by Red Phoenix
Handing the full glass over, he confessed to Rytsar, “I was struggling to face the future without your direction.”
“You need to pour another. I refuse to drink alone.”
Titov grinned, leaving the room to get a glass. He returned quickly with it and another bottle of Zyr. “Just in case,” he stated, setting it down.
After pouring his own glass, he held it up and toasted, “To a good man who cheated death.”
Rytsar raised his own. “Some bastards cannot die.” He gulped down the warm liquid, tears coming to his eyes from the sheer pleasure of it.
Titov immediately poured another before sitting down next to Rytsar and staring at him as if he were truly looking at a ghost.
It made Rytsar uncomfortable. “What’s wrong?”
“You look terrible. I almost didn’t recognize you when I opened the door.”
“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Rytsar replied, but he recalled Dessa’s reaction when she first saw him.
“No, you really do,” Titov insisted, getting up and leaving the room again, returning with a mirror a short time later.
Rytsar looked at his reflection and was shocked by what he saw. His eyes were sunken, his cheeks hollow, one of them covered by a line of a hundred tiny stitches. He was reminded of Frankenstein.
“Well, I guess fate has seen to it that my outside now matches my wretched soul.” Rytsar laughed, setting the mirror down.
“At least you escaped! I never imagined you would leave the Koslovs alive.”
“Those people out there,” he said, nodding toward the door, “they came to my rescue.”
Titov looked concerned. “I would have tried but you gave me strict orders.”
“And I am grateful you kept your promise. Those people almost died, Titov.” Rytsar felt the weight of Wallace’s sacrifice on his shoulders. “The Wolf Pup—”
“Did they kill him?” Titov asked in concern.
“No, but after they received the ransom from my brothers, they insisted on a sacrifice that could not come from me. He volunteered and now his suffering has become my suffering.”
“Where is he now?”
“On a plane to America. As far away from here as possible.”
After downing the second shot, Titov refilled for a third time knowing Rytsar needed it.
“How did your brothers get involved? I was shocked to see Andrev.”
Rytsar looked at him ruefully. “My real brother forced them.”
Titov nodded.
“Truthfully, I still do not trust Andrev. How can I? Even though I was told he was instrumental in getting Vlad, Tamir, and Pavel to step up, I cannot forget our past.”
Titov sighed deeply. “Your brothers, they have not lived in reality. I would not trust any of them with my life.”
“And yet they were part of my rescue.”
“I see Ms. Clark is with you as well,” Titov stated offhandedly.
Rytsar growled in anger. “Can you believe I am beholden to that woman as well?”
Titov frowned. “Such an odd band of liberators.”
“That’s what I think.” Rytsar lifted the glass and downed his third shot. He smiled afterward. “I must say, I have missed the welcomed warmth of vodka…”
“I bet you have. Would you like me to get you some food to go with that?”
“Pickles,” Rytsar answered with a grin. “I am missing the pickles.”
Titov pressed a button on the wall and his servant answered. “We forgot the pickles.”
“I’m on it, sir,” he replied.
Titov turned to Rytsar with an embarrassed look. “I am still getting used to the servant thing.”
Rytsar chuckled. “It was about time, old friend. You have served me long enough.”
Titov perked up and stated, “I am going with you.”
“Where?” Rytsar questioned, having said nothing of his plans.
“You are going to kill the Koslovs. I will help you.”
“Why do you think that?”
“You are Rytsar Durov.”
Rytsar leaned over, looking him in the eyes. “You have been by my side through all the difficult tasks. It’s time you retire.”
Titov shook his head. “Nyet. It will do my heart good to vanquish the men who did this to you.”
“It is not just the brothers I am after, Titov. I want to take down their entire organization.”
“Even better.”
The servant arrived with the pickles and set them on the table before leaving. Rytsar poured another shot and clinked it against Titov’s. “You were a fool to hook up with me.”
After they drank the shots down, Titov suddenly became solemn. “Do you remember your father’s last days?”
“Of course,” Rytsar stated.
“You granted me the revenge I sought.”
“You deserved no less.”
“It was important for me… I want you to have that with the Koslov brothers.”
“Thank you.”
Titov snorted. “Maybe once they are gone we can return to our youthful days and create all kinds of mischief together.”
Rytsar smiled, but it soon faded. “Those days were full of good memories, but they always get overshadowed by one.”
Titov sighed. “I know.”
Both men set down their glasses.
“I still miss her, Rytsar,” he admitted.
“Every damn day,” he agreed.
Looking at Titov, Rytsar decided to speak what was on his mind. “There’s one thing I know.”
“What’s that?”
“Tatianna would be proud of you. I thought of that while I lay dying and figured I should tell you.”
Rytsar was surprised to see tears fall from Titov’s eyes as he turned away to face the wall. Titov was not one to cry, having become a severely stoic man after his sister’s death.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped,” Rytsar apologized.
