Chapter 17

Soon, the much-awaited day arrived. Her mom and sister were landing in a few hours. She hadn't planned anything for the first day as, with the flight and jetlag, she had assumed they would be tired. It was a bittersweet morning. On one hand, she was in heaven. she had missed them so much! On the other hand, as she watched Vladimir pack his bag, slip on his bulletproof jacket under his coat and packed quite a few guns and rifles, she felt a twinge in her heart. Not only she would miss him dearly but she'd also worry herself sick. As long as she was seeing him every day, she could handle it. She knew he could be just as dead in two minutes as in two weeks but still, she couldn't shake the deep-seated fear that, if left out of her sight for too long, he'd disappear where she couldn't follow.

She could have been one of those girls who'd ask him to change, to do something else with his life. Of course, it didn't seat well with her, the kind of things he did. But it was a part of him. It was who he was, deep down. He'd die before he stopped being a criminal. And she prayed every day for this to happen as late as possible. Because it would happen. She knew for sure Vladimir wouldn't die of old age. And this certainty was eating away at her more and more.

However, she... whatever she felt for him included everything that he was. So, when he was finally ready to go, she just kissed him and slid her arms around his neck.

"Stay safe." Please, let him be safe. "And come back to me."

He nodded, his arms still around her.

"I will. I left you the car's key if you need it. No Britney Spears though. I forbid it."

She laughed at his gentle smile.

"Thanks."

She moved from the entryway only when he had closed the door.

A few hours later, her and Piotr were at the embarkment's door of JFK airport waiting as people slowly got out with their luggage.

"Remember what I told you?" She asked her shadow once again.

"I'm just the taxi driver." He snorted, as if it was ridiculous. He was supposed to be a cab driver. On his papers he was, for God's sake! Crazy Russians... "I don't talk and I don't know you."

"Thank you," she replied gratefully.

Suddenly, she heard a happy squeal from the embarkment's door.

"Mimi!"

She didn't have time to react before she was tackled and hugged by small arms stronger than she remembered.

"Lilou..." She hugged her sister even harder than she herself had, crying a little in her hair despite her best resolutions. She had missed her so much. She was taller than she remembered. Her soft blond hair smelled the same vanilla scent they used to.

"Mimi, you're getting my hair all wet!" Her sister protested, laughing anyway. She kept hugging her. By this time, her mother had arrived too.

"Hello, my girl."

She hugged her mother too. She had stopped crying. Sort of. She was sniffling. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Piotr holding back a mocking but tender smile. She had to refrain from flipping him the bird.

Her mother hadn't change so much. She was still the beautiful redhead with sparkling green eyes she had always been. Even after such a long flight, she had an air of composed assurance that made her all the more stunning, even dressed in simple jeans and sweaters.

"Let's go, shall we?" Camille offered. She knew they would quickly enough do their specialty, talking three at a time while no one could understand a word but them. "I booked us a taxi."

"Ooh! Mimi organized! Isn't it a first?" Her sister quipped playfully. She hit her lightly, smiling. She had missed them so much.

They got into the cab, Camille pretending to give the directions to Piotr as her mother gawked at the quantity of snow outside. Her sister was overexcited.

"Mimi, do you know where Victoria's Secret is? And Abercrombie? And the M&M's shop? And-"

"Yeah, yeah, I planned an itinerary for our shopping days. Don't worry."

"Lilou, we're not only here to do shopping," her mother scolded gently. "Have you planned to go to your aunt?" She asked her second daughter.

Shit! She hadn't... Well, at least she could pretend she had.

"It's a two hours ride. If you want, we could go tomorrow?"

"Oh come on!" Her sister groaned, unhappily. Her mother glared at her. Camille played the peacekeeper.

"If we go there in the morning, we could eat at her place." Camille winced. Her aunt was a bad cook but she'd love to have them for lunch. "And on the way back, we could stop at the mall. Lots of shops with articles at a discounted price," she informed her sister. The latter squealed in delight. Her mom nodded. "I'll call her once we're home."

