Sunday Santos

Neon lights strobe and flash on the casino floor as slot machines chime and drunken patrons chatter boisterously.. My overstimulated senses give way to trembling nerves as Max's arm settles around the small of my back, his hand resting gingerly on the curve of my hip..

Verity struts ahead of us, turning heads in her direction, all the way to the bar..

A few grizzly thugs offer a knowing nod in Max's direction, but he doesn't stop to speak to them.. Instead, he remains glued to my side, a towering and ever intimidating presence.. I am not sure if his attentiveness is for my benefit or his own.. I can't help but wonder if he might suspect that I am going to try to run away again.. After all, It would be much easier for me to slip away in the casino crowd.. Or maybe he is simply trying to protect me from the hundred leering eyes that I feel pass over me in critical curiosity..

An inked up thief with a frat boy appearance and a million dollar smile waits behind the bar and within mere moments of our arrival, I witness as Verity places him under some kind of hypnosis.. She smiles, tossing her hair as she breaks the ice and he laughs.. She winks, leaning forward over the bar to offer a flirtatious view of her cleavage and he pays for her drink.. He plucks up the courage to ask her on a date and within minutes she is using her red lipstick to write her number on a cocktail napkin..

The woman is a seductress of the most dangerous persuasion.. Vicious and beautiful both at the same time.. I hate to admit it, but she's impressive in action.. Not that I'd ever pay her the compliment out loud, god knows her enormous ego doesn't need to grow any larger..

"She doesn't waste any time.." I sigh, the sound far more envious than intended.. Seeing Verity flaunt her 'zero fucks' attitude and enjoying her independence, free from the entanglements of debts and deals, I seethe with jealousy..

I want that freedom for myself.. But I am still too afraid to truly believe it is even possible.. Javier had made sure I knew my low worth, which only makes Max's betting on me even more insane..

I don't know how I am supposed to convince anybody that I belong by his side and soon I'm sure everybody will see just how right Verity was about me.. That I am not good enough..

"She's something alright.." Max hums in disapproval, with just a hint of amusement lightening his gravelly timbre.. Signalling to me through a subtle squeeze, he draws my attention away from Verity's performance and pulls me to a stop.. I turn in my borrowed high heels to find his discerning steely gaze cast down at me.. "Whoa- you're shaking, Little Bunny.."

My breath shallows under his scrutiny and my heart thuds frantically behind my ribcage.. A thousand angry butterflies flap about in my tummy, twisting me into tense knots.. "The last time I was here was when Javier sold me to you.."

"Loaned.." The Loan Shark retorts an amused reminder..

"What's the difference, Max?" I squeeze my eyes closed for just a brief moment, fighting to contain the prickly threat of tears..

"Fuck.." A tender knuckle finds its way beneath my chin and my lashes flutter as I peer up to find a shadowed crease of sorrow upon his brunette brow.. "I shouldn't have brought you here-"

"No, it's not this place.." I shake my head with the intention of making sense of a swirl of chaotic emotions.. Assaulted by his intoxicating aroma and the stimulating sensory overload of the casino floor, my frustrations get the better of me.. A silver tear tracks its way down my cheek.. "It's you.. I don't understand you, Max- I don't understand any of this?"

"You don't need to understand.." Inexplicably my sadness seems to agitate the man and his hand quickly slips from my waist.. "Just play the part, Zayka.." With a heavy sigh, he glances over my shoulder to assess the room with an eagle eye.. "And don't wander out of my sight.. It's not safe.."

"Que?" (What) With a sniffle, I swipe at my weepy eyes.. Suddenly much more focused on our surroundings.. "What do you mean, not safe?"

"Maksimillian!" A savage shout of fury shatters the illusion of intimacy entirely, drawing the eyes of all the nearby patrons.. "What the fuck is she doing here?!" A scowling Luka Angeloff storms across the faded floorboards, an accusatory finger aimed over my shoulder towards the bar..

