Bratva Mother

Meet Again *edited

Carol looked around while her meal was cooking and decided she was going to start packing her personal belongings and ship them to Ray. Food first though. Her baby needed proper food before she did anything else. Once done, she grabbed a few boxes and started carefully packing up her photos and degrees from the walls. She went to her closet and packed up her clothes.

Not the fancy stuff James made her buy and wear. But her prized comfortable clothes and her hidden regalia. She didn’t bring much to New York from home, but made sure her heritage was honored still. Her personal things were all carefully packed and labeled with her friend's address. All she will travel with will be her backpack of clothes and toiletries. Not much room in a semi-truck for full luggage.

By the time evening came around, and she was finally ready for bed, she spotted the box of letters. She decided to read a few while sitting in her bed. She grabbed a few of the envelopes and made her way to the bedroom. After doing her nightly routine, she crawled into bed and started to read. Grandma Jenn was right, she and her paternal grandma knew each other for quite some time. Through the letters she learned that the girls just wanted to make a difference and do something worthwhile.

Something that was hard to do for their generation. Not impossible, but hard. Jenn, being the only daughter of wealthy people, had a better education and outlook than her own grandma Rosalie. Rosalie wasn’t poor, but she wasn’t rich either. Turns out Rosalie’s dad did some work with Jenn’s father… Or was it for her father? Oh well, that is how they met and grew up. Rosalie spent time at Jenn’s house due to their fathers working together.

An unusual friendship grew between the unlikely pair. Rosalie had to work hard to get funding for her community college while Jenn went to a good school. But their young goals were admirable and beneficial for their community in Georgia. They wanted to make sure agriculture and medicine didn’t die out for their community and that it could grow and do more for everyone and not turn to empty plots of land or empty communities.

Carol had a feeling if her maternal grandma had known these two women back in the day, they would have gone far in the world. Sesi probably would have built on these two, and they would have been quite the team.

Thinking of all three women and what their ideas and goals were, her own started to form. It could come to fruit. The thought that traditional medicine could be cultivated and revived was a tantalizing thought that could happen. The world is relying too heavily on pharmaceuticals and not enough on natural healing. Carol put aside the letters and stared off into space thinking of all three women and the ideas she was sprouting. Until a noise in her apartment told her she was no longer alone.

Getting up, Carol reached for the gun in her nightstand and crept out of her bed. Thanks to her upbringing out in the middle of nowhere, she could be silent and still aim her weapon. She crept down the hall, looking into doors to check for the intruder; with her gun pointed to the floor.

She stayed as low to the ground as possible while still moving forward. Once she reached the end of the hall, and she could see most of the apartment and noticed someone sitting on her armchair, she pointed her gun at the person, then turned the lights on. Once she noticed her unwanted/unwelcome guest, she lowered her weapon with a scowl.

“What are you doing here? How do you know where I live?”

Mikhail smirked at her. He was even more intrigued by this small woman. No one has pulled a gun on him and lived. He was impressed that she made it down the hall without making a sound. He noticed she handled her weapon as if it was an extension of her own hand and not as a tool. He is a hard man to impress, let alone get his undivided attention. He is the head of his family. Tall, built and deadly.

You had to be to survive a Russian livelihood, let alone a mafia family. He is 6’1” on the pale side with black hair that grew to his ears on top but a bit of a buzz on the sides. The top of his head had a windswept vibe to it. But it was his eyes that drew most women to him. Hazel with more green than brown. His beard wasn’t long, he kept it well groomed. Covering half his face but making it look sexy by trimming it.

He didn’t bother answering her questions, being part of the mafia made it easy to enter places. So he asks a few of his own questions. “Why is there a pile of boxes here? Does your husband know you are divorcing him?”

Carol was dumb founded. How did this guy know so much but not everything? She put her gun on the table next to her and slowly sat down on the couch. Not once took her eyes off, the guy making himself at home in her living room. She thought about what to do and how much to tell him. She didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. Which she could admit wasn’t far.

