Morozov

Chapter 31

Niveen
As soon as we arrived, Jack got out and sprung into action. That wasn't a habitable area anymore. That was a landscape covered in masses of snow and it didn't stop. Lance, his right hand man over there, was already waiting for us.

"Lance," Jack greeted him and clapped his shoulder before walking past, eyes trained on the men shoveling their ways to the hut in the distance.

The snow crunched under my feet and the cold wind whipped through the air, yanking my scarf into the air. The cold was a ruthless predator and we were the prey out here. It was only a matter of time until someone else would freeze to death.

"Boss, Ms. Morozov," Lance greeted Jack and me before hurrying to catch up with him. His significantly bigger than the last time I'd seen it beer belly made it hard for him, though.

I wanted to stay behind so that I didn't distract him from doing his job but Jack turned around when he noticed I wasn't next to him. "Come on," he said, extending his hand toward me and pushing me forward when I reached him. "I can't keep an eye on you when you're behind me."

"I didn't think you'd care," I muttered without really thinking about it. His answering glare was enough to tell me he did.

. . .

We'd been shoveling our way to the hut for two hours already and it didn't seem to get any less. My arms were stinging from the effort and my lungs hurt from the cold air.

I set the shovel down, panting heavily as I pulled the scarf down from my face to have a breather.
"Put it back on," a guy a meter away from me said, catching me off guard.

My head whipped toward him, a questioning look on my face.
"The mask," he answered the question I didn't even ask. "Your nose will freeze off before you even notice it. Put it back on."

My eyes narrowed on him. He didn't even look like he belonged to the Mafia. His eyes were the softest brown and long, thick lashes surrounded them. He was probably in his late thirties - not the youngest but still pretty fit and good-looking. At least that was what I was able to see through the layers of clothing he was wrapped in.

I wondered if maybe he wasn't a part of us by choice. Did we have something to blackmail? Was he paying debts for someone else?

I accepted his advice, pulling the mask back up and starting my journey toward the closed up hut again.

"What are you even doing here anyway?" Another guy then asked, making me roll my eyes. This guy looked like he belonged to the Mafia.

He was tall and very big with tattoos all over his head. Not that he scared me because of that. I've stood up to way scarier men than him.
"Why? Is it weird that I'm here?" I asked, annoyance lacing my tone.

"You're a woman."

I shoved the shovel into the snow forcefully before turning to look at him.

Jack
"What's your problem?" I heard Niveen snap, catching the attention of some of the others. I'd been keeping an eye on her the entire time but for some reason, only a second of unwariness was enough to lose control of the situation.

The guy standing opposite to her looked confused. "I was just-" He opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted him.

"Inclining I'm too weak to do the job because I'm not what? A strong man like you?" She offered, sarcasm dripping from her tone. So that was what was going on. A sexist guy picking a fight with the wrong fucking person. Especially topics concerning sexism.

"I was just-" "I see," Niveen interrupted him again. "I know your ego is probably hurt right now because, I don't know if it's my strength or my stamina, I seem to have helped more in the past half hour than you did the whole two we've been here already. But that's not an excuse to reflect your insecurities on me and make sexist statements. It's out of your pay rate."