LOL! Volkster, I'm so grateful that u even registered in this forum for my story.
I hope I won't disappoint u. DW has always been the hardest for me to write, I don't know why. I hope, again, that I can pull myself together and continue it. I'd love to. Ah, I thought a new story would distract u guys!
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CHAPTER 9
It was early in the morning, and Roland had nothing better to do than pacing around
in Lena’s living room. The bedroom door opened, and he turned, exasperated.
“She refused to see me now!”
Lena suppressed her yawns. She was awakened from an hour of sleep by
his endless, loud knocks at six o’clock in the morning. For some reason,
she grew restless after Yulia left instead of being angry at the woman’s rude remark.
She thought it might really be her fault, but then she absolutely had no idea
what her misdemeanor was.
“Tea?” Lena slumbered into the kitchen. She had only a white robe over her
thin nightgown. It was an outrageous scenario if anyone caught them
in this state. But Lena and Roland grew up together, and they had seen
each other naked since they could remember anything. Although, much to
Roland’s disadvantage, Lena had stopped taken shower with him for years now.
“I already got myself some whiskey. Thank you.” Roland slumped down on the couch.
Lena came out again with a cup of tea, letting the warmth seeping i
nto her palms. Putting away the thought of holding the pathetic drink in her hands
as Yulia commented, she quietly observed Roland’s tired face. He definitely
hadn’t slept the whole night.
“I shouldn’t have got too close to her. Now she thinks I’m after her money!”
“It looks like that in other people’s eyes.”
Roland looked up at her. “You?”
“Sometimes,” Lena replied.
He shamefully nodded in agreement.
“What about now?” Lena asked.
“What now? She doesn’t want to see me anymore!” Roland sighed and
released his tie. “She’s different from every other girl I’ve known… every girl but you.”
“I don’t count,” Lena said.
“Have you ever felt anything for me other than friendly feelings?” Roland asked
as simply as he would for a glass of water. He was never ashamed of himself and
never let himself down no matter what. Lena thought that, beside his good looks,
it was this confidence that won many hearts for him. Yulia seemed to be
perfect match to Roland.
“When I was twelve,” Lena said as a matter of fact. Strangely, she didn’t quite
understand where those feelings had gone.
“I should have taken the chance!” Roland joked. “But… being Mr. Irish is hard.”
Lena looked the other way. It was a relief that he seemed to feel strongly for
other woman now. She didn’t want his feelings to come between them as she
highly valued their friendship.
“We have a new client, Lena. Tomorrow at six,” Roland said, grinning,
“He demanded to meet ‘the Irish’! We’ll become billionaires, and I’ll sail
off to Europe! Bye bye, America!”
“Europe?” Lena asked quietly.
“I got a detective working for me for a while now. He found out that my biological
father is living in Germany. When it’s confirmed, I plan to go see him. I’ll buy
him a big house and a nice car! He’ll be proud of me.”
“That’s great to hear.” With a heavy heart, Lena brushed her wavy locks from her face.
She had ended her quest to find her parents three years ago. It was a hellish road, indeed.
“Did you find out who those bodyguards are from?” Roland asked.
“They turned out to be Dimitri’s men.”
“He got one following me, too.” Roland seemed proud, thinking it was Dimitri’s
nice gesture towards him.
Lena couldn’t burst his bubbles now that it was actually her, who hired the
guard for him. She fathomed why Dimitri pampered her this much. She must be
one of the antiques Dimitri would love to add to his vast collections.
Roland got up and put on his coat. “Thanks for the whiskey again. I have to go.”
Lena shrugged slightly. Since she couldn’t go back to sleep now, she probably had
to go out for a walk. It was so cold outside though.
“I planned to take Yulia out for a play tonight, but…” A frown occupied Roland’s face again.
“I can’t believe she got so upset just because of this. What exactly did you do?”
“Put a gun to her head and forced her to love you.”
“Be serious, Lena!”
“I did as told. But then we don’t know how to please Volkova, do we?
I told you she is hard to deal with.” Lena was amused; she had never seen
Roland this worried about any girl. She wasn’t sure if the problem lied with his ego,
or love that had just surfaced.
Roland kissed her cheek and ran for the door. “Ring me tomorrow!”
Lena sighed aloud when the door shut behind him.
>>>
After a quick shower, Lena came out of her apartment. Across the road, she
spotted Mitch and his partner right away. She nodded to them for the first time
and began her quiet, morning walk.
The sky was gray, thick with clouds, and the sun was probably still asleep.
In the yellow glow from the streetlights, she strolled towards a hot bread stand.
She bought some and waited until Mitch’s car caught up with her at the curbside.
“Good morning,” Lena said, handing the warm bags to Mitch.
“For us, Madam?” Mitch asked, blinking.
“Is Mr. Volkov this generous to every business partner he got?”
“You’re special, Madam. You’re the Irish!” Grinning, Mitch looked as if he was
about to pull out a piece of paper and asked for her autographs. She would
refuse him anyway.
“Did you follow Ms. Volkova home yesterday?”
“Our job is to secure you,” Tommy said. He was Mitch’s partner.
Lena only smiled. It was daring and strange for Dimitri to let his daughter wandering
around the city unguarded like this. The Volkov family was one of a kind—the kind
that she learned to like.
