Broken Wings (The Broken Series Book 3) (33 page)

She
giggled. “Yes.”

I
shook my head. “I can’t believe I let Maxim kiss me.”

“He
didn’t exactly give you a choice,” she mused.

I
sat up in bed and nearly cried from the pain that shot through my head. “What
the hell? Why isn’t anyone allowed to tell them no?”

Cory
sat up on the other side of the room. “I think the government officials have
just learned to pick their battles. They look the other way on things like this,
and then use it as leverage when they negotiate on the important stuff.”

I
tucked my knees under my chin. “What are we going to do? What if they come
after Shae and me? Do you think it’s safe for us to stay?”

Sammi
sat up in bed and narrowed her eyes at me. “You said you could handle this.”

I
stared at her incredulously. “
This?
This was not on your list of things
I’d have to endure.”

She
shrugged. “Wouldn’t you rather be seduced by some guy in the mafia than end up
dead in a back alley?”

My
voice rose at least three octaves. “Who says those are mutually exclusive
things? I’m not sleeping with the guy to maintain the peace. I have a boyfriend.
I’m not going to cheat on him, especially with someone who’s associated with
the Russian mafia.”

Sammi
sighed. “Nonna, Oni, and Igor made it pretty clear last night that no one tells
that guy no. If he propositions you, and you tell him no, then you may very well
end up dead. Maybe you should
go out with him. I’m sure he’s just
looking for a challenge. He’ll get bored if you don’t resist.”

I
glared at her. “I have tried the path of least resistance. It does not work
like that.” I threw the pillow against the door. “
Arghh!
Why does this
keep happening to me?”

A
knock sounded at the door.

We
exchanged glances. Cory put his finger to his lips and shook his head.

The
person knocking spoke up. “
U menya yest' dostavka
.”

I
looked at Cory. “Did he say delivery?”

Cory
nodded, then climbed out of bed.

I
held my breath as he cracked open the door.

Cory
muttered something under his breath as he swung the door open. He pointed
toward Shae and me. “Over there.”

The
delivery guy shot Cory an admiring glance as he eyed the three of us girls
sitting in bed. We were all wearing pajamas. He ducked back into the hallway before
hauling two large vases of white roses into the room. He handed a vase to Shae
and a vase to me. He left the room and carried in two more vases, which he
handed to Sammi and Cory.

I
peeked around the flowers to look at Shae.

She
laughed as he brought two more vases into the room. By the time he was finished,
there wasn’t any place left to stand.

“Holy
crap,” I breathed. “Are these roses for you or me?”

Shae
shifted the vase in her hands to the windowsill. “I don’t know, but this is
already proving to be the best birthday ever!”

*
* * * * *

We
ended up splitting the flowers between our two rooms so Shae and I could clear
a path to the shower. Once we were showered and dressed, we decided to take the
flowers to a nearby children’s hospital. Shae and I sifted through the roses to
ensure there weren’t any thorns. We found a card addressed to Shae and a card
addressed to me in two separate but identical arrangements.

Shae
read her card first. “Not everything is as it seems. Some men are labeled with ominous
names even though they seek honorable things. I hope to see you soon. Konstantin.”

I
was stunned. “That’s a pretty powerful statement. Why would he write that instead
of something more romantic?”

Shae
shrugged. “Maybe he doesn’t want me judging him or assuming the worst. I don’t
know. The message is very odd. What does yours say?”

I
read the note aloud. “I think, but dare not speak. Maxim.”

Shae’s
eyes widened. “That’s a line from Shakespeare. Macbeth, I think.”

I
studied the card. “What do you think it means?”

She
looked thoughtful. “He’s afraid of scaring you off. He suspects that if you
knew what he was really thinking, you’d probably run screaming in the other
direction.”

I
nodded. “I don’t have a clue what Maxim is thinking, and I still want to run
screaming in the opposite direction.”

Shae
and I tucked the notes into our purses and gathered two vases each. We walked
to the room next door to retrieve Cory and Sammi. I kicked at the door. “You
guys ready?”

Sammi
opened the door. I propped the door open with my foot while she scooped up two additional
vases. “I think this is going to take a couple of trips, but maybe we’ll luck
out and find a van big enough to hold all of these.”

Cory
grabbed two vases. He balanced one on his knee as he locked the door. He trailed
after us as we walked toward the stairs.

Nonna
was sitting in the lobby. Surprise flitted across her face when she saw the
roses. Then her face fell. “Maxim,” she breathed.

“And
Konstantin,” Shae added with a soft smile.

I
eyed Nonna nervously. I was concerned she might throw a wrench into my plan, so
I hurriedly explained. “There are twenty four vases total, with a dozen roses
in each. Shae and I are each going to keep one vase of roses, so as not to
offend Konstantin and Maxim, but we want to take the remaining flowers to the
children’s hospital down the street. Can you help us?”

Nonna
fisted her hands on her hips. “You are going to insult Maxim if you give those
flowers away.”

I
waited patiently for her to concede, knowing that silence could be an effective
conflict resolution strategy.

She
huffed out a breath and threw her hands up dramatically. “Fine. Set those down
here and go get the rest. I’ll load these into the trunk of my car.”

Nonna
came around by the time we arrived at the hospital. The nurses were easily
swayed, once they learned the roses had already been stripped of thorns by the
florist. We wanted to hand individual roses out, so each child could have his
own flower. I was thrilled to discover there were enough flowers for all of the
children in the hospital who were old enough to have one. It took us over two hours
to hand out all two hundred and sixty four flowers.

Nonna
whisked us off to lunch after we delivered the flowers. She insisted on
ordering for us. The waitress brought sparkling water, soup, salad, and bread. Oni
and Igor showed up a few minutes after the food arrived. Oni settled in next to
me.

