The days following the wedding were busy. Well, for Oliver. He usually left early in the morning and returned just before midnight. That had Felicity worried. She didn't know how the mafia worked, but it didn't seem normal to her. He asked him a few times if things were okay, and his answer did nothing to assure her.
On their first outing as a married couple, to the grocery store, Oliver casually draped his arm around her shoulders and with a fake smile on his lips told her to play along because they were being watched. They spend the trip holding hands and exchanging fake uneasy smiles. And from then on, they did that every time they were in public. And truth to be told, Felicity liked holding his hand. She loved it when he put his arm around her. And she melted every time he kissed her temple. His lips felt so soft against her skin and Felicity wanted to taste them. She had to restrain herself every time he leaned to kiss her temple so that she wouldn't turn and kiss him on the lips. But she wanted, oh how she wanted.
She spent the first couple weeks after the wedding trying to teach herself to cook. It's not like she had anything else to keep her occupied. She had burned a few dishes, but she was getting better. She managed to make nut-free pasta pesto. Oliver was truly surprised. It was the one day he came back early, and Felicity liked to think that she saw pride in his eyes.
But whatever was going on in the Bratva, it was escalating. She could see it in her husband's eyes. He was more worried by the day. The dark circles under his eyes were more prominent and the worry lines on his face had deepened. That had her feeling anxious. And she did not like that.
That night, Felicity was on her bed snuggled in a blanket, watching Criminal Minds. She had finally managed to download a few seasons, using the crappy Wi-Fi they had. Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan always made her feel better and she loved Penelope Garcia, even if she cringed at the ton of the inaccuracies that came out of her mouth.
It was well after midnight and Oliver had yet to come back. So, she waited for him, trying to distract herself with serial killers. Granted, not the best idea seeing as she still felt uneasy and she couldn't go to sleep if Oliver wasn't home.
It was nearing one in the morning when he finally entered through the front door. "What are you doing up?" he asked tiredly.
"Couldn't sleep." She said softly.
"Listen, I need to talk to you about a few things, but first I need a shower."
"Go, there should be more than enough hot water." She nodded, taking him in. He looked exhausted. He had left around six that morning and only now returning.
Oliver grabbed some clothes and went to shower. Felicity was on high alert. Something bad was going on. something dangerous. A thousand scenarios passed through her mind. What if something happened to Oliver or her. Or worse? What was she going to then? she was in a foreign country, practically alone.
She came back to reality when she heard Oliver coming out of the bathroom. He wore a pair of sweats, but no shirt. It was the first time she saw him without a shirt. There were scars littered all over his torso and the Bratva tattoo on his chest, but Felicity didn't care about those. No, she was focusing on his abs. very nice abs.
"Thanks" he chuckled softly.
"Did I say that out loud?" she blushed red, her eyes wide in embarrassment.
"You did."
"Frack." She cursed. "W-What did you want to talk about?" she cleared her throat.
"There have been some discrepancies within the brotherhood." He started. "The supporters of the old regime have been causing trouble. A lot of it."
"Oh. So, do you want me to take away their money?"
"You can do that?" he asked surprised. He did not expect that answer.
"Yeah, and they will never be able to trace it. Or I can have them thinking that someone else did it. You have no idea what I studied at MIT, do you?" Felicity cocked her head.
"No, not really."
"Computer Science and Cyber Security. And I may or may not have been a hacktivist. But don't ask me about those days. Things ended badly. Anyway, I can take away all their money and blame it on someone else." She babbled.
"Can you create an off-shore account, one that only the two of us will know about?"
"I can." She nodded.
"Alright, I will give you the names of the men and you will do your thing, but no one is to know about this, okay? Not even Anatoly. We should keep a few secrets for ourselves." He looked her in the eyes.
"I won't tell a soul." She promised.
"Okay. Some of the wives want you to join them for a shopping trip tomorrow. It's essentially a power play. They want to see if I can provide well for my wife. It's important for them to get the impression that money is in no way an issue." He explained.
"Is it? An issue, I mean."
"No, it's not. Don't worry. I'm going to give you a gold credit card. It's connected to one of my off-shore accounts. Go crazy with it. And I will give you your Russian papers."
