Ilick my lips as I look away from River and see Meredith’s mansion come into view. As soon as we pull up, the front door opens, and the old bitch is on her porch in a silk robe, hair in a messy bun, with big-ass earrings hanging from her ears, waiting impatiently.
I open the car door before River has the chance, and when he gets out of the car, she narrows her gaze on him. Perhaps it wasn’t such a great idea to bring him after all. Wishful thinking and all, she might still sic the dogs on him.
My eyebrows knit in confusion at the spatula in her hand.
“You didn’t care to tell me Alek’s galivanting around the countryside after some dancer? It’s better if he ends up dead,” she seethes as she points the spatula in my direction.
I walk two steps ahead of River as she pins him with a glare, her lips pressed into a thin line. She looks him up and down before her gaze rolls back over to me. “And you bring me back a boyfriend? Have I taught you and your brother nothing?” she scoffs, then turns back to head into the house, waving the spatula for us to follow her inside.
Into the lioness’s den we go. Because the old bitch is nothing if not unpredictable when in a bad mood. I know because she raised me to be the same.
When we close the door, I take my heels off at the door, and River removes his shoes too.
“She seems…”
“Crazy,” I finish for him. “But you’re not allowed to say that. Only I am. And besides, you insisted on coming along.”
In all the years I lived here, and those after, not much has changed. The old bitch took a liking to traditional Japanese housing design and so built her own modern version with paper sliding doors for all the main gathering rooms. She also liked the idea of everyone taking their shoes off at the door, which made for a wicked time for Alek and me as we stole guests’ shoes from time to time.
Meredith has a thing for consistency. It’s why everything about her regal ass hasn’t changed one bit. I’m pretty sure if I were to walk into my old bedroom, it would be untouched. I often wonder if Alek is the way he is today because of her, with his no-touching thing. Perhaps because she was so peculiar on cleanliness and where items were placed that he formed his own aversion to filth. But I doubt that, and never really dug deeper because I understood that was his issue, no matter how close we are. All I know for sure is that the way she molded us left a distinct impression.
I follow the smell of something burning in the kitchen.
“For fuck’s sake,” she curses as she throws a tray of muffins on the oversized island. Not once have I seen her in here. And her skills show it.
“Are you trying to burn the house down?” I ask.
“Very funny, smartass,” she says in her thick Russian accent. “The doctor said I should take up a hobby. It’ll be good for me, she says.” She lifts a cigarette to her mouth and takes a drag, then blows out a cloud of smoke.
“I’m sure the doctor could recommend cutting some things out,” I say pointedly. If you don’t want to end up dead, I add to myself.
The old bitch looks at River and then me. “Where are your guards?”
“They’re not needed in order to visit you, are they?” I ask diplomatically. But I know it’s the foreign man in her kitchen who she doesn’t trust. I know better than to introduce River, because Meredith prefers when people make way for her. She says you can read a lot about someone in the way they introduce themselves, and I don’t make the mistake to do it for him.
She opens the top drawer, pulls out a gun, and places it on the counter.
I roll my eyes. “Meredith, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “No? Because right now your brother is missing because he’s chasing pussy, and you seem distracted because of…” She waves her hand toward River and loses her words. “He’s beautiful, I’ll give him that. But you two have lost your ever-fucking minds.”
“He and I are nothing,” I’m quick to say, denying her insinuation about me and River. But River barges past me and holds out his hand with a cunning smile.
“The name is River, ma’am.” I cringe at his use of “ma’am,” and he doesn’t miss it either. He just looks at me and shoots me a small smirk.
“Oh, would you look at that… it speaks,” she says condescendingly as she takes another puff, ignoring his outstretched hand.
He smiles. “You two are more alike than I expected.”
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere here, boy,” she snarks back.
“Who said it was a compliment?” he replies sweetly.
Her eyebrows shoot up, and she turns to me. “I can see why you might’ve caught her attention,” Meredith says over the counter as she pours herself a glass of whiskey and then a second and hands it to River.
I’ve only ever seen him drink scotch, but he accepts it.
You can’t be serious? There’s no way he can win over this old bitch.
“River who?” she asks, properly appraising him.
I roll my eyes and sit on a stool at the counter. River remains standing at the edge, closest to the door, and I hope it’s an intentional exit strategy, because he might need it.
“River Bently,” he tells her.
Meredith looks into her whiskey as she swirls it with a cigarette hanging from her fingers. “Born and raised in Los Angeles, mother is a widow, and you run one of the largest gun selling businesses worldwide. Am I missing anything?”
Oh, I forgot to mention her photographic memory.
“Yes, but how did you…” River says, tensing his shoulders.
“Meredith has a photographic memory, and she keeps tabs on anyone of importance who steps into town,” I inform him.
“Meredith…” River says, brows pinched, and it’s rather nice and unusual watching him only figure out something now. “I know that name.”
Because if he looked into Alek’s and my foster papers, he would’ve seen a Miranda Petrov signed on the dotted line. What’s not on the records is the handsome price she paid to ensure we were handed to her.
“I’m sure you do, kid.” She nods.
River looks at me then.
“You were raised by Meredith Fork,” he says, eyeing me. “I get it. I get why you are who you are.” He looks back at Meredith, a new revelation sparking in his eyes. “You were known for your high-quality, no-nonsense bullshit. Cutthroat and one of the first and only women to run drugs and ammo. I heard rumor of you when I first started, but that your business was taken over by the Ivanov siblings.”