"Mimi," Lilou asked, "you told me you lived in Hell's Kitchen. They say it's a badass part of Manhattan. That's it's gotten even more violent than the Bronx. That a lot of people walk around with guns and there are even gangs!"

Her mum looked at her with a pointed look. She visibly wanted to hear the answer to this too. Piotr casted her an amused look through the rearview mirror. It wasn't funny!

"Yeah, it's a bit of a... dangerous place." Her sister squealed again, a thirst for recklessness shared by both of them it seemed. She went on quickly when she saw her mother's face darkening. "But only if you go to certain places at night." Like right where she lived now... "Don't worry, it's safe where I live." Because she was living with the King of Ruffians...

Then, they fell silent. Her mother and sister enjoying their first glimpse of the beautiful city with its skyscrapers like they'd never seen. She remembered the first time she had got out of the cab to set foot in Time Square. She had felt so small. It had been one of her best feelings yet. She was sure her sister would feel the same.

And sure enough, when Piotr parked his cab in front of Vladimir's building, her mother and sister casted a wild look around. Despite the snow maculing the streets, people were everywhere, going on with their daily life. New-Yorkers were used to the snow. Her mom and sister, not so much. It was a lot to take in: the size of the buildings, the people, the life around. New-York had something no other city she had ever been to had.

"I can't wait to see everything," Lilou whispered, her eyes wide with awe and wonder.

"You will," Camille promised. "For today thought, I assumed you'd be tired from the trip. I didn't plan anything special. Let's get you settled. Then, we will see."

"I'm hungry!" Her sister announced as they got into the elevator. Piotr had helped them with the – numerous – luggage. Now, they were just the three of them.

"Mimi," her mother started, skeptical, "this is a beautiful building but the concierge..."

"Yeah, I know. You'll get used to him." It wasn't a lie. She didn't even notice him anymore.

As they got into the appartement, both guests took inventory of the place, setting their bags in the guest room as Camille gave them the tour. It was weird for her. Having her family in Vladimir's place. It was like her two worlds were crashing together. And they didn't mix prettily like yellow and red. No, it was more like blue and yellow, resulting in an ugly green. She felt like they were intruders. And maybe they were. Everything here screamed Vladimir's name, his tastes, his personality. It clearly wasn't hers. She never minded as it made her feel safe. But she expected her mother to sniff out the fraud at some point. Well, the man's coats in the entryway gave it away anyway.

It took her mother five, maybe six minutes, before she couldn't hold it anymore. Down in the bathroom, her sister was squealing again in excitement at the sight of the luxurious shower.

"This is your place?" Her mother asked.

"Yes," Camille replied. It wasn't a lie, per se. Now, it was where she lived full time. She even had brand new shelves full of her stuff to prove it.

"Only yours?"

The girl let a long-suffering groan out. For the love of everything sacred! She had been in NYC for barely an hour, she was jetlagged and yet, she was already interrogating her. Camille took a deep breath. It was just like jumping in frozen waters, best to take a deep breath and go straight in.

"No, Mum. Not only mine. I live with the man I told you about."

"Really?" Came the exited answer of her sister while she walked back to them, sniffing juicy gossip like a hound.

"It's his place actually. I moved in a while ago. He went to live at his brother's while you're here."

"The older one?" Her mother asked, still ticked about this age thing. If only she knew...

"Yeah."

"The boss of a cab company? Is that why you didn't pay our nice driver a penny?" Her mother asked with a self-satisfied glint in her green eyes. Obviously, she had been waiting for the perfect time to show that nothing would get past her.

Camille sighed. Her mother shouldn't be a housewife. She should be a damn police lieutenant!

"Is this him?" Lilou asked, showing a framed picture she got from the living room's shelf. Camille grabbed the picture and put it back.

