CHAPTER 55
Several nights later, after another grilled dinner, they were washing and drying dishes together when Dmitri mentioned they’d be returning to normal life soon, and he’d be going back to work.
“Wait. ‘Work’? You mean what I think you mean?”
“You know what I do for a living.”
“Yeah. But… I thought you were going to leave the mafia? Hawaii, surfing…”
“What? Oh, yeah, I did say that. People say all sorts of silly things in bed, after sex. But I was born for this, it’s all I know. And I vowed to fulfill my destiny as Pakhan.”
“That’s it? You say anything after you get your dick wet? And the love stuff, was that just something during our vacation on this island, too?”
Dmitri scrunched his brow. “No, of course not. When we were little, you wanted to be a princess. Now I will make you into a queen. My queen. The queen of the Veselov empire.”
Sonya gulped. Dmitri was speaking so matter-of-factly, she wasn’t sure if he was just pulling one of his deadpan jokes on her. She thought he might break into his boyish laugh at any second and say, “Gotcha, sucka!”
“A queen? That’s a bit of an exaggeration. I mean, are you that rich? I thought you were kicked out of the mafia or something. Those Russians in my apartment didn’t seem to treat you like a king. Of course, I’d love you even if you were poor…”
Dmitri smirked. “They cannot kick me out of my own organization, which was left to me by my uncle. Vlad was frugal. He did not like flashy things. He had a big house, a few servants, nothing crazy. But he was that rich, yes. And now it is all mine. Ours. I do not even know how much yet. More than we could ever spend. We will give to charities. We will start a hospital, and you can run it after you finish your degree. But we will spend money for fun, too. A private chef, a mansion on the beach in Miami, a vacation home in Acapulco, traveling everywhere, including Russia, so you can learn about your mother’s heritage, even meet your distant relatives. You will never have to worry about bills again, or buying clothes off the discount rack. Soon you will drive a Jaguar or Bentley, any car you want. A personal hairdresser...”
Sonya raised her eyebrow and gave Dmitri a sassy look. “Discount rack? That’s what you think about my fashion? Remember, you’re the one who picked out the clothes I’ve been wearing lately. Okay, maybe I never had much money for designer dresses. But wait, a hairdresser, is there something wrong with my…”
She stopped talking when Dmitri took her in his arms and kissed her. Sonya reached for the buckle of his pants, but he grabbed her hand and knelt down.
“You already proposed. Did you forget?”
Dmitri raised one eyebrow and shook his head. “I got a new one, something more worthy of a queen.”
He pulled the trinity ring off of Sonya’s finger and slid on another. This one only had one diamond, but it was bigger, much bigger.
“Oh, wow,” Sonya said, her eyes bulging out. “But I liked the other one, too. Maybe I could keep them both? I have ten fingers. Or do you need that for one of your other lady friends?”
“Sure, keep it for the memory, if you like,” he said with a shrug and gave her back the first ring.
“Okay. But what happened? Why are you the boss all of a sudden? Was this rustic cabin thing just a test to see if I’d love you without your Gucci suits?”
“Ha. No. I have been short on cash lately. But yesterday, when I said I spent the day in town, I lied. I took the boat back to the car, then I drove across the state to Miami. And, well, I am too humble to talk about what happened, but you’ll see it on the news after we get back to civilization.”
“Humble… hmm, not a word I’d use to describe you, but anyway, a hot shower sounds nice. And some ice cream.”
Dmitri could afford an opulent ring now because he’d paid a visit to Ivan. He arranged for Johnny to come down and help him out, and they put to good use the sniper rifle and grenade launcher Dmitri had been keeping in the trunk of his Mercedes.
They were careful to hide their identities from the police to avoid getting arrested, but every Russian mobster knew who killed Ivan. And they also knew they’d better not mess with Dmitri Veselov - the Pakhan - or they’d end up as dead as Ivan.