𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 • 03 || ❝𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐞𝐫❞

>𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃

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𝐊 𝐑 𝐈 𝐒 𝐓 𝐈 𝐀 𝐍 • 𝐏 𝐄 𝐓 𝐑 𝐎 𝐕

I turn and leave the copper haired woman there; she looks at me with confusion before I left. I take the last exit and make my way to the darkened alleyway where my dark SUV is parked. The alleyway was filled of cobblestoned rocks and red bricked walls surrounding the entrance and exit of the path.

"Hey wait!" I turn and find the copper lisa [Fox] behind me.

"You're Kristian Petrov, aren't you?" She asks curiously, the light from the moon reflects from her dress, illuminating her facial features. Her eyes are blue and there are a few freckles sprinkled on her cheeks and nose.

"I am."

"What is a high-class business man doing at an art exhibition?" Some say curiosity killed the cat, but this woman in front of me won't stop until all her questions are answered.

"Because that is what high-class business men do." I keep the conversation to a minimum, my reputation around here is clean, some people know me as the Pakhan, some know me as a business man.

She takes in a deep breath and nods, of course she would know that not all business men attend these kinds of events, but luckily for me I'm not technically a business man. "It was nice meeting you." I attempt to close off the conversation. She nods and repeats the words back to me, walking back into the bricked building and dropping something at the entrance, I walk towards it and pick the card up.

I flip the card over and analyse the light pink card that is decorated with watercolour. 'Mila Orlov' there is a small number at the bottom of the card, but from my past knowledge this is her agents' number. I keep the card and place it into my pocket.

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It doesn't take me long to get back home, Tuesday night roads are never busy especially at 8:30PM. I enter the door to the mansion and look around to see if anyone is here. I go up to my bedroom and head to the en-suite bathroom, unbuckle my belt and pull my trousers along with my boxers down, before I unbutton my shirt, I turn the tap and let the shower warm up before my body is placed inside.

I allow the water drip from my hair down to my spine, the steam fogs up the bathroom probably leaving everything to condensate. I run my fingers through my hair and begin to massage the shampoo into my scalp, when my mother was around, she said that hygiene was the most important thing, that probably explains why I prefer things to be so tidy.

A few moments later I'm fully dressed in a navy suit with my hair still slightly damp, it doesn't really bother me but I sit in my office and get the paperwork ready for Cian's arrival. My neck turns quickly when I hear a knock on my office door, I allow them in and see little Nadia in Jace's arms wrapped up in a baby pink blanket, I've never been one to look at babies, but since she is Jace's I get up quickly and walk over there to watch her little features scrunch together, her lips become plump and her nose turns up before she pokes out her red tongue. Although Jace and I aren't brothers I already see Nadia as part of our family. Currently, she looks just like Rosalie, only hiding a few features of Jace with her facial expression.

I step back before Nadia wakes and check my wrist-watch, 9:00PM. Cian should be here in any moment ready to collect his weapons he's been waiting for.

I sit at my desk and begin to start my wait, I'm surprised Cian can be bothered to travel from Ireland to Russia, he's an impatient bastard and hates travelling down here. The sudden vibration draws my attention, I pull my phone out and see Cian's name light up the screen. "Where are you?" I enquire and watch as Jace exits the room to ensure Nadia's safety, I somewhat trust Cian, but you can never be too careful, anyone can be capable of anything.

"Just pulling up now, I'm outside." I hang up and walk out of my office to the front of the house, there I see Cian's platinum blonde hair and his dark eyes. "Kristian." He pats my shoulder. "Shall we?" I nod, I take him to my office ready for discussion.

"I appreciate doing business with you Kristian." I nod as Cian signs the dotted line.

"Thank you."

A few moments later Cian has signed his name several times and read through the load of paperwork, we both depart from the office and make our way to the garage.

I turn the light on and there Cian and I are faced with crates of weaponry, items from blades to grenades. "Perfect." Cian rubs his hands together and flips over a crate, he knows I would never lie about the weapons I've provided for him, but being a boss of a mafia organisation, you must make sure everything is up to standard and sometimes even the people you trust you have to question now and again.

I let Cian take the weapons to the van which won't hopefully take long for it to get to Ireland. I see Cian out and tap the side of the truck which is filled with its goods.

