Chapter Two
Toni’s heart was hammering against her ribs. Dimitri Alkaev was a notorious mobster who was—unlike her father—a real and true badass. He’d once been credited with beating a man within an inch of his life just for an incident of perceived disrespect and rudeness. What was he doing in her bar in her neighborhood? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
“What do you want here?” Toni asked quietly. She had no intention of bluffing with this man. His reputation suggested that wouldn’t end well for her.
Dimitri cocked his head. He was shockingly handsome in a raw, primal sort of way. He was so very tall! She wasn’t used to feeling little at five feet nine inches. In fact, she had always been taller than most of her female friends, and half of her male acquaintance too. Her father was short and consequently he didn’t like having men around who were taller than he was. So most of his men were on the shorter side.
Dimitri also had the advantage of having pale blond hair that fell over his forehead in a boyish way that transcended the trendy concept of fashion. He was just hot. His eyes were so dark they were like pools of midnight in his face and his bone structure was everything classic and intimidating. She found herself wondering what he would look like if he suddenly stood up inside the bar and whipped off his shirt. The commanding presence of him alone would be enough to turn every female eye in the room, including hers.
Dimitri stood up, making himself even more intimidating. “Why don’t you and I go someplace to talk?”
“Talk here or not at all. Do I look stupid to you?”
“Quite the opposite.” He got to his feet, raking her with a scorching hot gaze from head to toe.
Toni couldn’t breathe. The charisma alone was enough to make her giddy. Her skin tingled and she felt a corresponding throb between her legs. What was wrong with her? She was getting turned on and this guy was probably here to kill someone!
Dimitri leaned over and placed his lips right next to her ear. “I’m here for you, little princess. What do you think of that?”
She inhaled sharply, but that just overwhelmed her senses with his scent. There was something earthy and masculine about this man that enticed and aroused when it should have made her turn and run. What was she doing?
Toni forced herself to answer. “I think you’ve picked the wrong target.”
Dimitri’s companion stood abruptly. He was an absolute beast of a man. The guy had to be at least six and a half feet tall. He was so broad and muscular that she wondered how he managed to walk around with all of that hard muscle packed beneath his skin. Where Dimitri was athletic and sexy with a hard body of lean muscle, this guy was a total meathead.
“You don’t get to tell Dimitri Alkaev that he is wrong,” the man said angrily.
Toni raised her eyebrows. “Oh really? Who says?”
“Ivan. Back off.” Dimitri looked almost annoyed by his lackey, although the guy wasn’t exactly acting like a lackey.
“Yeah,” Toni said, unable to keep the amusement out of her tone. “Back off, Godzilla.”
Now the big lug looked confused. “What?”
“Don’t mess with him.” Dimitri’s words sounded oddly like a request. Weirder still, he sort of sounded reasonable about it. “Ivan is a man who likes to solve problems with his fists, not his words.”
“That’s right!” Ivan eagerly agreed.
“Okay.” Now Toni was really confused. “Why are you guys here.”
Dimitri offered a shrug. “We came for you.”
“So this is a kidnapping?” she clarified.
“Yes.”
She watched him tense as if he expected her to respond in some way that would require him to act quickly. It was a logical assumption. He didn’t know her. Toni could imagine that most women—when confronted with a threat of kidnapping—would scream or fight or look for help. Toni wasn’t most women.
“I suppose we should go then, right?” Toni asked them. “I mean, the longer we hang around here the more likely it is that someone will remember you. If you’re trying to kidnap me you might want to cut down on the number of people who will know exactly where I am and exactly what to say to my father when he comes looking.”
Dimitri was looking confused. “You’re not going to argue or fight about this?”
“Would it make you feel better if I did?”
He chuckled. The action turned his expression into something so sensual and alluring she felt her mouth go dry with anticipation. Yes. If she was going to be “kidnapped”, she wanted it to be by this seriously hot guy. It wasn’t as if she had anything to lose anyway.
“C’mon, boss,” Ivan urged. “Let’s just take her and go.”
Toni could tell that Dimitri didn’t quite trust her. That was understandable. So she decided to be honest with him. There was really nothing to be gained by holding back anyway. “I’ll go quietly under one condition.”
“And what would that be?” He cocked his head, looking suspicious.
“I’ll help you accomplish whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish at my father’s expense. And you will help me find out what really happened to my mother.”
“She killed herself, right?” Ivan said with a shrug. “No mystery there.”
Toni ground her teeth together to keep from throttling the asshole. “That’s not right. That’s not how it happened! Something happened to my mother and I want to know what.”
Dimitri appeared thoughtful. “And you don’t even want to know what it is I want with your father?”
She shrugged. “He’s an ass. I’m sure he’s done something to earn your anger.”
