Chapter One
“You can’t tell me what to do!” Antonina Rustikov hurled the glass vase at the brick wall where it shattered with a satisfying crash. “You’re nothing but a lying, cheating, murdering thug!”
“Toni.” Her father’s voice was deadly, but Toni was beyond caring. “You will obey me in this or I will reduce your allowance to nothing.”
“It’s already nothing.” Toni made a face. “I don’t take money from you. Mama left me an inheritance. If I’m careful, I won’t ever have to take anything from you again!”
She could see her father’s temper beginning to boil, but for the first time it didn’t scare her. He couldn’t do anything else. Her mother was dead. Toni was utterly alone in the world. Her heart felt as shattered as the stupid crystal vase.
Reaching for another missile, her fingers touched the heavy weight of a paperweight made of a geode her father had picked up somewhere. This was his office, but she would reduce it to a wrecked mess if he kept her in here much longer.
“Toni. Don’t.”
The paperweight met the same fate as the vase. The colored rock and volcanic glass cracked into a dozen pieces that littered the floor near her father’s feet. He glared at Toni as the door banged open and four of his men stormed inside the office.
“Boss?” Pyotr raised an eyebrow.
Her father gave her a look of distaste. “Toni is just throwing a tantrum. She would do well to remember that I have the power to marry her off to whomever I choose.” His lip curled with barely concealed derision. “Perhaps I shall marry you to Pyotr. He could keep you in hand.”
Toni could see by Pyotr’s expression that the man had zero interest in being saddled with Toni. None of her father’s men would consider that a boon. Not even when her father—Boris Rustikov—was the leader of a powerful Russian mafia syndicate. The connection wouldn’t be worth the trouble she would cause. And Toni was proud of that.
“Why?” Toni sneered. “Is Pyotr going to murder me the same way you murdered my mother?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Boris waved his hand, his tone dripping arrogance. “I didn’t murder your mother, you stupid girl. She killed herself. It was a senseless, tragic accident.”
“She wouldn’t have done that!” Toni shouted. “She wouldn’t have left me alone with you! You killed her. I know it!”
“Go to your room,” Boris snapped. “I grow tired of your ranting.”
“I’m leaving.” Toni narrowed her eyes to slits. “I already told you that. I don’t even know why I bothered to tell you. I’m twenty three years old. You have no power over me.”
“I am your father.” He drew himself up until he was standing tall at every bit of his five foot six inches. Toni still had three inches on him. Not that he seemed to realize what a short, fat bastard he was. He pointed at her. “You will stay here. You will not leave. You’re grounded for the rest of the month.”
“Are you kidding?” Toni actually laughed. “You can’t stop me. Even if you lock me in my room you can’t stop me. I don’t care what you say or what you do. You murdered my mother and now your power over me is gone.” She deliberately turned her back to him to show him just how little respect she had for him. At the last second she turned and looked over her shoulder. “Too bad you’re too stupid to realize when you’ve lost.”
“That’s it!” Boris’s voice rose two octaves in pitch, making him sound like a teenaged boy having a fit. “You’re marrying Pyotr.”
“Boss?” Pyotr murmured. “I’m married.”
“What?” Boris rolled his eyes. “Yakov then.”
“He’s also married.” Pyotr was looking very uncomfortable. “I believe Uday is still single.”
“Uday then!” Boris snarled. “She’ll marry Uday before the week is out.”
“The hell I will.” Toni stormed out of her father’s office, heading for the front door of the house.
“Miss Rustikov, you cannot leave.” Yakov and three of her father’s other men stood in her way.
Toni walked around them. They wouldn’t dare touch her. Not even to grab her in order to keep her in the house. She marched a half circle around them and wove her way toward the front door. She wasn’t exactly dressed for going out in her jeans and sweater with her trendy boots, but out was where she wanted to be. She needed somewhere to sit and think. Either that or she was going to lose her mind and do something stupid—like shoot her father in retaliation for what he’d done to her mother.
“Antonina!” her father screamed. “Get back in here! I did not dismiss you yet!”
Toni snorted and pulled open the front door. She walked outside and stalked off across the front lawn of their townhouse. The gates were closed. She didn’t care. She avoided the guardhouse and found the special spot to the right of the big gate stretching across the front drive.
For whatever reason, during construction these two bars had not been manufactured with the same attention to uniformity. They were just far enough apart that Toni could squeeze through. Wriggling and twisting, she made it out of the yard and began trekking down the sidewalk toward her favorite neighborhood bar.
“Antonina!” Someone was shouting behind her.
Toni broke into a run. One of the guards was actually giving pursuit. When had that ever happened before? Sprinting down the block, she ducked right through a yard. She dodged trees and bushes as she took the familiar path that had once been her route to school.
Behind her, she heard a large body crash into the brush. Someone cursed in low, animated Russian. It was obviously one of her father’s men. Ducking at the last second, she found a spot to hide beneath a tree with low hanging branches. Once she and her school friends had met here to share snacks and secrets. Now she was using it to hide from her father. Life was so strange sometimes.