"I didn't know I had Russian papers." She frowned.
"I had them made for you." He looked at her and she understood what he meant. He had them forged.
"Right-o. Can I get a phone? I mean, we have no way of contacting each other if something happened. I would feel so much better if I could call you. Especially now with those disturbances." She said in one breath.
"You can buy whatever you want." He assured her. "I would feel better if I could contact you, as well. Also, when you are in public and I cannot be with you, one of my inner circle will be with you. I wouldn't put it past them to try and hurt you."
Felicity blanched at that. "You think they will try to hurt me?"
"They will try, they won't succeed." He said firmly. "Lyla is very good at what she does. She is ex-special forces. She will be your new best friend, at least until things calm down."
"Please tell me that she speaks English." She whined a little.
"She's American, don't worry." He chuckled.
"Oh, thank god. Is that it?" She asked because she was itching to send him to sleep.
"Yes. Lyla will be here tomorrow at ten-thirty. She will knock four times." He said and reached for his coat. He pulled out an envelope and gave it to her. Inside she found a set of keys, probably for the apartment, a gold credit card, a fake Russian ID, and a passport. "That's it."
"Thanks. Now, you look exhausted and you will get up before the sun, again. So, bedtime." she said as strictly as she could.
"Good night, Felicity." God how she loved the way he said her name.
"Good night, Oliver."
As always, Oliver was long gone by the time she got up. The oven clock told her that she barely had one hour before Lyla arrived. She jumped in the shower and then dresses in her public appropriate clothes; a pair of black jeans, a red jumper, and a pair of black leather boots. She made coffee and had a banana with it before she made their beds. She pulled her hair in a ponytail and applied light makeup.
The four knocks came as she was putting the things Oliver had given her in her bag. She opened the door a sliver and found a woman in her thirties standing on the other side. She wore a black suit with a white shirt and boots with a low thick heel. Her brown hair reached her shoulders. "Hello?"
"I'm Lyla Michaels, Mrs. Queen." She said politely. "I believe your husband told you I will be accompanying you?"
"Yes, please come on in." she opened the door to let her in. "I'm sorry, I just had to make sure."
"It's alright. Better safe than sorry." She smiled politely. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, I am." She nodded and took her keys.
"I have the car waiting for us."
Felicity had a weird sense of accomplishment when she locked the door behind her. She followed Lyla with a smile on her face. Lyla opened the back door of the SUV for her and she got on the driver's seat.
"We are meeting the others in the most expensive department store in Moscow." Lyla provided. "I thought you should prepare yourself."
"Oliver said it's a power play."
"It is. And you need to show them your power. Shop like there is no tomorrow." She said. "Oliver gave me strict orders that you are to buy whatever you like, no matter the price tag."
"you might need to remind me that again," Felicity said.
"I will." The other woman nodded. "We're meeting Olga, Tatiana, and Svetlana. Their husbands are doing their best to undermine yours and those ladies have been trying to get into his pants since they met him."
"They what?" she was fuming suddenly. How dare they treat her husband like that? "They're toast."
"Hm, and Oliver was afraid of telling you." She was amused.
"He was?" she frowned confused.
"Yes, but I thought you could do with a little more motivation." She chuckled.
They spent the rest of the trip with Lyla giving her information on the trio and their husbands. And Felicity liked them less and less by the minute. They reminded her of her high school tormentors.
Felicity came face to face with three blondes that she could only describe as high maintenance. They looked like they had just stepped out of the hair salon and all three wore furs. Felicity sincerely hoped that they were fake.
They were overly sweet, reminding Felicity of Janice Carter the Cheerleader Captain from her high school. Not a very good thing. She was almost glad they didn't speak good English.
They started with shoes. All the top designers were literally at their fingertips. And those shoes were beautiful. Well, most of them. Some were ugly.