Cian and the van both go and money has already been put in the safe. I walk back into the mansion and find Jace in the kitchen. "Looks like we didn't need the weapons prepared after all." Jace chuckles.

"Thankfully."

I sit down at the table and reach for the whiskey and pour it into a cup, nursing it at first then taking the rim of the cup in between my lips and downing the liquid. Jace leans over and runs his fingers through his hair in frustration while Nadia is fast asleep in the rocking chair.

"What's up with you?" I cock up an eyebrow and stare at him, the man doesn't look like he's slept in the past seventy-two hours.

"Evan." He grits his teeth, the mention of a human who is showing an interest in his ex-wife. Jace and Rosalie haven't been separated long, but this Evan guy has always been a bit too close to Rosalie for Jace's liking, but now he can't do much about it. Rosalie isn't seeing him, God the poor woman wouldn't put herself in another relationship just yet. But the name of the man who clearly fancies Rosalie probably tastes like bile on his tongue.

"What's he doing now?" I say now because Evan is always doing something to piss Jace off, even if they share the same oxygen in a room, if Jace hears him breathe. But Jace won't do anything because Rosalie has a chance to have a half-normal life.

"What hasn't he done?" He asks rhetorically. I look over to where Nadia is resting peacefully, poor kid probably gets confused by being introduced to so many people.

"Anyway, how was the exhibition yesterday?"

"Yeah, it was fine." I say shortly, knowing full-well Jace wants to drop the conversation and stop speaking about people who are unimportant.

"How is Nikita?" Jace is the only one who knows about Nikita, he will be the only one who will ever know about her, because the more people that know about her, the more people that know about Nikita, the more people that will come after her. The last thing I want is her dying.

"Nikita is fine, how was Nadia while Cian was here?" I now decide to throw the questions at him.

"She fell asleep watching frozen." He chuckles, "I better get her home now though, Rosalie will kill me if she finds out I took her home later than usual." I nod and see him out. The last couple of days have been weird and have felt odd.

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I've been tossing and turning all night, but I can't get comfortable. The evening replays on my mind again and again. I think about how close I was with Nikita tonight and how that has been the closest I've ever gotten to her, but there won't be a next time.

I curse under my breath and sit up against the headboard of my bed and take my phone from the nightstand. It's very rare I do this, well, I've never done this before. I pull the pink card from behind my phone and memorise the name, I grab the laptop beside me and put her name into the data base.

I wait for a few seconds and find her name pop up onto my screen and several pictures that have been uploaded onto Instagram. I retrieve her username and begin to look at her through Instagram, I hate these platforms, but if I have to sign up for it just so I can see what she's up to then so be it. There aren't many pictures of her that are posted, they're mainly her art works. I scroll further and view the comments of her art, people are wanting to buy her paintings off her, they love her work so much they can't seem to get enough of it. I find myself smiling at the art, they're all different, but somehow, they're the same too.

I lose track of how long I scroll for, it's not even because she has posted loads of pictures, I just stare for a while at each one.

𝐌 𝐈 𝐋 𝐀 • 𝐎 𝐑 𝐋 𝐎 𝐕

"Please Anna." I sigh, "Just tell me who the buyer is." The whole evening my body has been riddled with anxiety, my painting that I didn't want to leave the exhibition has already been packed and verified both without my consent.

"You do realise that is breaching confidentiality." I can't tell how she's feeling, angry? Frustrated? Fine? I'm fiddling with my fingers waiting for her to get up the details of my buyer. "Anna please." I'm only asking her so that I can buy that painting back. I don't usually ask so nicely. It was never Anna's to sell in the first place. I try and take deep breaths while Anna gives in and does some quick typing on her laptop, I find myself looking out of the window, it's pitch-black outside and it's still an odd walk to get back to the dorms. But, I'm desperate and I'm not even sure why.

"See for yourself." Anna's voice pulls me away from the window, I'm pushing myself to her desk and analysing the description of the purchase. The amount, the painting, the name. I take in deep breaths before scrolling down slightly, and there I see the name, I end up holding my breath without even realising it. My eyes continue to scan the name, over and over again until my mind can register it.

Kristian Petrov. Fucker.