“Taken over or handed down, depending on what intel you choose to believe. If someone like me was taken down by the siblings, then they were someone not to be trifled with from the very start,” she says to him. “I gave them the perfect head start.”
She pins me with a stare. “It’s not easy being a woman in this line of business. You have to be more ruthless than any man. You’ll be wise to remember that, girl.”
“Meredith has retired,” I inform him, ignoring her not-so-subtle dig.
I’m reconsidering whether I should’ve brought River here at all now. Meredith has had lovers. Men at her beck and call. But having a man in your life permanently was a weakness to her.
I don’t know why she would look at River in any other way.
“Big shoes to fill,” River says in salute as he takes a sip of the whiskey.
“It would appear this generation gets distracted easily,” the old bitch tosses out, specifically for me.
“I’m pretty sure there’s been no complaints about the retirement fund you sit on and the monthly income you receive to give you all the time in the world to bake and burn fucking muffins,” I say back.
“I’m surprised, Anya, how quickly you’ve replaced Alek,” she purrs, flicking the ash off her cigarette. “What’s it been… three, four months since Alek disappeared? You’ve never learned how to be alone, have you?”
“I’ve only ever known how to be alone,” I snap. And her cold, calculated gaze is fixated on me. The rest of the sentence goes unsaid. I’ve only ever known how to be alone because of you.
She offers a sharp, antagonizing smile. “Yes, so I passed my business down to these two. Who have been doing great before I found out about Alek,” she says through clenched teeth to River. “So you can’t blame a mother for being concerned if the empire is going to shit.”
“Everything is fine,” I grit out.
She hmphs at me and takes a sip of her whisky. “So he decided to chase the dancer after all? Stupid, stupid boy. I told him to stay away.”
She pulls out a bag of flour and a new bowl.
“You know about her?” I ask, my eyebrows knitting in confusion.
River has since put his whiskey down and gravitated closer to me. I don’t know if he thinks it’s some kind of comfort, but I make sure to be out of arm’s reach in front of Meredith. Any type of touch, attachment, or endearment is viewed as a weakness.
I have only myself to blame for letting him come, but I’m not sure I could’ve stopped him either.
“Of course I do. You think I don’t still have my own informants? I don’t know much about the girl, and frankly, I don’t care. She’s a nobody.” Her accent slips out thicker. It always does when she’s scolding me or thinks someone has underestimated her intelligence.
“You think I don’t notice when one of my children becomes besotted with something or someone? I never thought he’d be stupid enough to actually chase after her. She’s most likely been sold, and he presumes with all his money and power he could buy her back. Little does he know the market in Russia is deadlier than here.” She shakes her head.
“Do you know her name?” I ask, thinking of the photo I received from the orphanage. Could it be the same girl?
She scoffs. “Of course I do. Cinita Aetos.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “She was a girl from our orphanage.”
The old bitch rolls her eyes. “Nothing good came from that place, I swear. I don’t even know how they got back in touch.”
I don’t bite back at her underhanded comment. Because Alek and I would never be good enough. She’s harder on me because I’m a woman in the man’s world she stepped away from for reasons I don’t entirely understand. Someone as power- and money-hungry as Meredith does not simply slip away. Or perhaps I’ve never truly understood Meredith at all.
“Do you plan to do anything about it?” she asks me. “Or do you plan to fuck your boyfriend here and pretend everything is okay in la-la land?”
“Boyfriend does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” River says, ignoring her insult. It further pisses me off.
“He’s an acquaintance, nothing more,” I remind him and her.
“Nothing more, huh?” River says with a smirk. The old bitch is watching us like a hawk, and I can tell she doesn’t like what she sees. I’m not sure I entirely do either. I stand and push the stool back.
“Of course I’m trying to replace him. You know more than anyone how difficult it can be to replace Alek when he chooses not to be found.”
She scoffs at that, probably remembering how Alek and I were as mischievous children and ungrateful teenagers.
“Since I don’t have anything to update you about Alek, we’re leaving. Good luck with your muffins.”
“You may be a boss, Anya, but you will treat me with more respect,” she scolds. “Don’t think you are untouchable.”
I offer a sharp smile. “Mother, that almost sounds like a threat.”
“Don’t think you’re too old to not have your ass handed to you,” she quips.
“I’d like to see you try,” I reply as I lean across the counter, a flash of adrenaline coursing through me as both our gazes dip to the gun between us.
“Have a good evening, Meredith,” I say as I push off the counter and turn my back to her. River quietly follows, and it’s strange in the way he was silent for most of the conversation. Then again, that shouldn’t have been a conversation he was a part of. It’s no secret Alek is missing. But I wonder if he will exploit me with the knowledge of who my foster mother truly is.
We put our shoes on and walk out the front door.
“Is it always like that between you and Meredith?” he asks.
“Sometimes we throw knives at a target for sport. You don’t do that with your mother?” I ask, and I can tell he doesn’t know if I’m joking or not. I’m not.
“So, are you going to fuck me now so we can be done with this arrangement?” I ask.
He chuckles as he opens the car door for me. “Don’t get your panties in a twist at me, Red. I told you to stay at dinner, didn’t I?”
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