Even The Devil Loves His Children

Chapter Two

Tayen grabbed champagne from a waiter and took a quick sip. "Careful now, doesn't NA require full sobriety?" a snotty voice asked from behind her. Tayen turned and smiled tightly at Kylie, the blonde barbie that liked to pretend Tayen wasn't going to be her husband's boss one day.

"I wouldn't know, Kylie. But you seem well versed in their program," She said politely. Kylie smirked and lifted her chin, "You're not better than us, Tayen. I know you're used to being the prodigal daughter, but things have been changing around here. Word has it that Abe's been thinking about naming Sirius his heir instead," she grinned.

"And, let me guess, you're still under the impression that Si's going to marry you because you spread your legs? Please. As if Abe and I would let that happen, even if Si wanted to." Tayen scoffed. Kylie huffed and crossed her arms, but Tayen patted the girls shoulder and walked away.

"Thanks, I'm never going to hear the end of that," Sirius scowled at her when she walked up to him. Tayen rolled her eyes, "You could just stop sleeping with her." she snapped.

"Wow, someone's bitchy. Glad to know sobriety's doing you well," Sirius remarked. Tayen sighed and downed her champagne, but the small amount of alcohol in it did nothing to soothe the building pain in her skull.

"Why did she say Abe was going to replace me with you?" She asked sharply. Sirius paled and rubbed the back of his neck, "No idea." he replied too quickly. Tayen eyed him warily, then shook her head. "Whatever. I'm off to get a real drink," she muttered.

Before she made it to the bar, though, Abe pulled her into a conversation with two people she didn't recognize.

"Mr and Mrs Ivanov, have you met my daughter yet?" He asked them with a polite smile. The older couple shook their head, "No, unfortunately we have not." The man answered. "Ah. Please forgive me, this is my daughter Farrah, she had some important business to attend to in the Emirates. Albi, this is Alexei and Anastasia Ivanov," Abe introduced.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Tayen said softly in Russian. Anastasia blinked in surprise with Alexei bowed his head, "It is an honour to meet you, Miss Farrah. I assume you learned Russian for business?" he asked with a smile. Tayen shook her head, "My best friend was born in Russia, and moved here when he was five. I learned Russian, and he learned Arabic before either of us learned English," Tayen explained.

"Well, isn't that interesting. Speaking of, where is your partner in crime? I've heard quite the stories about you two," Alexei chuckled. "Oh, he's... around here. Somewhere." Tayen said as she looked around. She saw him flirting with a waitress and shook her head.

"So what brought you to the UAE?" Anastasia asked politely. Tayen hesitated, but Abe answered for her. "She was checking on one of our facilities, we had a number of complaints coming in and I decided it was best to send her in case it was serious."

"Oh dear, I hope it wasn't bad," Anastasia said in concern. Tayen shook her head, relieved that she knew the complaints Abe was talking about. "Nothing too horrible. Supplies were going missing. We found the culprits and managed to recover the items," she replied.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kylie approach Sirius and the waitress, a scowl on her face. Tayen tensed as she waited for Sirius to calm down his jealous f*** buddy, but he was too interested in the conversation to notice Kylie was coming. "I... Um, excuse me, I'll be right back," Tayen said quickly before she rushed over.

She grabbed Kylie's arm just before Kylie could interrupt. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Richards?" Tayen hissed. Kylie ripped her arm out of Tayen's grip and glared, "None of your business!" she shouted.

Tayen closed her eyes and took a deep breath when the small outburst gained attention from those around her. "Kylie... You don't want to do this," she growled through a clenched jaw. But Kylie walked over and shoved the poor waitress, causing the young woman to dump the tray of hore d'oeuvres. "Stay away from my boyfriend, you wh***!" Kylie screamed. Sirius glared at Kylie and helped the waitress up, "Kylie, what the f***?!" He demanded.

"She was flirting with you!" Kylie cried. Tayen looked over and saw Abe staring at her expectantly, so she grabbed Kylie by the wrist and dragged her out of the room. "Let go of me, b****!" Kylie yelled. Sirius followed them as Tayen pulled Kylie into an empty room, then threw her up against a wall by her throat.