Titov turned back to him, shaking his head. “Nyet…”
Pressing further, he asked, “Have you thought of settling down, Titov? Starting a family of your own? I’m certain Tatianna would have wanted that for you.”
“What about you?” Titov scoffed. “Still single after all these years?”
Rytsar tilted his head and smiled. “Moye solntse will be here soon and I, her only dyadya, get to hold her in my arms and tell her I love her. I feel nothing but joy.”
Titov only nodded.
“You should know that kind of joy.”
“Maybe…”
“You should,” Rytsar encouraged.
“After we take care of the Koslovs, then I will think about it.”
Reconciliation
The time had come to take Wallace’s advice.
Before they set out to claim the remote compound in Siberia, he needed this strangeness between them settled. Working with people one did not trust would only lead to failure and death.
Rytsar took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was the one who had requested this, when he went to answer the knock.
This is my decision.
He opened the door abruptly, making Samantha jump a little. Without smiling, he gestured her inside.
Samantha had dressed in her traditional tight-fitting business attire and stiletto heels. It was her armor of choice.
“Sit,” he instructed, sitting opposite from her across the coffee table.
After several moments of silence, she asked, “You said you wanted to talk?”
“I did.”
Rytsar looked her over, assessing her. The woman still had the same look and overall style that had attracted him when they first met in college; that sleek blond hair, the high cheekbones, arched eyebrows, and that confident aura she oozed. But looking at her now, he noticed the lines of age on her face, the haunted look in her eyes she tried to hide, and the nervous way she pursed her lips.
While Samantha allowed him free rein to look her over, she took advantage and did the sa
me to him. It was disconcerting, considering they hadn’t spent any time together alone since…
Since that time he’d tried to choke her to death.
“I do not know where to begin,” he finally told her.
“Take as long as you need,” she offered.
Rytsar shook his head slowly, finally asking, “Why did you come?”
Samantha frowned. “I told you, I didn’t want you to die.”
“But why risk your life when you knew how much I loathe you?”
She sat back, staring at him intensely before answering. “I may deserve your hatred, but my feelings for you remain true.”
“Hah!” he huffed. “What you did I can never forget.”
She shook her head. “I wish I could take it back, all of it back. I have done everything I can think of to earn your forgiveness.”
“And you thought this would do it?”
Samantha smiled sadly. “I gave up on forgiveness a while ago. Now I just want to do no harm.”
Her answer pricked at his heart.
“Did you never think once how I would feel if you all had died? I didn’t need your blood on my hands. I didn’t want to be rescued.”
She answered simply, “Thane believed he could help get you out alive, and I trusted him.”
Rytsar glared at her, remembering the humiliation and pain she’d inflicted on him that one night so long ago. “I loved you once. Maybe not in the romantic sense, but it was real and intense.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I know. I felt the same way.”
He shook his head violently. “You did not! You would never have done what you did if you felt the way I did.”
“I was drunk, Rytsar, and in blind lust for you. I wanted to impress you by showing what I could do—that I was woman enough to Dominate you.”
“Even when I continuously ordered you to stop?”
Tears began streaming down her face. “I can’t explain why I needed you to surrender to me.”
“It was not a power exchange. It was a violation so deep it almost destroyed me.”
“I know…” she cried.
“There was only one reason I did not report it.”
She nodded her head slightly, swiping at her tears.
“I wanted to put it so far behind me that I could convince myself it never happened. But you…you couldn’t let sleeping dogs lie. No, you kept seeking me out, begging for absolution without any thought to me.”
“That’s not true,” she protested.
“And now you come back all these years later, after we had agreed never to speak again. How do you think that makes me feel?”
She looked at him with sorrow but slowly straightened her back and wiped away her remaining tears. “I cannot undo the past, and I know I have only incurred more of your wrath, but I am not sorry you are alive. I’m grateful I was able to help to ensure you made it back to Thane and Brie.”
The mention of those two pulled his thoughts into a new direction.
He remembered the hopelessness he felt when the door to his cell had been shut that final time and he’d confronted the reality he was going to die there.
He truly thought all had been lost…
Rytsar’s gaze drifted back to Samantha again. The woman in front of him changed his fate. Every moment since he was dragged out of that cell to make the ransom exchange was due in part to Samantha.
He continued to stare at her, wondering if the unforgiveable could be forgiven in the right circumstances.
She swallowed hard under his gaze and finally asked, “Are we done here?”
“Nyet.”
The minutes dragged by as he contemplated if he could find it within himself to truly forgive her.
“Do you love Brie?” he finally asked.
She was startled by the question. “What do you mean?”
“Do you love her?”
Samantha smiled uncomfortably. “I have come to believe she is a good fit for Thane.”
“And if he were not in the picture?”
She frowned. “What are you getting at?”
“If you went back to the beginning, before there was a negative history between you and her, tell me, how did you feel toward her?”
“I liked her.”
Rytsar raised an eyebrow, not satisfied with that answer.
“Yes, I’ll admit, there is something special about Brie. I find it intriguing and my admiration for her had grown since,” she replied with a blush.
