Vittoria
I can’t believe Ivan volunteered me to go with Anastasia to La Club! I hardly went there myself, even with my siblings. I was always considered too much of a goody-two-shoes.
It’s done, though, so I dress in a smart pair of pants and a halterneck top. I tie my hair up in a bun and walk out of the bedroom. Anastasia takes one look at me, and I know she isn’t impressed.
“You are not going out with me looking like that. You look like you’re going to a board meeting.” She shakes her head. “Have you not got something stylish and pretty to wear? And is that the only way you know how to do your hair?”
Her remark stings, and I’m lost for words, blushing a dark crimson.
Anastasia must realize what her words are doing to me because her expression softens a little. “Maybe I can help you figure it out? You’re about my size.”
She moves forward and says, “Come on, I might have something in my cupboard for you, and I can fix your hair.”
I follow obediently, not sure what else to do. I wish there were a way I could back out of this without disappointing Ivan. I have to keep in his good books, though, so I walk into Anastasia’s room. It’s a lovely room. It looks like a studio almost, with bright lights and large mirrors. She goes to her walk-in closet and rifles through some clothes. I wait patiently near the door, and she comes out with a pair of heels hooked on the fingers of one hand and a dress on a hanger on the other.
“This should do the trick. You can get changed in my bathroom, then we’ll do your hair,” she says, handing me everything.
I feel uncomfortable as I change into the skin-tight, rather short strapless dress. I’m not entirely convinced it covers all the essential parts. I slip on the heels, which are a bit tight but will fit for the night-nothing I’m not used to.
I come out, and Anastasia claps her hands together. “Already sixty percent better, now just let your hair down quick and sit at my vanity.”
I do as I’m told and sit. She uses a curling iron to give me big, beautiful curls and then turns me around to apply some makeup. I feel weird as I’m not usually this kind of woman. I’ve never really worn much makeup, and I have never been in a dress this short.
Once we’re done, I walk shyly out to where Ivan is waiting in the entrance hall. There’s a look in his eyes, a primal hunger that kind of turns me on. His mouth is slightly open in surprise at how I look, and I smile. “We shouldn’t be back too late.”
“Ignore her,” Anastasia says. “We’ll be back late, don’t wait up.” She kisses his cheek, scoops up her small purse, and heads for the elevator. I’m taller in the heels, so I don’t have to lean far up to give Ivan a sweet kiss before I follow her.
Luigi is downstairs waiting for us with security, and we’re about to climb into the car when Aleks appears with two men. Anastasia groans, “I told dad no security.”
Aleks shakes his head. “He says, no security, no clubbing.”
Anastasia looks at Luigi and then at Aleks. “Fine, follow us.”
We all clamber into the car, and Anastasia and Luigi chat as we drive toward La Club. I’ve only been there a handful of times, but they’ve really renovated the place. As we’re about to enter, Anastasia holds a hand up to Aleks. “This club belongs to the Sorvinos. I don’t want trouble. You guys stay out here while we party. We’ll call if we need you.”
Aleks doesn’t look impressed, but a glance from the large bouncer seems to cement the deal.
We go inside, and Anastasia instantly goes to the bar where some of her Russian friends are waiting. She introduces me so fast that I don’t even catch their names. I smile awkwardly before Anastasia orders us all vodka shots and some cocktails. We go to find a table to sit down at. Anastasia and her friends are talking excitedly in Russian. Since I can’t understand them, I sit at the table next to theirs. I don’t know where Luigi ran off to, probably to call some of his friends for the rest of the girls. Anastasia waves a hand at me and asks, “Come join us? We can switch to English.”
“No, it’s fine,” I say, a sense of dread filling me. I hate social interaction.
“Sure? We’re going to go dance?” Anastasia says with a warm smile.
I shake my head. “I’m not a good dancer, so I’ll stay and watch the purses.”
Anastasia nods. “If you’re sure.”
