“We also need to keep an eye on our men. You never know when one might be corrupted by money,” Nik says. Trust him to have such a cynical outward view, but unfortunately, he’s right. We have had issues before with men. Money sometimes corrupts the best intentions.
“I have everyone monitored, but you’re right. I will get my guys to do a current check and see if there are any suspicious activities with any of them,” I state, already taking my phone out of my pocket so I can send a text with orders.
“Who checks your guys?” Nik asks suddenly with a frown.
“That is also covered. I check all of them periodically myself.” Nik nods. I lean back against one of the SUVs as we wait for the men we called to join us. Looking up at the house, my eyes run over all the windows until they reach the ones to Ruby and my bedroom. I wonder if she’s in there now. I hate seeing her upset, and knowing that I’m the one who upset her is even worse.
“You’re scowling again,” Nik states as he also leans back, next to me.
“I’m thinking about what I could have possibly said that would have upset her,” I confess. “All I said was that I would take care of her no matter what, that she’s my wife and, one day, the mother of our children. That I’m proud of the person she is and that she’s beautiful inside and out.”
“Yeah, doesn’t seem like anything there could possibly upset her,” Nik states as he rubs his forehead with his hand. “Unless when you say you’re proud of her, she thinks there is something she did that you wouldn’t be proud of.”
“I know everything about her, and the things that happened to her were not her fault. She knows that, and she knows how I feel about it.”
“What about kids? You said she’ll be the mother of your kids; do you know if she wants children?”
I stare at him blankly. Why wouldn’t she want children? All women want children.
“Remember, she isn’t like Jade and Raven who were brought into this life. Your wife has been around the Bratva since she was born. Accept it, Dimitri; she might not want to bring a kid into this life.”
I can’t believe that. Ruby is so loving and nurturing. There is no way someone like her wouldn’t want to have children of her own. “I don’t think it’s that either,” I say, but even I can hear the lack of conviction in my voice.
“The best thing is to stop guessing and just talk to her.” Before I can answer Nik, the men start to arrive. I’m going to have to leave this for later, but as soon as I get back, I’m going to go speak to her, because I can’t concentrate the way I should if I have this on my mind.
Women are a pain! I never had these worries before I met Ruby. Yes, I went through a bad patch when Monica died, but I have come to realize that I never felt for Monica the way I feel for Ruby. Monica was a young love that I believe would have fizzled out with time. Ruby is completely different. She has taken over my life. All I can think about is her.
“Are you ready?” At Nik’s question, I realize he has briefed the men on where we are going, and I didn’t hear a word of it, as I was thinking about my wife.
“Do you think about Raven all the time?” I ask, and see Nik’s surprised look.
“What?”
“Never mind.” I move away from where I’m leaning and slide into the SUV. One of the men is already in the driver’s seat, and another in the passenger seat. We are going to scout every hook and cranny in town until we find this son of a bitch. Nik slides in next to me and leans his head back, closing his eyes. Only now do I notice how tired he seems.
“Kids not letting you sleep?” He nods in affirmation. Since marrying Raven, there has been a clear softening of Nik’s personality. Before, we would never have had the conversation we had earlier. He is still the most feared man in the Bratva besides Alexei, but at least we can now communicate with him without worrying that our nuts are going to be chopped off.
We don’t talk again for a while as we make our way towards the apartment blocks of one of our contacts who said he might know where the assassin is. The other four guys we brought with us are in the SUV following us.
“The answer is yes,” Nik suddenly says as he opens his eyes and looks at me. He must see my confused look, as he elaborates on his answer a second later. “I do think of Raven all the time.”
“This relationship business is a hazard,” I mumble, and he cracks a smile.
“Yes, it is, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.” I can see the dedication and love he has for his family in everything he does and says. “And in our line of business, we are continuously worried about them.”
I feel the SUV come to a standstill. Looking out the window, I see that we have arrived. When I look back at Nik, he is already climbing out of the SUV and shutting the door behind him.
Oh, well, I guess that’s what I must look forward to for the rest of my life, but instead of the thoughts upsetting me, when I climb out, I can feel my mood has lightened. No matter what is bothering Ruby now, we will work through it and everything will be okay, as I will make sure to move heaven and earth to make my woman happy.
I see the four men who were in the SUV behind us have left their vehicle and are now fanning out around the building. “You stay here. I’ll go up with one of the men,” I say, and Nik frowns but doesn’t contradict me and nods.
“Hans, come with me,” I call out to one man. He promptly approaches me and then falls in step next to me as we make our way into the building towards the stairs. In situations like this, I would rather climb the stairs, as I don’t know what will be waiting for me when I reach the top. When we get to the third floor where the apartment is situated, I look up and down the corridor before stepping into it and making my way to the correct door.
After knocking, I hear a muffled noise inside, and a few seconds later, the door opens. “Dimitri! I didn’t know it was you coming,” Jürgen says as he steps back and opens the door wider. “Come in, come in.”
I step inside the apartment, Hans right behind me. I look around to make sure that we are alone, and then walk towards his couch and sit down. “Jürgen, I believe you have information for us.”