From the way Verity spoke about her estranged brother, I knew that she had a particularly fierce dislike for the man.. But that is nothing to seeing the hatred of these two siblings in person.. Each of them radiating a deep seeded disdain for the other..

"Well, well, well-" Verity whirls around with the flick of her glossy locks, all too quick to antagonise in a way that seems entirely insane to me.. In my experience, provoking wrath doesn't go well.. Though I get the feeling that Verity is more than aware of just how dangerous men can be.. "Ya me znal, chto syuda puskayut pidorov!" (I didn't realise they let fucking faggots in here) Her eyes flicker with a white hot hatred as she takes a goading step forward..

"Fucking whore!" Spits Luka, his chest swelling and flexing under the strain of his rage.. "I should fucking kill you!"

"Go on then!" Verity laughs mockingly, her crystalline eyes glittering with wicked delight.. She is decidedly unafraid of the intimidated figure that confronts her.. "Do it you fucking pussy!"

"Ahh!" Luka advances in several swift strides, moving with offensive intention and his hands clenched into tight, white knuckled fists..

My heart freezes in my chest, stricken by concern for what a man of Lila's size could do to a woman as slight as Verity..

Is he actually going to kill her?

Obviously I don't like the woman, even still I have no desire to watch her die..

"What the ff-fuck is wrong with you!" Before the situation can escalate any further, Max steps in between the two with a warning shove to his brother's shoulder.. The force of it sends Luka stumbling backwards, off balance on drunken legs.. "You're going to hit a woman? Your own ss-sister?" Max mock-spits at his brother's feet in shame.. "Ty okhuyenno otvratitelen.." (You're fucking disgusting)

"What's wrong with me?! What the fuck is wrong with you!" Luka grits his teeth through a prideful sneer.. "That treacherous slut is not my fucking sister.." His slitted stare flits in my direction.. "And neither is that Cartel bitch! You're fucking losing it, Brat!"

"I'll give you exactly ff-five seconds to unfuck yourself, Luka-" Max warns through a forceful stammer that seems to give his threat a strange sense of sincerity..

"You're choosing her over me?" He slurs, angling his chin towards Verity in accusation as he seemingly forgets my existence once again, if only for a moment.. His hatred for Verity far outweighing his dislike of me.. "Half the guys in the place have had their cock inside her! And now you're parading Navarro's whore around like she's some kind of prize! How is anybody s'pozed to respect you, Brat?"

"Look at you.." A crowd begins to gather and the veins pulsing in Max's throat seem to expand with the pressure of his anger . "You're the ff-fucking embarrassment .. Go home, Luka.. Before I take you outside myself.."

"Man, fuck this!" The tension fractures and falls away as Luka turns his back with a disgruntled huff.. "And fuck you!"

Tension hangs so heavy I'm the air it practically suffocates me and everything becomes eerily quiet for several slow seconds..

"What the fuck are you all looking at!" Snarls Max and as quickly as they'd gathered, the bystanders scatter..

Verity smirks, twisting a curl around her finger as she sides up to her brother.. "Spasibo, Bratishka-"

"Not another ff-fucking word outta you.." He snaps.. "You're just as bad as him.."

"But Max-" Verity's protest falls on deaf ears as her brother turns his shoulder on her..

"Come, Zakya.." Linking his long, deft fingers around my wrist, Max pulls at me.. His hold is not harsh, but not gentle either.. My feet shuffle double time to keep up as he drags me around the bar and into a private room filled with cigar smoke and even dimmer lighting..

A few men laze around, some in quiet conversation while others sit around a small card table at the centre of the room.. The difference being that in this private room, none of the Men stare.. They hardly even acknowledge our presence as we enter.. releasing me from his commanding hold, Max takes a few long strides to land himself down in one of the arm chairs that encircling a nearby table.. My curiosity keeps me fixated in place and I watch as his head tips back and his eyes scrunch closed in pain..

