"Nikolay would have shot me," Grandfather said with pride. "His gun hand was rock steady."
"You trained him well," Igroek conceded.
Trained him. Like a damn dog. "You going to play or talk?" Nik scowled at his hand. He'd rather be holding Tatyana than cards.
"I fold." That would be talk. Grandfather tossed his cards on the table. "Guess I should be booking a flight to Philadelphia soon, huh, Igroek. Look over my new city."
"Go to hell, Kaerta." Igroek slammed chips down. "I raise."
Tatyana's grandfather bluffed. He had nothing. But he was too proud to fold. A weakness Nik would exploit in the future, to ensure Tatyana's happiness. .
"A new city, a new granddaughter." Grandfather sounded pleased. "I couldn't have arranged it better myself."
"You did arrange it yourself." Grandfather had been the one to suggest their engagement from the beginning. And he'd complied, obedient dog that he was.
"Did I? No, I believe the engagement was your idea, Nikolay." His chair creaked as Grandfather leaned back.
It wasn't like Grandfather to reinvent history. "It was the only solution." Igroek, as impatient as his granddaughter was, called.
"There is always more than one solution to every problem. That was yours. It wasn't mine."
What was he saying? Nik laid his cards on the table. There were groans. Igroek cursed. "You said nothing." What other solution was there? He gathered up the chips, stacking them.
"What could I say?" He bumped his cigar against the ashtray. "I knew who she was, I recognized the ears. I knew the mess that would follow. That I'd have to deal with him again." Grandfather's nose wrinkled in disgust. Igroek looked even less happy. "But you wanted her, Nikolay, we all saw that, and what you want, you get."
"She is an Igroek. Why wouldn't he want her?" Igroek motioned to his man, Mikhail, the bodyguard with the snarly face. "I have something I want you to give her." Igroek passed a long velvet box from the bodyguard to Nik. "To wear tonight. Don't tell her it is from me, you understand?"
Because if Tatyana knew it was from Igroek, she wouldn't wear it. And it meant something to the old man that she did. Nik opened the box. A pendant on a fine gold chain, a mauve enameled egg covered with tiny gemstones.
Igroek poked at the egg. It opened, revealing a tiny golden swan. "This is an heirloom?" Nik asked. It had to be. It was a miniature work of art.
"My wife wore it on our wedding day. My daughter was to wear it on hers, but..." Igroek stared at the egg, his lips moving with no words. "You will tell her to wear it tonight," he demanded.
No one told Tatyana to do anything. "She will wear it." It was beautiful. It wouldn't take much convincing. "You want it back?" That would be more difficult.
"Ah." Igroek waved his hand. "It is hers to keep. Give it to your sons to give to their wives."
"Or to our daughters to wear on their wedding day." Nik wanted his little girl.
"You will haveȄ"
"Igroek," Grandfather barked.
Fifteen
"Every leader makes mistakes. You learn from them or they kill you."ȄSergei Kaerta
"I'm glad you came to your senses, Nikolay, before the flowers wilted." His mother glowered at him. Like it was his fault the wedding had been delayed. "I misted them to keep them fresh."
"They look good, Mother." Nik didn't care about the flowers. As long as this night ended with him married to the brat, he'd be satisfied.
His apprehension over that happening grew as Joey Chan entered the church. He was flanked by four men, too many for a casual attendance. Their eyes met. Chan's chin lifted in a dare. Shit. There was trouble.
Nik glanced over at Pavel. The big man nodded, crossing his arms. He was aware of the danger.
"You're not angry, are you Nikolay? Because I helped Tatyana?" His mother worried, tweaking his boutonniere for the thousandth time, as his father talked to the priest.
Why would his mother helping Tatyana with the flowers make him angry? "Of course not."
It was ridiculous.
And distracting. Chan moved through the church. His casual pauses at the exits would have been imperceptible if Nik hadn't been watching for them.
"Good." His mother's shoulders lowered. "Maybe if you talked to your grandfather, he won't...he won't be upset with me, with your father."
"Grandfather?" That got Nik's full attention. "Why would he be upset about flowers?" He glanced back. Shit. Chan was gone, Pavel missing also. "We'll talk about this later, Mother."
He squeezed his mother's shoulder before slipping into the corridor. Tatyana would be in one of the private rooms, fixing that frizzy hair of hers one more time.
"You don't want Kaerta as an in-law." Nik heard Chan before he saw him. Who was he talking to? Nik inched along the wall, losing his boutonniere as it scraped against the stone.
"My granddaughter wants the Kaerta grandson as a husband. That is all that matters."
Igroek, defending him or negotiating for a better offer from Chan, Nik didn't know which. If it was the latter, he was negotiating from strength, positioned in front of the door, a brute to his left and to his right.
"Come on, Igroek." Chan chuckled. "We're businessmen and marriage is a business deal.
This is not about what the girl wants. This is about what we want."
"And what do you want?"
Negotiating, it was. Another backstabbing bastard. Damn it. The darkness to Nik's right shifted. Pavel. His number one man had his guns ready. A shoot out in the church on their wedding day with his wife-to-be's grandfather dead by his hand. Fuck. Tatyana would beat him into next Sunday.
"I want your support, financially and in manpower, for west coast expansion. That's it. I won't interfere with the east. That'll be your territory. You know Kaerta will promise no such thing. Rumor is...he has his eye on Philadelphia."
Philadelphia, the city Igroek already lost. Nik's top lip curled. Chan was a crafty bastard.
"And what do I get?" Igroek's face held no expression.
"You get everything, a united empire,