He nods as he sits on the couch, facing me. “Yes, I think the man you are looking for is the same man I saw the other day.” He sits forward, his hands over his knees, which has my mind at ease, as we are always wary that someone is going to pull out some kind of weapon. “I was asked to go fix the plumbing in a dingy hotel downtown. When I went to the room that needed the plumbing, there was no one there, so the receptionist let me in.” He brings up his hand, which has me tensing, but he only moves it to scratch his forehead.
“It looked like no one was staying there—everything was so neat—but as I was tightening the bolts, a gun was placed to the back of my head and the motherfucker asked me what I was doing in his room.” His voice is hoarse with anger when he recounts his encounter with this man. “It took some talking and convincing before that gun was removed, but after he spoke to the receptionist and she confirmed my story, he ordered me to leave.” After he gives me the name of the hotel, I get up to leave, when he stops me again.
“Dimitri, I think he has some kind of sniper with him, because before I left, I saw a long bag on the bed that would be perfect for carrying something like that around.”
I pull out the wad of money from the inside pocket of my jacket and hand it to him. “Thank you, Jürgen. If this is the man we are looking for, you will get another wad like that once we have him,” I promise as I turn my back on him and leave the apartment. Jürgen wants to be in the Bratva Fury’s good books. He would have been just as happy if I hadn’t given him anything for this information, but we like to keep our informants happy and loyal. Money doesn’t always keep you loyal, unlike the fear of being on our wrong side.
“So?” Nik asks when we are all in the SUV again and driving towards the hotel Jürgen identified. I recount the information I was given and where we are headed. Nik doesn’t ask anything else, but he sits back and closes his
eyes again until we arrive.
When we’re all standing outside the hotel, I call the men to me. “Remember, he is dangerous. Keep your guard up at all times. I want you in pairs. If you see him, I want him living and not dead, as we need to question him.” Andre has updated all the men on what we know about this guy; therefore, when they see someone who looks like who we think the assassin is, they will be prepared.
The men all take off in different directions. Nik and I go in through the main entrance to the reception area. The two receptionists smile as we approach, and I can see the appreciation in their eyes as they take us in. “Good morning, how can I help you?” one of them says. She is a pretty little blonde, which before might have triggered my interest, but since meeting Ruby, the only sexual interest I have is for my wife. She is everything and more than I could ever want in a woman, and she is mine.
“Yes, we would like to know if a friend of ours who was staying in Room 320 is still here,” I say with a flirtatious smile that I know will have her intrigued.
“Oh yes, you must be looking for Mr. Suarez. He is still staying with us, but I’m afraid you missed him, as he left about an hour ago,” she says. “Would you like me to leave him a message?”
“No, that will be fine. We know where to find him,” I say, and then look towards Nik, who inclines his head. Following his movement, I see the stairs to the left that will head upstairs, and just next to that is the lounge.
“I think we’ll just have a coffee here before we are on our way again. Thank you for your assistance,” I say, giving her a friendly smile before Nik and I make our way to their lounge area. There is a floor-to-ceiling mirror at the end of the entrance where we can see the reception area as we walk away. I see the women behind us looking at us as we walk away, and then one turns away to answer the phone and the other moves away to go talk to a client who has just approached the reception desk.
Nik and I take our chance and turn towards the steps, quickly climbing until we’re on the third floor. Entering the corridor, we look up and down to make sure there is no one around, and then head towards Room 320. When we reach the door, I bring out my phone and hack into the system that will allow me to unlock the door. When the light turns green, Nik opens the door, and we both step in, closing the door behind us. The room is tidy to the point of looking like no one is staying here, except for a small traveling bag next to the bed. I doubt he has anything in his bag worth finding, but Nik still looks through it, making sure to put everything back just as it was. I move towards the safe and once again hack the system until it pops open.
When I open it back, I see an envelope, a wad of cash, bullets, and a nine millimetre. Pulling out the envelope, I open it and take out the contents. Inside, I find two floor plans. “Nik,” I call as I look at them.
Nik looks over my back, and then I hear him grunt when he sees what I have in my hand. “The fucker has floor plans of the building and of the beach house,” he mutters angrily. I hand them to him and then open a file and freeze. The first thing I see is Ruby’s face looking up at me.
“Motherfucker,” I say angrily. I can feel my body vibrating with anger when I confirm that the person the assassin is after is her.
“Shit,” Nik grunts when he sees what has triggered my anger. I read through the contents and realize that someone has sent him details about Ruby. When I turn the page, I see photos of her that he has taken. Some in the apartment in town, and two in the beach house yesterday. My anger rises when I realize that he has been staking her out and we didn’t even know it. By the angle of the photos, he is quite far away.
“Shit, Dimitri,” Nik suddenly says. “This fucker has a sniper.”
Looking up at what he is holding in his hand, I freeze. In his hand is a bullet to a sniper rifle. He is already pulling out his phone and dialling. “Vlad, he has a sniper. Keep everyone away from the windows. He will be positioned away, and he’s after Ruby.” I can hear Vlad swearing on the other side and ordering someone. Then, there is noise, as we can hear people shouting. I take the phone from Nik’s hand, which has him raising a brow.
