Mikhail glared down at the cell phone in his hand, eying the seven digit number that he knew by heart. He’d been dialing the number repeatedly for the past few weeks, never able to bring himself to actually call. He cursed under his breath and shoved the phone back into his pocket, reaching for the pool cue he’d set down. He was supposed to be playing a quick game with Nikolai but instead he couldn’t get his mind off of Ana. The twins had decided that until they could figure out who the leak was, they would not let Ana participate in any races since they couldn’t risk her being discovered.

                “Has anyone heard anything?” Mikhail asked Nikolai as he chalked the tip of his cue. Nikolai shook his head no and line up his next shot, grimacing when the cue ball followed the orange ball into the pocket. Mikhail grabbed the ball out of the pocket and placed it back on the pool table. The leak had been heavy on their minds for weeks and they were both obsessing over it. The Aleksandrov name meant something, it meant power, fear, control, and strength. The Aleksandrov family had been untouchable, and a bust like this was below the Aleksandrov name. Something had to be done about this, but Nikolai and Mikhail were having trouble getting to the bottom of it.

                “We know it was Dragovich, what is taking so long.” Mikhail demanded. Nikolai shook his head no and sighed.

                “At best we know that Kirill has interesting timing.” Nikolai explained. He knew his brother was eager to get to Kirill but Nikolai wanted to go about things the right way.

                “Think about it Nik, Dragovich shows up and weeks later the cops get an anonymous tip? Even if he didn’t do it personally, he was involved. Dragovich’s have a reputation for snitching.” He growled, his expression darkening. Everyone in the criminal underground knew the Dragovich’s were a family with no honor. When Dimitri Aleksandrov made the order to wipe them all out, there were no objections, since a family of snitches was not very well welcomed by the other families. The only reason the Dragovich’s lasted so long was because they were a legacy and they were powerful, so no other family could question them, but the Aleksandrov’s could, and they did. Dimitri made it a point to challenge the Dragovich’s every chance he got, and all the other families backed him in his decisions.

                “His timing could be circumstantial. And we don’t want to get into a political battle with any other families. Kirill’s appearance is upsetting but we have to handle this delicately Mikhail. Right now we just need to figure out what his objective is. Now every Dragovich heir was presumed dead-”

                “Except Tat’yana.” Mikhail pointed out. Nikolai nodded with acknowledgement and continued on.

                “Right, except Tat’yana. Now staying unknown would have been the smartest thing for Kirill to do. The Dragovich’s were exterminated so staying unknown would have been the safest thing for Kirill, he wouldn’t have had to worry about anyone coming after him right? This means he’s revealed himself for a reason.” Nikolai explained. Mikhail thought about this for a moment, frowning down at the ground before his head snapped back up to Nikolai.

                “Tati. He’s after Tati.” Mikhail gasped, feeling the shock and worry curl within his chest. Nikolai clenched his jaw momentarily, feeling defensive at the thought of anything harming Tat’yana, but he knew he had to keep a logical head.

                “We don’t know that for sure Mikhail.” Nikola pointed out, seeing his brother’s worried expression. He knew Mikhail was into Ana, and it was always difficult for Nikolai to understand. Ana was beautiful, smart, funny, and dangerous, and Nikolai saw her as his sister no matter what her last name was, so knowing a man was interested in her always made him protective, and knowing that the man interested was his brother only made it worse. On one hand he wanted his brother to be happy, and no matter how much Mikhail tried to resist his attraction to Ana, Nikolai knew she could tame him, but Nikolai did not want Ana’s heart to be broken in the process. Though one thing was certain, Nikolai and Mikhail wouldn’t let anything happen to Ana, she would be kept safe.

                “No we do. Think about it, if Kirill wanted to make a statement to us he would have just approached us straight up but instead he went to Tati. She was his contact.”

                Nikolai though about this for a moment before sighing and running his hand through his hair. “We’re going to have to have Tati move back to the house until we can sort all of this out.” Nikolai grumbled. Both of them knew Tat’yana valued her freedom and would not like to be back within the Aleksandrov confines.

                “Good luck getting her to do that.” Mikhail grunted.

                “Or one of us could go stay with her at her place.” Nikolai said with a smirk. Mikhail scowled at his brother and rolled his eyes.

                “No thanks, we’ll get her to move back into the house.” He grumbled. He had not yet been to Ana’s apartment, and with good reason. Mikhail had forced himself to walk away from Ana years ago, leaving her sleeping in his bed and convincing himself that she was too young to be with him. He’d forced himself to keep away from his woman. But to go to her apartment would open up an entirely new can of worms for Mikhail, it would force him to acknowledge that Ana was grown up. Mikhail tugged his phone out of his pocket once again and dialed her number again before shutting it and tossing the pool cue down to the ground, hearing the wooden rod snap.

                “You can talk to Ana about moving in tomorrow.” Nikolai said, putting his pool cue back up against the rack. He had wanted to finish their game because he was winning but he didn’t feel like watching Mikhail break another pool cue out of frustration.

“Tomorrow?” Mikhail asked.

“Otets sozval soveshchaniye , chtoby obsudite7; reyda. On khochet, chtoby Tate7;yana chtoby byte7; zdese7;.” (Father has called a meeting to discuss the raid. He wants Tat'yana to be here.)Nikolai explained, switching to his native language. Mikhail cursed under his breath, knowing that a crazy storm must be brewing if their father decided to come out of retirement to host a meeting.

