** this chapter's unedited because i really wanted to update for you all so please point out any errors/typos :) **

[ e x p e n s i v e   l i n e n   s h i r t ]

♥ gabriel ♥

I'D HAVE NEVER thought that a mere one-week long family cruise would lead to me wondering just how much sour baggage it took for a cruise to become a damn sinking ship with no lifeboats.

And I thought my family relationships were bad.

We were in Portsmouth and had arrived late since Talisa overslept. I highly questioned just how accidental it was. The port wasn't far from the station but considering how late we were, we took the taxi.

I glanced to the left at Talisa. She was in sweatpants and some limited edition Nike trainers with her eyes shut. There was a look of indifference on her face as if she'd rather be anywhere else in the world but here.

"Admiring my beauty?"

Her seafoam green eyes snapped open. The iris was actually a surprisingly bold and vibrant colour that stood out against her toffee coloured skin. Considering how her pupils were normally dilated, I'd never really seen her natural eye colour. Most of the time it was obscured by the black from the centre of her eye.

"Don't let Dedushka catch you. He'll castrate you with an emotionless face worse than your own."

I looked at her with a straight face.

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, kicking her feet off from the black leather seats of the cab. "No, I'm completely serious. I've never seen him smile. To be honest, most of the Lisin men and my mum's relatives are the same. So at least you'll have that in common. It's more than I have in common with them."

There was always bitterness when she spoke about her family and it was getting to the stage where I was close to asking her what the issue was. I didn't care enough though which led to me thinking about why I was even here.

But even a shadow of distraction was still a distraction. And if this meant I wouldn't think about her for a week, then it was a no brainer.

"We're here," I commented, pushing open the black car door and stepping out.

"Dammit. Can we just pretend I died on the journey?" she muttered under her breath before following me out of the car. Unlike her, I'd decided to wear a sharp white shirt and trousers and it was lucky I did.

I gave a frosty look to her. "I'm usually the one saying stuff like that. I don't like this role reversal."

She cracked a smile. "Better get used to it, liubimy."

Following her towards the large cruise towards the end of the port, I snarled in annoyance. "What did I say ab-"

"-about calling me that?" Talisa mimicked in a deep voice that sounded nothing like my own. "Sorry, Gabriel but I think you should be preparing yourself for the hellhouse by the name of the Lisin family instead."

She wasn't joking.

Standing in front of a luxurious huge cruise were seven men all in freshly pressed black suits with shades on. The one on the far left had his eyes trained upon the pair of us, the disapproval within his gaze being felt from metres away.

"Well, if it isn't Talisa. It's been a while. I didn't think you had been given an invite."

He spoke in a thick Russian accent, the rich tone of eliteness was rumbling through every word. Despite its deepness, his snide demeanour was easily apparent.

Talisa didn't give the man's snarky comment any satisfaction. Even though Lisa was still a couple of metres away from him, she deliberately leant back so that she could drag her eyes across him from top to bottom in a one-over. "Oh, it's Max, right? Don't flatter yourself. You've only been invited to bring some Russian publicity."

She straightened at the spine, mirroring his rigid posture in a way of tipping the power dynamic. Writhing in pretentious disappointment, she signalled with a flick of the wrist to the six other men in suits beside Max.

"Your finger must have spazzed up."

I could read Talisa's mind. I knew exactly where this dead jibe was going. But clearly, Max didn't. His facial expressions didn't change but I noticed he tilted his head towards her.

In all honestly, I did try to stop her, subtlety touching her hand.  "Lis-"

"When you hit copy and paste six times."

She laughed a short sound at her joke.

His facial muscles stayed motionless as if somebody had lathered of twenty layers of cement. For a split second, his jaw ticked. "These are my bodyguards. Some of us have responsibilities."

The row of men all shared the same closed-off expression, dressed in the exact same suit.

Either he was involved in some dangerous shit or was a politician much hated by Russia because nobody needed that security.

A slow smirk crawled onto Lisa's face.

"Pity."

I didn't quite understand how she went from being his inferior at the start of the conversation to flipping the table on its head.

Her green eyes flashed onto me before moving back towards the man. "Gabriel, this is Max, my cousin Zhenya's husband. You know, the politician one I was telling you about?"

It felt slightly awkward to acknowledge our previous conversation in front of the very man but Talisa didn't bat an eyelash. Of course, it was deliberate.

"Gabriel," I said curtly, shaking his hand. He looked to be in his thirties but the beard on his chin and likes along his forehead made him seem much older.

"Ah, she's finally here!"

A high-pitched yet delicate voice called out waving excitedly. All of our attention moved to the right where a slim, girl stood dressed elegantly and clutching a tiny orange handbag.

I would be an idiot if I didn't acknowledge how beautiful she was.

With big seafoam green eyes the same shade as Talisa's but somehow rounder and a soft diamond-shaped face, the woman looked as if she were a water nymph who had just ascended from the bloody ocean.

"Zhenya," the man scolded with a piercing look.