"Nah, that's his brother. He's here." She had surrendered. It was hopeless. The brothers were smiling back at her from their frame, chest naked and tattoos exposed for the world to see... They wouldn't meet him, and her mother didn't comment. But she was sure she was suspicious already.

Fuck it! Camille decided. Come what may.

She'd enjoy her two weeks and stop worrying.

"He's handsome," her sister commented. He was. "They both are." True enough. "Do they have a little brother?"

Camille laughed. Typical.

"No, they don't. And you won't see them. They're busy this time of the year, because of the tourists." Again, not a lie. Not the whole truth either.

As both guests settled, it was decided to have something delivered to eat. Lilou was tasked with choosing, once she had connected her phone to the Wi-Fi. As she chose the menu and took pictures from everything she could, Camille called her aunt. She was delighted to have them, of course.

"Do I have to pick you up at the bus station?" Her aunt asked.

"No, don't worry. A friend lent me his car for two weeks. We'll be fine. Just text me your address so I can put it in the GPS."

She was still not used to drive in New-York, especially on the Lincoln bridge. She prayed she wouldn't crash Vladimir's car.

Once the call ended, she and her mother sat down on the kitchen's stools to catch up. They had always done that in France, sit in the kitchen to talk.

Her step-dad was fine. Busy as hell with his new job but fine. He sent his love. Her life was okay too. She was growing a little bored as Lilou grew older and she got more and more free time. She didn't know yet what to do with it. Doing some sport was out of the question. Her mom had a Churchill philosophy on this: no sport was the secret of a good life. Camille, who enjoyed to run at least three times a week didn't agree but she didn't comment. Her mum was who she was, there'd be no changing her now.

All too soon, they were back on the topic of her life. Lilou had joined them once she had ordered Chinese food and filled her Instagram with pictures from the window.

Camille had been so anxious about this that she was already bothered by the line of discussion. She had been set on hiding everything from her mom. At the last minute, she decided it was futile. This was her life now. At some point she'd have to confess. Better sooner rather than later. It'd save her some troubles.

"So, Camille, you told me you'd found a job here. What is it?"

She realized, now that she could see her mother's expressions, that she'd been worried sick about her. The girl had been so drowned in sorrow and so set on not facing it at the time that she hadn't realized. It took meeting her mom again to see that, from her point of view, her daughter, whom she had always been so close to, had disappeared suddenly and didn't tell her anything anymore. She swallowed and looked down.

"I'm sorry, Mum," She apologized.

She didn't look up. If she wanted to get it out, she couldn't look anywhere but down. Her sister went to sit by her side, snaking her arm around hers and resting her head on her shoulder to comfort her.

She knew now she needed to come clean to rebuild their relationship as it was before. It was what moving forward meant.

"I had mourned Thomas for a long time. It had hurt so much at the time. Losing him like that. You know how much he was a part of me. I felt like my life had ended with his. When I first arrived here, my only purpose was to forget. To build something completely new and different so I could consider his love like it'd happened in another life entirely."

"Mimi…" Her mother trailed off, taking her only free hand in her own and squeezing it tight.

"I moved here, in Hell's Kitchen, because I thought it would make it easier to go to Auntie. I wasn't worried about money. You know Thomas left me quite the amount. But I managed to find a job right in front of my former apartment. I got engaged as a barmaid at the Red Star. I won't lie to you, it's not in the safest part of Hell's Kitchen but my boss is an angel. He protects us and takes care of us."

"So, you're still a barmaid?"

"Yeah. I am. And I love it, actually. Far more than accounting." It occurred to her the simple idea made her happy. "Looking back, I think it was the real first step toward my healing. It had forced me to interact with people again. To smile. To laugh. To beat back depression in a dark corner, I guess. I hadn't realized it then but, as days went by, I slowly regained my old self."

The always smiling girl with some backbone she unleashed on occasion when you tried to mess with her. Her mom knew what she meant.

