There was a knot around my heart, squeezing slowly with every passing second of consciousness. I was in the living room, scrolling through the TV. Viktor's friend Sunshine was supposed to be here any minute. I was just waiting. He too had gone out so I was left alone, comfortable enough to occasionally make frustrated groans.
Viktor hadn't brought up his offer when I saw him last. In fact, he hadn't even hinted that he'd made it or that he expected an answer. He was giving me the time and space that I needed, waiting patiently like the good guy he portrayed to be.
I knew better but it didn't stop my heart from wanting to reach out and hug him. The fact that we were two different people made it all the more weird. I wanted to throw myself over something and just scream because of the feelings that run through me. I hadn't even picked up my laptop to hack something. That's how bad it was.
I decided being a human burrito and scrolling through channels was my best course of action. It hadn't stopped snowing since yesterday and I was pissed. The snowflakes fell slow and few in number, nothing close to a blizzard or a storm. I just really didn't like the cold.
The channel shifted to some news and I decided to know what was going on. A robbery not far from here, a man dying on his way to hospital, a car crash and... something that surprised me, an abandoned meth lab was discovered. The place hadn't been cleared out, everything was still in place.
What idiots. I thought. Who leaves good money like that?
The front door opened and I knew it was Viktor without having to turn. There was a certain shift in the air when he was around, I realised. My hair stood on end and my mind screamed for me to run from a danger unseen. He walked towards me and reached down from the back of the couch to take the remote from my hands and turn off the TV.
"Hey," I protested, leaning my head back to look at the underside of his strong shin and long throat. "I was watching that."
"Not anymore. Sunshine is downstairs. He'll be here in a few minutes."
I noticed then the stuff he carried in one hand. He rounded the couch and put them on the short table in front of me. It was a couple of bags and a large metallic box. The front door opened again and this time I turned to see who Sunshine was.
He did not at all match his name. A thick jacket covered his form but it was still large, larger than Viktor. Taller too. A gnarly white beard fell to his chest and hid half his face. His footsteps echoed like thunder, his boots making a crunch as they stepped over the floor. This guy was no Sunshine.
He entered the room either way and set the things in his hands on the table. Three hangers draped in black polythene to cover whatever clothes were inside and a large black box. Sunshine took off his gloves, showing his tattooed hands and then the beanie that covered his head showing his bald scalp. This man screamed biker in every sense of the word.
"Hello miss," he greeted in a deep grave tone extending his hand. "My name is Sunshine."
I shook his hand. Strong, large and manly. "Um... hello. My name is Peach."
"Sunshine is part of a biker gang my Bratva owns," Viktor explained. Inside, I celebrated. I knew he was a biker. "He's here on hair and make-up duty."
"Huh?" I asked confused.
"I have a plan to get you and I talking to Markov but you need something to cover up your bruises," he continued, his voice going as cold as his expression.
"Sunshine's going to do my hair and make-up?" I asked the large burly man who nodded. "But what exactly is your plan Viktor?"
"We can go meet Markov together if you're arm candy," he stated.
I blinked. Twice. "Arm candy?"
"Yeah."
"You did not discuss this with her?" Sunshine interrupted and I gave Viktor a look that said 'The biker is onto something'.
"I didn't," Viktor confessed his head slightly dropping.
"Why?" I inquired. "I thought we were being completely honest with each other."
"We are, I just didn't know how to bring it up after our talk the other night," he explained slowly, pushing his hair back from his eyes. "I guessed dropping one bomb on you was enough."
I sighed and stood, taking the blanket around my shoulders with me. "I'd rather recover from two bombs at once than one after the other."
I understood why Viktor didn't want to just spring stuff up on me but I needed to be in the know. Always. I was going to show him that if we planned on working together but... it was cold, I was tired and I didn't have the energy to give two shits.
"I'm letting this go today and only today Viktor. Tell me your plan."
The young Don had a smirk on his face as he begun to lay out or next course of action. "It's not unusual for me to meet Markov with someone else. Today, that will be you. Markov knows that I always take the girls with me back to my penthouse which I had someone bug so if we don't manage to figure out his play at the restaurant, we can check to see whether he sends people to my house."
I nodded. "And if we do figure out it's not him?" I continued to inquire, ignoring the fact that I now knew Viktor took women to his penthouse for... extracurricular activities.
"We get him to help us find out who did it," Viktor stated simply.