His breath deepens to a meditative tide of rising and falling chest, muscle swelling against expensive strained fabric.. Cast in shadow, the micro-crucifix tattooed beneath his right eye seems to darken, giving half his face a villainous visage, while the other side seems somehow saintly, cast in the glow of gentle dusky backroom lights.. The two opposing halves of the one man, make up the twisted entirety of what he truly is.. Equal parts monster and saviour.. Good and evil at war within one divinely carved vessel..

"Maksim?" I peep quietly, standing awkward by his side and feeling extremely out of place.. "Are you alright?"

After several slow seconds, he finally replies, slowly cracking eyes to blink at me.. "I will be.." Max sits up straighter to fix his collar, signalling with two fingers towards a scantily clad shot girl who carries drinks tray folded beneath her arm..

"Vor?" (Sir) She smiles at him a little too sweet, bringing back that increasingly familiar prickle of jealousy to my cheeks..

How strange...

I have never been jealous before.. Not of the countless women who would fawn over Javier.. Actually, I had welcomed their advances, as any attention they drew away from me, the less likely I was to receive the lash of his tongue and thrash of his knuckles..

Jealousy, in its very essence belongs to those who feel such a deep and consuming possessiveness.. I've never felt that way before, because I knew from the very beginning that Javier was never mine.. He would never be faithful.. He would fuck anything in a skirt without shame.. And he would abandon me, selling my body without prejudice whenever it suited his agenda..

So how can it be that the man who brought me, the man who sits before me now, is no better than the man who sold me?

It's impossible..

Yet The Loan Shark is intriguing enough to spark such an unexpected and unexplainable reaction deep within the untouched depths of my soul.. But that envious feeling is short-lived as I quickly remind myself there is absolute nothing to be jealous of..

After all, Max is not mine to possess..

"Naydosh mne vodki-" (Get me vodka) The Loan Shark orders in a husky foreign slant that rolls effortlessly and eloquently from his tongue.. His stilted speech lost and his tension easing, replaced by a relaxed posture.."I tekily dlya moyey nevesty.." (And tequila for my bride)

"Da.." (Yes) The waitress nods obediently, curiously eyeing me before she slips from the room and back out into the bar..

"I could not help but overhear-" A smooth rumble behind me has me jerking around in surprise to find a pair of molten cocoa eyes beaming down at me.. A handsome man with a neat beard and an immaculate black suit greets us.. "You have taken a bride, Maximillian? Thiz iz happy newz, my friend.."

"Privyet, Reaper.." (Hello, Reaper) Max rises respectfully but not rushed, extending any inky hand to the grizzly bearlike man..

The stranger cranes his tattoed neck to get a better look at me.. "What iz your name, Kukolka?" (Little Doll)

"Sunday, Señor.." My head bows forward in instinctual deferral.. "Some people call me 'Sunny' for short..."

"I am Konstantin Ivanov-" He extends his mammoth paw, taking my hand carefully with gentlemanly consideration before he brings my knuckles to his lips for a swift kiss.. "Mizz Sunday.. A beauty you are, such a sight mozt welcome in my casino.."

"Your casino?" Inhaling sharp with shock, I blink up at the distinguished Russian bear.. "Oh-Gracias- uh- thank you.."

Konstantin inclines his head politely before he turns intense amethyst eyes toward Max.. "What transpirez just now, between Luka and yourself?"

"Family business.." Max shrugs, giving very little away.. "You know how it is.."

"Konstantin nods slowly.. "He yet performz hiz duty, does he not, Comrade?"

"Da.." Max grunts.. "He's young- careless .. And stupid.. It won't happen again, Komandir.."

Konstantin scratches at his well groomed stubble thoughtfully.. "I did expect much for your brother.. But I fear he iz wild animal at timez.. There will come a day for discipline, Maksim.." Looking him up and down, the man sighs.. "I wonder if you have the stomach for such thingz.. I know you do not wish to hear thiz, my friend, but there iz only one place for a savage dog.. And every brigadier requires a hellhound-"

"No.." Max shakes his head as he chews on his refusal in frustration.. "He's better than that life.. You see it too.. I know you do.."