"I got back to running, to look up for clothes online, to enjoy a good pizza…" That made the three of them laugh. Camille's love for pizzas was legendary. "One night, I met Vladimir." She forged on. Might as well let it all out now while the dam was open.

"Ah, so the boy finally has a name," her mother quipped good naturedly. Her daughter was talking to her. She was happy. It showed. Camille could hear it in her voice even if she couldn't look up at her yet.

"Yeah, Vladimir Ranskahov. He is Russian."

"Cool…" Lilou murmured in awe. Her sister snorted despite the nature of her tale. She'd known she'd react like that.

"I guess it was the second step. It didn't look like it at first. Honestly, I just thought I had met a potential one-night-stand. Getting back into my before-Thomas habit. However, it didn't turn out that way. Just like when I met Thomas, I felt something with him. It was different and yet… I don't know how to explain it. Our first date… Lilou, you'd have loved the restaurant we went to. It was a small Cuban restaurant with a dancefloor and a band. It was beautiful and romantic? I guess?"

Looking back, it had been. But she still had a hard time conciliating Vladimir and romantic in the same sentence.

"He taught me how to dance." That got another "Whoa!" from her sister. Camille was known to have two left feet.

"Anyway, I tried to know him better. He did too. I was fascinated with him, with his charisma-"

"With his body!" Her sister cut her off, laughing. Yeah, that too.

"Shut up, I'm telling you a story," she bit back good-naturedly. "Before I knew it, we were building something. Something strong. I managed to, well, not forget Thomas, but he became a memory. Now, I still have nightmares about his death but when I'm awake, I can think about the good parts too."

She took some time to keep going, lost in the memories of the boy she had loved so much that a part of her heart did die with him. She shook herself up.

"Anyway, as time went on, I spent more and more time at Vladimir's place. He has a kind of erratic schedule, so, sometimes I even spent time here when he wasn't. Then, I hurt myself." She cleared her throat to get rid of the small wavering her voice had gotten. Some parts, she wasn't willing to share yet. "And he offered me to stay here for the time it'd take to heal. Ordered me, more like," she grumbled to herself. Bossy bastard.

"It was nice of him," her mother commented. She nodded.

"After that, I guess we got used to be together and my job is not far." The Russians' turf was just a couple of blocks wide anyway, even if they were expending. "So, we decided I'd just stop wasting money on a place I didn't live in anymore and come to live with him. Actually, he kinda blackmailed me into it. It was the condition for me to get the place for Christmas."

"He seems a little bossy, doesn't he?"

Camille snorted again.

"Yeah." That was the understatement of the year.

"And what about all the tattoos?" Her sister asked, now that Camille had managed to look up at them.

Thankfully, she was saved by the interphone. Lunch was here.

"That's a story for another time, I'm afraid."

While they ate, Camille became the one questioning everyone. She harassed her sister about a potential boyfriend, asked her about her grades, and got the pleasant surprise to discover that she had made progress in English. She was far from fluent but she'd manage to take care of herself on the streets. It was decided that today, they'd just take a walk around Central Park and do some ice-skating, to Lilou's utter delight. She would be having a typical New-Yorker afternoon, according to TV Shows.

That night, they stayed in the apartment, cuddling with each other on the couch, a Christmas romantic movie on TV.

The next morning, Camille got woken up by a storm. A storm named Lilou… Totally jetlagged, the girl had fallen asleep at 8pm. As a result, she was up by five the next morning and, instead of being the graceful teenager she should be with her pretty face, she sneaked in her sister's bedroom and started jumping on the bed.

"Come on, Mimi! Wake up! Some much things to see and so little time to do it!"

The girl groaned back a curse and turned around on her pillow. She usually went to bed at this hour, not woke up. She felt like she had been dug out of her grave. Plus, her first night alone in the bed since quite some time hadn't been easy. She had felt cold. The bed had felt too big… She had tossed and turned all night long. And she'd have to drive to Pennsylvania today. Great! She groaned again.