“Vlad,” I call.
“Da,” he answers, and I can hear the anger in his voice.
“I don’t want Ruby to know it’s her.” There is silence from the other side for a few seconds, but then Vlad agrees. When he disconnects the call, I look over at Nik and see his concerned look.
“I need to be with her,” I state.
He nods in agreement. “Go. I’ll stay here and wait for him. Let me know if there are any other occurrences.” I know that by now, Vlad will have men fanning out, looking for him, and that might just spook him back here, but I can’t sit here while he is after Ruby and she has no idea.
RUBY 16
How am I going to tell him? He clearly wants children, or he wouldn’t have mentioned it. He really didn’t do very well when he got me as a wife, did he? I swipe at another tear as it runs down my cheek, and sniff. I feel as if a vice is squeezing my heart. My stomach is in knots. Just when I thought I could finally be happy, this comes up.
If I think about what he said, I feel the tears clogging behind my eyes, wanting to burst free, wanting to let some of the pain that I’m feeling out. He opened to me, letting me in and telling me how he feels about me, and what did I do? I burst out crying and ran all because I haven’t been completely honest with him and was scared to lose what I wished I would have. Now that I do have it, my fear is even greater, and I cringe at the thought of his face when I tell him the truth.
Since I met him, he has been nothing but supportive, caring, and understanding. He has been patient with me like no one else has ever been, and what have I done? I have omitted one of the most important pieces of information that he needs to know. I feel that same emptiness that I have been living with for years. I haven’t felt like this since having been brought here, but knowing that I won’t be able to give Dimitri children when he clearly wants them has me feeling like that again.
There is a knock on the door to the room, but I don’t move, as I don’t want to see anyone. I just want to wallow in my own self-pity. The knock comes again. “Ruby, are you in there?” Jade calls. I really don’t want to answer, as I don’t want her to see me like this, but I can’t be rude after how nice she has been to me and ignore her.
“Yes,” I answer.
“Can I come in?”
“If you don’t mind, I just want to rest for a little while.” There is a minute of silence, leading me to believe she’s left, but then I feel a hand on my shoulder, which has me nearly jumping out of my skin.
“I’m sorry to startle you, but I don’t want to leave you alone when it’s clear you are upset about something,” Jade says as she sits on the edge of the bed, looking at me. I rub at the tears on my face and sit up in bed, trying not to look as pathetic as I feel.
“It’s okay,” I lie, and she raises her eyebrows in clear disbelief.
“Ruby, it’s clear that you’re not okay. If you don’t want to talk, it’s fine, but I want you to know that I’m here for you if you need someone to talk to.” At her kind words, I start to cry again. I really wish I wouldn’t, but someone being nice to me at this precise moment is more than I can help. “Oh, sweetie, no, no, don’t cry. It can’t be that bad.”
“It is,” I say as I continue to cry.
“Is it Dimitri? Did he do something wrong?” she asks, concern in her voice as she pulls me towards her and hugs me close.
“Oh no, no, Dimitri didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who did everything wrong,” I confess. “He deserves much better than me.”
“Don’t say that, sweetie. I can see the change in Dimitri since he met you. He is happy. You have made him happy,” she says.
“I’m not good enough for him. You don’t understand,” I say, and then lift my head from where it’s hiding on her shoulder.
“Make me understand, because what I see is a beautiful woman who has everything Dimitri needs,” Jade says wi
th a kind smile.
“That’s the problem. I have issues. I’m not beautiful, but far from it,” I murmur.
“Are you blind? Because you can only be blind to be saying something like that,” Jade says, perplexed. I lean back and lift the T-shirt I’m wearing to show her my scars. When Jade sees them, she gasps in horror. Her hand moves to cover her mouth as tears drown her eyes.
“Oh, Ruby,” she whispers. “What happened to you?” A tear runs down her cheek that she quickly rubs away.
“I was raped,” I murmur as I lower the T-shirt again.
“Does Dimitri know?” she asks as she raises her eyes back to mine.
“Yes, and he says he doesn’t care about a few scars,” I confess.
“Well, then, if I know anything about Dimitri, it’s that he doesn’t say things if he doesn’t mean them,” she says as she strokes the hair away from my face.
“But he doesn’t know all of it,” I whisper, and start to cry again.
“Does he need to know all of it? Sometimes there are things that are just ours to keep,” she says quietly.
“I can’t hide this from him. He has been the best thing that could happen to me, Jade,” I say. My heart feels like it’s going to burst with pain when I think of the way Dimitri will react to my confession.
“Nothing could be that bad, Ruby. If he knows about the rape and accepts it as it is, there is nothing that could put him off,” Jade says, trying to appease me.
“He wants children, Jade,” I whisper.
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Jade asks with a frown. “Don’t you want children?”
I shake my head. “I can’t have children because of what happened, but Dimitri doesn’t know that.” I burst out crying, and this time, the floodgates burst, and I am crying my sorrows away. The hurt that I have gone through—the dreams of having children I had to squash because of what was done to me and to a future that I might not have anymore because of omitting this fact to a decent and caring man like Dimitri.
Mayhem: Bratva Fury (book 3) Page 12