"Listen here, you pathetic, psychopathic wh***. You do not get to abuse the staff because your delusional a** thinks you're more than just a f*** toy to Sirius. Do. You. Understand?!" She snarled. She dropped Kylie and waited for a response, but Kylie lunged and tried to knock Tayen over. Tayen took a step back and laughed when Kylie fell on her face, then dragged the blonde up by her hair.

"You can't do this to me!" Kylie cried out. Tayen brought Kylie to a chair and threw her onto it, then leaned down to stare into Kylie's eyes.

"That's where you're wrong," Tayen whispered. She stood straight and looked up at Sirius. "Please find Sergei and tell him to come bring Miss Richards to the dungeon. I think a week in a cell will be enough to get her head straight," Tayen ordered. "Come on, Demon. It's just a misunderstanding, right, Kylie?" Sirius pleaded. "No, Sirius! You're not going to change my mind this time!" Tayen snapped.

Sirius looked at her with an imploring gaze, but Tayen's jaw was clenched and she was holding her ground. Finally, Sirius sighed and left to do what she asked. Tayen stared at the closed door a moment, then turned back to Kylie and smoothed her hair.

"You're lucky, you know," Tayen snorted as she sat on another chair. "Abe's going to give me s**t for letting you off easy. You're continually disrespectful to everyone, and you just assaulted an employee. Which is just begging for him to kick you out of the community. There's nothing Abe hates more than b****es that think they're better than they are." Tayen laughed.

"So why not just banish me?" Kylie grumbled. Tayen stared at her, unsure of what the answer was. "Because you're pathetic and would die on the streets." she blurted.

And I already have enough blood on my hands, she added silently.

Sirius walked back into the room with Sergei, the head of the home security team. Sergei grabbed Kylie by the arm and they left, but Kylie's whimpers could still be heard down the hallway.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked, genuinely curious. Tayen ignored him and pulled a small mirror out of her clutch purse. But Sirius grabbed her wrist and forced her to look at him. Tayen opened her mouth to say something, but the look on Sirius's face made her freeze.

It was a look she hadn't seen in years, since they were teenagers and started stealing Abe's whiskey. Before she knew it, Sirius wrapped his arm around her waist and tangled his hand in her hair.

This was a really bad idea. He towered over her, and used her hair to make him stare straight up at him.

"Si, we can't," she whispered.

Her voice seemed to startle him like a bucket of cold water, he let her go and took a step back. "I'm sorry," he rasped. He cleared his throat and looked down, "I'm sorry." he repeated in a firmer voice. "Don't... Don't apologize. It's... I..." Tayen struggled to figure out what she was trying to say.

Tayen and Sirius had been each other's first love. Tayen had always taken care of Sirius, especially after his parents died, and Sirius had been the only one to know everything Abe had made her do over the years. But their secret affair had been short lived, it had only taken a few months for Sirius's inability to stay faithful had gotten the better of him. But it wasn't all Sirius's fault, Tayen's jobs had been catching up to her and she struggled to do anything more than drink away her guilt and ease her constant headaches.

It had been years since that happened, and they both agreed that friendship was better for both of them. They never spoke of it, either. And, for the most part, they were both okay with it.

"I'm... I'm going to go back," She whispered. She fixed her hair as she walked back to the ballroom, and nearly ran to the bar for a drink.

Isn't being a good person a pain in the ass? the voice in her head laughed. Tayen tried to ignore it as she downed her first glass of whiskey.

Well, not that good, I guess. How many people have you k***** over the years? How many t******* and sacrificed for the 'greater good,' as Abe puts it? If Sirius hadn't been there earlier, would you have put that b**** in her place properly? I hope so, you can't get weak on me, Little One. The voice in her head whispered.

The headache that accompanied the voice hit her suddenly, blinding her temporarily and she barely managed not to yell out. When she came to, a few seconds later, the bartender was staring at her oddly, holding out her refilled glass. She held it tightly and sipped on it, so her drinking didn't catch Abe's attention.

After that, she spent the rest of the night listening to wives gripe about their husbands, and the men try to convince her to schedule a meeting with Abe for them.