Felicity started off looking around, she wasn't planning on getting shoes. But then she saw them; a pair of Valentino heels. And that was it. She forgot all about her inhibitions about spending Oliver's money. That pair was the first. She got more, this time Jimmy Choo's; a pair of nude pumps, a pair of black pumps, and a pair of glittery pumps.
and that was it. Lyla didn't need to remind her to show power. Felicity shopped until she dropped. Literally. They were at it for almost four hours when they decided to call it a day. Felicity had gotten some nice outfits, some incredible silk kimonos she loved, and a bunch of other things. Plus, she got a new phone and air pods. And she had more bags than her companions. She was pretty sure she'd spent more money, too. But then the other wives begged off and after some overly polite and giggly goodbyes, they left.
"Oh, thank god." She groaned. When they were far enough.
"Did you enjoy yourself?" Lyla asked.
"I enjoyed shopping, their company not so much. They reminded me of my school bullies." She shrugged. "How did I do?"
"You were great," Lyla assured her. "The boss man checked in a couple of times, to make sure you were okay."
"My feet hurt a little, but I'll live. So, you don't happen to know a burger place, do you?"
"I do."
"Great! I'm buying us late lunch. I'm starving." Felicity said.
"Come on, then."
True to her word, Lyla took her to a nice little burger joint. The two women had burgers, fries, and milkshakes. They talked, well okay they gossiped, about Olga, Tatiana, and Svetlana, and Lyla told her all about the rumors that were going around the brotherhood about them. Felicity had a great time. she loved the girl time she had with Lyla.
They got back to the apartment around six-thirty, and after they managed to get all the bags inside, Lyla decided to stick around and watch Criminal Minds with Felicity as she had nothing else to do and their husbands were together. She shot a text to her husband to let him know that he was sticking with Felicity until Oliver was home. They arranged for her husband to come with Oliver, as Lyla had their car.
Felicity set up her phone, and Lyla gave her phone number to Felicity, along with Oliver's and her husbands. Then they enjoyed several episodes of the BAU team. And Lyla was a fan of Derek Morgan as well. It was a match made in heaven.
Their husbands came in around eleven at night, both tired.
"Good evening, ladies." Mr. Diggle greeted them.
"Hello, Oliver, Mr. Diggle." Felicity greeted them politely.
"You can call me Digg, Mrs. Queen."
"Felicity," she smiled.
"Hi, Johnny. I found someone to share my Criminal Minds obsession with." His wife greeted him with a kiss.
"Thank god." He sighed relieved, earning him an elbow to the ribs from Lyla.
"How did it go?" Oliver came and sat next to his wife.
"I spent a stupid amount of money," she waved her hand towards the shopping bags that covered half the floor, "but I think I did well. And it was all worth it because Lyla and went for burgers when the others left."
"She did very well," Lyla assured him. "Svetlana was jealous because her husband doesn't let her spend so much money on one shopping trip."
"That's exactly what we wanted." He nodded approvingly.
"Oliver, you should think about moving. This is a very bad neighborhood, especially since Felicity is alone most of the time for most of the day." Lyla said sternly.
"I know. If things go well in the next couple of weeks, we will be moving to a safer place." Oliver assured her. "This place was always meant to be temporary."
Lyla nodded, "Good. Now, if you don't mind, I'll take my husband home. I'll see you tomorrow, Felicity."
"Good night, Lyla, Digg."
"See you tomorrow, boss." The Diggles left.
"What did you think of the other wives?"
"It was high school all over again." Felicity groaned.
"You didn't enjoy high school?" he frowned.
"I was the awkward kid that talked a lot, skipped two grades, and was smarter than everyone else. What do you think?"
"So, they won't be your new BFFs? Because that's what they were hoping to achieve, among other things."
"Nope, no, nuh-huh." She shook her head. "I wanted to punch them."
"I think you'll enjoy bankrupting them more." He said and took a piece of paper from his pocket. "The list I promised you."
"Alright. I will start tomorrow. It will take a few days. It's not a good idea to attack them all together and it will take some time to make the money untraceable." Felicity accepted the list.
"Just let me know how it goes." He nodded.
"I will now go have a shower. Have you eaten?"
They settled in a routine over the next several days. Every morning when she woke up, Felicity found Lyla sitting on a chair in the kitchen reading the paper, with a cup of coffee.
