He's Strong. He's Hot. He's Foreign. (And He's in the Mafia?)

“Jane where is your fiancé?” A gruff voice came through Peter’s cell phone when I blindly grabbed for it on the nightstand when it started buzzing loudly during my lovely dream which was supposed to end with Gabriel being sent to an early grave.

“Who is this?” I asked groggily

“Jane, it’s Nicholas, get Peter on the phone…now.” Nicholas said the last word so ominously that I felt my heart skip a beat.

“B-but…I don’t know where he is…” I stuttered, getting out of bed.

“Then find him” he snapped, “It is your fault he is down there in the first place.”

Nicholas, the eldest of Peter’s brothers, was very much to the point. He didn't tease me like Ivan or Dmitri, but he definitely wasn’t pleasant either.

“But why do you need to talk to him?” I asked, walking into the kitchen, still feeling dazed from just waking up.

“That is none of your business,” he growled, “Now where the hell is he?”

“I don’t know!” I exclaimed, my voice becoming slightly hysterical. I had always been sick of how his brothers treated me, whether they made fun of me or treated me like a stupid southern belle.

“You need to calm yourself Jane, now tell me, are you alone?” he murmured, dropping his voice.

“Oh my god his car is gone…why is his car gone?!” I whispered in panic as I looked out the window to see the driveway empty of Peter’s SUV.

“I’ll take that as a yes…” he muttered, “Do you have any idea where Peter could be?”

I leaned back on the kitchen counter. I knew where Peter was, but I did not want to admit it, even to myself. “Yes,” I whispered in my softest of tones.

“Then go find him,” Nicholas spoke as if he were addressing a five year old, “I shouldn’t have to tell you these things Jane, even if you never received a proper education in that filthy place you come from.”

“Thanks, Nicholas, where would I be without you?” I growled before hanging up and stuffing Peter’s phone in my pocket, making a mental note to ignore calls that came from any of Peter’s brothers.

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My brother must be the stupidest brother in the world, or the most forgetful at least. He had left the keys in the ignition in his truck, leaving it open for the taking. Even though I had not driven for more than three years, I quickly got back into the groove again and in less than ten minutes, I was zooming down the highway towards Gabriel’s trailer.

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1:47 AM. Great, just fucking great. My fiancé just had to run out and gut my ex boyfriend at fucking 1:47 AM. I felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion as I pulled into the trailer park. Peter better not have killed him or we were all in deep shit.

“You missed a hell of a show, baby girl,” Jeremiah said as soon as I stepped out of his truck, “Your fiancé almost made me shit my pants”

“Well where are they?!” I asked, my voice louder than I thought.

“Shit, Jane you have to learn to calm down,” Jeremiah chuckled, causing me to glower at him, “Anyways, they’re inside.”

“By the way, how’d you start my truck?” he asked as I walked towards the trailer.

“With the keys, dumbass” I muttered, opening the door.

I stepped into Gabriel’s tiny trailer, which held crap that would fit more comfortably inside three trailers. Emerging for the bedroom was Peter with a sour look on his face which was replaced with a look mixed with surprise and amusement when he saw me.

“Hello darashya” he murmured, coming over to me and kissing my shocked lips.

“What did you do?!” I snapped, pushing my hands against his chest after recovering from the short euphoria I got after being kissed by Peter.

“I didn't do anything illegal, my love,” he smirked, “Gabriel is staying overnight at the hospital, and I know for a fact that he will never come near you again.”

“So why are you still in here?” I asked, looking up at him suspiciously.

“Looking at pictures…” he said, holding back a laugh. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a stack of pictures. My eyes widened as I recognized them. I grabbed them from his open hand and rifled through them.

“Gabriel is such a pervert,” I muttered. They were pictures from back in the cornfield.

“You look happy though,” he commented, taking a picture that illustrated me laying on the grass outside the cornfield, smiling with my tongue out. My shirt was pulled up just below my cleavage, exposing my whole stomach…and my belly button ring.

“I was not aware you had a piercing down there,” he whispered in my ear, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me against him.

“I don’t anymore…I took it out before I moved to the city and the hole filled up,” I explained, resting my head on his shoulder.

“That’s a shame,” he smirked, sneaking his hand under my shirt to rub my stomach, then poke a finger into my belly button, making me jump up and let out a squeal.

“So you wanna tell me what you did to Gabriel, exactly?” I asked, turning around to face him, that satisfied smirk never leaving his face.

“I just taught him a lesson, my love, and it’s legal, I promise” he murmured, not able to hold back his smile as he kissed me.

“Wait…was it Dombrovski legal…or police legal? Because I have come to learn that those two kinds of legal are complete opposites,” I muttered, causing him to chuckle and ruffle my hair between his fingers.

“He won’t press charges so you don’t have to worry about it,” He gave me another kiss and gripped my hand, leading me out the door.

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“Nicholas called,” I said stiffly during the ride back to Jeremiah’s house, “He was as charming as always.”

“I’m sorry, Jane, but you might as well get used to him. Nicholas will be your brother-in-law after all. Ivan and Dmitri as well,” Peter said, almost consolingly.

“He said that it was really important that you called him back…and then took another stab at my education and my background,” I muttered, giving Peter a sarcastic grin and thumbs-up.

“You know that you have no reason to be ashamed of where you come from,” Peter said, sliding a hand on my knee and squeezing it comfortingly while we were stopped at a red light.

“I know why you would say that Peter, but honestly, I have so many bad memories of this place..." I couldn't finish because Peter had pressed his lips against mine, locking them in the most passionate kiss he had given me in a while. I pulled away a little in shock, but Peter put his hand on the nape of my neck, holding me to him.