I watch them dance their way onto the dance floor and form a small group. It’s sweet. I wish I had girlfriends like that growing up. It must be nice to have friends and people to talk to. I keep my eye on the bags and sip my drink. A few songs pass, and a rather raunchy one starts to play. I turn my attention to the group of girls and see a guy harassing Anastasia.
I look around for Luigi, but I can’t see him or any of his guards. I keep an eye on her, but the guy won’t let up, and when she tries to pull away, he grabs her ass and pulls her against him.
That’s it for me. I get up, push through the crowded dance floor, and grab Anastasia. “It’s time to go,” I say, pulling her away from the guy. I can see her friends standing around awkwardly.
Before I know what’s happening, this fat, balding asshole raises his hands and pushes me away from Anastasia, yelling at me to mind my own business.
He turns back to Anastasia, and I feel the anger seething through me as I tap his shoulder. As he turns around, I throw my hand back and slap him in the face. His face jerks to the side with the force of the hit.
He roars with rage and pain and steps toward me, but before he can do anything, my brother thankfully appears and steps between us. “What’s going on here?”
I look around and see a few of my brother’s guards are also around. The music is still playing, but everyone on the dance floor is watching the exchange.
The balding guy points angrily at us, standing in a huddled, united group. “These Russian bitches are causing trouble.”
“He was groping and grabbing Anastasia,” I shout over the music. “And when I tried to move her off the dance floor, he pushed me, so I slapped him.”
Luigi looks at me and then at two of the guards. “Get rid of this punk. He’s permanently banned from La Club.” Before the guy protests, Luigi leans in. “Be thankful that’s all you’re getting for putting your hands on my sister and her friends.”
The guy swallows and follows the two guards off the dance floor.
I look at Anastasia, and she hesitates a moment before giving me a hug, “Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.”
“I’ll get everyone a round of drinks,” Luigi says. “You girls go back to dancing.”
I turn to go back to the table, but Anastasia grabs my hand. “No, stay. You can bop around with us. It’s not like we’re professional dancers.”
I swallow hard and hesitantly nod, although it does feel like we’re finally connecting.
Ivan
I wake up earlier than usual and find Tori asleep, curled in a ball next to me. I don’t know what time they came home, but it must have been late. I get up, freshen up, and get dressed. As I’m trimming my beard to keep it neat, I think about how hot Tori looked last night. I won’t lie; I had a restless night thinking about all the horny men who were probably making eyes at her the whole night. I certainly would have.
I walk out of the bedroom and toward the dining room, where my coffee will be waiting. As I pour some into a mug, I hear the elevator open and see Leonid step out. I fill another mug and take it to him. “What are you doing here so early,” I say, handing him the coffee and leading him to my office.
“We have a problem,” Leonid says seriously. “Your wife got out of line last night.”
I sigh loudly, sitting my coffee down and turning to Leonid with impatience. “What now, Leonid? It’s no secret you hate her.”
“Last night at La Club, your wife let a guy harass Anastasia, groping and grabbing her.” He looks at me seriously, and I frown.
“Once the girls wake up, I’ll talk to them about this,” I say.
“You expect that Italian to tell you the truth? I have witnesses,” Leonid says.
I shake my head and am about to say something when I hear the creak of Anastasia’s door.
“Ana?” I call, getting up and walking out of the office with Leonid in tow.
My daughter looks a bit rough, and I know she partied hard. She yawns. “Morning.”
“Is it true some guy was harassing you at La Club?” I ask, straight to the point.
She rubs her eyes and nods. “Yeah, there was this really fat ugly balding guy who kept coming onto me, and when I pulled away, he groped my ass and pulled me to him.”
I can feel my blood boiling, but then Anastasia continues, “Then Tori came to get me, and he pushed her. So she slapped the shit out of him. It was actually hilarious. Then Luigi showed up and had the guy banned. So we carried on partying. It was a really fun night.”