The first day was an anomaly because Felicity had to deal with all the shopping bags from the day before. She had decided to pack everything in her beautiful suitcases. But she followed her routine of washing up, getting dressed, having breakfast, and tidying their bedroom area before doing that. Lyla was a good person to keep her company for that task.
They usually saw a few episodes of criminal minds, before Felicity decided to experiment with another recipe. And Lyla was a great help for that. She even taught her a few things.
Felicity had created a couple of off-shore accounts and one by one, some times she did two at the same time, she took the money away from the people on the list. Oliver had told her that they were the core of the people from the old regime that caused their big problems and the only thing that gave them power was their money. Well, they could kiss it goodbye now.
Sometimes, when her cabin fever was dangerously high, Lyla would take her for a car ride. They had discovered a nice little park and they would visit it once or twice a week. They got out of the house to go to the grocery store, or the laundromat, too.
About a month after her shopping trip with the three Bratva wives, Felicity and Lyla were watching the third Harry Potter movie, when Lyla's phone rang. Whoever it was said something that made Lyla jump from the bed with worry all over her face.
"Felicity, I'm going to need you to be calm." She said firmly.
"What's wrong." She asked anxiously.
"One of the old regime people stabbed Oliver. Johnny is bringing him here." She explained.
"Oh my god." She gasped. One of her biggest fears was becoming a reality.
"Take a big breath, Felicity. It's going to be fine, okay?" Lyla grabbed her from the arms, afraid that she'd fall.
"How can you know? I don't know what I'll do if something happens to him! We may not be truly married, but I care about him! And-and …" her tears run ahead of her before she could stop them.
Lyla pulled the younger woman in her arms and held her tightly. "Nothing is going to happen. He will pull through, I promise you, Felicity. Oliver is strong and stubborn. You're not getting rid of him that easily. Okay?"
"Okay." She nodded on her shoulder. A few moments later Felicity pulled back. "Thank you."
"Don't worry about it. Now, we're going to need clean towels and probably boiled water as well."
"Right. There are hand towels on the first drawer on the dresser." She told Lyla as she went to the kitchen a filled their largest pot with water and put it on the stove to boil.
Not long after, Lyla got another call and rushed to open the door. Two men were supporting Oliver, one of them was Digg, and a woman was right behind them, arms full of medical supplies.
Lyla told them were to put Oliver and Felicity grabbed the towels for them. The new woman attached a heart monitor to her husband and Digg worked fast to stop the bleeding. The blade had missed his stomach, thankfully.
The next half hour was nerve-wracking for Felicity, as she watched them work on saving Oliver. They had produced a bag of his blood from somewhere, too, and Felicity felt dizzy. It hit her suddenly how bad things were. She felt herself being pushed gently down a chair. Looking up, she expected to see Lyla, but it was the new woman, whose name she had to learn because it felt rude to call her 'the new woman' even in her head.
"He's going to make it," she promised in a steady and sympathetic voice. "I'm Zari, by the way."
"I'm Felicity, nice to meet you, though, I wish the circumstances were better." She said softly.
"You, too. Are you okay? You looked a little green for a moment."
"I'll be fine. It's Oliver I'm worried about."
"Don't be. Diggle knows what he is doing." She assured her.
"How did it happen? Do you know?"
"Yes," she sighed, "you have probably noticed the power struggle that's happening, right?"
"Oliver has said a thing or two, but lately he only comes here to sleep, so I don't know a whole lot," Felicity replied.
"One of the old Captains lost his position and he blamed Oliver for it. He has been making threats for a couple of weeks, but his wife left him and took all the money with her. He was waiting for Oliver tonight. He wanted to stab him to death, but he didn't take into account that Oliver is a very strong man and that we were with him." Zari told her.
"What happened to the man?" she was curious, only because she wanted him to pay. Maybe she could find a couple more ways to make him pay, more creative.
"He's sporting a bullet between the eyes." She shrugged.
"Good." She heard herself saying. And it scared her. Not necessarily that she said it, but that she said it with ease. She was glad that a man was dead, but that man almost took Oliver away from her. Her husband. Her only family. Because yes, she still had a mother, but she was never a mother to her, not truly, and yes, their marriage was a solution for both their problems, but damn it all Oliver was more a family to her than anyone else had been in all her life.