In a light thump, her sister had laid down next to her, getting under the cover to fight the cold. The appartement was quite warm but it was 5am! She was sure her sister's body was fighting her mind about this. Maybe if she ignored her, the girl might fall back to sleep?

No such luck. She had turned around on the mattress to face her older sister and poked her in the arm.

"Your mysterious man smells good," she commented.

That got Camille's head turning her way. Her sister chocolate-brown eyes were shining with childish naughtiness. It was a strange sight, her sister's innocent head on Vladimir's pillow. When he was here, she didn't take notice of his scent anymore, so used she was to it. Except from the time when he came back from work smelling like blood and gunpowder. She guessed, and hoped, it was his cologne her sister smelled on the sheets.

"What's in the cases?" She asked, her voice echoing in the room as Camille froze. She knew what cases she meant. The guns… She had let the wardrobe's door open…

"Dunno," the girl muttered, out of idea. When she felt another movement on the mattress, she grabbed her sister's elbow in extremis. "Don't," she started, the warning clear in her voice, "snoop. It's Vladimir's and it none of your business."

Yep, snooping ran in the family.

"Fine," her sister conceded, setting back down on the pillow. "I'm sure it's kinky stuff anyway."

"Whatever…"

Sadly, Lilou never went back to sleep, so neither did Camille… For once, she took coffee in the morning.

Far too soon for the barmaid's taste, they were inside the car, ready to go. She hoped the roads were cleared of snow and that Vladimir had changed the tires for winter ones. She would make a scandal if the owner of a garage didn't have winter tires on his own damn car! More likely, she would mostly crash the car. She took a deep breath, feeling like she was facing a personal test, as she started the engine. Her mother took the passenger's seat to help her with the GPS. Lilou was tinkering with everything she could on the back.

"This car is awesome! I wish Dad had a badass one like that."

And she didn't know the windows were bulletproof…

"Owning a taxi company seems to be paying well here," her mother commented.

Camille ignored her. Time to drive. At least, if she crashed it, Piotr was following in his taxi not far behind…

She stayed focused on the road like she had never been up until she passed Lincoln's bridge. Then, she allowed herself to relax and took a smoke.

"Won't your boy mind?" Her mother tried, unhappy with her daughter dangerous habit.

"Nope, he does so too."

The day at her aunt was long. Very long. She was a chatterbox and she got them all a headache. Plus, her aunt only spoke English now. She had forgotten French a long time ago. Her mom had tried her best to follow but, being far from fluent, she had often needed help.

Once they got back into the car, her sister let out a loud sight of relief. She felt it too. Their good deed was over. Now, the real girl time could start. They drove to the mall Camille had discovered when she had gone to her aunt's before. They sung cheesy music with the volume as loud as it could be to cover their own off-key voices. Vladimir would be livid if he knew. They were stripping his beloved car of its badass nature.

As if summoned by the dark forces of Hell, her phone rung suddenly via the car's wireless connection. Vladimir's name appeared on the car's screen. She was about to click on ignore when her mother stopped her.

"Come on, Mimi, answer your boy. We will stay quiet and nothing said during that phone call we'll be held against you."

She almost clicked on ignore anyway, not wanting her mother to snoop more into her private life. But with his planning, she wasn't sure she could get a hold on Vladimir later. And she missed him already.

"Hello?" She answered right before it went to voicemail.

"Hello, love," Vladimir's gravelly voice echoed in the car, Russian accent and all. "Your trip going well?" He asked. She could hear the smirk in his voice. No doubt, Piotr, the snitch, had called him to warn she was starting a singing show in his car again… He wasn't even supposed to know she was driving.

"Yeah. I didn't even crash your car in the snow. I'm proud."

"Lucky me," Was his ironic reply. "I just wanted to let you know that the guy supposed to deliver the turkeys will drop by tonight at Veles Taxi. Come and pick yours up, will you?"