I
pushed my salad plate toward Oni and offered her my fork. I shot Nonna an
apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but I can’t eat the salad. It would be a shame for
it to go to waste.”

Nonna
nodded in understanding.

Oni
immediately dug into the salad. “Thanks!”

Igor
reached for a piece of bread. “What are you guys doing after lunch?”

I
swirled my spoon through the soup and eyed it warily. My stomach was still
feeling queasy. “We were planning to do some sightseeing over the next two
days, since we don’t have to be at the university until Monday, but none of us
are feeling particularly well after drinking all that alcohol.”

Cory
nodded. “We’re going back to the hotel to sleep after lunch. Hopefully, the
weather will hold so we can go sightseeing tomorrow.”

Nonna
buttered her bread. “I think you guys should get some rest this afternoon. Do
you want me to have some food delivered to the hotel, or would you like to go
out for dinner this evening?”

I
glanced at Shae. She shook her head. Clearly, she didn’t want Nonna knowing it
was her birthday. I suspected Shae was fighting a losing battle on this front.
If we had been investigated as thoroughly as Oni had suggested, then Nonna already
knew it was Shae’s birthday.

Sammi
spoke up. “We’re going to stay close to the hotel tonight. There’s a restaurant
right next to the hotel. If we get hungry, we can always eat there. Please
don’t worry about us, Nonna. We are used to fending for ourselves.”

Nonna
looked at us knowingly as she sipped on her Perrier. “You will probably run
into Maxim and Konstantin if you go out tonight. As you learned yesterday, they
already have someone following you.”

My
eyes skimmed the other patrons in the restaurant. “The guy obviously knows
where we are, since he had flowers delivered to our room. I’m not sure we’re safe
staying at the hotel. Maybe we should switch hotels.”

Nonna
laughed. “That would be pointless.”

My
shoulders fell. “Maybe I should just go home.”

Nonna’s
eyes flared. “You made a commitment to my university and my students.”

“Yes,
I know,” I responded dejectedly.

Her
eyes locked on mine. “You
will
stay and you
will
see that
commitment through.”

I
nodded in understanding.

Shae
reached for my arm. “I think we should head back to the hotel.”

Nonna
paid the bill. We said goodbye to Oni and Igor, then filed into Nonna’s car.
Not a single word was spoken on the drive back to the hotel.

*
* * * * *

The
sun was down by the time I woke. I glanced at the clock on my cell phone. “It’s
already seven o’clock!”

Shae
rolled over in her bed. She curled back into a ball as she turned to face me. “I
know you’re scared to go out tonight. Why don’t we just stay in?”

I
shook my head as I sat up in bed. “No way am I ruining your birthday. You want
to go out for dinner and dancing? Then we’re going out for dinner and dancing.
Besides, we’re probably safer out in public than we are sitting here at the
hotel.”

Shae
nodded. “Are you going to call Rafael before we go out?”

I
shook my head again. “No. I spoke with him just before we left for dinner last
night, and I texted him when Igor brought me back to the hotel. I’ll text him
again in a few minutes, but I don’t want to call him again… not just yet.”

Shae
walked to the dresser. She glanced at me as she began digging through her
clothes. “Why not?”

I
sighed. “Rafael will pick up on the fact that I’m hiding something when he
hears my voice. I don’t want to lie to him, but I don’t want to tell him what’s
going on with Maxim. Igor said he’d end up dead if he got in Maxim’s way. If Rafael
gets wind that some mafia guy has his sights set on me, he’ll be on the first
plane over here. So I want to hold off talking to him until this thing with
Maxim blows over.”

Shae
nodded. “I understand why you don’t want Rafael here. I wouldn’t want my
boyfriend going up against the Russian mafia, but this may not blow over any
time soon. You may have to talk to Rafael before this thing with Maxim is
resolved.” She offered a sympathetic smile as she set a dress and a pair of
heels at the end of her bed. “I’m going to take a quick shower.”

I
sent text messages to Rafael, Lexie, Kadyn, Cenia, and my mom. Then I pulled
out a pair of blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt and tossed them on my bed. I
slipped into the shower when Shae was done. She had left the bathroom all steamy
and warm.

I
tied a towel around my chest and opened the door to the bathroom so the steam
would roll out while I dried my hair. I tackled my makeup as soon as the fog
cleared from the mirror. I swiped dark brown eye shadow and plenty of mascara
over my eyes, but I kept my lip gloss and blush light. Then I curled my hair so
it fell down my back in waves. I was planning to dress down, but I didn’t want
to look like a complete wall flower.

I
tightened the towel around my chest and walked back into the bedroom to
retrieve my clothes. I stopped short of the bed. “Hey, what did you do with my
jeans?”

Shae
glared at me. “You are
not
wearing jeans. You’re wearing this.” She
pointed to the fitted black dress with the bolero sleeves that I had worn on my
first date with Rafael. She had also dug out my four inch glossy red heels and
the same red, black, and silver beaded bracelet that I had paired with the
dress when I wore it for Rafael. “I know what you’re trying to do, but I want
to go someplace nice, and they may have a dress code.”

I
shook my head as I reflected on Rafael’s reaction to the dress and shoes. “This
is so not going to end well.”

Sammi
rapped on the door. “Are you guys ready?”

“Just
a minute!” Shae called as she fastened the straps on her sandals.

I
cursed under my breath. I dropped the towel, tugged a black lace thong and bra
on, and pulled the dress over my head. I reached for my purse as I stepped into
my heels. I was still tugging the bracelet over my wrist when Shae opened the door.
I smoothed down the dress and fidgeted with the bracelet all the way down to
the lobby.

Oni
grinned when she saw the four of us file out of the stairwell. Igor rolled his
eyes.