Chapter Fifteen
Dimitri stood on the rise and watched the sun come up. His talk with Katya had left him unsettled. Worse, he missed Toni more than he ever would have imagined possible. How was it that a man could miss a woman that he’d known for less than a handful of days? They had slept together twice, both times because it seemed to be their default expression of anger toward each other. That could not possibly be healthy.
Yet he could stand here and observe the sky turning from indigo to brilliant pink and orange, and the only thing he could think of is that he would love to share this moment with Toni. It would be fun to hear her thoughts, and to see her smile in wonder as the world around them began to wake up.
He had been such a coward where she was concerned. His infatuation with the daughter of his enemy had seemed like a weakness. He had hidden it behind convoluted motives, and tried to minimize what it was that he felt. The only thing that had gotten him was the equivalent to a kick in the face. She had left without a word. The only thing he could figure out was that she must have woken up alone and decided to make an escape from there. It wasn’t as if Toni hadn’t left for her own reasons before. Perhaps she had even known that her father was on his property. Maybe she had seen that as her chance. He would never know until he found her and could ask.
Yet he was still hoping that she would come back of her own accord. She had once before. Why not again? Unless something had changed. Perhaps he was fooling himself that there had ever been anything more between them. Maybe she had only been using him to get what she wanted, because they had a deal.
“No,” he whispered. “I don’t believe it.”
“Talking to yourself?”
Anatoli’s voice was not wholly unexpected. Throwing his younger brother out of the house was difficult to do when that brother was wily and determined to have his own way. Dimitri turned and offered Anatoli a small, conciliatory smile. “Have you decided to see the error in your ways and clean up your act?”
“There’s nothing wrong with my act, as you call it,” Anatoli snapped. “You’re simply jealous because I’m stronger than you are.”
“If you’re going to start spouting off that nonsense again, you can turn around and leave.” Dimitri waved his hand. “Go ahead and get out of here.”
“But this is my home, brother.”
Something in Anatoli’s tone tipped Dimitri off. He swung around just in time to see his brother pull out a gun. Anatoli leveled the barrel at Dimitri. His expression was twisted with greed and anger. This was not the brother Dimitri knew. This was something else entirely.
“What are you doing?” Dimitri asked quietly.
“Taking what’s mine.”
“None of this is yours.” Dimitri made a gesture to indicate the house and grounds. “Our father left it to me because he believed I would be the one to best carry on the family business. If you were to have things your way, we would lose everything in a week!”
“How?” Anatoli demanded. “How can you say that? You act as if you’re the better man and you’re not!”
“It isn’t that I’m better,” Dimitri conceded. “But I’m certainly not driven by greed and a desire to prove myself to everyone.”
“I don’t have to prove myself!” Anatoli shouted. “I’ve been better than you since the day I was born! I was Papa’s favorite! He only left you in charge because you’re older.”
“Anatoli, we’re not ten. I’m not in charge. This is my home. This is my business. You were a partner in that. As equal as I could make it as a matter of fact. It was just never enough for you. You’re stubborn and selfish. And if you keep up this way, you’ll run our territory into the ground and there will be nothing left.”
“You lie.” Anatoli snarled. The gun dipped as his hand shook with the effort of holding it up. “And soon enough everyone else going to know what you are; a coward and a loser.”
“Is that right?” Dimitri was slowly shifting toward the house.
He was just wondering if he should make a run for it when Anatoli squeezed the trigger. The shot echoed off a distant hill and reverberated back. The bullet buried itself in Dimitri’s shoulder. He groaned, going down onto his knees. The excruciating pain of the injury made him instantly nauseous.
“Now,” Anatoli said with satisfaction. “I suppose I will go about making myself at home.”
Dimitri fell to his back. He stared up at the sky, wondering if this was really the end, or if he was going to have the chance to kick his brother’s ass. He could only hope that someone would find him. He attempted to struggle to his knees, but the pain was so great it nearly made him pass out. He stared up at the sky. It was so beautiful. Streaks of orange and red told him the red ball of the sun was now peeking over the horizon. It was morning. A new day. And yet Dimitri could not enjoy it. Not until he fixed what was broken.
***
Something was wrong. Toni didn’t know how or what, but she knew that something was very, very wrong. She could not sit still. Her endless pacing had already driven her uncles’ housekeeper crazy. The woman had stopped asking Toni if she could get her something, and just left her to walk concentric circles throughout the house.
