Chapter 47

Hannah

After school, Nikolai gave me a ride to the coffee shop to meet Katya. After we had our talk, he was back to being his typical possessive self, escorting me to each class and waiting for me when I got out. I briefly wondered how he was always there when I got out of my class. Did he leave all of his classes early?
“Do you need me to pick you up?” Nikolai asked as he pulled up to the coffee shop.
“No, I think Katya can drop me off,” I responded, gathering up all my belongings, preparing to get out of the Range Rover. Before I got anywhere, I felt Nikolai’s hand at the back of my neck, pulling me to him to give me a kiss. It was sweet; he’d been sweet all day after our conversation, like he was trying to apologize with actions to compensate for his limitations with words.
“Text me when you get home, okay?” Nikolai said, rubbing my cheek with his thumb. Again, this request felt like another apology for last night’s lack of contact.
I nodded. “Okay.” I reached up and gave him one quick peck on the mouth before hopping out of the car and running up to the door of the cafe. I looked back and saw Nikolai still sitting there, watching me go in, so I waved again. He gave me that nod with his chin and put the car in reverse and drove away.
I walked in and saw Katya sitting by the window watching Nikolai drive away. She looked amazing, as usual, with the late afternoon sun making her long red hair shimmer. She shot me a victorious smile as I sat down.
“I saw that,” Katya said with happy accusation, I assumed in reference to Nikolai’s goodbye kiss.
“What?” I asked, pretending to misunderstand. She socked me on the arm from across the table and I laughed. She asked me what I wanted, popped up to order our drinks and returned awkwardly carrying two lattes and a plate of pastries.
“Okay, tell me everything,” Katya demanded after she sat down and took a bite of a cinnamon roll.
I laughed and filled her in on what happened at the party, which seemed like a million years ago. Katya practically levitated with glee.
“I love it. Nikolai must be going crazy. I don’t think he’s ever had a girlfriend,” Katya commented with good-natured anticipation.
“Based on a couple of observations, I’m going to have to agree with you.” Although I meant the comment to be funny, Katya jerked her gaze back to mine and frowned.
“What observations?” she asked warily.
“Well, we were at Nikolai’s house and as we were leaving, we bumped into his father.” Katya’s eyes widened. “It did something to Nikolai. He just acted really weird. He shut down. I found out later he got into a huge fight with some guys from your school.” Katya winced at that, but I wasn’t sure if was on Nikolai’s behalf, or on the behalf of her school mates. “He wouldn’t talk to me or text me. I found him in the cafeteria, and we talked about it, and how he shuts down, but the fighting thing is still a somewhat controversial topic.” My tone of voice and expression must have conveyed the discomfort I still felt regarding Nikolai’s tendency towards violence because Katya reached over and grabbed my hand in sympathy.
“I’m so sorry, Hannah. Nikolai’s doesn’t have a good relationship with his father. I know he had been showing more interest in joining his father at one point, but then pulled away, and it has made an already tense relationship much worse. It’s hard to have a good relationship with your parents when this is their life. I would know, my father is in the same business.” Katya responded sadly. I figured this was how they knew each other, but I was glad to have it confirmed. Maybe I could ask some more in-depth questions about Nikolai and his father. “But Nikolai’s father is in charge, so that makes it much worse for Nikolai. His father is….” Katya drifted off, but her expression transformed into one of disgust and fear.
“Unsettling? Creepy? Gross?” I offered.
Katya gave a quick laugh. “Yes, all of those. I’ve never felt comfortable around him, but it’s gotten worse in the last couple of years. To be honest, my father isn’t much better. I try to avoid both as much as possible,” Katya said morosely.
“What happened to Nikolai’s mother?” I asked curious, but certain I wasn’t going to like the answer.
“I don’t know. She disappeared when Nikolai was six,” Katya said, dropping her barely eaten cinnamon bun and staring forlornly out the window. “Same as my mom.”
“What?” I gasped. “I’m so sorry, Katya! Both your moms disappeared at the same time?”