"Ah!" She exclaimed, victorious. At first, the brothers hadn't planned to do anything for themselves on Christmas. She had thought it a shame, Anatoly being a good cook and all. He had said turkeys. Plural. "So, you will eat turkey too, then?"

"Nope. Sergei ordered one thought."

"Oh, come on! You animals!"

"Where are you going anyway?" He asked, changing the subject. She smiled. She knew they were chitchatting but maybe he missed her too?

"To the mall." She said in a small voice. Counting down before groaning to three, two…

"Camille…" He warned, actually groaning. "I'm out of walls to put shelves on."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry." He was right to worry. She was with her mother and sister. And that, in itself, didn't bode well shopping wise. Plus, like every time she was in a good mood, her fingers itched for new things. "Do you need something while I'm there?" Maybe if she bought him something, he would be less likely to shoot her when he'd discover her shopping spree.

"Yes, some imp had destroyed my leather jacket some time ago."

"Smartass," Camille answered. She wasn't going to buy him something that expensive now. "If you're nice, you'll get socks."

"And if I'm very nice?" He asked in a tone that didn't bode well with the lack of intimacy she had now. "Like, lick-you nice?"

A heavy silence stretched inside the car. Her sister was hardly managing to hold back a laugh. Her mother sighed.

"You do know you're on speaker, right?" Camille asked, at a loss for a witty comeback for once.

"I forgot," he said after a time. "Shit. Well, I'm getting hard anyway so I'm out." She listened, eyes wide and bewildered. Has the man no shame at all? "Anatoly says hi, by the way. He volunteered to give a tour to your sister. Men saw her in front of the building. They say she's a looker."

She, too, forgot her present company.

"Tell Anatoly he can go fuck himself," she growled. In the back, she could hear his dumbass laughter.

"He heard. I might be at the garage tonight. Maybe I'll see you?"

"Yeah, let's hope so. I'll text you before I swing by. See you then."

"See you, Camille. Bye." His voice was softer now. Before he hung up, she rushed to add:

"Oh, and Vladimir?"

"Yes?"

"Be safe."

"I will."

Then, he hung up and the music got back to blaring in their ears. She jumped on the sound controller.

"Not a word," she told her family, cheeks flushed.

The shopping trip to the mall was a catastrophe, money-wise. As they got back in New-York, the sun being gone since a couple of hours, the car's trunk was full of shopping bags. Camille step-father might not have come but his credit card did. He'd live to regret it. She smiled. They'd give him a call tomorrow to thank him and tell him about all the things they'd see the next day.

Camille parked the car and handed the key to her mother.

"Can I let you bring all this mess to the apartment? I'll go and get the turkey from the garage."

"Can I come?" Lilou asked excitedly.

At this, Camille hesitated. Vladimir didn't want to meet her family; she knew it and she understood it. It was yet again another step she might not be ready to take either. However, he might not mind her sister. Afterall, unlike her mother, she wouldn't notice the small details of the garage that made it more than a simple warehouse with cars... Plus, meeting the teenage sister wasn't like meeting the mother, she reckoned. And he might not even be here...

"You mind?" She asked her mother.

"No, go with your sister but Lilou?" She called. "Behave."

The girl nodded vaguely. She was hearing this order so much all year round she didn't take notice of it anymore. Camille took her sister's hand and grinned.

"Follow me. But mom's right, you keep your mouth shut!"

Here they went, hand in hand in the freezing New-York's night. Once out of the parking lot, she crossed the street and enter the Veles Taxi's warehouse. There was a small room to cross first. It was a sort of reception room for actual clients. Real ones. As if there were any... It was white, clean and devoid of furniture save for the counter. Lilou was looking everywhere around, probably searching for Vladimir through the many windows the room had that gave view both out on the street and inside the garage.