Her uncles lived in a renovated warehouse space just behind The Samovar. It was airy and welcoming in a way she wouldn’t have expected. Since they were confirmed bachelors, they shared the space by keeping room on opposite sides of the massive central living area. Upstairs was a workout gym complete with boxing ring, and there was even a lap pool.
Toni left the main living area and went upstairs. Night had fallen, and her uncles were still at the restaurant. She knew she was welcome to stay as long as she liked, they’d been pretty vocal about that. It was just difficult to say what was bothering her. She bypassed the workout machines and free weights and headed for the door to the balcony.
The cool air buffeted her cheeks. It felt good to clear her head after everything that had happened. She rested her elbows on the railing and leaned out to get a better view of the street. The warehouse’s third floor wasn’t so high up that she had a great panoramic view, but she could still see the river winding its way through the city several miles away.
Why hadn’t Dimitri come for her? He’d known where to find her last time. Why hadn’t he at least called? Sure. She’d definitely sent him a whole beehive to deal with when she told her father’s men to go storm the castle, but that wouldn’t have taken too long to sort out.
“The jerk probably doesn’t even care,” she muttered. Maybe she needed to hear the words out loud.
It wasn’t like she was going to forget that Dimitri had flat out told his brother that he was using her. But it would have been nice to get some closure. She wanted to hear his bullshit excuse and then have a chance to say her piece. That was what mattered. Right?
A car pulled up in the alley outside the warehouse. Toni briefly forgot her problems and focused on the newcomer. Could Viktor or Nikolai have decided to come home early tonight? It seemed unlikely considering just how busy the restaurant was on a good night like this. Still, there were men getting out of the vehicle.
“Go knock on the door! If she’s in there, we’ll flush her out!”
Toni reflexively dropped into a squatting position, despite her position on the third floor balcony. She covered her mouth with her hands to keep the scream from slipping out. That was Anatoli! She knew it. She would have recognized that angry, venomous voice anywhere.
She stretched out flat on her belly and peeked over the edge of the balcony. There were four men below. One was Anatoli. She’d have recognized that pale blond hair anywhere. There was also ginormous Ivan, and two men she didn’t remember. Ivan began pounding on the warehouse door.
Toni held her breath, wondering if the poor housekeep would answer, and praying she would not. Someone like Anatoli wouldn’t be nice to the poor woman. A few moments later she heard someone cursing in Russian, yelling at the housekeeper to let them in. Toni breathed a little easier. Apparently the housekeeper wasn’t naive enough to open the door to just anyone.
“Are you sure she’s here?” someone asked Anatoli.
“Are you questioning me?”
Toni watched in fascination as Anatoli shoved one of his men. It looked like a mouse taking on a cat. The enforcer took exception to being pushed around, and pushed back. Anatoli went flying across the alley, smacking into the warehouse’s metal wall. He tumbled to the ground and lay there for a moment, probably stunned.
Seconds later he was on his feet, charging his opponent. The two men clashed in a one sided brawl that ended with Anatoli sprawled on the ground again. All of the other men were laughing now, and Toni could tell that Anatoli was getting upset.
What was going on? Where was Dimitri? Why was Antoli giving the orders—or trying to—and why would he dare to be on her uncles’ turf without their permission?
“You’d better listen to me!” Anatoli shouted at his men. “I’m in charge now that my brother is dead!”
It felt as if Toni had fallen off the balcony. She was falling. It was an emotional cliff and she couldn’t see the bottom. There was a roaring in her ears and she squeezed her eyes shut to stem the flow of tears. Dimitri was dead? It couldn’t be. And yet maybe that was why she felt so restless and unsettled. Could she possible sense on some level that he’d been in danger?
Why hadn’t she listened to her instincts?
Toni leaped up. It was tempting to scream at Anatoli over the railing, but she clamped her mouth shut. She couldn’t let him know she was here. It would only make him more aggressive. She had to wait. Anatoli would leave and then she could find out what had really happened.
“He can’t be dead. He can’t be,” she whispered.
Somehow it didn’t matter anymore that she’d been thinking of him as a lying bastard just a few minutes ago. The thought that he might be gone forever was unacceptable. She was in so far over her head!
She waited, watching as Anatoli and the others got back into their vehicle. Anatoli was still shouting at Ivan, but Ivan didn’t look as if he particularly cared what the younger Alkaev had to say. If Anatoli truly thought he was going to take over the family business, he was going to have to get some bigger feet to fill Dimitri’s shoes.
“Katya,” Toni whispered to herself. “Katya would know. I need to talk to her. Now.”