Chapter Twenty-One
Dimitri watched the sun peek over the horizon. He couldn’t remember what time it was when he finally went to bed. Everyone had been nagging him to go. He had known better. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep, not with so many unsettled things still on his mind.
He stretched, feeling his shoulder creak in protest. The injury was going to take time to heal. He didn’t have time. There was no place in his world for a man who couldn’t pull his weight, especially not now that he was having to make up the ground he’d lost because of Anatoli’s stupidity.
Dimitri rubbed a hand down his face and inhaled deeply. Toni’s scent was still on his sheets. He wanted her back. Badly. In fact he couldn’t believe just how much it bothered him to think of her navigating that shark tank at her father’s house all alone. She was smart and savvy. She would do just fine. But he wanted so badly to help her, if only to let her know that he understood and that he supported her decision.
The tip of the sun broke over the horizon, the orange ball of flame nearly blinding him with light. He thought about Toni and how much he wished that the two of them could lead a normal life. Katya’s decision to stay in the tiny cottage and raise her child by herself was making more and more sense. Dimitri had been part of the mafiya world his whole life. It was all he knew. He was tired. The notion of spending the rest of his life waking up next to Toni and seeing her smile was enticing. They could make love, lounge in bed, and live their lives like regular people who didn’t have to worry about assassination attempts, brothers with insane plots for revenge, or other mafiya families who might want to take what was theirs.
There was a soft knock at the door.
“Come in.”
Katya poked her head in the room. “I wondered if you would be awake.”
“Come in.” Dimitri gestured her toward the bed. “Have a seat.”
She gingerly perched on the edge of the mattress. “Are you all right with what the men have decided for Anatoli?”
“It’s an interesting compromise.”
Katya snorted. “It’s not a compromise, Dimitri.”
“Having him fight in the underground ring is not the same as having him summarily executed,” Dimitri pointed out reasonably. Then he sighed. Reaching out, he patted his sister’s hand. “There’s nothing else to be done. He knows far too much about our operation to turn him over to the police. I’ll be honest. It turns my stomach to imagine that I might be asked to execute him like a common traitor. And at least this way he has a chance to live on his own terms.”
“He’s half the size of the usual fighters.” Katya was wringing her hands together. “Sometimes I really hate this life.”
“You and me both,” Dimitri agreed. “I’m sorry about Boris. I’m not sure if I ever told you that.”
“Thank you.” She bit her lip, looking thoughtful. The dawn light cast her features in a fiery glow. “It was so odd to see him again. I know that Toni was disappointed with me.”
“How?” Dimitri asked quickly. “How could she ever?”
“Boris started talking to me right away. He”—she swallowed and paused a moment—“he said some really nice things. It reminded me of the time when we were together. He would always know exactly what I needed to hear.”
“Men like him always do.” Dimitri hated the self-doubt he saw on Katya’s face. “That doesn’t reflect badly on you, sweetie.”
“Boris held out his hand and I just went. It was like I couldn’t help myself.” She actually looked puzzled. “It wasn’t like I believed he was going to change his mind or that we would be some stupid happy couple raising our child.” Now Katya looked guilty. “I’ll admit that for just a few moments after I found out his wife was dead, I entertained the idea that he was going to marry me. That our agreement would change, and then we would raise our baby together and be the perfect couple.”
“What happened?”
She snorted in disgust. “He sent me that text telling me that the deal was off and wishing me luck.”
It still burned Dimitri to no end that that Boris had so disrespected Katya. She was so wonderful, and so innocent in many ways. “Anatoli and I kept you too sheltered,” he admitted. “We did you a disservice and I’m sorry. I won’t do it anymore. You’re more than capable of making your own decisions.”
“What about you?” She cocked her head. “I know you love Toni.”
“I do.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Katya shifted on the bed, resting her chin on one bent knee.
“I’m not sure.”
“Well you’d better not give up.” She poked his leg. “She loves you, you know? I’m not sure she really understands how that affects her yet, but she really does.”
“Sometimes love isn’t enough.” Dimitri wondered if there was a quota of clichés for every relationship. Once you fell in love you had to start spouting these ridiculous sayings that didn’t really mean anything while simultaneously being absolutely apropos for the situation. “I would love to believe that she can get her father’s crap straightened out, and that I’ll get everything back in order here at home. Then we can—I don’t know—try dating or something.”
Katya actually laughed. “That sounds hilarious, you know?”
“I know.”
“Her father tried to marry her off to one of his lackeys while we were there, you know?” Katya said suddenly. Her brow furrowed. “I didn’t understand why he would do that, but Toni seemed to understand.” Katya shrugged. “Then Anatoli showed up and everyone forgot about some bullshit wedding.”
