Chapter-4 Forging IDs

"How many times do I need to ask you to call me before you decide to make your presence known at my house?" Volkov looked at his friend, annoyed, who just beamed at him.

"It looks like you have been working out. Why don't you take a shower first? We are going to a pub tonight," Volkov's friend Shane jumped on the couch, and Volkov rolled his eyes.

"Who said I am going to a place where women and men just throw themselves at each other with no conscience and dance like monkeys?" Volkov went straight inside his room, turning on the shower.

"Well, it's not like I am taking you on a dance floor. The leader of the Dragon gang will be there. Your father wants you to go there on your brother's behalf. He is further in the middle eastern countries, and he won't be able to make it," Shane said, and Volkov rolled his eyes.

Not bothering to answer him, Shane picked a file from his table, raising his eyebrows when he read it.

"What is this? You are investing in the Coastal ring?" Shane shouted to get Volkov's attention, making Volkov's hands pause on his body.

"Shane, you might be my friend, and I respect you, but if you dared to mention this to dad or brother, I am going to cut your throat with my bare hands," Volkov seethed, and even though Volkov wasn't standing in front of him, Shane felt a shiver run down his spine just by his cold voice.

"Haha, how can you say that to your most loyal friend? Of course, I won't say anything to Uncle Nathan or Benjamin if you don't want me to. This investment case is closed right here, but you need to come to the pub with me. Dimitri and Bryce have made the arrangements already," Shane said, and Volkov sighed before he got dressed.

"It's 7 already. When do we leave?" Volkov looked at Shane, who looked back at him with wide eyes and a mouth stuffed with baked bread with some crumbs on the floor.

Seeing his friend making a mess at his house, Volkov closed his eyes before taking a deep breath.

"Before you say anything, let me make it clear, I was really hungry. I washed my hands before touching your food, and I swear I am going to clean it up," Shane explained, and Volkov went straight to the couch, holding his cat.

"Hello, Miss Smile. How are you this evening?" Volkov ruffled his cat's hair, which mewed at his affection.

His cat was just like him. She hated other girls and untrustworthy people the most. She wouldn't let anyone touch her, and she likes to keep her place neat and clean, not to mention how she keeps to herself most of the time, something that she might have picked from her owner.

"I think we should leave already. That way you'll be able to return sooner, no?" Shane suggested, and Volkov nodded.

"Give me fifteen minutes," Volkov stood from the couch, and the cat mewed in annoyance as she glared at Shane, making him take a step back.

The last time Volkov's cat got angry, Shane ended up having 6 claw marks on his face.

After forty-five minutes, Shane parked the car in front of the Night Life pub, and Volkov got out of it, his brows immediately knitting at the sight of a few drunk women coming out of the pub.

"Haha, don't worry. I won't make you go through the trouble of entering through the front gate. We will enter from the back gate and go straight to the first floor where the meeting will be held," Shane tried to pacify Volkov with a fake smile, cursing his luck when one of the women started puking in the bushes.

"Just let's get over this so-called meeting." Volkov massaged the area between his brows, feeling like a headache already making its way to him.

As soon as Volkov and Shane walked inside and went straight to the first floor, Aaliyah and her group also arrived at the pub.

"Your IDs, please," the bouncer said, and Lily scoffed before taking out her ID, making the bouncer look her up and down before nodding.

"We were told you would come, Miss Lily. Are these guys with you?" The bouncer asked, and Lily nodded, making the bouncer nod at them as he let them go, asking nothing further.

"Well, that was cool," David beamed at Lily while Katherine scoffed and Aaliyah just looked around to get a hold of the surroundings.

"Let's dance the night away!" Lily shouted, making everyone around her chuckle at her.

“I will be somewhere near the bar, so don’t bother me. I am already stressed about my new line work,” Katherine said before leaving the group alone.

"Aaliyah, come, let's go to the dance floor. I know this booty can do some good dance," Lily said with a twinkle in her eyes, and before Aaliyah could say anything, she was pulled towards the dance floor as everyone danced around her.

"Come on, Aaliyah. Let loose. You are not going to get this chance daily," Her friend, Momo, said as she swung her head left to right, dancing to the beats of the music.

Turning her head, Aaliyah looked at her aunt, who nodded at her, and it was all the motivation she needed before Aaliyah took off her jacket and tied it around her waist, feeling the music flow through her body at its rhythm.

"Show us some moves, girl!" Ashton shouted at Aaliyah, rooting for her, and she giggled before getting on the stage with her aunt Lily, her hands wrapped around the pole as she started to dance.

It was like magic to Aaliyah. A therapy that she needed. All her tension and stress felt like going away from her mind as she swung her head backward, waving her hips on the pole as she sat on her toes, swirling and twirling her body.

If her friends didn't know her, they would've mistaken her for a professional pole dancer. Because of the intensive combat training, she had made herself go through, her body was as flexible as elastic, and she could move her body whichever way she wanted.

While on the first floor, Volkov sat there with an unreadable expression on his face.

