Page 18 of Bedazzled
“I am fine,” I did not mean to speak as harshly as I did, but he did not seem to take offense. “We need to be seen there, together.”
Currently…
“The Morozov men have come to see us again! Such a pleasure!” Philippe-Alain bustled over, his ruddy, round face beaming as if he was truly happy to see us. His gaze went to Tania and Ella and he gave a little bow. “And you have broughtsuchdelightful company with you.”
“This is Maksim’s lovely bride, Ella Morozov, and my beautiful companion is Tania Hernandez.”
“Ladies!” He placed extravagant kisses on their hands and beamed at us all. “Come, let’s make you comfortable.”
“Merci Monsieur,”Tania said,“J'ai tellement entendu parler de votre nourriture.”
“You have heard of our simple meals here?” Philippe-Alain gasped, pretending to be humble. “I will bring you something special,mon cherie.”
He settled us at our table with a great deal of fussing and noise, and then withdrew gracefully. He was a master at reading the room; when a guest needed more attention, or when it was time to absent himself as quickly as possible.
Maksim looked at Tania, brow raised, “I didn’t know you spoke French.”
“Oh, she’s good with languages,” Ella said proudly.
Tania shrugged, giving her ‘I’m so modest and demure smile,’ and then leaned into me a bit, whispering, “So, the couple by the balcony…” She nodded at an older couple, ignoring each other as they both flirted with the waitstaff. “He’s a male fashion influencer, super famous for modeling fur coats over his naked body, which has so much hair it is indistinguishable from the actual coat.”
I suppressed a smile. This was Tania’s favorite game when we were out on a date. But here, there could be no backstory she could possibly imagine that would be as shocking or outrageous as the reality. She was speculating about Bujar Toska, head of the Albanian Mafia, best known for dipping his victims - slowly - into vats of acid.
An excruciatingly vivid memory surfaced from when I had been tied to that table, covered in blood, and praying that they had not severed my arm. As they powered down the chainsaw, they discussed acid as the next atrocity they had planned for me.
I took a long swallow of my drink and forced a smile. “And he recreates the pose of lying naked on a bearskin rug in front of a roaring fire, because…”
“...No one can tell he’s naked,” she whispered back, trying to keep her hoarse little chuckle low. “Now, his lovely companion…” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. The woman in question was younger by twenty years than Bujar, but still quite a bit older than I knew he preferred.
“She is actually the first woman astronaut, Valentina Tereshkova…” Tania drew the name out slowly, using her best Russian accent. “But, the Vostok 6 went through a mysterious solar flare which altered her DNA and made herimmortal.”She leaned closer, really getting into the tall tale she was spinning for me. “But! Every ten years she turns into a-”
“Yuri Morozov, I wouldn’t have expected to see you out so soon!”
“Julio Ortega,” Maksim said coldly, “we thought business in Mexico kept you busy?”
Ortega had just inherited control over the Sangre cartel, by killing his father. He was young, but vicious and cunning. And a sadistic bastard.
He made a dismissive gesture, “Hey, Maksim, well, I have to make time to visit all my friends here on the East Coast. Like you two, huh? I’m opening up new lines of distribution that you should take a look at before they’re all spoken for.” His eyes darted between Ella and then Tania, who was blessedly silent but eyeing him like she was trying to assign a species to him.
A white-hot stab of agony tore through my shoulder when he patted it heavily, his hand slapping down hard. “And how about you? How you doing, Yuri? I heard thosepinche pendejoscut you into pieces, huh?”
“As you can see, Ortega, I’m still here, alive and well.” There was not the slightest hint of the pain I was feeling in my voice. Our father trained that out of us early.
He was avidly searching me for wounds, though the long scar that ran across my forehead and down my left cheekbone was enough to catch his attention, searingly red and still swollen.
Tania touched my thigh gently. “Hey, honey, our food’s arrived, but I think the waiters are too nervous about interrupting this?”
I loved this woman.
I knew she was dying to make some scathing remark to Ortega, but she kept her promise while still giving me an opening to get rid of him. She smiled at me innocently and I kissed her hand.
“You’ll have to excuse us, Ortega, these ladies have never enjoyed Philippe-Alain’s food before.”
“Yeah, his food is worth the trip, just for dinner…” He was still lingering, his eyes went back to Tania, surveying her thoughtfully.
“If you’ll excuse us?” Maksim’s voice made it clear the conversation was over.
Tania squeezed my leg. “That fucker,” she hissed as he walked away, “patting you on the left shoulder?”