“Then that’s one good thing my brother did,” Dimitri murmured. The idea of Toni marrying another man, no matter what the reason, was absolutely abhorrent to him. No. He would certainly not allow that. He had to find a way to make things work. There was simply no joy in living without her.
***
Toni leaned against the wall in her parents’ closet. The dawn light seeped through the windows and painted bright strips of light across the floor. She was curled up in a little ball with an old blanket tucked around her legs. She’d pulled all of her father’s papers and correspondence from his safe.
There was a part of Toni that could not believe her father would keep this stuff. It painted him in a horrible light. There were receipts from a dozen or more jewelry stores, flower shops, boutiques, and even sweet shops. Each receipt had been placed in a little file labeled with a woman’s name. There were nearly thirty files. Her arrogant, pig headed father had kept records of his relationships. There were scribbled notes about what each woman liked to receive, when her birthday was, what she considered their “anniversary”… It was all there. Boris Rustikov had kept meticulous record of each woman, even penciling in the date the relationship had ended and putting down a few lines about what had happened.
Toni picked up Katya’s file. This one was thicker than the others because it contained information from her pregnancy. There had been a genetic workup, a family history, and even several ultrasound photos. Boris had actually hired a company to do some kind of genetic predictor of the baby’s gender based on the family history of both himself and Katya. It was absolutely insane to think of her father going to so much trouble, and then turning around and deciding he didn’t want the child anymore.
Shuffling through a few more papers, Toni found the contract that Katya had signed that gave Boris control over the baby. Toni also discovered the precise outline of what Katya had been promised in exchange for giving up her maternal rights.
“A million dollars and an estate at the edge of the city,” Toni whispered. “Expenses to be paid by Rustikov Enterprises. Damn.”
Toni continued flipping through the extensive agreement. She could easily see why someone like Katya would have jumped at this. Hell. Toni would have had difficulty turning her back on an opportunity to be independent. It was just renting out a uterus, right? Surrogates did it all the time. So why had her father changed his mind?
“Holy cow.” Toni stared at the page. She was sure she had to be reading it wrong.
The very last item on the agreement had been circled by her father, although she had no way of knowing if he’d done it before Katya had signed, or when he’d invoked the right. The caveat stated that if Boris’s circumstances changed, and he could no longer be assured that the child would be his heir, he could terminate the agreement and he would owe Katya nothing.
Toni tossed the agreement to the floor and rested her head back against the wall. She snuggled a little deeper into her nest of blankets and tried to imagine what could have happened to make her father change his mind. After all, Katya’s baby could have never been heir to the Kabalevsky fortune. Even if it had been a boy, the baby wasn’t a Kabalevsky.
“Adoption,” Toni said hoarsely. “He was going to make my mother adopt that kid.”
The flash of insight nearly took her breath away. It was so simple! She’d wondered about that before, when she’d found the adoption papers in her father’s safe. Now the proof was right here on the floor. Boris Rustikov had every intention of bullying Maria into adopting the bastard child he had sired off his mistress. Then he intended to raise that child to be his heir and therefore get control of Maria’s money and investments.
“Damn.”
Toni had to admit that the scheme was absolutely despicable, and yet truly brilliant in its own way. She still didn’t understand why her father wanted her mother’s money so desperately though. If you’d asked him, he was a wealthy businessman in his own right. Why was Maria’s money so important to him?
“Antonina?”
“In here, Pyotr,” she called back.
Her father’s second in command walked into the closet and took a seat on the floor without bothering to ask if he was welcome or not. She didn’t berate him for the presumption. The guy had been up all night just like she had been. They were both exhausted, and it didn’t promise to get better.
Toni sucked in a quick breath. There was really no good time to spring this on him. “Did you know that my father was going to try and force my mother to adopt Katya Alkaev’s baby?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Pyotr shrugged. “To get control of your mother’s—your—fortune.”
“Why?” Toni picked up the contract and waved it in his face. “He obviously didn’t need it if he just changed his mind at the last second.”
“He changed his mind once Maria was dead,” Pyotr said flatly. “She killed herself and the whole plan went to hell.” He cursed in Russian, looking haggard. “I told him he should have just given you the note and spared us all the trouble.”
“What note?” The bottom dropped out of Toni’s stomach. “My mother wouldn’t have killed herself, Pyotr. Even her brothers didn’t believe it.”
He sighed. Getting to his feet, he walked to the closet safe and opened it. He reached inside and yanked at the lining on the right side of the safe. The velvet came away in his hand, revealing a little side pocket of sorts. Pyotr extracted a letter and tossed it to Toni.
“Like I said. I told him that this would have explained everything and given you peace of mind. He was more concerned with protecting his reputation.” Pyotr grimaced. “I was loyal to Boris. He was my boss. But he was not a very good man.” Pyotr turned and walked out of the closet. He paused at the doorway, half turning to lookat her over his shoulder. “And if you want to know why, look at the financial records for this last year.”