Serving Leo [Book 4 of the Stavros Series] ✔️

12

"Thank you," I told Martin as he laid down a bottle of beer in front of me. He returned the smile and sat in the seat at the head of the dining room table, between Leo and I.

"I believe you have something to tell me," Leo said, lifting his bottle of beer to his lips.

He gulped it down like water which I found odd. I had always found beer to be bitter and a harder drink to get down than even vodka. Still, it was cheap and got my nerves to calm down.

I wrapped my hands around the cold bottle but didn't lift it to my mouth. I was taking comfort in the coldness of it.

"Maybe later," I murmured, glancing briefly at Martin who was happily smiling at me like there was nothing wrong in the world.

"He can hear whatever you have to say Ivory," Leo said, rolling his eyes as if I should have known.

I glared softly at my boss who suddenly didn't feel much like a boss at all anymore. I finally lifted the beer to my lips, gulped down as much as I could and began to spill my guts about my former life.

"I'll start from the beginning I guess," I sighed. "Before the cure for cancer was released to the public my mother died of liver cancer which is now easily treatable. Still it took a toll on us all, my brother and I but most importantly my Dad. He loved her, he really, really did." I had to blink back tears for just a brief moment before gulping down more sips of the bitter alcohol in front of me. "My Dad used to be an MMA fighter and my Mom supported him every day. At every opportunity he would say, 'Fight hard, love harder.' She was his everything and when she died, when he had to watch her crumble slowly into nothing it ruined him. My brother Isaiah basically became both of my parents after my Mom's death. He would take me to and from school, help me with my homework, talk to my teachers, drive me to friends' houses, all the while my Dad struggled to find my Mom at the bottom of a bottle."

I stared down at the bottle in front of me. The same bitter taste I got in my mouth when I used to have to fill trash bags full of them returned. I pushed the bottle away.

"As soon as I graduated my brother took me to his own apartment so I could live with him instead. He was the only family I had left. Months passed and we struggled to be able to pay our rent as well as keep sending money to our Dad to keep him eating and alive. Then Isaiah was lead to an underground fighting circle from someone he knew at his gym. He had always been good at fighting, my Dad used to teach us both special moves when he was sober. So Isaiah used what he knew to get into the circle but he didn't just get in." I finally looked up from the wooden table below my hands to Leo in front of me. "He mastered it.

"It took only a couple years for him to become undefeated, beating anyone who crossed his path. We were happy," I said, smiling briefly before remembering everything I went through and frowning again. "Until a man came to Isaiah before one of his fights. He had a proposition for him. Fight for him and never have to worry about another thing again or live on the edge of the cops' vision for the rest of his career, putting me in danger.

"Isaiah and I both chose to take the deal. He didn't want to do anything without my consent but if I knew what I was getting him into I wouldn't have let him do it," I said, oddly enough sounding like I was trying to prove my innocence to Leo in front of me.

"We didn't live at our apartment for much longer. We moved into a nice furnished mansion where the man lived. His name was Roman Ivanov. We knew who he was, even at the time; he was a mob boss, the head of the criminal Russian family. But he was so kind to us both, especially his son," I gulped, "Adrik Ivanov." I smoothed down the wrinkles of my jeans, as if that would help any of the chaos in my life. "Adrik loved me, he did, and I fell for him too. Isaiah didn't like it at first, me falling for the son of a mob boss who would one day take his spot. But once he realized how much I loved Adrik, with all my heart, he backed off and let us be."