Irina didn’t even bother to finish her request before she was crossing the floor and pulling Ruslan into a tight hug. Kaz didn’t mind that the attention wasn’t on him. After all, he’d seen her two weeks prior, and Ruslan … he couldn’t remember the last time Ruslan had seen their mother.
“I’m so happy you could make it.” Pulling back after a moment, she touched his face in motherly affection, looking him over for any changes since the last time she’d seen him. “You look thinner. Are you eating?”
Only Irina would be able to notice that Ruslan’s massive size was smaller.
“I’m fine, Mama.”
“What are you eating? You can’t just eat at that club of yours, syn.”
When she called him ‘son,’ Ruslan smiled, soft and fleeting. “It’s not so bad.”
“Nonsense. I’ll make you something before you go.”
“Where’s Vasily?” Kaz asked, butting into their conversation.
Irina frowned, her joy at seeing Ruslan deflating like a balloon. “Out back entertaining.”
Giving Ruslan a pointed look, Kaz said, “I’ll go and speak.”
At least then his brother would have more time with Irina.
Clapping Ruslan on the shoulder and kissing Irina’s cheek, Kaz headed out the back, scanning the crowd below from his position on the deck. He could spot the twins with ease as they were at the center of a group of girls, huddled together as they talked. Parents mingled, most with drinks in hand, and on the outskirts of it all was a number of Vasily’s men. They were careful to be present, but unseen.
It was what they were good at.
And off to the side, smoking a Cuban was Vasily, holding court amongst a group of men as though he were the king of them all. In his head, he probably was.
On his way down, Kaz ran into the one person he wasn’t expecting to see.
Older than him by a year, Vera was the sibling he was closest to since they were so close in age. She looked like a younger version of their mother, though she did have Vasily’s eyes. Most confused them for twins.
Unlike Kaz and Ruslan, who were deeply involved in the life, Vera wanted no part of it. And the day after she turned eighteen, she had moved out and put as much distance between her and Vasily as possible. The only time she came around was during holidays and birthdays. Otherwise, he went to her.
Vera might have looked annoyed as she came up the stairs—though this was just what she looked like—but she smiled when she noticed Kaz. “I’m surprised you didn’t forget about today, Kaz.”
He had … but he wasn’t going to tell her that. “How’s my favorite sister?”
“As well as to be expected, considering present company.”
While Kaz didn’t have the best of relationships with Vasily, Vera and Ruslan’s was worse—the second by his own actions, and the former because Vera just downright loathed the man. Sometimes Kaz thought he understood why, it wasn’t like they had the best of childhoods, but other times, Kaz didn’t think he knew the gravity of Vera’s hatred for their father.
“And your business?” he asked.
Vera had started an interior design business, and was quite successful. “Everything’s good. How are you? Mama says you might have gotten into trouble …”
While Irina wouldn’t ask, Vera would. “It was nothing.”
Though it was starting to seem like it was something …
“Be careful, Kaz,” she said, lowering her voice. “Don’t give him a reason.”
Kaz inclined his head, the only response he was willing to give to that. “Rus is inside,” he said instead. “He’ll be happy to see you.”
Vera knew exactly what Kaz was saying as they both looked over in Vasily’s direction, whose attention was on them. “Right. We’ll catch up later, Kaz.”
She was gone in a flurry of maroon, leaving Kaz to start across the yard toward his father. He didn’t immediately recognize a few of the men standing around Vasily, but his father didn’t waste a second in introducing him. Kaz nodded, the most he ever did when around people he didn’t know.
If he didn’t know them, he didn’t trust them.
That was how he’d stayed alive this long.
“You’re late,” Vasily said after he’d excused them, and they stepped off to the side. “You know better.”
“I had to buy birthday presents,” Kaz said by way of explanation.
Vasily was quiet for a moment. “And is that the only reason?”
Kaz knew what he was really asking—whether it was somehow Ruslan’s fault that they were tardy, and he was merely covering for his brother. It wouldn’t be the first time he had, and probably wouldn’t be the last, but on this particular instance, Ruslan wasn’t to blame.
“It’s a nice day,” Kaz said gesturing out with an arm around them, a smile lighting up his face in case any others were observing their conversation. “Let’s act like it, yes?”
While Vasily might not have liked Kaz’s words, judging from the scowl on his face, he wouldn’t call him on it. Not today. “Have you been doing what I asked, regarding that girl?”