Vladi Sokolov

The Morning After - Sheila's Pov

I stood naked in Infront of the mirror in my bathroom, and my eyes were met by bruises covering my body. I liked it rough in bed, but this was on a whole other level than I was used to. Bruises looking like dots where his fingers had been gripping around my arms and legs were shown. And you could see the blue contour of where his hand had been engaging around my neck. This is bad, really bad. I had been "strangled" before, but those guys barely squeezed that hard around my neck, always afraid that they would hurt me if they do. But Zion had seemed to want to hurt me…

Or maybe he just got lost in the moment… He probably was, it was really intense between us, and I did perhaps egg him on. Shit, I needed to cover this up.

Thank f*ck is November, so I can wear a polo neck without sweating outside later.

I would not meet my brother, Vladi, until tonight, so I had a couple of hours left for myself. Zion had left me early this morning, which had made me felt relieved as well. I needed time for myself to prepare for the meeting with Vladi. I never knew which side of him I would meet. Since Vladi took over the Bratva, he had been more on edge with a short temper. I know he wouldn't hurt me, ever.

But he was no longer the brother I once knew a long time ago. He was acting colder towards me, and he kept his sentences short and direct when he spoke. It felt like he rushed through our meetings just to get it done, that he felt obligated to meet me on his trips here because we were related to each other. I honestly saw no point in meeting him at all anymore because I always ended up feeling like shit afterward. But I guess he needed it since he always called me before traveling to book a time and place to meet upon. We only saw each other for one hour every third month, so I should just go along with it.

I started to cover up the bruise around my neck with concealer and then some powder to make it set okay onto my skin. It looked okay.

I got myself dressed and then made myself a cup of coffee and sat down on the sofa out on the balcony. I scrolled through my phone for a while and smoked a few cigarettes. My phone started ringing, and I saw my mom's picture appear on the screen. I took a deep breath and declined the call. I didn't want to speak with her at all.

My mother and I had lost the connection to each other a long time ago. We had never been close since she had been gone most of my childhood, and she never cared for me. But she praised Vladi because he made money in the gang and could help and provide for us early. But there also were some bad events that had happened to me when I was a child. Alarming and severe events. My mother never took me seriously when I tried to tell her about it; she just brushed them off of her and then continued to ignore me. Vladi was the only one who saw what had happened one night when our neighbor and babysitter had been a little too friendly and too intimate with six-year-old me. It happened several times, and I was terrified of him. He threatens to kill both my mom and Vladi if I told anyone.

I was six years old and defenseless against a thirty-year-old man. But one night, Vladi saw what happened, and he defended me against the man.

Vladi never left my side after that, and we spent a lot of time at our friend Ricky's place so it never could happen again. That neighbor was the first man my brother killed when he was thirteen and got his first gun; he and some of the older gang members took him out in a drive-by. We never talked about what had happened after that, and we both promised to never look back.

That trauma I endured will haunt me to this day; I could try to bury it deep within, drink my sorrow away. Unfortunately, that s*it doesn't work in the long run.

My mother only called me nowadays when she needed money. I had transferred her a million dollars a few months ago, and she used to call me every two months to keep our relationship intact for when she needed more money in the future. She wanted to be on my good side and pretend that she cares about me.

I shook my head, and then I went inside to get myself ready to leave. Vladi and I were going to meet up at a hotel bar near my penthouse, so I decided to take a walk there, and I had Carlo walking a few feet behind me.

I stopped by Central Park to breathe in the crisp air, and I felt the autumn darkness surround me, hiding away all the ugly in the world.

The park looked so beautiful with all the colors of the tree crowns lighted up by the street's lights and the full moon. The trees were swaying in the wind, and their dark shadows danced around me. I have always loved autumn; it was my favorite season.

I enjoyed feeling the temperature change from the summer heat into this cold air that I loved to breathe in, filling up my lungs leaving a refreshed feeling, clean feeling. I always felt more alive during this season. I loved to dress up in long warm coats and high leather boots. Autumn fashion was my all-time favorite of the year.

"Are you okay, miss?" Carlo asked with a concerned tone and walked up to my side. I nodded and smiled at him, "Yes, I just needed to breathe in this beautiful autumn night," "Oh, yes, it is a beautiful night," Carlo replied, and we continued to walk in silence and soon reached the bar.

I was the first to be on time, as always. It might even be one hour before Vladi arrives if a lot of work pushed on overtime. I ordered a glass of red wine and sat down by the bar, and sipped on it while I scrolled through my news feed on my phone. Carlo sat a few tables away with a coke he had ordered. It felt safe knowing that I had him watching over me close by. An hour and two glasses of wine later.

Finally, my brother arrived at the bar with three of his men escorting him inside. He searched with his eyes and nodded when he spotted me.

He was wearing a black coat, and I could see that he wore a suit underneath it. My brother was a good-looking man. Women throw themselves at him all the time.

He had golden-brown eyes like me with natural brown hair color. His hair was shortly trimmed, and he had a lot of tattoos. A lot. He was covered in ink, just like Zion.

He said something to his men and then walked up to me alone.

I saw two men sitting down at a table by the window, and the third one walked back outside. Vladi gave me a quick hug and sat down while he ordered a glass of vodka.

"I guess you want to speak English now when I am here on your turf?"

He had a mocking tone, and I could spot resentment in his eyes. He was always so charming. Or not. He hated that I instead spoke English than Russian, my native tongue. I rolled my eyes at him and sighed.