Toni held her breath and listened. The man blundered right by her, presumably heading for the sidewalk opposite. The uniform blocks made it easy to navigate unless you were trying to find someone like Toni who knew every single nook and cranny in the neighborhood.
“Toni!”
The yells were now coming from the opposite direction that they had started. Her pursuer would hopefully continue on around the block until he got back to the house. Toni was free for the moment at least.
* * *
“Where is she, boss? I thought you said she would be here tonight.”
Dimitri took a long swallow of beer and tried not to be annoyed by Ivan’s constant nagging. The man was a very good enforcer. He was quick and brutal when necessary, and he followed orders to a tee. The problem was that Ivan had absolutely no patience. This made him a tiresome companion when any sort of inaction was on the agenda.
The bar was crowded tonight. It was a neighborhood place, the sort of bar where Dimitri and Ivan had already drawn some unwelcome attention simply because they were not from the neighborhood and therefore did not belong. It was a typical bar. The front of the house was a long, low ceilinged room with a thick layer of cigarette smoke hovering above the action going on below. The bartender seemed to know everyone. He would make loud jokes before throwing back a few shots or pulling beers for his customers. Dimitri soaked up the rhythm of the place. He could not understand why a mafia princess like the daughter of Boris Rustikov would hang out in such a place. He would have expected her local hangout to be the martini bar down the street. Not this place.
“Is that her?” Ivan asked suddenly, going on point like a dog.
Dimitri casually shifted in his seat so that he could get a better view of the front door. A young woman had just walked in. She looked like Rustikov’s daughter. At least she had the softly curling black hair and blue eyes of Rustikov’s late wife. The plain blue jeans, black sweater, and scuffed shoes did not fit the profile.
“I’m not sure,” Dimitri murmured to Ivan. “Just relax. You’re half out of your chair already.”
Ivan pulled a face. “I’m tired of relaxing.”
The bartender spotted the young woman. “Toni!” he said loudly and with a giant flourish of his hands. “What can I get my favorite princess to drink?”
“No princess crap today!”
The young woman looked upset. Dimitri couldn’t have said why, but this bothered him. He had only seen Boris Rustikov’s daughter twice. Both times she had been dressed to the nines while hanging on her father’s every word. She and her mother had been Boris’s favorite accessories. He’d dressed them both in silks and diamonds and had paraded them about town as though he were a king. It was the man’s insufferable arrogance that had brought him to Dimitri’s attention to begin with. He didn’t just need to be brought down a few pegs. He needed to be crushed.
The bartender’s jovial expression turned somber. “I was very sorry to hear about your mother, Toni.”
“Yes. Thank you.” The young woman slapped the top of the bar. “Can I get a Crown and Coke please?”
“Coming right up, princess.”
Dimitri nearly fell over as Ivan nudged him hard. “That’s her, right? Let’s just grab her and go.”
“It’s not the simple,” Dimitri murmured. “If you don’t shut up and calm down, I’m going to beat you senseless right here in this bar.”
Ivan heaved a sigh into his beer before swallowing the last of what was in his glass. He looked like a pouting child. If Dimitri hadn’t been focused on his quarry he would have laughed his ass off.
Antonina was carrying her drink to an empty table at the back of the room. She took up a position perhaps ten feet away from Dimitri and Ivan. Dimitri knew that she had noticed him, because she wasn’t shy about staring. Her manner was suspicious and her gaze was wary at best. She seemed to have much better instincts than he would have given her credit for. Most of the spoiled princesses that he had come across in his lifetime never saw anything as a potential threat. They were too busy thinking that they were untouchable.
She whistled at him, actually whistled, a sharp noise that immediately gained his attention. “Who are you?” she demanded.
“Just a guy who wanted someplace to hang out.” He wondered if she would buy that and suspected she would not.
“People don’t just hang out in here mister. Where are you from?”
“Who made you the bar police?” he asked casually, intentionally disrespecting her just to see what would happen.
“Excuse me?” She got up from her table and stalked in his direction.
The woman was an absolute knockout. In fact she looked ten times better in her jeans and sweater than she ever had in those fancy cocktail dresses and dripping diamonds. Her long jet black hair was loose around her shoulders. She had a curvy body, long legs, and enough height that he wouldn’t have to bend himself in half just to kiss her.
Why the hell was he thinking about kissing her? Dimitri didn’t want to kiss her. He wanted to kill her. Or at least hold her hostage until her father learned some manners and made some concessions.
“Now.” She slammed her drink down on the table in front of Dimitri. “You can explain to me who you and why you’re in my bar.”
“I had no idea this place was owned by an empty headed princess.”
“Empty headed…” Her eyes went wide. “Wow. You’re a regular asshole. Aren’t you?”
“It would seem that way.”
“No seriously.” She cocked her head, looking curious. “Who are you?”
Dimitri leaned back in his seat, enjoying himself in spite of the bizarre situation and in spite of the errand he had come to complete. “My name is Dimitri Alkaev.”
Now she looked alarmed. “What are you doing here in my neighborhood?”
“Oh princess,” he drawled in Russian. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”