____________________________________________________________________

Ana felt John’s hands steering her to an unknown location. A thick black bandanna was wrapped around her head, covering her eyes effectively blindfolding her. John had showed up at her place this morning claiming to have a surprise for her and barely explained anything as he blindfolded her and led her downstairs to the car. They had been driving for around a half an hour before he’d led her from the car, practically carrying her and Ana fumbled around blindly. Ana could hear the rumbling of engines and tires squealing, making her wonder where they were. The smell of motor oil and fresh cut grass filled her nose, making Ana miss her races. She’d been jumpy for weeks, desperate for her adrenaline rush that had been absent. Given the sounds and smells surrounding her, Ana was pretty sure she was about to get her adrenaline fix.

“Oh please tell me we’re racing cars!” she squealed happily, feeling her excitement build. John chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.

“Close, we’re racing…” he whipped the blindfold off of her head. “Go-karts!” he cheered. Ana blinked ,her eyes adjusting to the sudden light as it blared down against her. She looked around seeing the go kart racing speedway and smiling. The small motorized karts wouldn’t be as fast as she was used to but she was excited to get behind a wheel. Sex with john was great but it definitely wasn’t a good way to exert all of her extra energy, it left her far too sore in the mornings. Ana was finding herself becoming fond of John’s company. He was funny, sweet , compassionate, and wild, spending the past few weeks with him had been really fun for her. Ana mouth spread into a wide smile as she turned to John and pressed a heated kiss to his lips, circling her arms around his neck and going up onto her tiptoes to press herself against him, loving the feel of his solid frame against her.

“It’s perfect.” She grinned. John smiled and leaned his forehead against hers, his light green eyes glittering gleefully as they stared into her chocolaty brown irises.

“I’m glad you like it, now let’s see what you can do behind the wheel.” He smirked, grabbed her hand and leading her to the nearest race. Ana tried to hide her knowing smile, she knew exactly what she could do while behind the wheel and part of her relished in wiping the smirk from John’s face. John held her hands while the man in charge explained the ruled. No purposely crashing the cars, don’t remove your helmets, wear a seatbelt, blah blah blah…Ana felt uncomfortable with the sweaty contraption on her head but she was too excited about the race instead. She practically skipped to her go-kart, which was dark purple with a number 3 printed on it in silver letters. She revved the engine, enjoying the heated leather against her back, the slight breeze dancing across her bare arms, and the heavy vibrations of the karts engine. She and John both rode their karts to the starting line, waiting forhte countdown.

Racers at you mark….

John looked over at her and smirked, tightening his grip on the steering while.

Get ready….

Ana turned to john and pursed her glossed lips out slightly as though blowing him a kiss grinned at him before turned back to face the man holding the checkered flag.

GO!!!!

Tires squealed and smoke rose as the two drivers’s slammed their feet down onto the gas pedals as the karts shot forward, zooming down the track. They were neck and neck, each going steady as they sped down the track. When they reached the first turn Ana twisted her wheel to the side and John watched in awe as her kart drifted sideways before shooting around the corner. John struggled to keep up with her kart as he turned around the corner, hearing An’s loud cheer as she sped ahead of him. After that the race was pretty much a wrap, Ana beat him by a good thirty seconds, speeding through the finish line happily. John couldn’t help laughing as he got out of his car and walked over to a gloating Ana.

“I win, you lose! I win, you lose!” she cheered, rocking her hips from side to side and pumping her arms happily. “So, what do I get for winning?” she asked excitedly. John tugged her helmet of and ruffled her hair.

“The satisfaction of a job well done.” He offered, giving her a boyish smile. Ana stuck her tongue out at him.

“That’s no fun.” She pouted playfully, intertwining her fingers with his as he tugged his helmet off. He hugged her closer to his side.He spotted a food vendor off in the distance and smiled to himself.

“Come on winner, I’ll get you some cotton candy.” He promised. Ana skipped gleefully, elated after her win. John bought them both slices of pizza and a cone of fluffy pink cotton candy. He spotted a nearby hill just behind some picnic benches and led Ana up the tall grassy slope. They say at the top and ate their pizza in silence staring out into the dusky afternoon sunset. When the pizza was gone John leaned back onto his hands, staring up into the sky as Ana lay across his lap, occasionally ripping off fluffy bits of cotton candy and feeding it to John. At one point she checked her cell phone and frowned slightly before returning back to her original task of feeding John. He enjoyed the light sugary confection but something else was heavy on John’s mind. When Ana passed him on the track, speeding past him in her go-kart, she’d reminded him of something, he just couldn’t put his mind on it. Something about her was drastically calling out to him, but he couldn’t figure it out. He began to rack his brain for everything he knew about her, this intriguing beautiful woman in front of him. John was ashamed to realize that it wasn’t much, he knew about her family, but not her last name, or the family who took her in, he didn’t know plenty of other stuff about her too. He didn’t know what high school she went to, if she’d lived her for her entire life, her hobbies, hell he didn’t even know where she worked. She was a mystery.

A mystery. The word rang in his head, focusing and clearing for him an a clear way. John suddenly was struck, his breath caught in his chest. He suddenly remembered what seeing her speeding past him had reminded her of. That night, when AJ had been chasing an expensive teal sports car. From the side, Ana was a very nearly exact match of the Aleksandrov princess.