"Nice to see you too, my dearest brother. You are always a charmer." I glared at him, and he gave me a quick look and then took a sip from his glass that the bartender had served him.

"I had a little talk with your new friend before I got here."

His voice was now having a darker change in tone, and I saw a dark shadow appear in his eyes. "Ty znayesh', sestra, ya obychno ne vmeshivayus' v tvoyu lichnuyu zhizn'. No ty ne znayesh' Zion tak, kak ya. Mne ne nravitsya ideya o tom, chto ty budesh' s nim svyazyvat'sya. On psikhopat i ran'she obrashchalsya s zhenshchinami kak s musorom. U nego net predelov. YA znayu, potomu chto ya takoy zhe. No ty moya sestra, ty ne zasluzhivayesh' takogo obrashcheniya. No Zion nepredskazuyem, on mozhet slomat' vse. I ya ne khochu, chtoby vy okazalis' v situatsii, s kotoroy ne mozhete spravit'sya i vybrat'sya iz neye!" [You know I don't usually meddle in your love life, sister. But you don't know of Zion the way I do. I don't like the idea of you getting involved with him. He is a psychopath, and he has treated women like garbage before. He has no limits. I know because I am the same. But you are my sister; you don't deserve to be treated in that way. Zion is unpredictable; he can snap at anything. And I don't want you to end up in a situation you can't handle and get out from!]

I was surprised by his sudden concern for me. He sounded like a big brother who cared about his little sister. He said like the brother I had missed out on these past ten years.

"I hear your concern, Vladi. But who I decide to get involved with is not really your problem? I make my own decisions." He clenched his jaw at my reply, and I saw his face stiffened in the way it did when he was pissed. And then the prominent vein on his forehead popped up. Oh yes. He was so pissed right now. He took one deep breath before he replied to me in his angry Russian voice.

"Kogda ty vmeshivayesh'sya v moy biznes, eto moya problema. Ty ponimayesh', chto seychas ty tozhe v opasnosti. On mozhet ispol'zovat' tebya, chtoby dobrat'sya do menya. On mozhet byt' soyuznikom, i na dannyy moment my sil'neye. No ty ne mozhet polagat'sya ni na kogo v etom mire. On mozhet ubit' tebya, Sheila. On mozhet tvorit' s toboy nepriyatnyye veshchi. YA ne mogu zashchitit' vas zdes' tak zhe, kak doma v Rossii."

["When you get involved in my business, it is my problem. You do understand that you are in danger now? He can use you to get to me. He may be an ally, and we are more powerful for now. But you can't rely on anyone in this world. He can kill you, Sheila. He can do despiteful things to you. I can't protect you here in the same way as home in Russia."]

He spoke in a low, angry voice. Okay, I know he has a point in what he is saying.

I get it. But I was already too invested at this point; I was getting addicted to Zion, I felt myself craving for him. The dark inside me craved him. To feel him, touching him, being touched by him.

"Will it make you feel any better knowing that I hired bodyguards yesterday? They live at my place. One of them is sitting three tables down to your left."

I nodded in Carlo's direction. My brother glanced quickly at Carlo and then back at me.

"No, it does not make me feel better. Why the f*ck did you hired those in the first place?" I told him briefly about Viktor. He sighed angrily.

"For fuck sake. I will drag your a*s back to Russia if you continue to keep stuff from me, Sheila. My patience with you is slowly fading away." I rolled my eyes at him and then wrinkled my eyebrows in disbelief.

"You can't drag me back to Russia? I live here; my life is here. I am not one of your men that you can command around however you want. So, don't you even think for a second that you have that kind of power over me." He leaned forward and then spoke with a low and scary tone in his voice.

"Trust me, sister. I would drag you by your hair on the ground behind me to the airport if it meant it would keep you safe. Literally."

He smiled and raised his glass at me before he took a sip. I gave him an angry look and then Ignored his reply and changed the subject quickly.

"What did you say to Zion? We never got to that part." I took a sip from my wine and glanced at him. Vladi cleared his throat before he replied.

"I told him that if he ever harms a single hair on your pretty little head, I will personally kill him with my own hands. I even gave him an accurate description of which body part I would remove first." He started laughing like a lunatic, grinning at me. A shiver ran down my spine; Vladi's reply really disturbed me.

But what was even more disturbing was that he would actually do it. He would chop Zion up like a butcher.

I shook my head before answering and felt one more shiver rush down my spine. "You are crazy, Vladi." I sipped on my wine, and we sat a minute in silence. Vladi looked down at his Rolex watch on his left arm.

"I need to go now, but I will check in with you more often, and I will send over Ricky to be with you from next week, so you can send back those bodyguards to were ever they came from. We don't rely on outsiders for protection, Sheila. You know Ricky would give his life for you without thinking. He is loyal. He is family."

He nodded towards his men that instantly got up on their feet. Great, f*cking great.

Sure, Ricky was a nice guy, but he could be very intense. I had never done anything sexual with him. I never engaged sexually with any of my brother's men. But I know Ricky had a thing for me when we were younger before moving to the states. Knowing my brother and his determination, I agreed without throwing a fit.

"Fine. Send Ricky over. Goodbye, brother." We hugged each other quickly, and then he left the bar with his men close behind, following him like puppets. I nodded to Carlos, and then we also left the bar shortly after and started the walk back home.