Shadows
Chapter 19
Discussions





“There’s no doubt we have someone selling us out,” Sergey told his brother. “Three times now we have had information that would have given us a chance against the Cappelli’s and three times it has slipped through our fingers.”
“I know. We’ll find who’s leaking to them, Serge. Damn I’d like to see those bastards dead. As well as Sava’s house mate, there have been two other kids dead from bad drugs this week,” Nikita answered.
“I was paranoid about that at first. I thought the kid might have been some kind of plant to get close to my boy,” Sergey admitted.




“I can see why you were worried. How is he coping?” Nikita asked.
“Badly. He’s blaming himself. He says he saw what was happening and didn’t act quickly enough. I think that he wasn’t sure enough of what he was seeing. He’s still just a kid himself. And his girlfriend thought that he was overreacting.
“He needs a break. He’s been studying hard and didn’t need this added stress. The holiday will do him good. I see Brooke’s coming with us,” Nikita gave his brother a mischievous look. “Getting pretty serious with her, isn’t it?”




Sergey smiled to himself, his mind drifting from the discussion in hand back to the night before and the hot tub. He had discovered several months before that his girl liked to make love in the hot tub.
“She’s a wonderful woman, Serge. You’ve been lucky, finding two great women in your life. I’ve had girlfriends since the accident, but nobody like Brooke.”
“I know. I want to marry the girl, but I haven’t asked her, because I’m scared, Nikita. We’ve been together for more than a year and she hasn’t come to the Cappelli’s attention. She’s stayed over a few nights but mostly she goes home.”





“We’ve kept it really low key in work, too. I don’t want her to become a target,” Sergey worried.
Nikita said nothing. He could see his brother’s point.
“Slava gets home this evening. Are you guys still coming over for dinner?” Sergey asked.
“Of course. Sasha wants to bring his new girlfriend. Is that all right?”
“No problem. See you about eight?”
Which, Sergey thought, gave him the late afternoon and early evening with Brooke alone.
“And don’t worry. We’ll get this traitor,” Nikita assured him.

Threats




Brooke had already been at his loft when he had got home. He had given her key months before. She had been swimming steady, hard working lengths of the pool. She hated other forms of exercise but loved to swim. He changed and joined her. After, they moved to the hot tub.
He took her hand laughing as they sat side by side in the water.
“You are either going to wrinkle into nothing from being in the water so much or you are going to grow a tail,” he teased.
“Well I hope not the tail,” she grinned. “I thought that you liked my legs.”





He turned around and pinned her against the edge of the tub.
“Damn right I do. Especially when they are wrapped around me,” he growled hoarsely.
Brooke settled back against the side of the tub and pulled him closer, her legs around his waist.
“Like that?” she asked sweetly.





“Exactly like that,” he agreed, kissing and nibbling her neck and ear.
Brooke moaned contentedly as he planted soft, light kisses over her face and neck. His mouth moved down across her shoulders, the depth of the kisses changing, the pressure of his mouth becoming firmer.

He crushed her against his chest and played his mouth across hers, light and teasing, his tongue flicked over her lips and barely entering her mouth.




Brooke wriggled out from beneath him and grabbed him, almost submerging him as she kissed passionately, pushing her tongue deep into his mouth. She could feel the vibration of his laughter inside her own mouth.
“Pushy woman,” he said, still laughing, as she tugged at the waistband of his trunks.
His fingers found the bow fastening of her bikini top and tugged at it.




He threw the wet handful of their clothing away from the tub and brought her naked flesh against his, telling her that she was beautiful.
She wound her long legs around him again, angling her hips to take him inside her. She clenched her muscles, tightening around him. Sergey’s breath hissed between his teeth and he rocked against her.





“I love you,” he told her breathlessly as he moved within her, keeping his eyes locked on hers.
Brooke said nothing, but her heart leapt in her chest. It was the first time he had said those words. She slid her hands to his buttocks and pulled him further inside her, wrapping her legs more tightly around him moving with him to their explosive climax, the best she had ever experienced.


Frighteners




Ladislaus looked pale, Brooke thought, and he was far quieter than was usual for him. He listened to the conversation around the table and smiled at the jokes, but he did not contribute as he usually did.
Alexei’s little girlfriend Anita was a little livewire, though, and kept the table amused with her stories and jokes. The flame haired child seemed to be somewhat prone to landing herself in scrapes and had a wealth of hilarious tales about her antics.
“I wish I was going with you guys on holiday,” she complained. “We’re staying home this year and I hear Tikki Island is gorgeous.”
“This time of year isn’t the best. There’s quite a lot of rain. But it’s the only time we can all get away together,” Sergey told her.




After the meal Nikita, Alexei and Anita cleaned the kitchen, laughing and joking still.
Brooke took the contents of the trash compactor outside to the main dustbin.





Walking back to the stair case she froze as three men suddenly approached her, cutting her off from the way back in to the loft. Their movements were swift and calculated.
“Solarin’s bitch,” the blond man grinned.
“You’re being watched, slut,” the creepy one in the top hat leered.
Terrified, Brooke tried to back away from them. They closed in around her like a pack of hyenas.
Suddenly, as the men moved closer she heard Sergey’s voice yelling and he was running towards them with Ladislaus just behind him. She cried out with relief and tried to walk around the men to get to Sergey.





The blonde and the redhead quickened pace to move past her and out onto the main street. The strange one waited long enough to tip his hat and mutter that they would meet again, chilling Brooke to the core... She ran past him trembling.
She almost fell into Sergey’s arms, sobbing with fear, her legs shaking.
Sergey picked her up and held her against him. Ladislaus walked on out to the main street.
“There was a car waiting. They’ve gone,” he reported back.
“Let’s get back inside,” Sergey said quietly.





“This is what I was worried about,” he told Brooke as he held her against him. “That they would try to get to me through you. Brooke, honey, maybe we shouldn’t...”
“Don’t! I won’t let them split us!” Brooke cried. “I love you and I won’t let them win.”
Ladislaus laid a hand on Brooke’s arm and smiled at her. His face was even paler than it had been.
“We just have to be even more careful about everything this family does,” Brooke said emphatically. “Protect each other.”
Sergey smiled to himself at her words. ‘This family’. He glanced at Ladislaus. The boy’s eyes were filled with tears. Brooke was seriously concerned for him.





“Sergey, how did you know I was in trouble?” Brooke asked.
“Ladislaus. He realised you had gone out and was worried. He looked out into the street and called me when he saw those guys. He’s pretty edgy right now. Rightly so it seems.”
“He needs that break,” Brooke said.