Watching too, Camille could see two men bent over a taxi, its hood open to reveal the motor underneath. Behind them, far in the back of the gigantic room, she spotted Sergei. Pulling her sister by the hand, she went through the door that led to the workshop. It was a gigantic space full of cars parked haphazardly on the resin floor. The neon lights, bad quality ones, gave a greenish glow to everything. It was cold inside and humid. Well, in short, it was what you'd expect from a shady garage. The two men looked out from the taxi's motor, frowning when they heard their feminine steps resounding around the workshop. Camille held her head high and nodded at them. They must have recognized her for they nodded back and relaxed, focusing back on their job. Not before leering at her sister though...

"You stay close to me," Camille ordered her sister. When a simple "uh-uh" answered her, for the girl was still focused on looking everywhere avidly, she insisted. "I'm serious. This is exactly the type of place Mum wouldn't want you to be. If she asks you, don't go into details."

The teenager, still too young and naïve to smell danger unless it was biting her in the ass, arched an eyebrow at her in confusion. Then, Camille saw in her eyes she had finally caught on. She went back to look around. Maybe, this time she noticed the guns on every man present, the ones on the table in a dark corner, and the men themselves, looking like prisoners escaped from their cells. She walked closer to her older sister now. Good. It was about time!

They had arrived at Sergei's level. Camille smiled at him.

"Hi Sergei!" She greeted like she would at the bar. "I've been informed a turkey was waiting for me."

The man smiled back.

"Yeah, turn on the first left after the door behind us. You'll get to a room with a fridge. It's inside."

"Thanks."

She went for the door he had pointed, a white sad thing almost grey with dirt, its paint chipped in the middle. The handle was greasy when she grabbed it.

"Oh, Cami," he stopped her right before she went through. "There is also a Russian man waiting for you in the room all the way down the hall."

The girl smirked, letting her sister pass through the door fist.

"Which one?"

"The one that matters," was Sergei's not so cryptic answer.

Once the two girls were inside the hall, trying to find the fridge's room, Camille tugged on her sister's hand lightly.

"Looks like you'll meet Vladimir after all." She winked. Her sister looked at her with joy written all over her face. She couldn't help it. She smiled back. Her lover might get pissed not to have her for himself but she rarely could refuse anything to her baby sister. And, if someone could understand siblings love, it was certainly Vladimir.

She found the turkey at last. They had gone into the wrong room first. Unsurprisingly. Both girls were catastrophically bad when it came to orientation. Camille took the bag with the glorified chicken in it and closed the door. They went back in the hall, going all the way down, still hand in hand. The last door was black. Figures, Camille thought with a smile. She had never seen Vladimir's and, she guessed, Anatoly's office and was just as curious as her sister. She knocked.

"Voydite!" A gravelly voice she knew so well answered.

"It's him?" Her sister asked in a curious whisper. Camille nodded while looking at the girl with a mix of laughter and exasperation.

"Remember. You behave!"

Then, they went in. He was in the surprisingly stark room. It looked much like the rest of the garage's rooms: resin floor, greyish walls and neon lights. Vladimir was sitting behind a metallic table, his feet resting on it as he read some documents. Behind him, a large window would be letting the sunlight in come daytime. He had a cigarette at the corner of his lips, an ashtray close to his elbow on the table. What he was reading wasn't pleasing him. He was shooting daggers at it.

"Hi," Camille greeted. "Is this a bad time?"

Vladimir's eyes looked up to her and he stood up, setting the document aside on the table. His bothered expression turned gentle as he walked around it to come and greet her. She saw him cast a quick glance at her sister. The latter was watching him like she would some kind of superstar. She had always done so with her sister's boyfriends the first time she saw them. Camille smiled at her before focusing again as Vladimir had come to her level. He snaked a hand in her hair and kissed her forehead.

"Hello, Camille. No, it's not. Statistics tend to bore me. You're my savior," he greeted back. He then looked a little down and sideway to her sister. He was still close, still with a hand on the base of her skull. "I'm guessing that's your sister?"