"Vury well.." Konstantin hums with an indifferent smirk curling up the corners of his lips.. "But you are responsible for his actions within these wallz.. Remember thiz, my friend.."

"How could I ff-fucking ff-forget.." Grumbles the Loan Shark..

Ignoring his associate and fixating on me , Konstantin bows towards me with a friendly wink.. "Do svidaniya, Kukolka.."

Max stiffens in his seat and his brows knitt with irritation as he watches our exchange.. His reaction make my throat feel tight as I squeak out an uncertain farewell.. "Adios- uhm- -Señor.."

Konstantin glides away with a confident gait, my arms fall slack at my sides as I slink down onto the sofa beside Max.. "Your friend is kinda scary.."

His eyes narrow as his lip twitches in displeasure.. "He's not my friend.."

"Was he the one who-" I snap my mouth shut, realising how loose my tongue has become..

"What?" Max scoffs in wry amusement..

"You know--" I rub at my throat in suggestion.. "Did that?"

"Ah.." He sighs in realisation of my implied question.. "No.."

"Oh, so then he's your boss?"

Max shrugs noncommittally.. "The Reaper is- retired.."

"Isn't he a little young for retirement?" I cock my head curiosity, absorbed in this strange new world and all its mystery..

"I suppoze.." Max hums with a nod of appreciation to the sexy shot girl as she sets out drinks down, her gaze lingering upon Max for several extra unnecessary seconds..

"Here you go.. Let me know if I can't get you anything else.." She smiles with the seductive lick of her lips and too much emphasis on the word 'anything'.. But the Loan Shark pays our server no mind as we both thank her in imperfect sync, him with a little more sincerity than me..

"Spasibo-"

"Gracias-"

I can't help but exhale a sniff of bemusement at the funny sound of our twisting sentiments and blush at the giddying high of his undivided attention as his curious stare locks me in a captivating hold..

I had grown so accustomed to Javier's leering at other women while we were together, that it had become ingrained in my expectations.. Expectations that Maksimillian continues to exceed..

The Loan Shark grins, a beaming luminessence emanating from his features like I've never seen before.. His smile is a dazzling glow of pretty pearl teeth and one dimpled cheek that steals the breath from my chest and causes an odd arithmetic thump behind my ribcage..

Dios Mio (My God)..

Was he always this tortuously handsome?

I reach for my glass, taking a fiery swallow of tequila, one big enough to make me brave enough to admit that I had been wrong about my every unjust assumption of him and to plead a case for forgiveness.. "You're not who I thought you were, Max.."

My mouth moves before I can shut it up and as his expression darkens in displeasure, an immediate discomfort starts to strangle me..

"Ah, and who am I then, Bunny?" He takes a pull of his vodka double, daring me to vex him with my response and suddenly I remember the way he had threatened Javier and the harshness of his darker nature...

How can I be sure that this isn't all an act, or that the brute I know he can be isn't the real him?

"I- I-" My head spins as I reel through all the possible answers I could give, none of which would likely suffice.. Eventually, all I manage to squeak out is a pathetic evasion.. "I have to pee.."

A furrow of suspicion crinkles his dark brow and his gaze rakes down over my figure hugging dress.. "I'll take you-"

"I'm not a child, Max.." I shake my head softly and a loose curl tumbles over my shoulder which I quickly tuck back into place behind my ear.. "And you're going to have to trust me sooner or later.."

"We already tried that.." He grunts reluctantly and I know he is referring to my unsuccessful escape attempt back at the apartment, wondering if this is another ploy to distract him from the truth.. And honestly, I'm not entirely sure that it isn't..

"Well.. Can't we try again?" I smile and the stiffness in his shoulders softens as he nods once..

"Alright.." But then he leans forward, lowering his voice to a menacing growl.. "Last chance, Zayka.."

....

Authors Note:

Hey besties!
I'd love to hear how you guys are liking the story so far. Don't forget to drop me a like and comment on this chapter and let me know your thoughts!
Love, Leela ❤️