She quickly composed herself and straightened her spine, walking with an ethereal sophistication. All animation and enthusiasm vanished from her and was replaced by classy professionalism. "Sorry."

Max's wife didn't have one drop of the arrogance that he did and even I could tell that despite not having spoken a single word to her. Clearing her throat, she gave Talisa and me I a small smile before speaking in a graceful voice, "I apologise for that. It just feels like it's been so long."

Zhenyas' slim hands tucked strands of caramel hair, swept by the summer wind, away from her face. Her fingers were of a pianist, long and thin with a heavy diamond ring wrapped around her fourth finger.

I forced myself to pull my eyes away from her and stared at the black tarmac ground hard for a few long beats, gathering myself.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

What the fuck, Gabriel?

There was a flicker of pure kindness in her eyes as she took hold of Lisa's hands. "It's really lovely to see you again, Talisa."

Surprisingly, Talisa didn't shove her away. Judging by the way she awkwardly patted Zhenya's hand, she was uncomfortable. But she managed a flicker of a smile.

"And who is this? You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend." Her glass-like innocent eyes landed on me in questioning. "What's your name?"

Stiffening, it felt as if I'd done the top button of my shirt too tight; my throat closed up as I sharply turned my head towards Talisa.

Boyfriend.

Lisa rolled her eyes at me.

I didn't acknowledge that part of what Zhenya had said. Lifting my head, I glanced at her porcelain skin, my gaze falling upon her long light brown eyelashes. "Gabriel. My name is Gabriel."

A small smile grew on her face. "Nice to meet you, Gabriel. I'm Zhenya. And I suppose you've already met my husband, Max."

I nodded, throwing a meaningless look at the politician who was now speaking in fluent Russian on the phone to somebody.

"Let us go aboard then. Anyway, my mother's hasn't stopped talking about Talisa. Let's go and meet her. She'll be delighted to see you."

Talisa laughed sourly. "Come on, Zhenya. It's been five minutes. Let's not get delusional already. I only have the stamina to listen to one lecture from Aunt Natalia so unless you want me to jump off the boat immediately, let's delay that as much as possible."

Zhenya laughed, shaking her head before walking down towards the cruise with her arm looped with Lisa's. "Still haven't changed, I see."

I waited a few moments to see if Mike was going to follow behind but he remained on the phone. Turning around, I followed the pair of them to board the lavish boat, passing the corridors m towards the main area.

It turned out there was an obvious reason why the port surrounding the small cruise was empty. Everybody had already boarded. Just on the main deck alone, there were around one hundred people standing in groups and talking in fluent Russian.

I hadn't quite considered the language barrier.

It was hot but to a comfortable extent. The light breeze was cooling and caused the decor ribbons that were dotted about to sway side to side. Taking my sunglasses off, I blinked twice feeling slightly disillusioned.

Of course, Talisa was nowhere to be seen.

My eyes searched the group of elegant summer dresses and cotton trousers with the occasional suit. Nothing. Staring emptily at the water, I turned on my heel to walk towards the champagne stand that I'd seen earlier.

I smelt the Sauvignon before I felt it.

"ya tak vinovat!" The tipsy blonde-haired girl hastily said, eyes wide in shock before continuing to ramble in Russian. Stupidly, she pressed her hands against my chest trying to brush the red wine off my shirt. It only smudged it in further.

Gritting my teeth, I took a step back surveying the damage. "For fuck's sake," I muttered, foot impatiently tapping against the floor before glowering at the idiot in front of me. "Well done."

She seemingly caught on that I didn't speak Russian and switched to English, coming towards me again to try and clean the shirt. "Again, I apologise. I don't understand how I'm always so careless! I'm really sorry. Here, maybe if I just-"

She's more annoying than Ashlei and that was saying something.

"Stop." I didn't appreciate her invading my personal space while repeating to rub off a stain as if it would magically disappear. "I-It's fine. Just tell me where the bathroom is."

Nodding quickly, the girl led me through the crowd towards the staircase going to the floor beneath. "It's down there to the left. Again, I really do apologise."

I nodded at her remorseful face glad to get rid of her. Following her directions, I began walking down the long corridor towards the bathroom at the end. All the doors were closed with a hotel-like electronic key fitted on the ledge. It was easy to recognise that these rooms were special compared to the other rooms I'd passed earlier. With larger doors and extravagant designs, this was reserved for special guests.

"-then kindly go ahead and ruin the entire party for Irini and Ivan. After all, it is in your blood to ruin things other people's lives," A cool taunting voice commented. I paused outside the door to room 5, which had been left ajar, at the sound of the next voice.

There was a sound of somebody slamming their hands on the table. "In my blood? Say one more damn word against him and you're finished."

"Finished? Talisa, please. You hold no power. Besides, we both know the rest of the Lisin family agrees with me. You should be thanking me for always being upfront with you."