"Yes," she answered. "Vladimir, this is Lilou."

"Nice to meet you." The man told her sister, presenting her with the hand that had been in her sister's hair as he stood back to a normal distance from her.

"Nice to meet you too." Lilou shook his hand, albeit timidly and unused to greeting people this way. All her brash curiosity was tamed by shyness for now. It didn't last long. "Your car is awesome." Camille sighed. Vladimir snorted.

"Tell that to your sister. She seems to find peculiar joy in ridiculing it." He turned back to said sister. "Shopping was good?" The girl frowned in the face of his satisfied smirk. Piotr had snitched again, it seemed. When Camille made it clear her only response would be a whispered "asshole" above her sister's head, he turned his attention to the younger girl. "I was told you dreamt of seeing this city. Do you like it so far?"

"Oh, yes! It's the best place to live in! And Hell's Kitchen is so badass. And so close to Time Square too! Camille told me tomorrow we'd go there. That we'd be able to go there on foot! Your place is so cool too!" She was on a roll. Camile sighed again, shrugging helplessly when Vladimir casted her an amused look. "Do you mind if I play a game of Call of Duty on your PlayStation tonight?"

Camille held back a groan when Vladimir's smirk grew larger. Yep, both sisters were high fashion fans and geeks. Laugh all you want, wanker.

"Sure, go ahead," he answered. It had been decided tonight would be quiet too since Camille could barely stand on her feet anymore. She was awake since 5am and she had driven for four hours. However, while she was here, she might as well exploit Vladimir's knowledge of the city. She opened her mouth but was cut by a loud bang behind her back. Her sister jumped beside her.

"Volodya..." Anatoly, who liked to make an entrance as usual, stopped mid-step when he saw the two girls. His smiled grew larger, like a hungry demon's, when his eyes landed on Lilou. "Hello, little miss. What a cute girl like you is doing here?" He asked as he walked closer.

"Tolia," Vladimir warned.

"You wanker!" Camille cut as she let go of her sister's hand to go and hit Anatoly on the shoulder. "Don't you have a whore to tickle instead?"

The damned man burst out laughing and snaked an arm around Camille's shoulders.

"I love that dirty mouth of yours!" He laughed again. "A female version of Volodya! As if the world wasn't already worst for the one walking its ground." When she kept shooting daggers at him, he laughed even harder. "I'm joking, Cami! I'm not a pervert. Don't worry!"

She shrugged him off and went to Vladimir's side, stepping even closer when he rested a hand on the small of her back, rubbing gently. She almost whimpered. Two days, and she was already missing his touch. He was missing hers too. He wouldn't have done this in the company of anyone otherwise.

"Before your brother interrupted," she moved on, "I wanted to ask if you knew of some kind of nice lounge bar where I could take them to tomorrow night?"

"Sure, I'll text you the address."

Before they got back to the apartment, Camille stole a kiss, a heated one, from her lover when her sister had walked ahead.

"I miss you," she whispered against his lips.

"I miss you too."

Then she caught up with her sister.

"Your boyfriend is so cool! He's tall, he's cute" At that, Camile snorted -Vladimir! Cute! - but her sister went on: "His voice is hot and the accent! The tattoos! Did you see the gun under his jacket?!"

Camille winced.

"Yeah, well, let's not tell Mum, alright?"

A/N : Hello everyone. First of all, thank you to borma and allessandra.12 for their kind reviews. This chapter is a little longer that the others and I hope you enjoyed it, even if it's a lot quieter. I can't have Camille jump from one trouble to another as would a superhero. She's a normal girl, after all. But I can garantee it won't last. It can't last when you know Vladimir. The next chapter will be lighter too (it's Christmas so...) but the one after that gets darker.

Anyway, to everyone who read this, thank you. And, please, leave a review ;)