Behind me, my bedroom door opens, and Tori steps out, looking tired but happy, and I turn to her. “You protected Ana last night? You put yourself in danger for her?”
Tori blushes. “Sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?” I try not to smile too broadly in front of Leonid in case he thinks I’m soft. “Thank you, Tori. Thank you for taking care of Ana.”
Anastasia smiles. “Morning, Tori.”
“Morning Ana, let’s get some food,” Tori says, walking past us.
“Ana,” I stop her, “where were Aleks and our guards?”
Anastasia blushes, and I look at her pointedly, so she explains, “I asked them to stay out. Luigi had guards inside for us. I just didn’t want there to be a situation.”
I nod and turn to Leonid. “You should tell your sources to get their facts straight as much as I appreciate you keeping an eye on things. We only need facts.”
Leonid bows his head in submission. “My apologies. Perhaps we are lucky to have Mrs. Volkov in the family.”
I smirk. “That’s more like it. Are you joining us for breakfast?”
“No, I have affairs to attend to. I just wanted to sort this out.”
He gives me a dark smile and then leaves, so I join the girls for a nice, rather greasy breakfast.
After breakfast, Anastasia leaves to have her nails done, and Tori accompanies me to the office. We both sit in silence, working on our documents. I enjoy the comfortable silence between us as two hard-working individuals.
After a few hours of working, I hear her make a noise, and I glance up. “Everything okay?”
“I have another report here, but I don’t think it belongs to this situation. It’s about some buildings you want to buy,” she says, swinging her chair to look at me.
“I was going over it thinking it was one of mine, and I see some discrepancies,” she says. “Can I show you?”
“You don’t have to worry about those,” I say. “Those are actually for me from Evgeni and Leonid.” I hold my hand out, and she hesitates. “Yeah, but you’re losing a lot of money paying bribes you don’t have to pay. Like, there are legal loopholes that you can exploit here and save yourself some cash.”
I knit my eyebrows together and tilt my head. “Really? Can you show me?”
She wheels her chair over and opens the folder, setting it down between us. She takes her pen and points to a paragraph. “Technically speaking, you don’t have to rezone here. This area is already zoned as industrial. Whoever told you this wasn’t zoned that way is an idiot. It’s such an unnecessary step. You can literally just move your business in and start operating.”
She points to another paragraph and explains how I can set up a legit-looking company here that I can then pass money through without it being noticed. I watch her in fascination. She is so intelligent and clearly knows what she is talking about. I try to listen intently, but she amazes me, so eventually, I stop her. “Redo this report with your suggestions, and give it to me to look over. Make your suggestions in red, and I’m going to see what idiot is making these suggestions and costing me money.”
“I hope no one is going to get hurt on my account,” Tori says anxiously. “I mean, I know that’s what families like ours do, but it’s probably just that they didn’t know any better.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” I say with a smile, reaching for her hand and squeezing it. “You’re doing great things for the family, and I’m pleased about it. You’re proving everyone wrong, especially Leonid, that you can’t be trusted. I knew you could.”
I raise her hand to my lips and kiss her fingers gently.
“There’s also a bunch of inspections you can bypass if you divide the units into smaller units,” she says shyly. “But I’ll make a note of it on the document. This one will take me a day, so I’ll do it now and get it to you by tonight.”
“Your family really lucked out,” I say suddenly, surprising even myself. “You’re by far one of the most intelligent people I’ve met, and you could have really boosted your family if they’d let you.”
“Try telling them that,” she laughs. “My family doesn’t exactly think I stand out. As the youngest of my cousins, I’m generally protected and kept in the dark about things.”
I shake my head. “They’re idiots, Tori. I mean that.”
She gives me a dazzling smile, and I can see she isn’t used to this kind of praise. That smile, though. I will praise her all the time if that’s what I get to see. Making her happy makes me happy in a way I haven’t felt in a long time, and even though there’s a pang of nagging guilt about Mila, I feel like my deceased wife would have loved Tori.