Glancing through the gap, I saw a blonde-brown haired woman in her mid-forties sitting with her spine upright radiating incredible poise. Lisa was opposite her and glaring holes into her soul.

The woman's eyebrow rose when Lisa didn't reply. "No reply? Perhaps you've finally realised what your position is in this family."

She burst into a ferocious scowl, nails digging into the sofa. "Aunt Natalia, you're more stupid than I thought if you believe I want to be a part of this family."

The woman held an immense amount of eye contact that was just as coordinated and stiff as her hair-sprayed updo. "My apologies, I take that back. From the moment you were born, you were never a part of this family. How unfortunate that my sister-in-law made questionable life choices."

Eavesdropping on a private conversation on a yacht reminded me of a time in the past when I did the exact thing. It was still as clear as a crystal. I thought back to the time in Australia when I overheard Louisa and Logan talking.

Chills crawled up my spine and I exhaled.

Zoning out of the conversation was unfavourable for a second later, Talisa came storming out the room, slamming the door behind her. "Get the fuck out of my wa-"

Her chest was heaving behind her sweatshirt, an irritated expression carved onto her face. "Oh, Gabriel. What happened to you?"

"Red wine. White shirt. Tipsy girl," I muttered. She rolled her eyes in response, grabbing hold of my hand and leading me back down the corridor. "Follow me."

We stopped in front of room 18 and she tapped her key card against the lock. "All the immediate family have their rooms in the section. Did I give you your key to our room?"

I tensed at the reference to 'our room' but didn't comment on it. "No."

"Here." She tossed it through the air and I leaned forward to swoop in and catch it between my fingers.

The room was exclusive. I should have expected it would be ridiculously huge considering how spaced out the room doors has been down the corridor. But this took it to another level.

Marble tiles lined the floor, glistening beneath the small sparkling chandeliers dotted through the room. A minibar and fridge were near the entrance whilst majestic sofas were aligned in the opposite corner of the room, the colour of peacocks.

Deeper into the room was a mahogany desk similar to the one in Aunt Natalia's room, a walk-in wardrobe and an elaborate vanity table. The peacock theme continued with a navy and teal super king-sized bed. It was adorned with four tall pillars at each corner and veils draped luxuriously from each side.

I wandered into the bathroom.

A double basin was fitted inside beneath a ceiling-high mirror opposite the toilet and high tech shower. Only when I entered the main room again did I notice that the large jacuzzi bathtub had been deliberately placed outside the bathroom. The designers had placed it opposite the minibar and complimentary glasses of Prosecco had been placed on the counter beside it.

"Jheez, this is better than I expected," Talisa commented nonchalantly collapsing into the sofa. Still slightly stunned, I nodded in agreement. Her eyes flicked up to me. "Your bags are in the corner if you want to get changed. Take as long as you like. Gives me an excuse to not go back out there."

Unzipping my suitcase, I took out a different shirt.

I peeled off the expensive linen shirt seething at the stickiness on my chest. From behind, I could sense her eyes wandering across me and studying the muscles of my back.

My eyes locked on her green ones through the mirror in front of me. In the light of our room, they seemed to be change colour from their usual green with a touch of turquoise to a dark forest colour.

As if breaking from a stream of deep thought, Talisa suddenly shifted and desperately reached into her black backpack that backed with her sweatpants. "Want some?" The packets of white substance dangled from her dainty fingers.

I stared back at her. The patterns were perfectly clear considering I did the same thing myself. Thinking about something that troubled you and then reaching for the first thing that could numb it all.

"It's midday."

There was a flicker of something painful in her eyes but she looked away and sneered. "That's the point. I've been awake for far too many hours. Yes or no?"

Analysing her, I pulled on another shirt before shrugging my shoulders.  "Yes." Just as she pulled out her credit card, there was a knock at the door.

"Oh fuck, stand in front of the table," Talisa hissed, jumping up from the sofa. Scrambling towards the door, she glanced through the peephole before continuing to curse quietly. I walked towards the side table to obscure it from anybody's view.

She opened it slowly, her silvery voice steady. "Privet, Uncle Alek."

I couldn't quite see what he looked like but his clipped direct tone of voice and choice of words painted a relatively accurate picture.

"What are you wearing? Put on a pretty dress, some makeup and get the hell upstairs. Don't embarrass my sister any more than your existence already has."

Talisa let out a mocking sound, leaning against the door frame provoking him. "My, how lovely to see you too."

There was a loud snap as he clicked his fingers and spoke slowly, pronouncing his every word.

"Now. I'm not messing about," he spat angrily before continuing in a dangerously low voice. "I know you're not pure Russian but you better damn well try to be for the sake of the guests. They're already asking questions. You have five minutes."

There was a loud thud as he shut the door.

And five seconds later, Talisa lost her crap.

Surprise! I know it's been a while but I made sure to fill the chapter with drama for you all :) It's all going to build up soon, ahaha. If you want a refresher on who the new character are, maybe reread the past few chapters for a reminder. Let me know your thoughts!
- kiwi x