She gasped and swung around to see Nicolai standing there. She hadn’t even heard him approach nor had she even realized that a tear rolled down her cheek until it was too late. She quickly used the back of her hand to wipe it away and then turned from him.
“I’m sorry to have frightened you. Are you okay?” he asked her, in that deep tone of voice laced with a Russian accent. She knew that he was a man of honor and respect, one of the highest bosses of the Russian mob. Being her father came last.
She looked at him. “I’m okay, and just enjoying the art you have on display. This piece right here reminds me of my home,” she said to him and looked at it.
“Is that so?” he asked, joining her. She turned to look up at him. He was a very attractive man with bright blue eyes identical to hers. She had his thick, distinguished eyebrows and a little bit of his nose. Most of her features, though, seemed to be more like her mother’s. She was petite, five foot three, very thin, and her long chocolate locks were wavy and thick and hung past her lower back.
“This painting was done by a Ukrainian artist, not far from Lozova.”
“From Lozova?” she asked, stepping closer.
Nicolai turned to look at her.
“I didn’t know that you existed, Malayna,” he whispered.
She tilted her head up toward him.
“I knew that you existed, just not who exactly you were. My mother told me you were alive but that you were the kind of man that couldn’t love a woman like her.” She saw the changes in his eyes but he held firm, not revealing whether her words affected him at all. She continued.
“She told me stories about you. About a handsome man with striking blue eyes that had taken her breath away. She talked about the places you took her and the good times you shared and how quickly she fell in love with you.”
“My father knew I was in love with Mya and that I was sneaking around to see her. The next thing I know she disappears. For twenty years I heard nothing, and then one day I receive a call from your mother.”
“What? She called you, when?”
“The day she was killed. She told me about you. Said I had a beautiful daughter and she felt that your life was in danger. Some man came to see her the day before trying to sell something but she knew he wasn’t a salesman. She realized that he was someone looking for you. She died that day. You were taken before my men could get to the house. They found her. I took care of her, Malayna. She had a proper burial and I promised her as I stood over her grave that I would find you. That I would do everything in my power to do so.”
She felt the tears fill her eyes. She had a mix of emotions. She wanted to say to him that if he had searched for her mother when she first disappeared, he and her mother could have married and kept Malayna safe. That he could have provided protection if he thought they were in danger. She felt like he didn’t do enough, yet she learned from Viktor, her cousin, that Nicolai had been searching for over three years.
She stared at the picture as the tears fell, and then she felt his hand take hers and squeeze it tight.
“I will make it up to you, Malayna. I will be here for you to guide you, protect you, and keep you safe. You’re all I have left of Mya and the love we shared.”
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the top of it. More tears fell.
She nodded and wondered what the future might bring for her, and whether or not Nicolai and his Russian connections could keep her safe from a man like Vlladim.
Chapter 1
Star Mulicheck sat in the large chair smoking a cigar. His team members were scattered around the family gathering despite the fact they hated to socialize. They had always been pure business. As soldiers in the military they served and protected their country. He and his brother Border were inseparable. Despite the military’s insistence on separating them into different positions in the military they both wound up in the secret organization. The most dangerous, most lethal of missions and Star’s newest soldier showed up and it was Border. He would never forget that day.
Nor did he forget the days that followed and how he and Border met Krane and Lucca. They spent the next ten years saving one another’s asses, enjoying some wild nights with partying and women, and of course retiring from their military positions as a team three years ago.
Star still wasn’t fully over the mission that made them all decide they were finished. It didn’t take them long living like civilians to realize they were special men. The kind of men that knew about protecting with their lives, killing if need be by weapon or with their bare hands. They were hard, intense men who trusted few.
He glanced across the room at Lucca and Krane, who were talking to his mother, Soyva. She was a beautiful woman and a good wife. She accepted her husband’s position in the Russian mob and she supported him. She had her fears for her sons when they decided to join the military, but she felt the dangers at home and being the sons of Daren Mulicheck were even greater. Their father, on the other hand, hoped that his two sons learned how to fight, how to survive, and how to kill.
He took another puff of his cigar and watched the others who joined the party. There were cousins and some business friends of their father’s. Lucca and Krane remained talking only to either Soyva or Daren as they respected them and all they offered to the men. Star’s mother took them in immediately upon their retirement from the service. She considered them her sons and was there for them when Krane and Lucca nearly lost control of their lives. She was strong and capable, a survivor from an abusive stepfather and addicted mother. Daren had saved her, too.
With thoughts of his mom and her story, he couldn’t help but to think about Malayna. Immediately his heart pounded inside of his chest. He had to remind himself that she wasn’t here. That she was safe in her father’s home surrounded by other soldiers of a connected Russian family. A close family to theirs. So close that Nicolai had requested Star and his team be the ones to try and locate his daughter and keep the secret that Malayna existed. They never gave up hope in finding her. The more they searched and came up with clues, the more they imagined what she would look like and what condition physically and emotionally she would be in. It had been a shock to see the petite, gorgeous woman, with her bright blue eyes, firm jaw, and voluptuous body. Never mind the abundant brown curls that cascaded around her like a blanket of beauty.
She was the loveliest woman he had ever laid eyes on and his brothers were affected by that beauty, that sweetness, too.
He swallowed hard and put out the cigar then waved the smoke from in front of him before he stood up. He was a big man. Over six foot three and in amazing physical condition. His job entailed always being ready to fight, to restrain, and to take control of any given situation. Now that he was getting older, hitting thirty-seven in another few months, he was feeling conflicted. A glance around him at cousins with their wives and children brought on emotions and desires he’d never considered entertaining. He was a scarred man physically and emotionally, and he was set in his ways. His team were no different, each with their personal hang-ups, and each used to handling things as a team.
His cell phone rang and he glanced at the ID and couldn’t help an inward smirk though his face remained emotionless.
He headed out of the room to answer it.