"Viktor... if someone is out to get you and knows you well enough, that restaurant is going to be bugged. We won't be able to do anything outside the roles you want us to play," Viktor's brows dropped at my words. He hadn't thought of that. "Ok look, I have an app on my phone that might help. All good small microphones are new technology made my GT, Gates Tech. I'm close to Mr. Logan Gates enough to know that the only thing wrong with these new mics is that they can't work at a certain frequency. If I play that frequency, we can keep our conversation secret."
Sunshine whistled low after a few seconds of silence. "You really know your way around this shit don't you?"
I lifted one shoulder in s shrug. I was a hacker. i knew my tech. Simple as that.
"So we have a full plan then?" Viktor asked for confirmation.
"Not yet," I grumbled and then let out a long sigh, my head dropping. "Viktor, policy. What exactly does me being your arm candy entail?"
The Don hesitated but gave me an honest answer. "You're my entertainment for the night."
No more elaboration needed.
"Fine," I said with a nod of my head. "Now we have a full plan."
"If that's it, I'd like to get started. I got to get home soon," Sunshine spoke up.
"My room's this way," I said and helped him move the things he needed.
He left a hanger out for Viktor along with the black box. In my room, Sunshine guided me to sit down on one of the twin beds. He opened up one of the metallic cases and I saw more cosmetics than I'd ever laid eyes on.
"That's a lot," I commented as he held my chin and turned my face this way and that. "Why do you have so much? How did you start doing make-up?"
"You ask a lot of questions," Sunshine commented.
"I need a lot of answers," I told him and he grunted.
"My daughter Mia was born with Syndactyly. It's a hand defect where the middle and ring finger are usually joined together. She can't hold some stuff but she loves this kind of thing," Sunshine started explaining, softly wiping my face down with a wipe. "Being her father and wanting to make her happy, I learnt all I could on make-up so I could do hers when she wished."
My heart melted in my chest. "That's so sweet," I said softly and Sunshine grunted, trying to throw me off. "I'm serious. My dad... well he did his best raising my brother and I. Nothing really came out of it but he protected us with whatever was left in him after my mom died."
Sunshine sighed and looked through his cosmetics. "Fathers do their best, even when it is the hardest both for him and his kids. Nothing is ever easy especially when you're alone. I can't imagine losing my wife and having to look after kids who only seemingly connected with her."
His words shut me up for a hot second. My brother and I did connect with my mum. How could we not? She was the glue to our family, the pillar to our foundation and the smooth road through our journeys. She was a beautiful force of nature and losing her was a keen to losing sunlight on earth. Our family fell apart, our foundation crumbled and we all drove through the bush in different directions to get to our destinations which seemed too far ahead.
I tried to bring everyone on track but they all decided without my mom, they were nothing. I felt the same way but someone had to be the adult. Someone had to pull shit back together even when no one wanted to. I realised that someone had to be me because if I didn't try, my brother and father would've faded away from me eventually. I tried to be mom or just a part of her that allowed my family to become one again.
For God's sake I was only 13 when I had to start picking my dad off the floor when life got too much for him and getting my brother to bed when he wished he could just float away from reality. I was the only one down to earth, trying to find something worth living and they'd let me down.
"Your daughter is lucky to have you," I said to Sunshine. "I mean it."
Sunshine watched me and his dark eyes bore into my soul. "Your dad's lucky to have you, kid. There's a fight in your eyes that I like. Keep it up. You might just survive this whole thing."
I wasn't going to let them down though. I was getting my dad out of the hole he'd dug for himself and somehow, I was going to have Peirce back with me. I clutched my locket. It would take more time, energy, sweat, blood and tears but we'd get there. Not exactly a happy family but happy enough. I knew we could be.
The best course of action now was joining with Viktor as his consigliere. I would have the resources possible to help my father and maybe have my brother with me too. I'd be close to Viktor, something I realised I would like as well. I didn't want to admit I'd grown a little fondness for the young Don but there were some emotions even I couldn't control.
I wouldn't want to say I'd give my life for Viktor but... I'd care a hell lot of he died. It was human nature to care for something or someone. You couldn't avoid it. Even the most vile man on this earth must have had an object or animal they keep close to their heart to their knowledge or against it.
People needed care, comfort, control...
I just cared too much. I wish I could stop myself from doing it but there is a certain point someone gets into my life and I can't help but do everything in my power to see them well and happy if possible.
I was going to be Viktor's consigliere, I was going to save my dad, come to terms with my brother and I was going to relax.
Hell, maybe I should dye my hair after all this, assuming I survive.