Entangled By Him

CHAPTER 20

Maxim

I woke up in a fabulous mood. I was able to get a long workout in with Booker this morning. I’ve had breakfast and done most of the work that needs to be done for today.

I haven’t seen Anna yet. She’s the one that I owe my incredibly good mood to. For a little while now, we’ve actually been working on the case trying to figure out who might be the snitch, the inside guy.

I smile thinking about all the time I’ve spent with her. Everything I did before was right by getting her back to me.

Everything is going absolutely perfect. That makes me stop in my tracks, maybe everything is going a little bit too perfectly. In my line of work, in my lifestyle, when things like that happen, shit’s about to hit the fan. A big explosion is gonna rain down on all of us.

Maybe Anna knows something. Maybe she received word from her brothers. Maybe that’s why she’s in such a good mood. I shake my head, not because of this, but to remind myself to always trust my instincts. That’s what has kept us alive over the years. It kept the Ivanov’s on top.

I pull out my phone and send a message to Booker to call me. He’s dealing with some personal shit outside of the job today. I don’t want to ring his phone in case he is in a meeting.

It doesn’t take long till he calls, and I pick up the phone. “What’s up boss?”

“Things are running too smoothly, it has my guard up. You know that old saying for the calm before the storm?” Booker grunts out a yes.

“Well, I’m feeling a huge storm coming, maybe the biggest one we’ve ever seen. I want you up security at night. The Moretti’s are big for doing most of their operations in the middle the night. It’s a given that most people don’t use as many at that time.”

“Not a problem boss, I can do that. It’s actually a good idea, especially now.”

“I also want you to go and recheck the new hires. See if any of them seem out of place or if they’re acting strange. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jax was able to get a man inside.”

“We don’t have too many new ones, but I’ll get on that. As for the extra security, I think it would be smart to hire from one of the families, so that we know everybody has been properly vetted.” That’s actually good idea.

“This sounds like a great plan. Get started on what you need to do.”

“Got it boss,” he says as he disconnects the call.

I checked the time and it’s already 12:30 in the afternoon. Even though I got finished with what I wanted to complete today, a man with my job, the work is never done.

I’m looking at my desk as the door opens. Anna comes in pulling a cart behind her. The smile she gives me just sets off the flames already burning inside of me. Damn, this woman.

“Hi, I thought you might like lunch.” She laughs as she continues, “I didn’t actually cook it, Martha did. But I did put it on the tray, rolling it over here. I’m not even sure what we’re having.”

I get up and walk around my desk enveloping her in my arms. “Doesn’t even matter as long as I get to eat lunch with you.” I tense for a second, who is this cheesy mother fucker that just came out of my mouth.

We both sit down and start to enjoy our chef salads and soup. Martha has one of my mom’s old recipes for chicken soup, it’s actually a Polish version. It just has chicken and tomato soup in it. I groan taking my first bite, I love this stuff.

“What are your plans for today?” I ask her between bites.

“Nothing, I actually woke up in a good mood. I got everything done that I needed to.” She’s feeling the same thing I am.

I smile at her. I love how far we’ve been able to come in such a short amount of time. Yet, we still have issues that we need to work out, but everything is going so perfect right now.

“I did want to talk to you.” Anna bites her lip in nervousness.

And here we go, “what is it?” My voice is lower, it’s bordering on irritated.

“I want you to let me go.” She plays with the soup on her spoon, just swirling the contents around the bowl. “At least consider it. I want to be with you, Maxim. I want to keep seeing you, but I can’t do it like this, not this way. We could be a normal couple.”

I grip my fork tighter than I should, “there’s nothing normal about us. There will never be anything normal about us. It’s just the type of people that we are.”

“You are forcing me to be here. This isn’t a relationship that’s built on trust and values, you kidnapped me.” Anna’s voice chokes at the end.

I sigh and run my hands through my hair. “It’s not gonna happen, I’m sorry. I love how far we’ve come but I just can’t let you go. I have unfinished business and honestly, I don’t want you to ever be apart from me again.”

The tears flow freely down her face as she stops eating. “This will destroy us, before we can even build a relationship.”

I reach across the table and squeeze her hand, happy that she doesn’t pull away. “I understand that, but we are stronger than this. We will be able to overcome all of our obstacles. All we need is each other.”

Anna does take her hand away this time. She starts to stand up and then looks back at me, “no Maxim, we need trust and we need respect. I am your prisoner.” The last part was let out on a sob. I don’t like seeing her like this, it’s making my cold dead heart go even blacker.

I don’t get a chance to say anything back, as she leaves the room, most likely heading back up to hers. I walk back over to my desk and put my elbows on it, then my head in my hands. This whole situation is just fucked up. No, I tell myself. I just got to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong and make sure that I’m not betraying Sophia.

I take a deep breath and relax. My eyes open, “I’m sorry Anna. You just might not have no choice but to stay here.” I say to no one.