Katya nodded and sighed and looked at me. “Sorry if I’m being a bummer, Hannah. I haven’t thought about this stuff in a while, even though it’s always sort of in the back of my mind.”
“You’re not being a bummer. I’m the one who insensitively brought all of this up, so please don’t apologize.” I felt terrible. I obviously hadn’t known any of this when I asked about Nikolai’s mother, but I felt terrible all the same. Poor Katya. Poor Nikolai. I couldn’t imagine if my mother just vanished. “We can stop talking about it. I’m so sorry I brought it up,” I said with abject sincerity.
Katya gave a sad, sweet smile. “It’s okay, Hannah. It’s kind of nice being able to talk to someone. I don’t actually have many friends, to be honest. Not real friends. My family’s reputation makes it a challenge. I mean, I’m popular at school because I’m rich and my family is powerful and mysterious, but I don’t have any close friendships. People either want to be friends out of curiosity, or they avoid me because they think associating with me closely will get them killed. I don’t think I have to explain the impact it’s had on my love life, right?” Katya added, raising her brows to emphasize her point. Yes, I could imagine most guys being too nervous to make a move on the daughter of a mobster.
“But you,” she continued. “Thankfully, by meeting you through Nikolai and not at school, it’s like I got to meet you like a normal person, you know?”
I nodded my head. “I don’t think you would have been bowled over by my popularity status if you went to my school, so it’s probably better we met the way we did. For both of us,” I ended on a chuckle.
Wanting to move away from the heaviness of our previous topic, I started telling Katya some details about what happened Friday night, including what happened with Jeff. When I shared Nikolai’s reaction to Jeff’s aggression, Katya nodded her head in agreement with his actions.
“I mean, seriously, Hannah, what was this Jeff guy thinking? Does he have a death wish?”
I blew out a breath, a humorless smirk on my face. “Believe me, if I knew what Jeff was thinking all this time, I could have probably navigated him more successfully.” It was hard to keep the bitterness out of my voice. Katya shot me a sympathetic look and reached out for my hand, as if to comfort me. Again, I was struck by how amazing it felt to have support, to be able to share my struggles with someone and get a compassionate response. It turned my bitterness into instant gratitude, as I patted her hand and resumed my story.
As we were chatting back and forth, and Katya was peppering me with questions like a seasoned interrogator, I noticed a dark-haired man in a suit staring at us periodically. Actually, he was staring at Katya. He was seated at the bar and angled in a way where I saw him more clearly than she did. Although I was aware that Katya was very attractive, his interest in her didn’t seem romantic. It looked…sinister. Shaking my head to dispel my paranoia, I looked back over to Katya who was giving me a puzzled frown.
“Hello, Hannah? Where did you go?” she asked.
I paused, debating whether to even mention the guy to her, but considering who her family was, I figured this might be the one case where my paranoia was warranted. “There’s a guy in a suit over at the bar. Don’t look at him, but I think he’s been watching us. Watching you.” Katya stiffened, then relaxed marginally, schooling her features into one of placid neutrality. I took a sip of my latte and she casually scanned the bar, scanning the crowd for suspicious character. When her eyes locked on him, he quickly looked down at his phone. Katya’s expression became perceptibly more alarmed, but she smiled to cover it.
“Hannah,” she said urgently. “I might be paranoid here but being a part of my family has taught me to trust my gut. Everything in my gut is telling me that guy is a problem. This place is starting to clear out, and when it does, we’ll be in trouble. These mob guys can be bold. We have to get out of here.” Katya continued smiling at me, which was incredibly creepy when combined with her panicked tone of voice. “I think if we try to stay around other people, and walk quickly to my car, we’ll be fine.”
Jesus, was this really happening? Was I really caught up in mob-related, criminal undertaking? What did they want with Katya? Blood pounding in my ears, I slowly got up, and plastered an equally fake smile on my face as we made our way to the door of the cafe. The suit also got up to follow us and my heart started galloping in my chest.