Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Bronwyn
The next day, I was wearing a hard hat again. But this time, I was in Cassie’s coffee shop, facing a wall with a big, red X spray-painted across it.
“I think you should do the honors,” Cassie told me.
I shook my head, pressed the sledgehammer into her hands and picked up a second one. “We’ll do it together. One, two, three!”
We both swung our hammers, awkwardly at first and then falling into a steady rhythm. The brickwork dented, then cracked. Then the first brick tumbled loose, and a rectangle of bookstore appeared. A whoop went up from Jen and the rest of my friends, who’d all come to watch. Baba was there, too: she still used a stick when she walked but she was getting stronger every day and was living in her apartment again. Radimir had paid a visit to her building’s owner and within days, the elevator was working, the security cameras were fixed, and the graffiti was gone.
I’d been inspired by Konstantin and Radimir working together. If the Bratva could modernize and share resources...why couldn’t we? My bookstore and Cassie’s coffee shop both suffered from a lack of space and not being able to get enough customers through the door, but by knocking through the adjoining wall and forming one big space, we could solve both problems. Coffee drinkers could browse the shelves and book browsers could enjoy a coffee. It was more efficient for staffing, too: neither of us could afford to take on more help but we could pool our money and take Jen on full time. She could help serve lattes and muffins when the bookstore was quiet and restock shelves when the coffee shop was quiet. We’d have to wait to see if the change made us profitable, but I had a good feeling.
I walked to the subway that night tired but happy. My arthritis wasn’t going anywhere, and my joints still throbbed and ached at the end of the day, but having Jen around in the store full time made things a lot easier and I was less self-conscious about using my crutches now. I’d started swimming and that seemed to help, too.
When the train arrived, I dropped into a seat, straightened my skirt and pulled a notepad and pen from the gorgeous, white leather purse Radimir had bought me. I was getting to like dressing like a mafia queen, even if I still preferred jeans and sneakers when we were around the penthouse.
I was so deep into planning where we could put extra tables in the cafe and how the book tables should be positioned, it took me a moment to notice what was going on at the end of the subway car. Three men were standing over a seated woman, blocking her in so she couldn’t escape. She was pale and jumpy, on the edge of tears. They weren’t touching her...yet. It was just that low-level harassment that gets written off as harmless fun when it isn’t harmless or fun. But we have to put up with it.
Except I didn’t. Not anymore.
Before I knew what I was doing, I’d marched down the aisle and pushed in front of the trio, so I was between them and the woman. “Leave her alone.” I wasn’t asking.
One of them opened his mouth to speak. I gave him a withering glance. “Do you know who I am?”
His brows knitted in confusion. Then one of his friends whispered in his ear and he paled.
“I ride this route a lot,” I told them. “If I see you do this again, I will be displeased. Do you think that you want me displeased?”
He shook his head. All of them shook their heads.
What Radimir did—what we did—still bothered me. But if someone in this city had to have power, then better it was us. And if I had it, I was going to do some good with it. Spartak’s territory had given us even more income and I’d made sure we spent some of it taking care of the women he’d trafficked and reuniting them with their families. Liliya was free now, too, and she was figuring out what she was going to do with her life. Part of me hoped she’d stay in Chicago: she was becoming a good friend.
I was getting to know Alexei and his wife Gabriella, too. They were in town for a few days, and it had been great seeing Alexei and Radimir reconnect. Last night, in a bar, Alexei had told us about what he’d been doing since he left the Bratva: helping Gabriella’s all-female hacker group, the Sisters of Invidia. “Is good life,” he told us firmly, squeezing Gabriella’s hand. “Almost no one trying to kill me.”
“I think you missed the action,” Radimir had said playfully. “Just a little.”
Alexei had shaken his head firmly. Then he’d exchanged a look with Gabriella, and she’d nodded to him, like, it’s okay. And he’d squeezed her hand again and sheepishly nodded, a smile tugging at his lips. “Maybe just a little,” he’d muttered. The two of them were spending the day sightseeing and then they were coming over for dinner tonight.