"The light changed," I mumbled against his lips, looking out of the corner of my eye.

"I don't care, there's no one behind me," he murmured, "I thought of you all day today, Jane, and I can't take it anymore. I want you."

"Not in the middle of the fucking road, Peter," I snapped, finally moving away from him and sitting back in my seat.

He smirked began to drive again, only to pull over on the side of the road a few yards later.

"Good enough for you?" he whispered, moving pieces of hair behind my ear, "You did say you wanted us to be more...adventurous."

"I'm pretty sure by adventurous I meant...go on a nature hike or something!" I said, laughing nervously as Peter leaned in and began kissing my neck.

"Why are you so scared, darashya?" Peter said, kissing my cheek, "Let's go in the backseat, it might be a bit cramped but I'm sure we can make it work..."

"Before we do anything Peter...I just want to know what made you want to...talk to Gabriel all of a sudden," I said, finding it excruciatingly hard to resist Peter's lips on my neck and his hand on my thigh. He knew all the right moves.

He let out a low sigh of discontent and moved away from me, giving me a wistful look before saying, "He hurt you, Janey, gave you bruises as I'm sure you've noticed by now. I noticed them while I was putting you to bed and...I don't know when I actually saw the pain Gabriel has put you through...something inside of me just snapped...and I knew what I had to do to make sure he would never touch you again."

"They don't hurt," I mumbled, running my thumb over the bruises on my wrist then looking down at the pictures back from the cornfield which were spilling out of my bag. Back when I was still under Gabriel's spell.

"They're still there, honey, and that's what matters," Peter murmured, gripping my hand and giving me a faint smile.

"I love you, Peter," I said, looking straight into his clear blue eyes, "And I want you too."

"I'm glad to hear that, my love," he replied, a wide smile crossing his face. He took my face in both of his hands and gave me a long, sweet kiss.

"I think I'm ready to go to the back now," I whispered, causing Peter to chuckle.

"I think so, too."

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I laid back in bed while Peter was having an intense argument with Nicholas. In Russian, of course. He was pacing back and forth across the room, an almost evil look on his face. If only I could actually understand Russian.

"You've been going to at it for almost an hour now!" I exclaimed, wrapping a pillow over my ears.

Peter looked up, pressing his Blackberry against his chest, "I'm sorry, darashya, do you want me to go outside?"

"No, I want you to hang up!" I exclaimed, giving him a sour look.

Peter let out an exasperated sigh and explained calmly, "You know I can't do that, Jane."

"Why not?! You don't seem that happy to be talking to him anyways!"

"Go to sleep, baby, you've barely gotten any sleep tonight," he soothed, "I'll be outside if you need me."

I shot him an annoyed look to which he returned by mouthing "Sorry," before continuing his intense argument out the door.

"He really is Russian, ain't he?" Jeremiah smirked, appearing at my doorway, watching Peter walk down the hall and out the front door.

"Nothing gets past you, does it?" I muttered, sitting up in bed and turning on the light, accepting the fact that I was going to get no sleep tonight.

"You've had an eventful day today, Janey, you should think about getting some sleep," he smirked.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't really, just felt like annoying my baby sister," he ruffled my hair fiercely, causing me to slap his hand away.

"I hate you," I growled.

"The feeling's mutual, babe," he sneered, taking a long gulp of his beer, "You killed mom and dad, after all."

My whole body tensed up, "Don't start, Jeremiah."

"'Don't start, Jeremiah'," he mocked me, obviously piss drunk, "Do you hear yourself?! Talking like some big city girl who thinks she actually knows shit. Well, let me tell you something, Janey, that night, when you were so sure that you needed that stupid Barbie doll that mom and dad literally killed themselves getting it for you?! You ruined my whole fucking life! Do you think I actually wanted to be a fucking farmer?! I wanted to get outta this shithole! But no! I have to 'keep up the family business' while my brat of a sister goes off to fulfill her fucking dreams and get engaged to some millionaire! Think about that the next time you use the word 'hate'."

Emotions, which had been tucked away in the deep depths of my heart for quite some time, suddenly poured out as easily as beer poured into Jeremiah's mouth, "Always me! You always blame everything on me! Jeremiah, I know how much you miss mom and dad. Don't you think I miss them too?! Don't you think I cry at night when I realize Papa won't be able to walk me down the aisle and Ma won't be sitting there in the front row bawling her eyes out?! I also know what it feels like to be trapped, but I'm not the one trapping you here! You are! Papa would want you to be out living your life the way you want it, not the way he did!"

"Suddenly we share the same feelings, Janey? Suddenly you just know all the right answers?" he sneered, a snarl curling around his lips.

"But there is one thing I feel that you could never understand, Jeremiah," I whispered, tears pouring down my cheeks, "You will never know what it feels like to love and to look up to someone so much and have them treat you like absolute shit every fucking day."

Jeremiah gave me a blank stare, "Does Dombrovski beat you or something?"

I rolled my eyes, "No, Jeremiah. You treat me like shit. Is it so strange for a girl to look up to her big brother? You loved me, Jeremiah, I know you did."

"So what if I did? I saved you from Gabe, what more do you want from me?" he snapped, eyeing me wearily before taking another gulp of beer.

"Maybe for you to stop drinking? Or stop throwing insults at me and my fiancé every chance you get?" I said, leaning back against the headboard, "To start, anyways."

"That's a tall order, babe" he smirked, "So you looked up to me, huh?"

I shrugged, "You did whatever you wanted and didn't care what other people thought, even if they were right."

He laughed, "Sounds like an asshole to me."

"I guess that makes me an asshole by relation, then," I smirked.

"Nah, it just makes you a brat," he chuckled, ruffling my hair, lighter this time.