"Has Sergei met her, Son?" The dad's perma-worried expression deepened.
How could such a fearful man be Nikky's dad?
"He has." Brown eyes held hers, warning her not to say more. It was unnecessary. Tatyana didn't understand the dynamics between grandfather, dad, and son well enough to toy any further with it. Yet.
"And?" The mom chewed on her bottom lip.
"And his opinion doesn't matter. I don't need his permission. I marry whom I please." Nikky held out his hand to her. Tatyana took it. "And Tatyana pleases me very much." Looking into his eyes, Tatyana almost forgot it was all an act.
"He doesn't approve?" Mr. Kaerta straightened. "Son, I don't thinkȄ"
"Enough," Nikky barked.
Because the grandfather didn't approve, the dad didn't approve. It was a decision made with no thought to Nikky's happiness. He had no direct support.
From his parents. Tatyana squeezed Nikky's hand. The hell with them then. She'd support Nikky. She was all he needed. Her mom had been all her dad needed.
"It'd be romantic if he didn't approve, wouldn't it, Nikky?" There was no response from him. "It's a family tradition." She appealed to the mom's sentimental streak. "My mom's dad didn't approve of her choice, either. That didn't stop her. Her love for my dad was so strong that they married anyway."
"And what did your grandfather do then?" Mr. Kaerta demanded.
That was where the story became a little less romantic, but Tatyana wouldn't lie, not about her family history. "He never spoke to her again."
A gasp. "Nikolay, you wouldn't...," his mom fretted.
"He approves," he said almost absentmindedly, his eyes on her face, the perceptive ass realizing it wasn't a fictional story. "Grandfather approves."
He dared to pity her. Her. Because she didn't have his big fucked up family. "He does."
Damn them both. "You might even say our engagement was his idea." She forced a defiant laugh. She didn't care about Nikky and his pity. He was going to die.
The door opened. A round balding man approached them. He bent, whispering something into Nikky's ear. Nikky pulled his hand from hers. "If you excuse me, I must see to something." Something not very cheerful from the sound of it. "Behave yourself, Brat." A kiss on her forehead and he was gone.
She plastered a smile onto her lips. "Did Nikky behave himself as a child, Momma Kaerta?"
She doubted it. He didn't behave himself as an adult.
Yuri opened the door but didn't follow him in. Grandfather sat alone in the room, a lit cigar in one ringed hand, a demitasse in the other. Yet another private meeting. "Nikolay." A condescending smile lifted Grandfather's lips.
Because he had been called to heel like a damn dog. "Grandfather." Nik sat close but not too close.
"The lunch goes well?" The demitasse was set down.
Grandfather knew about the lunch. Grandfather made it his business to know everything.
"Well enough." The brat was in fine form, the crack about him crying driving Nik to the brink of violence. Respect. That was all he asked for.
"If your parents give trouble..."
He would fix it, Grandfather's implication. "I can handle my parents." They were followers looking for a leader.
Grandfather chuckled. "You always could, even as a child." He puffed on the cigar, smoke swirling around them. A normal person would have died of lung cancer years ago. Not his grandfather. He was stronger than ever. "Chan is distributing a photo. He's looking for her."
"I know." Until he talked to Chan, she'd go nowhere without a bodyguard. "She's my responsibility," he reminded his grandfather.
"She's my responsibility. It was my word given to protect her." A cold stare.
Nik held it. "She's my fiancee." He would not tolerate interference.
Grandfather smiled slowly. "What do you know of this fiancee of yours?"
What did Grandfather want to know? "Enough." Her mother had been a brat also, it sounded like, walking away from a controlling parent.
As he wanted to, right now.
"Her people?"
Grandfather had asked that of Tatyana at their first meeting. "You heard her, dead." Or disowned, but that information was none of Grandfather's business. His relationship was none of Grandfather's business.
Grandfather sucked on the cigar, the smoke thickening, testing Nik's limited patience. The brat was unsupervised, left alone with his parents, and the silence ate precious minutes.
Was there a purpose to this meeting?
"I contacted Igroek," Grandfather released that bombshell almost defiantly.
Akim Igroek had been a business partner and good friend of Grandfather's before they had a mysterious falling out. Now they split the country along east and west lines, purposely avoiding each other. That Grandfather would contact him... "Why?"
"It was time." That topic officially closed.
"What do you wish me to do?" To prepare. Would they be dealing with both Chan and Igroek at the same time?
"Nothing." Ringed hands waved in dismissal.
Nik was tired of it, being dismissed like he meant nothing, shutting up when he had more to say, but now was not the time to address it. The brat was waiting and he had enough problems to deal with. He strode to the door.
"Nikolay," Grandfather called out. Nik stopped, like the well trained dog he was. "Treat her well, the girl."
"She's mine. I'll treat her as I wish."
Although Tatyana kept a smile on her face, the atmosphere shifted when Nikky returned to the table. His foul mood told her right away that someone had died. Was it Maggy, the green-eyed woman? Boris, the good looking bodyguard? Her heart froze. Please let it not be the baby.
"We're leaving." Nikky stood and Tatyana didn't argue.
"We'll see you tonight?" Mrs. Kaerta asked eagerly as she embraced Tatyana. She was a nice woman, a nice woman Tatyana had killed by spending time with. Everyone she knew died.
Everyone.
"Yes," Nikky answered for both of them, Tatyana's mind preoccupied with the list of potential victims.
She waited until they were a safe distance away before asking, "Who was it?" It wasn't the bodyguard, the young man had been waiting for them outside the room.
"Who was what?" Nikky had a solid grip on her hand, drawing her through the casino floor,
