Chapter 11

When she woke up the next morning, she was alone. She was a little disappointed that Dimitri left her without waking her up.

She got up and went to Max’s room where all her things were.

She thought about asking for her own room so she could have her own closet and place to get ready, but she didn’t know if the boys would like that.

After she showered and got dressed, she went downstairs and found the house full of people. She couldn’t believe she slept through all these people coming in and out.

Instead of going to get something to eat, she decided to seek out Max and Dimitri. When she didn’t see them downstairs, she went to their office.

When she got to their office, the door was shut. She debated on waiting for them to come out but decided to knock.

“~Zahedi~,” she heard Max say. It meant, “Come in.” She didn’t know that, but she opened the door slowly.

“You’re finally awake,” Dimitri said, walking over to her and kissing her head.

“How are you feeling?” she asked him.

“Much better, ~myshka~. Almost like new,” Dimitri said, trying to make her feel better about his injury.

“What’s going on downstairs?” Kyle asked, looking back and forth between the brothers.

“We are taking care of a problem.” Max tried to be vague about what was going on.

“I don’t mean to overstep, but if I’m going to stay here, I need to know what’s going on.” She looked at Dimitri, hoping he would cave first, and she was right.

“My ~dolzhny skazat’ yey~,” Dimitri said to Max. ~(“We should tell her.”)~

“Sit down, little bee.” Max pointed to the couch near Dimitri.

Once Kyle took a seat, Max started explaining to her what they were doing.

“Right now, the people downstairs are combing the entire house. We think someone planted some bugs and maybe a camera.”

“I don’t understand. Why would someone do that?” Kyle asked.

“Do you know what we do?” Dimitri asked her.

“No, but you have to be some kind of loan sharks, right? My brother owed you money.”

“That’s part of it,” Max started to explain. “We loan money, but we offer protection. We also sell things that we are not supposed to.” Max tried to be vague about everything.

“So, you’re like a mob or Mafia?”

Dimitri laughed at her phrasing. “You could call us that,” Max said with a grin. “There is a new organization that wants something that we have; it’s why we were attacked and Dimitri was shot.

“This new organization has inside information about you.”

“Why would they care about me?” Kyle really didn’t understand. She hadn’t been there very long and had no information on the people there.

“We think they see it as a way to get to us,” Max stated.

“Is there anything I can do?” she asked the brothers.

“No, little bee, there is nothing you can do. Dimitri and I just need to keep you safe.”

This was a lot to take in. She went from being taken, to wanting to stay here, to being a liability to them.

“I don’t want to cause you more trouble,” she told them.

Dimitri took her hand. “You won’t cause us more trouble. We have this taken care of,” he tried to reassure her, but Kyle knew he was concerned and was just trying to make her feel better.

She nodded at them and knew she needed to find a way to help them. She didn’t want to be this shy girl they had to protect.