“Yulia can take care of herself. Don’t you worry, Madam,” Mitch added.
It struck Lena how close Mitch referred to the mink diva. Mitch must have served
the family for a long time, and they grew close to one another.
“I’m sure you knew about the accident more than a month ago,” Lena said.
“That was because she stumbled into the Irish!” Mitch said and laughed with Tommy.
“Can you not following me today?” Lena finally asked the question.
“I’m sorry, Madam, but you’re not the one who pays us,” Mitch said.
“How much—”
“We don’t accept any payment from anybody but Mr. Volkov, Madam.
The best you could do is to turn a blind eye.” Mitch looked serious now.
Lena nodded in defeat, but then ran as fast as she could across the street into
the small alley. She could hear Mitch’s yell and the screech of tires in the distance.
She laughed, but didn’t slow down. She knew the streets by heart, and even if
Mitch also did, she had the advantage of being on foot. Sooner or later, Mitch
would follow her on foot, too, but she was positive she would lose him. She had
once outrun destiny itself. Nothing could stop her.
>>>
Panting, Lena jumped past the old man, who had just come out of the
apartment complex, landing inside before the door shut. The man turned to look
at her with stunned eyes. He walked back, meaning to come in again. But she
grabbed the knob, pushing it back. She knew he was going to call for a doorman,
but that would never happen. With a smile and a flash of the gun in the holster
beneath her coat, the old man shakily retreated away from the door. She watched
him until he went out of her sight.
“Do you always enjoy threatening people first thing in the morning?”
Lena spun around. She had thought she was alone in the lobby. She was fast but
reckless as Dimitri had said.
Yulia stood just a few steps away. Dark circles around her eyes and her blonde hair messy,
she had a mink coat on, unbuttoned to reveal the crumpled, white blouse inside.
Yulia seemed to be too tired to hide her glasses this time, but Lena thought she looked pretty anyway.
A brown-haired woman standing next to Yulia eyed Lena up and down. “Who is this?” she asked her friend.
“Tonya, this is Lena, my father’s friend, and the other way around, yeah,” Yulia grumpily
introduced them.
Lena thought it could be the all-night-long party and the enormous amount of drinking.
Tonya looked equally roughed up, but managed to give Lena a smile. They shook hands.
“Do you live here, Lena?” Tonya asked.
“No,” Lena replied and then glanced at Yulia.
A long silence.
“I’ll wait in the car,” Tonya said to Yulia, walking away.
Lena watched Tonya at the corner of her eyes. Even though Tonya disappeared
behind the wall, into the path that led to the parking lot behind the building, Lena
could see her shadows lingered. Tonya was listening.
“I’ll make it quick,” Lena said.
Yulia nodded with her eyes half-opened.
“Roland came to see me this morning. He was really sorry that he had upset you—”
“He didn’t. You did.”
Lena stopped. Yulia’s point was understandable. It seemed that whatever
Roland did, she was responsible for it, and vice versa. “We both apologize then.”
Yulia glared up.
“We promise to treat you as an adult now.”
“Are you finished?” Yulia’s tone was harsh, but it wasn’t surprising.
“Tell Mr. Myer I’d see him this evening, if he’s free.”
Although the manners urged Lena to drop Yulia off in the middle of the
dessert this time, she only nodded.
Yulia walked away to the same direction Tonya had gone. As quietly as
possible, Lena followed. She pressed her body against the wall, waiting for the
footsteps to fade. But she heard mad giggles instead.
“Was that
the Irish?!” It was Tonya’s voice. “Oh my God! She’s so much
younger than I thought! And she—and she… She looked so ordinary!”
Lena frowned at the almost disdainful tone.
“She
is ordinary and boring!” Yulia’s voice didn’t sound so sleepy now, did it?
“Oh, Yulia, you’re God! You called her a bastard yesterday, and today she came
running to apologize to you! That wasn’t even twenty-four hours yet!”
To Lena’s surprise, Yulia halfheartedly chortled. She’d have expected Yulia
to burst into an arrogant laughter.
“But she sounded totally clueless. Maybe she was strictly heter—”
“She doesn’t have a sex life, that much I can tell. She only knows board games, cards and teas!” Yulia cut her friend off.
“A virgin with guns! How adorable! Maybe you could teach her how to use her guns!”
Lena’s eyes widened. Outrageous! No decent woman would talk this way.
Even the crude, rebellious ones from the orphanage weren’t this vulgar.
Talk about high society!
“What are you planning to do with Mr. Myer? Isn’t he gorgeous?!”
“He is, and I’ll keep that in mind,” Yulia said, giggling.
“Did you sleep with him?”
Lena stopped dead. She never had a conversation this private with Roland.
Out of the blue, she felt blood shooting up to warm her cheeks,
she couldn’t quite understand why.
“Almost. But that’s going to change tonight,” Yulia said with confidence.
The footsteps continued again, fading away.
“Oh, that look! Are you serious with him?!” Tonya asked.
“You must be out of your mind. He’s below my league I don’t dare to show him off to my mother’s friends.”
With that, Lena stalked across the lobby and out the front door. She sensed that
Roland must have some feelings for this Volkova already, and hearing the bitch’s
take on this greatly upset her.