DIMITRI STRUGGLED NOT to let his mouth fall wide open. Kidnapping was not supposed to be this easy. The target did not make a deal and then agree to become a hostage. That was ludicrous. Wasn’t it?
“Let’s go!” Ivan urged. He was already heading for the front door of the bar. “She said she’d go with us. Let’s leave.”
Ivan was getting twitchy being in enemy territory like this, and Dimitri had to give him credit where it was due. The longer he tarried here, the more likely it was that Boris Rustikov would come searching for his daughter. In fact Dimitri was starting to wonder if the girl was even on speaking terms with her father. Her words didn’t seem to suggest that she was on good terms with her father. For now though, he wasn’t sure that mattered.
“Are you ready?” she prodded. “Or are we just going to stand around?”
Dimitri snorted. He jerked his chin at Ivan and his big enforcer led the way through the bar toward the front door with Antonina right on his heels. Dimitri brought up the rear.
“Hey princess!” The bartender was not looking on Dimitri and Ivan with a friendly eye. “Are those guys bothering you?”
“No Samuel.” Antonina practically sang her response. “They’re going to help me with Papa. That’s all.”
“All right sweetheart, if you say so.”
“I say so!” she called over her shoulder.
Ivan opened the door and the three of them filed outside without a single mishap. It was almost anticlimactic from what he had expected a few hours ago. He had left his car around the block. Ivan led the way in that direction, but Dimitri found himself curious about what possible motives Antonina could have to cooperate so fully with them.
“Why?” he asked in a low voice.
“Why what?”
“Why did you practically volunteer to be our prisoner?”
She snorted. “You agreed to help me. Right? How do you know that’s not going to be way more of a pain in the ass than whatever benefit you’re going to get for taking me hostage is going to be worth?”
They walked for a few more moments in the near dark. The moon was a tiny sliver hanging in the sky far overhead. The night was cool and breezy. Despite everything, Dimitri couldn’t help but wonder why a girl who had everything would give it all up. How bad could her privileged little life be?
Then he recalled the expression on her face when Ivan had blown off her mother’s suicide. Perhaps her life was not so charmed after all.
“How long will it take your father to realize that you’re gone?” Dimitri asked curtly. He needed to plan for that moment.
“My father already knows I’m gone.” She actually chuckled. “I ran away nearly an hour ago. Slipped his guards, hid in the bushes until they passed, and then headed to the bar because there was no way they would think I’d be brash enough to hide in plain sight. My father isn’t a very imaginative man.”
Dimitri didn’t respond to her matter of fact summation of her father’s character. They were getting close to the car. Ivan pulled out the remote and pushed a button. The lights blinked, but the car did not beep. There was no need to attract any more attention than they already had.
“Get in,” Dimitri gestured to the backseat.
When she opened the door, but didn’t get in, Dimitri almost said something. Then he realized she was actually checking the locks to make sure the child safety wasn’t engaged and that the thing could be locked or unlocked from her seat. He’d not expected her to be that savvy.
“I don’t trust you,” she muttered. “Excuse me for wanting to have a look at my options before I just dive in.”
“I suppose I can’t really argue with that, can I?” Dimitri hid a smile. This was a very unusual princess he’d managed to capture. Sort of.
Ivan was grunting something unintelligible as he got behind the wheel. Then the big man started the car and pulled away from the curb. Dimitri had the distinct impression that Ivan was disappointed there hadn’t been screaming and struggling. This had been entirely too easy. That was certainly true.
“So.” Antonina’s tone was conversational. “What did my father do to you?”
Dimitri suddenly discovered he didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t answer her. She was his captive. He shouldn’t have to provide an explanation if he didn’t choose to.
“I’m not your hostage, you know. I’m your partner at this point. Either you explain to me what’s going on, or you’re going to find I’m a very difficult person to get along with,” she said flatly.
Dimitri turned around, staring at her in the darkened backseat. He couldn’t see much of her expression, but the set of her jaw suggested that she really wasn’t kidding around. The woman intended to get an answer. He sighed, turning back to face the front of the vehicle.
“Your father doesn’t play well with others,” Dimitri said stiffly.
She actually laughed. “I’m quite certain the same could be said for you and Ivan up there. Not good enough. Try again.”
Odd, but this dogged pursuit of a goal was normally something he would admire. Except it was making his life more difficult. “Boris Rustikov slept with my sister. He got her pregnant and then refused to acknowledge the slight or his responsibility as the child’s father.”
There was a long silence from the backseat. Then Antonina cleared her throat. “Your sister has shitty taste in men.”
Dimitri felt a wave of anger so intense that it nearly flayed him alive. “She was seduced! It wasn’t her fault!”
“Unless we women own our bad decisions, we’ll never truly put them behind us or learn to make better ones,” the princess said quietly. “Hopefully it won’t take your sister as long to learn this as it did my mother.”