She chose her words carefully. “James will learn of the divorce papers on Friday. If not sooner. It depends on when my lawyer can get the papers together. As to the boxes, they are the possessions I came here with. I am taking my things and only my things with me when I leave. This apartment is his along with most of the items in it. A friend will house my things while I take time to myself to recoup and think. Why do you care? Would you tell him before I have the papers in my hands?”

Again a smirk but he replied easily enough. “Your secret is safe with me. I will not reveal anything before the big show. Why do you need to take time? Where will you go?”

Carol rolled her eyes, he was deliberately not telling her what she wanted to know. Why did he care!? “Again, I do not see why you would care about any of my plans or movements. After my divorce, we will not see each other again.” She folded her arms over her chest and leaned back against the couch.

Mikhail was having too much fun with this slip of a woman. Again, not many people have her tenacity or courage. She just issued a challenge and didn’t know it. After the show at Robington estate, he had the head of his security do a quick investigation on her. She was transparent on paper. Middle-class parents, one dead and the other a widow. Three brothers and she was from Alaska. Not many Alaskans have traveled so far east. He knew she had come here for school and then met James.

The fool doesn’t even know the diamond she is. James is smart and cut throat about business and the work they do together. But when it comes to the people in his life, he is obtuse. He doesn’t realize the women he surrounds himself with are gold diggers who wouldn’t further the family even if they tried. But Carol, she came from little but has two degrees and now a fortune in her name thanks to the late Mrs. Robington. She made a name for herself that would make everyone proud.

Now, she is going toe to toe with him and is doing a damn good job of keeping her secrets. He knew she had made a few phone calls in the last week, but besides the call with her lawyer, she talked in riddles and all parties were vague about what was going on. He would only admit to himself he was a little pissed off and jealous of this Ray person. From the voice he knew it was a woman. But the dialog between these two suggests more than friends.

How did he know what was said? His tech guy was able to get a recording of the calls. Apparently, George was weary of those supposed to be close to him and had a listening app installed on her phone. Because of her “poor” background, the guy didn’t trust his only daughter-in-law and had her bugged/followed. She is a private and closed-off person, so when everything showed that she was a boring woman who went to work, back to the apartment and occasionally went out shopping; George called off the tail but forgot the listening device.

Mikhail isn’t going to remind the Robington family of the bugs' existence, just wanting to know more about this Kukolka. Her voice brought him out of his musings. “Listen…. Whatever your name is, It has been a long day, and I am tired. I was already in bed when you broke in. By the way, on your way out make sure you close your way in. I do not need someone coming in here to rob me the week I plan to leave.” She deliberately left out his name, knowing it would piss him off.

Her not using his name, even though he introduced himself earlier, stunned him. Calling him out for his actions amused him. She was an enigma through and through. Looking at his watch, he realized it was getting late, and he was meeting his party back at the hotel they were all staying at. He rose from the armchair, buttoning his suit jacket back up. He regarded her one last time, walked over to the window to close and lock it. Then he walked over to her door and left. Carol followed him to the door and locked it up, grabbed her gun and went back to her bed. She has a headache again. Stupid men who don’t know how to answer questions.

Grumbling, she laid down and started to think about the 3 women who shaped her. Maybe her plan after her little retreat should involve traditional medicine and making a little farm of it. It will require a lot of thought and planning. Alaskans don’t traditionally garden. Mother nature grows what we need, and we just wait for the right time to harvest. She will have to consult a few elders and gardeners to get more insight on it. Maybe even talk to Ray and get her opinion. All these thoughts followed her to sleep.

Despite the late unexpected visitor, she slept sound and easily. She had nothing to offer the mafia of any nationality, so she wasn’t concerned with what if about them being there or wanting her for anything more than to hold against her in-laws. It is clear no one in her marital family regards her well, so there is no need for her specifically.