me.

No one stirred as I stepped into the hall. My path to the kitchen was a short one, and it wasn’t like I could snoop upstairs at all. Still, I nearly held my breath and remained on edge on the way to the kitchen.

My little room in the maid’s quarter wasn’t necessarily any safer, anyway. I bet anyone here could break down the door or unlock it with ease.

Safety was an illusion in both a figurative sense and not.

I’d never be secure financially, struggling to afford Mom’s care.

I’d never be secure in a family, losing my mom day by day as that horrible disease claimed her.

And all by myself, just one woman against the world, I’d never be safe from a man trying to take advantage of me—a fate that shouldn’t have been as much of an issue as it had been in my career as a maid and housekeeper.

The sound of a door closing reached me. I flinched, stopping like a frightened animal. Locked into paralysis, as if that would make me invisible, I waited and tried to place who else was up in this mansion and where they were.

One moment passed, then two.

No one snuck up on me.

I didn’t hear footsteps. I didn’t feel the vibration of someone walking. I didn’t smell the cologne or booze that could indicate a man was near.

I was still alone, and with a shaky exhale, I continued toward the kitchen for water.

Once I was there, still roving my gaze and scanning my surroundings nervously, I caught a glimpse of someone in the distance.

Through one window, I spotted Katerina running out into the night’s darkness that was further shaded with light rain.

She didn’t slow or hesitate. Under the precipitation, she dashed over the manicured lawn, seemingly sneaking out to go near the outer buildings that lined a small pond in the back. Many acres made up this property, but I never left this main house where I cleaned under Joann’s delegation.

Pausing at the window, I let myself catch my breath more from the immediate scare that I wasn’t the only person up and walking around in the house at this late hour. As my heart slowed, I squinted to see my friend?—

Oh, stop that. She’s not your friend. She’s the client’s niece.

Katerina and I might’ve resembled each other, but we were definitely not on the same socio-economic level at all.

Despite knowing how the lines had to remain between us, I worried about why she was sneaking out and if she’d be caught. Anton had been arguing with her more often than not, and deep down, I struggled with the conviction that this had to be a bad omen.

A warning of harm near us.

A threat of danger approaching.

For the first time since I started my job here, I wondered if merely keeping my head down and minding my own business would be enough to spare me from more trouble.

Trouble seemed imminent now. Whatever it was, it had Katerina so stressed and at times frantic to get out of the house like she just did now, in the middle of a rainstorm.