Omerta

Chapter 21

         Ignazio offered to take me and my cousin wherever we needed to go since Nicolas left this flower shop entirely. I refused his help at all and made a different phone call. I was holding my battered step cousin until a blacked out four door car slowly pulled up to the curb and the handle could be heard opening the door for us. Ignazio kept asking me to stay with him or he'd get in trouble for letting me go. Frankly I didn't care. 

When Mikhail Bokarev stepped out of the car in his full height with a serious stare, Ignazio backed off. He made a command in Russian to the man who was driving and Richie was taken from me and helped into the back of the car. "Come here baby" Mikhail said, holding an arm out for me to tuck into his side. Mikhail kept his eyes on Ignazio in a heated stare. 

He put me in the car and we drove off to get my cousin's hand looked at by a doctor who the Russian's had in their pocket. They didn't want questions being asked about why he was beat up and branded.

         When we arrived I recognized the same bar we had been at just before all this. When Nico wanted to conduct interrogations with the Russians. We passed through the upstairs bar and the bartender tapped the door with the same two knocks, pause, then two more. Waiting for us in that back room was the doctor and Alexei. They sat my cousin by the bar, gave him some shots of vodka, and handed him over to the doctor who'd be examining him. 

Mikhail asked me to tell him everything, and I did. Retelling the story was my final straw and I released the tears I'd been holding back during that whole incident. He hugged me to him and let me cry into his chest, which was obvious by the stain of tears I'd left on his light blue shirt.

"You're staying with me tonight. I don't care what Luciano has to say about it" he put his foot down.

        When he's serious like this he looks attractive. That thought shouldn't be on my mind at a time like this, but I guess I like assertive men. Not Nico anymore. I was done with him after what he pulled today. I nodded to Mikhail to let him know I agreed. He continued rubbing my back and holding my head down on his chest while I calmed down. 

It smelt heavily like smoke in here. My eyes surveyed the room again when I settled myself. I'd only just left an hour before all this, so the same men sat around smoking cigarettes and playing cards.The doctor was a solid woman. Honestly by her features she looked like she could possibly be Russian, but she held no accent. 

        When the doctor reappeared I asked her if my cousin was okay and she smiled and told me that he would be. "He'll have to take these pills, they're a preventive measure to be sure he doesn't develop an infection. And this ointment is to help the burns and soothe the skin. You'll want to wrap it for now. I'll check the burns later on in the week or maybe next week and we can decide when it's healed enough to start being aired out" she explained to me.

I took the pills and the ointment and gauze and thanked the woman a hundred times for coming to us so quickly. She recommended he ice his face and bruised ribs from the hits he took, but other than that he was okay. Alexei hadn't said a word. He was there in the beginning, but had since disappeared. 

It was only Mikhail with me and I asked him if we could drive my cousin home. I don't know what I would say to my aunt, but I'd have to face them and explain why their son/ step son was maimed.

-

        Once I was back at the Bokarev residence with Mikhail I saw what he meant when he said they would be staying at a home just as beautiful as Luciano's. The place was done up in modern architecture that was fresh and unique to look at. They utilized a lot of open space concepts with minimal walling between rooms on the first floor. The rest was all high ceilings. It was different from the painted ceiling of the foyer at Luciano residence, meant to look like something out of the sistine chapel. I liked it either way.