He then asked his next question. “And Thane, what are your feelings toward him?”
Samantha did not hesitate. “You know how I feel. He has been everything to me. A mentor, a friend, the person I trust most in the world.”
“Do you love him?”
“Yes, of course. He’s like family to me, except my own family were never as good or as kind as he is.”
Rytsar took in what she had said, mulling it around in his mind.
Yes, it was possible…
He stood up and looked down at her, stating, “I grant you forgiveness. I will always despise what you did, but I will no longer hold it against you.”
Samantha stared up at him with a stunned look.
“Because of the risk you took, Samantha, I will be returning to those I love most. For that, I would give anything. Therefore, my forgiveness is yours.”
Samantha stared at him, her lips trembling. “Rytsar…I—”
He held up his hand. “Today you and I start a brand-new chapter.”
“What…what does that look like?” she asked in the barest of whispers, seemingly afraid this new alliance might break at any moment.
“We will not bring up the past again. You and I will concentrate only on the future of Thane and Brie.”
Samantha nodded, but added hesitantly, “There is one thing I must tell you.”
His eyes narrowed, afraid she was going to dredge up the past again when he had specifically ordered her not to. “Does it involve what happened that night?” he asked angrily.
“No. I will never speak of it again, as I promised.”
“Very well then. What did you want to tell me?”
“I…” She hesitated, making Rytsar nervous. “I want you to know that Ms. Taylor and I had a relationship—of sorts, once.”
“Ms. Taylor?” Rytsar asked in shock, completely blindsided by her confession.
“Yes, I broke it off before the wedding in Italy for personal reasons.”
“Why did she not tell me herself?” he demanded.
Samantha smiled sadly. “She was afraid you would turn her away.”
“And I would have!”
She paused before saying, “I have heard that Lea was very moved by her encounter with you.”
Rytsar growled, feeling deceived by Ms. Taylor. “Why are you telling me this?”
“One, you should know and two, I hoped her association with me would not change your future interactions with her.”
“She and I will have to have a talk,” he growled.
Samantha nodded.
“Is that all?”
“Yes.”
Rytsar walked to the window, his emotions tied up in knots. To forgive Samantha was monumental for him, but to find out she and Ms. Taylor were lovers was a shock.
He wasn’t even sure how he felt about the girl.
Still…Samantha had told him about it now, despite the fact it might jeopardize her own situation. He respected her for that.
Rytsar turned around. “I am glad you told me.”
She nodded. “You deserved no less.”
“And I will remind Ms. Taylor of that when I see her again.”
His next order of business was to speak to Andrev, his treacherous brother. He was uncertain how it would go, but again the motivation to do so was strong since Andrev insisted on being a part of the attack.
Although they desperately needed the extra manpower, Rytsar had to be convinced Andrev could be trusted with their lives, and that was
a tall order.
“Brother,” Andrev said when he walked into the room and took a seat.
Rytsar frowned, still bristling when hearing that word come from his mouth. The man who could betray his own sibling as well as turn on him when he told the truth about their mother’s death did not have any right to utter that word.
“Sit,” Rytsar commanded.
Andrev raised an eyebrow, but sat down where he had indicated. “What is this about?” he asked, looking uncomfortable.
Rytsar went straight to the point. “Why should I ever trust you again?”
Andrev smirked. “I suppose ‘because I’m your brother’ won’t work as an answer.”
Rytsar didn’t even reply, blinking his eyes slowly.
“Fine. I saved your ass from the Koslovs. That’s a major plus.”
Rytsar frowned, looking at him distrustfully. “You could be working with one of their rivals now. I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“You know the Durovs don’t do business with the bratva!” he spat.
Rytsar remained unconvinced. “Some are certainly spineless enough to start.”
Andrev stood up. “Is this just an excuse to insult me, is that what this is?”
“Sit down,” Rytsar commanded firmly.
Andrev did, but reluctantly.
“I do not have to be polite or even civil to you. You were the one to betray me, brother.”
“Are you ever going to let that go?”
Rytsar howled, pointing to the door. “Out!”
Andrev stayed where he was, but he held up his hand apologetically. “Look, I’m sorry. I really am. It’s not something that comes easily to me—this whole apology thing.” He reached into his pocket as he continued, “I’ve been waiting a long time to do this.”
Rytsar eyed him suspiciously.
Andrev pulled out his wallet and held it out to him. “Here.”
“What? You want me to steal from you to make this even?” Rytsar asked in disgust.
“No. It’s all there. All of it.”
Rytsar stared down at the thick wallet but made no move to take it.
“I knew I couldn’t face you without paying you back every cent.”
“It was never about the money,” Rytsar growled.
Andrev shook the wallet. “It wasn’t for you, but it was for me.” He met Rytsar’s gaze. “I needed to scrape up this money, every last ruble, because I owed you something. You know I’m not a rich guy by any means. This took me years, Anton. While I can’t change the past, I want you to know I am sorry. I have been sorry for a long, long time.”