The leader of the dragon gang had only thought that someone from higher-ups would come to meet him, but never in his wildest dreams, he had thought that it would be none other than the younger brother of the leader, the youngest member of the rumored devil family.

"Mr. Volkov, please give us one last chance. I know my team had been a little negligent earlier, and we couldn't perform the mission as efficiently as Mr. Benjamin required us to, but we will try our best," the leader of the dragon gang placed his proposal on the table, and Volkov looked at Shane, who nodded before taking the file from the table and giving it to him.

Seeing the devil so concentrated, the leader of the dragon king broke into a cold sweat as his fingers trembled.

Volkov went through the proposal casually before he threw it on the table with a cold sneer.

"You really want us to believe this bullshit? Do you want us to remind you about your human resources, Pal?" Volkov raised his brows, his dark eyes, literally sending the man in front of him to his knees.

The man had thought that if someone else would come, he could negotiate, but how would he negotiate with the devil himself?

"I am sorry, Mr Volkov. It was negligent of me. We will figure out something. Just don't take away this mission from us. It's very important for our survival. We have around 300 -"

Volkov scoffed before turning his gaze away, uninterested in what the man in front of him was saying, and couldn't help but raise his brows when a particular girl dancing on the stage around the pole caught his eyes.

It couldn't be his troublesome student, Miss Gold, right? This was a pub for over 21 people, so how come - Volkov's thought paused as he saw her other friends Ashton, Momo, and David dancing around her before Momo also climbed on the stage and started dancing with her.

It was indeed her. So not only is she a troublemaker at school, she has a habit of sneaking into clubs with fake IDs. Volkov sneered.

The man in front of him, who was explaining why this mission was so important for his team, paused and looked at Shane, who looked back at him with an apologetic smile.

"I heard you. Your words have been recorded and will be sent to Benjamin and the main headquarters. Is that all?" Volkov placed his face in his hands, his eyes not moving from the girl even for a second.

"Ashton, I need to use the restroom." Aaliyah shook Ashton's shoulder when she felt a bit dizzy, and the latter bobbed his head at her.

"Forget it. I'll go alone," Aaliyah scoffed when she saw her drunk friend, who was barely listening to her.

"It was refreshing coming here, but I could've used some different relaxing. Now I have a bunch of drunk friends, a crazy aunt on my tab, and I don’t even know where the hell my sister went," Aaliyah pressed her lips into a thin line as she quickly used the washroom.

"Going alone, sweetheart? I have had my eyes on this sexy figure the whole night," One of the guys standing near the door of the ladies' washroom held Aaliyah's hand, and she looked at them with raised brows as dread settled in her heart.

"What are you doing? I am not interested," Aaliyah scoffed as she pushed the guy with a big mustache away.

"We don't always play with interested girls. Sometimes the uninterested ones give more pleasure. Besides, an ass like this shouldn't only bounce on stage,” the guy hugged Aaliyah from behind, trying to feel her body, and the mere thought of it sent a panic frenzy in Aaliyah’s body. As that man tried to get hold of her hands from behind with his other friend laughing at her miseries, heat crept through Aaliyah’s neck as she felt humiliated beyond words.

“You know where it should bounce? It should bounce on my -" The guy couldn't even finish his sentence when his head whipped to the side, his face stinging with pain.

"Don't mess with me," Aaliyah growled at them in anguish, her brown eyes darkening as she seethed through her teeth.

It looks like luck was really on her side today. First, she got to let loose and dance. And now, the remaining stress would be taken away with this. Aaliyah smiled at the two men before she practically pounced on them, hitting them until she rendered them unconscious.

“You dared to touch my body? Let me give you a taste of your medicine,” Aaliyah growled, hitting their faces even when they lost consciousness until she made sure she did a good art on their faces.

"Well, that was indeed refreshing." Aaliyah removed the invisible dust from her clothes before nodding at herself as she walked out of the restroom area.

As she turned around the corner, lost in her thoughts, she bumped into someone, her nose stinging with the hardness of the person's chest.

"What the hell? Are you made of steel?" Aaliyah mumbled to herself, ready to apologize as she rubbed her nose.

"I am sorry. I wasn't looking where -" The rest of the words stuck in Aaliyah's throat as her light brown eyes met with Volkov's dark brown ones.

She looked into them for a few seconds, her gaze roaming on his face as she couldn't believe if he was there for real.

"Pfffttt... Haha...I am not even drunk, and yet I am seeing things again. I am sorry, Mr." Aaliyah giggled to herself and was about to move around him when Volkov held her hand, pulling her all the way to the backroom of the pub.

Pinning her on the wall, he caged her between his arms, placing his hands above her head, making her widen her eyes.

"Miss Gold, care to tell what you are doing here in a pub built for adults? Are you forging IDs now?" Volkov asked, barely containing his amusement because of what she said earlier and how flushed she looked.

So cute and innocent. Volkov thought before his gaze dropped to her exposed stomach before going back to her eyes.

“Are you going to speak, Miss Gold?” Mr. Volkov leaned closer to her so he could hear her through the blasting music, unknown to the fact that his proximity was sending weird butterflies in Aaliyah’s stomach.